With Tarran Mackenzie absent due to injury sustained during testing, the British Superbike championship is set to resume with more than 30 riders and numerous reasons to watch, not least the participation of Sykes and Haslam
15.04.2022 ( Aggiornata il 15.04.2022 15:04 )
The 2022 British Superbike season will get underway this weekend at the Silverstone circuit in its National configuration. A first round that will run without its current champion, as Tarran Mackenzie is still recovering after injuring his ankle during tests at the same track. The McAMS Yamaha team will therefore have to count on Jason O'Halloran alone.
Sykes and Haslam line up, aiming for victory
The two most highly anticipated riders on track this season are undoubtedly Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam. Both coming from the production-derived world series, they will clearly be in the spotlight as they aim for the top, aboard team PBM’s Ducati Panigale V4 R and the Lee Hardy Racing team’s Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR respectively. Haslam was in fact the last rider to win the national title with the Akashi bike, in 2018.
Possible frontrunners
In addition to the aforementioned names, many other riders will be battling it out for the podium, not least Sykes’ fellow Ducati riders, or rather Josh Brookes, his PBM team-mate, and Tommy Bridewell, very fast in testing with team Moto Rapido. Another one to watch is young Rory Skinner with the Kawasaki of team FS-3 Racing, and then there are well-known names Peter Hickman, Christian Iddon, Danny Kent, Bradley Ray and Kyle Ryde, in great shape since moving to Yamaha.
And we can only expect improvement from the official Honda Racing UK team, on track with four bikes, entrusted to Glenn Irwin, Neave, Mizuno and Takahashi, and the Synetiq BMW squad with Andrew Irwin and Danny Buchan. It will be very tough to make the difference around such a short track, so we can expect some very close-fought races.
Race schedule
The three-race format is confirmed, with a Sprint Race on the Saturday and two further races on Sunday. The shorter Race 1 will take place on Saturday afternoon at 17:15 CET, then Race 2 on Sunday at 14:30 CET, followed by Race 3 at 17:30 CET. For Sunday’s races, the starting grid is based on the fastest laps made in the previous race, making for even more unpredictable results. All three races will be broadcast on the Eurosport Player platform.
Translated by Heather Watson
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