The World Superbike Championship is coming back to life after a short winter recess. The teams continue their search for speed and reliability, and the riders push their bodies through pre-season training as the 2010 championship begins to take shape. The teams will be heading to the Portimao circuit in Portugal for their first pre-season test on the 22nd of January.All of the top teams have had their rider lineups in place for several months, but several teams are still signing riders. Roger Lee Hayden is the latest American rider to find his way into WSBK after a career in the AMA series that included a Supersport championship. The youngest member of the Hayden clan will be riding for the Pedercini Kawasaki team.
Chaz Davies is another rider who will be leaving the AMA to ride in a world championship series. Davies will be riding as a teammate to Gary McCoy on the Triumph BE1 Racing team in the World Supersport Championship. Davies, who’s career has included rides in MotoGP, 250GP, 125GP and a win in the Daytona 200, rode in the last three rounds of last year’s WSS championship for the BE1 team after finishing ninth in the 2009 Daytona SportBike Championship on an Aprilia RSV1000R.
In other news, David Tardozzi has signed on as Team Manager for BMW Motorrad Motorsport. Tardozzi comes to BMW after a successful run at Ducati that included nine manufacturers' titles and eight riders' titles in the World Superbike Championship, "I imagine a lot of people will be surprised to hear of my decision to join BMW. However, for me the decision was simple. I had offers from MotoGP, but my heart is in the Superbike World Championship, and I feel at home here. BMW Motorrad Motorsport is a young and hungry team, and that gives me the challenge I have been looking for.” BMW enters its second year in the championship after showing continuous improvement over the course of their inaugural season. Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus return to ride for the factory team, and the newly-formed Reitwagen Motorsport team will field a BMW S 1000 RR for Austrian Roland Resch.
Tardozzi’s departure from Ducati Corse has forced a reorganization that will see former technical manager Ernesto Marinelli taking over as team manager along with other changes in the team’s management structure. Marinelli talked about the team he will lead, “Despite the important reorganization within the team, in reality most of the new members have already been working in Ducati for some time. 2010 once again represents a new challenge. . .we have faced many over the years and in most cases we have come out victorious. We will be doing our very best to take another title this year.” Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio return as riders for the factory team.
