If the 2007 World SBK Championship is anything like 2006 , we are going to be in for an eventful and thrilling year. A mixture of Moto GP and BSB riders will be joining the competition this season and I’m sure they will be looking to throw a few spanners in the works for the regular contenders.
 The 2006 Championship winner, Troy Bayliss, won by margin of 95 points, and is still riding for the Ducati Xerox Team. He has chosen not to ride with #1 plate this season, instead sticking with his more usual #21. He was looking particularly strong at the Pirelli tyre testing at Philip Island, Valencia, so I think he will be a definite front runner this year, and one for the other contenders to aim for.
I feel there are a few riders that will be looking to stop Troy from repeating last year’s victory. Well, they all will, but some are a bigger challenge than others. Some of these riders finished in the top 3 last year while some are new to the championship.
So due to fact that there is a threat of newcomers; I am placing Troy at 2nd. He has a lot of tough opposition to deal with this year that are not looking to give up the championship so easily. (Editor’s note: It’s also worth bearing in mind that Ducati believe the 999 to be at the end of its development while the other manufacturers are still getting faster, more powerful and better controlled)
 James Toseland finished 2nd last season, after putting up an immense fight against Bayliss and Haga in the race for the title. During his first year at Ten Kate, James had to adapt quickly to the Honda, as it was a completely different ride from the factory Ducati he was on the previous season. Last year, the team struggled with a lack of traction control, which meant they were losing power through the rear tyre. They have been testing this in the last few months in preparation for 2007, and the outcome for the traction control being on the bike for this year is looking promising.
The team were happy with the test results and they have also tested the new chassis, electronics, and swing arm. James will be going all out for the win in 2007 and I think there is a strong possibility we could see the Brit’s name back on the championship trophy.
Noriyuki Haga finished 3rd last season, putting tremendous pressure on James Toseland in a series of tumultuous battles for the title. Nitro Nori, as he is known, rode a fantastic season, with 11 podium finishes.
 This year he is continuing to race for YZF -R1 Yamaha Motor Italia Team. Nori and his team finished 9th in testing at Philip Island, after experiencing some problems with getting the settings how they wanted them for the bike. 2007 will be Nori’s 4th season on the R1, but he has yet to win the championship.
Although Haga has finished high in the standings many times, could this be Nitro Nori’s year to step up to the title? As nice as that may sound, I am predicting a fourth place finish for Haga, as this year is going to be a battle of the strongest and I’m sure he will be up amongst them, but he has lacked the consistency to genuinely challenge for the top in the last few years.
Troy Corser finished 4th last season, with some great battles and exciting manovers on the way. His main rival last year was Haga and he had many a scuffle with him as he tried to fight his way through the pack, and into the points.
Troy is on a different bike this year, partnering his old rival on the second Yamaha Moto Italia R1 and has found testing difficult, as there are so many more decisions to make when adapting to a new bike and getting a feel for it.
 I believe that Troy will be back up there this season, giving them all hell for leather. I predict that he will finish 3rd, as I think once he gets the bike tailored to his needs he will take some stopping.
The newcomers who I think will be a threat to the World Superbike season of 2007 are Max Biaggi from MotoGp, and Dean Ellison from BSB. Both of these riders have different experiences in racing and it should be an interesting year with them mixing it up in the field. In testing Max has not really been on the pace and will need to fight to be up there with the rest of the pack, however Dean is feeling comfortable with the settings and will go out there confident.
This year, I think that Troy Corser and Haga will start off the season strongly, fighting it out with JT and Troy Bayliss for the top spots; all of the riders have been looking strong in testing over the winter months and most have got the bikes set up as they want them ready for the season.
It is going to be an action packed year, with everyone going all out for the top spot in the championship and more serious contenders than ever before. The first race of the year is Qatar on the 24th February which is sure to be a storming round as everyone fights to get the first points on the leader board . James Toseland won this round last season and will be looking to repeat last years fantastic start with a top placing after both races this February.
The Teams for 2007 are as follows:- (Notes by the Editor, photos from the teams)
#21 Troy Bayliss AUS Ducati 999F07 Ducati Xerox Team
#57 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA Ducati 999F07 Ducati Xerox Team
Ducati said last year that the 999 had reached the end of it's development and that to remain competitive they needed
a bigger engine. Although the 1098 has now been released as a road bike, for once the rules haven't immediately been tweaked in the Italian factory's favour. Possibly because Bayliss won so convincingly on a bike that the factory had said was disadvantaged that even Ducati struggled to really justify the change. So this year's bike, the 999F07, is almost certainly the final incarnation of the 999 and the last litre class vee twinwe'll see in SBK. Something to tell your grandchildren... If Bayliss lifts the title again this year it'll be the first time someone has retained the #1 plate since Foggy retired. That was a Ducati, too.
 #41 Noriyuki Haga JPN Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia
#11 Troy Corser AUS Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia
The YZF-R1 is continually evolving as a road bike, and the 2007 version is more powerful and slightly lighter than last year's. Power was never a problem, though, as the bike was blisteringly fast last year. The pairing of Haga and Corser could be interesting as they have totally different riding styles. Last year, Haga and Pitt spent quite a lot of time going sideways but it seemed to work, while Corser was Mr Smooth as always. There's no doubt that both are highly capable and are a real threat for the title, but the real question mark has to be if the snarling R1 will eat tyres and be too much of a handful to really cut it.
