SBK Navarra | Page 42

EXCITING CONTENT
Oran Park in Sydney hosted the first ever Australian round and then we went for the first ever championship decider at Manfeild in New Zealand . We went Kiwi four times in all , for eight individual races . A whole new continent - North America - and a whole new country beckoned for the start fo the 1989 season , as the season kicked off at Mosport in Canada . Then we had the first visit to the USA and Brainerd in the north of the country . Season two was very different from season one in many ways , in fact , as we went to Paul Ricard for the first time , and then the oval shaped and apparently weird Enna-Pergusa in Sicily , which counts as an Italian round . There have been Italian races at five different circuits , even if some of them were called San Marino rounds . One Brands Hatch event was even an Irish round , but that is another story , for another time . The relatively new Jerez and the super-fast and historic Monza joined the 1989 party , and then Shah Alam provided what would eventually be the first of three Malaysian WorldSBK racetracks . ( We would go to Johor Baru soon after and eventually Sepang in the 2010s ). Phillip Island has hosted no fewer than 61 individual races and its first was in 1990 . A must-do if you have never been . Spanish old-stager Jarama and the ever-popular Misano ( 58 races and counting …) added to the mix before the only true Scandinavian venue for WorldSBK , at Anderstorp in Sweden . Magny Cours has become a regular favourite for WorldSBK and it joined the French party in 1991 . We even raced at MotoGP™ favourite Mugello three times , Albacete eight times , and Spa Francorchamps - but just the one time - in 1992 . That same year Assen and WorldSBK formed a partnership that has given issue to 59 races since . Most of them classics …
We then welcomed Brands Hatch and Brno , two astounding track layouts . We will head to Indonesia , all being well , this year again , but not for the first time . The steamy venue of Sentul has seen four WorldSBK meetings . We first went to Laguna Seca , a favourite among American circuits for its proximity to the California coast and for its astounding layout , in 1995 . The Nürburgring , and then Kyalami - another long haul special one - were next to join , then new purpose build facilities like Valencia , Oschersleben , Lausitzring preceded old racing asphalt ribbons like Imola and Silverstone onto the WorldSBK roster . Losail in Qatar was another new part of the world we looked to conquer and we have been there an impressive 11 times . The Roman circuit of Vallelunga was a two year stopping-off point , and we went off to the highly impressive Miller Motorsports Park in the USA five times . With the Salt Lake nearby and the same snow capped mountain ranges that hosted a winter Olympics as a backdrop to almost every photograph , it was also an awesome rider ’ s track , in an other-worldly location . For the most part , the most recent additions to WorldSBK have all been modern purpose built tracks , some on a vastly impressive scale , others a kind of stadium dedicated to letting the fans see almost all the action almost all the time . The Algarve Motor Park was a radical design that combined a natural rollercoaster with some modernistic building designs , and it is a real favourite with teams and fans alike . Half stadium , half motorcycle mountaineering adventure for the competitors . Motorland was similar in its modernistic building approach to Portimao but is a vastly different - and also just vast facility . Both are firm WorldSBK favourites now - were from year one , in fact . Moscow in Russia and Istanbul Park in Turkey were ambitions projects , both
42