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The 12-round championship trail from Phillip Island to Portimao saw exciting racing all the way, with the title win going to Welshman Chaz Davies, who had a superb season on the Yamaha ParkinGO team's YZF R6. 8 podiums and 6 wins was his end-of-season tally. Davies clinched the title at Magny-Cours, with one race remaining, and then finished off the season in fine style with another win at Portimao. The season-long performance by Davies and the Giuliano Rovelli-run squad was the best possible visiting-card for the Italian entrepreneur's new adventure in Superbike in 2012.

Although the numbers appear to confirm the supremacy of the former Daytona 200 Mile winner, during the season Davies had to hold his own against a wild bunch of determined customers, who were always up amongst the frontrunners. An exciting season was on the cards right from the opening round in Australia, where it took a photo-finish to separate Luca Scassa (also on a ParkinGO Yamaha), Broc Parkes (Kawasaki Provec Motocard.com) and the talented Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) in third. A few weeks later Scassa took his second win in two races from his team-mate and home crowd favourite Chaz Davies, but lost the plot somewhat in subsequent rounds at Assen, where he crashed out, and at Misano Adriatico, where he didn't compete after being caught testing at the circuit a couple of weeks before the race, something that is not allowed by the FIM rulebook.

Scassa eventually ‘bookended' his season with a fine win at Magny-Cours and an overall fifth place in the standings, but throughout the year the second place scrap raged fast and furious. It was always going to be between Supersport's grid of ‘young lions' and ‘wily old foxes', and the runner-up slot went to David Salom, who had moved up to the factory Kawasaki Provec Motocard.com team. Despite not scoring any wins the man from Majorca had the satisfaction of finishing ahead of former champion Fabien Foret, who returned to the Ten Kate Honda this year, and who picked up the 13th win of his Supersport career at Imola. Australian Broc Parkes was the Kawasaki Provec team leader and one of the favourites for the championship, but he crashed out on several occasions and his one win at Misano was not sufficient to propel him to the title.

Other riders who made a name for themselves this year were Britain's Sam Lowes, who finished sixth overall for Parkalgar Honda in his first full season of international Supersport racing and the two-times ex-Supersport 1000 winner James Ellison, who twice finished on the podium in the final four races with the Bogdanka PTR Honda team. Another Brit to make an impression, not always positive however as he was involved in a series of spectacular crashes and come-offs, was Gino Rea, who won at Brno on his Step Racing Honda to make it five different winners this year.

With a healthy range of 16 nations represented on the grid, Italy had its flag-bearer in Scassa but perhaps more was expected of the other contenders and Massimo Roccoli (Kawasaki Lorenzini by Leoni) and Roberto Tamburini on the Bike Service Racing Team Yamaha were only able to figure up front on rare occasions.

All in all, it was a hard-fought season for World Supersport, one that gave Chaz Davies the first world title in his career and one that earned a fourth crown for Yamaha in the Manufacturers' battle, bringing an end to eight long years of Honda supremacy in the class.

Roll on 2012!