Non-factory competitors showing their mettle and medals
With a definite 12 and a probable 14 official entries in the eni FIM Superbike World Championship in 2012, you could realistically expect that the lot of the privateer teams would be a peripheral one, not one found at the heart of the podium or even top ten action most weekends.
Factory resources and manpower, plus the pick of the best riders in most cases, will always tell over a whole season but for riders on semi-official or full privateer machines 2012 has had at least as many opportunities as in any other season in this unique motorsport series. And is it not fitting for the 25th year to be as open and welcoming to all entries as it was back in 1988?
Sylvain Guintoli is the most obvious and high-profile example of what can be done with privateer machinery and budgets in SBK, 2012 style, winning a race in Assen on his Team Effenbert Liberty Racing Ducati, then taking another victory for his new Pata Racing Team Ducati squad first time out at Silverstone. He also took the Tissot-Superpole prize at Monza.
Michel Fabrizio and Ayrton Badovini are not privateers in a strict sense but they have both now jumped onto the podium as well, ahead of the official BMW pairing on raceday.
Chaz Davies, currently 11th despite a tough start on his ParkinGO Racing MTC Aprilia, has nearly won in the dry at Motorland Aragon, scoring third in race two. He has frightened the podium at a couple more races too, when the fast but fickle Aprilia was on top set-up form. Let us not forget that this is the first year at full SBK level for the ParkinGO boys and girls, for rider and most of the crew.
Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert Ducati) has five career podium places as a privateer in SBK racing, one this year at Silverstone, plus two Superpole successes as well, one in America the other at Silverstone. He is 12th overall, despite suffering four no scores to date.
In his second season as a privateer in SBK racing Frenchman Maxime Berger, Smrz' team-mate, took a career best of fifth in race two last weekend in England, and he is inside the top 15.
Lorenzo Zanetti from the PATA Racing Team Ducati set-up took his career SBK best so far, eighth, at Imola in the second round. His consistent ability to score has earned him 34 points so far, a respectable total in a year like this, and with four rounds left to run.
Niccolo Canepa (Red Devils Roma Ducati) has also scored a career best of eighth place this year, at Assen. He is only half a point behind Zanetti, despite missing out on the Brno round.
For David Salom, despite several big falls and injuries in 2012, a best of 12th is respectable, even if the best Team Pedercini Kawasaki result this year was a fine tenth for Bryan Staring on home ground in Australia, before he moved on to his Superstock commitments for the Pedercini team.
Of all the regular privateer teams in the championship the Grillini Progea Superbike team had the biggest job this year, as they tried to turn the BMW S1000RR into a points scorer on a regular basis. Original rider Mark Aitchison and latest inductee Norino Brignola have each scored points this season, despite the serried ranks of factory and more experienced privateers.
