welcome to highside 2010

Here at highside we believe the best, most exciting motorsport comes on two wheels. The 2010 BSB and WSBK seasons look to be very exciting with more manufacturers and teams in both championships.

World Superbikes

With Ben Spies moving on to Moto GP, there will be a new World Superbike Champion in 2010. Coming in the other direction is former World Superbike Champion, James Toseland who is keen to show that he can still cut it when it comes to winning races at the top level.

A familiar racing calendar sees riders flying all around the globe between Europe, Africa and the Americas. The notable change for this season from a British point of view is the loss of Donington Park to the WSBK calendar. In a tragic series of events, the Leicestershire circuit has a large hole in the middle of the track, courtesy of changes needed to compete for the F1 event and a lack of funds to complete the job. Silverstone will now take the place of Donington for the British round of this year’s championship.

The championship has retained its diverse machinery with Ducati, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Aprilia and BMW all represented in full factory supported teams on the starting grid.

As per last season, Eurosport will be televising all races for this year’s championship live as well as providing a highlights package and race repeats service. In addition Channel 4 will also broadcast highlights.

British Superbikes

The biggest news for this season of British Superbikes is the return of former champion, Neil Hodgson; another man keen on showing he still has what it takes to win races and championships. He will race for Motorpoint Yamaha this season and aims to regain the championship he won in 2000.

There have been some big changes for the top national level series of bike racing. The privateer cup has been replaced with a brand new ‘Evo’ class designed to be more of a stepping stone towards the full Superbike spec machinery.

The structure for the new 2010 season has been altered. The season will be split into two parts. The first nine events will form a build-up to the showdown which will take place in the final three races. Top six racers in the first nine racers will have their points converted to allow them to compete for the title. This rule change means the title will not be decided until the final races of the season.

The budget stricken Donington Park has been removed from the calendar for the 2010 season, its failure to be ready now well documented. It is replaced on the calendar with a second meeting at Cadwell Park.

Eurosport will be proving the live race television coverage with a highlights package being produced by ITV which will be shown on ITV2 as well as ITV1.