News

The traditional pre-event press conference for the second round of the 2011 FIM Superbike World Championship on Sunday at Donington Park was an opportunity to celebrate 80 years of motorbike racing at the British circuit.

In the presence of Kevin Wheatcroft (Donington Park Chairman) and Paolo Ciabatti (SBK Director), all the riders expressed their delight about the return of Donington Park to the World Superbike calendar.

Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia), Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea Racing) and Marco Melandri (Yamaha WSBK Team) joined the British riders Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport), Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda), Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) and Eugene Laverty (Yamaha WSBK Team) in unanimously defining the historic track as one of the best in the championship.

To celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the first-ever motorbike race, the 1931 race-winning Raleigh machine was included in the group photograph of the current manufacturer championship bikes on the grid.