 #3 Max Biaggi ITA Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K7 Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra
#71 Yukio Kagayama JPN Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K7 Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra
The new GSX-R 1000 has moved back a few years, at least cosmetically, with a return to twin exhausts. Ironically it was the original GSX-R that signalled the arrival of 4-1 pipes on production machinery back in 1985. The new bike is staggeringly fast, handles brilliantly and has possibly the best four cylinder engine management, courtesy of Pops Yoshimura. That means longer tyre life and better drive. Add a rider who is used to rather wayward machinery in the form of MotoGP refugee Biaggi and it could get interesting...
 #52 James Toseland GBR Honda CBR 1000RR Ten Kate Honda Team
#44 Roberto Rolfo ITA Honda CBR 1000RR Ten Kate Honda Team
Ten Kate Honda parted company with their long term sponsor Winston at the end of last season and immediately hooked up with monitor and TV manufacturer HannSpree. While the colours may take some getting used to, the development work that has been done on the bike is showing very promising signs. The biggest development is traction control, the base machine being essentially unchanged, but that one small addition to the armoury could make all the difference. If nothing else it will at least go towards levelling the playing field against the full factory teams of Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki. Yes, remember that Ten Kate Honda, twice runners up in SBK, are essentially a privateer team. Which makes their performance even more impressive...
#55 Regis Laconi FRA Kawasaki ZX 10R PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse
#10 Fonsi Nieto ESP Kawasaki ZX 10R PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse
Last year saw Chris Walker get the first ever win for PSG-1 and the ZX-10R before being dumped by the team for the simple reason that Fonsi Nieto and Regis Laconi bring huge amounts of money in through personal sponsorship. Up until now, the ZX-10 has been a real handful. It ate tyres and seemed to get harder to manage as the fuel load got lighter, rather than easier. The 2007 road bike seems to be easier to ride, but whether that has translated to the race machine is anyone's guess. PSG-1 don't have any action photographs yet, and at the time of writing their test performance has been, shall we say, understated.
#84 Michel Fabrizio ITA Honda CBR 1000RR D.F.X. Treme
#99 Steve Martin AUS Honda CBR 1000RR D.F.X. Treme
The bikes are essentially unchanged from last year, but now veteran rider Frankie Chili is running the team while likeable Aussie Steve Martin has slipped back into his old seat alongside the occasionally brilliant Michel Fabrizio. No proper traction control means that the guys will have to work extra hard to stay competitive, but as Brno showed last year, on their day the DFX team can upset a few people.
#38 Shinichi Nakatomi JPN Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor France - IPONE
No real changes in the Yamaha France team, though they seem to be running a single rider team this year. The bike is the latest model, but any trick modifications are being kept very quiet. Nakatomi is fast, that's for sure, though he has yet to show the form we know he's capable of.
#111 Ruben Xaus ESP Ducati 999F06 GMB Racing
Ruben is great to watch - he looks like he's falling off even when he isn't. Unfortuately he has earned a reputatio for doing so that is't entirely unjustified. But he's a smashing guy and was a worthy team-mate to Neil Hodgson so he's capable of running at the front. He's on last year's title winning machine, so it won't be slow, either. Whether the team can support him properly, of course, remains to be seen.
#42 Dean Ellison GBR Ducati 999RS Team Pedercini
#TBA TBA Ducati 999RS Team Pedercini
Team Pedercini deserve to do well, and with Dean Ellison perhaps they will. The bike is a customer spec machine so it'll be down on power but the handling will be as good as the factory bikes and perhaps they'll get better tyre life, too. No traction control, though, which will make things exciting at times.
#53 Alessandro Polita ITA Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K6 Celani Team Suzuki Italia
Suzuki get in on the lots of importer backed teams act, at last. It's last year's bike so a known quantity. Which is more than I can say for the rider - Polita is new to SBK so let's see what he does.
#31 Karl Muggeridge AUS Honda CBR 1000RR Alto Evolution Honda
#75 Joshua Brookes AUS Honda CBR 1000RR Alto Evolution Honda
Muggas and Brookes could be the dark horses this season. Alto Evolution have spent a lot of effort and money in gettig a good setup, and both the Australian riders will work hard to prove a point - Muggas will be keen to finish i front of at least one Ten Kate bike for obvious reasons, while Brookes needs to put a disappointing last season behind him. Expect to see them scrapping with the DFX guys a lot of the time.
#76 Max Neukirchner GER Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K6 Suzuki Germany
Max got the bum deal when Alstare took Biaggi on, but the importer team may be able to give him better support than he got last year on the Alstare Engineering bike. He's fast and he's learning a lot.
#73 Christian Zaiser AUT MV Agusta LBR Racing Team
MV come back to full SBK racing. I know nothing about the rider ad all I know about the bike is that the standard road version is a rocketship. It could be a fabulous re-entry for a glorious name, or it could go the way of Bimota. Who knows?
#36 Jiri Drazdak CZE Yamaha YZF R1 Pro SBK CZ Republic
Sorry, Jiri, but we can't find anything out about you. But I'd expect the Czech rider to go very well at Brno, where local knowledge may well count for a lot...
Some of the teams have yet to decide on their final line ups and this will all become clear nearer to the start of the season. One of the riders who is still waiting to hear if he has a ride this year is Neil Hodgson. Foggy, however it is still unclear whether his team will be opening in Qatar, and with these plans looking bleak, it is not looking good for Neil.
Finally the time is nearly upon us for the World Superbike 2007 season to get under way. So get your air horns at the ready as we prepare for another year of extreme action from the worlds greatest riders.
Becci Stubbs
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