OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
We have to hurtle forward three and a bit decades to see what became of the first WorldSBK experiment in Donington .
The latest on-track laboratory tests being conducted this weekend may well be headed up by a Spanish rider , on a special official Ducati , in a team owned and by an Italian Internet provider and operated day-today by a specialist Italian racing logistics company that been around for most of Ducati ’ s still peerless record in WorldSBK racing . But that ’ s enough about Alvaro Bautista , his V4R , Aruba . it Racing Ducati and Feel Racing .
Most WorldSBK factory teams are more or less running the same kind of collegial approach as 1988 to get their particular shows on the road for a full season - with official bikes , experienced tech and business partners doing the staffing and logistics and a mix of riders from several talent pools .
And now , of course , there are the two full World Championship support classes the first years of WorldSBK never had . WorldSSP and WorldSSP300 are key ingredients now . We have also had a STK1000 Championship and STK600 Championship in previous eras , joining on WorldSBK developed and grew .
As many of you probably know , that first Donington weekend in 1988 featured a Ducati overall winner , in the shape of former 500cc Grand Prix champion , Marco ‘ Lucky ’ Lucchinelli . For that very first round only , the format was to have an aggregate winner of the two races , not a full points Race One and Race Two winner ( and now even a
Tissot Superpole ten-lap race winner ). When actual Donington Race One winner for Bimota , Davide Tardozzi ( yes , that one ) crashed out of Race Two on his official Bimota YB4EI ), he got nothing at all . So they changed the rules for the very next round , making that first ever round at Donington all the more unique . And let ’ s face it , a bit weird …
Oh , and WorldSBK used the National track layout in ‘ 88 , too , without the current Melbourne Loop . And Roger Burnett was on pole … And a certain late , great , Joey Dunlop was third in Race One . Wild times !
Over the past 30-odd years major manufacturer in WorldSBK has had something to really crow about , be it podiums , fastest laps , pole positions , race wins or championship wins . So far , Aprilia , Ducati , Honda , Kawasaki , Suzuki and Yamaha have all produced a World Champion .
The realities of changes in the flagship sportsbike marketplaces have moved us from 851cc twins and 750cc fours , to the current fivemanufacture-deep golden crop of four-cylinder 1000cc road razors .
For most of those years , Donington Park has been part of the WorldSBK journey . Only Phillip Island ( 67 ), Assen ( 65 ), and Misano ( that will have 64 if all three races go ahead in June ) have hosted more individual WorldSBK races . And there have also been UK rounds at Silverstone ( 19 races ) and Brands Hatch ( 32 ).
WorldSBK has , not to put too fine a point on it , been a place where British riders have always found opportunities to shine on a global
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