World Superbike Silverstone Outsider

I returned home from World Superbike at Silverstone feeling rather like a sausage salesman who had just spent the day at an upmarket Bar Mitzvah. One of my most important jobs at Motorcycle USA - at least as far as I am concerned - is to make fun of the foolishness which is prevalent in the motorcycling world and maybe get a few more bikers asking questions of organizers, manufacturers and dealers.

I went to Sunday’s World Superbike round armed with my notebook, camera - and a happy certainty of coming back with a sack full of ammunition. Normally, satirizing bike sport is simplicity itself. There are so many fat, juicy targets that I am spoiled for choice. World Superbike at Silverstone was a very different experience - so much so that it is difficult to know where to begin.

How about Silverstone’s impeccably courteous Security staff who directed us to the correct parking lot with a smile - and then wished us a good day?

Then there were the immaculate female restrooms which Carol could access, without a VIP pass, in a couple of minutes. Compare this with the two-hour lines for women unfortunate enough to need a comfort break at Donington.


Or the very fair entry price of $75 - including clean, comfortable grandstand seating.

From the satirist’s point of view things only got worse. The food vendors sold excellent products at reasonable prices – around only 20% more expensive than the high street. Service times were short and the staff helpful. This was becoming a disaster.

Then there was the racing. Quite simply, I have not seen better racing for decades - and believe me it was nothing to do with the plethora of British riders on the podium. Cal Crutchlow and Jonny Rea were spectacular and made MotoGP look like the dull procession it is.

But what was almost as impressive was the depth of the quality. Seeing Leon Camier battle the mighty Max Biaggi when they were racing for sixth- and seventh-place was motorcycle racing at its best.

Right down in 18th-place, we were on the edge of our seats cheering for British privateer Tommy Bridewell, on his homebuilt Honda, hammering it out with Kawasaki’s Akira Yanagawa. When was the last time you were biting your fingernails watching a fight for 18/19 place in MotoGP? When was the last time you even SAW nineteen riders in MotoGP?

World Superbike machines are ferociously fast - and look it. One has to ask why spend tens of millions of dollars on prototype bikes for virtually nothing? Jorge Lorenzo’s fastest lap at Silverstone - identical circuit, identical weather, same time of year - was 172.3 kph. Crutchlow managed 171.22 kph. That’s 1.08 kph difference - or a $5 million WSBK budget compared with $25 million for MotoGP. And in case you are not comfortable with kilometers per hour 1.08kph is around 0.6 mph - the speed of an infant tottering across the room to meet its Mom. That’s the real-world difference between MotoGP and WSBK!

The only fault with WSBK is that the bikes are too quiet. We just longed to hear the Xerox Ducatis in particular growl their way on to the main straight but the silencing took the edge off the experience. Remove all the silencing and that is the racing package complete - and MotoGP can pack up and go back to its security sealed, air-conditioned, VIP, corporate hospitality tent.

However, there is one good thing about MotoGP - and that is that one can always rely on the series for an endless source of humor. Perhaps the highlight of our day at WSBK was visiting the vendor selling MotoGP memorabilia. First there was the standard MotoGP arrogance. No photographs of the goods, no touching - only look in awe-struck admiration.

A knee slider used by none other than the great Valentino Rossi, signed by the great man himself, was available to the lowly, unworthy MotoGP fan, for a mere $900. Those of you from the wrong side of the railway tracks could shop at the 99 cent end of the market and have a Nicky Hayden slider for a mere $600 - including a picture of the Kentucky Kid looking thoroughly miserable. You have to wonder why Nicky looked so distraught but I can only conjecture that it’s the thought of not only getting beaten on the track by Rossi but also losing 300 bucks to Vale every time some star struck acolyte gets out his credit card.

By contrast, Cal Crutchlow - who is one of the most courteous human beings on the planet - would probably give you a knee slider for free if you asked nicely.

For sure, if you buy your own tickets, and love motorcycle racing, World Superbike is the place to be.