From Russia With Love: SBK

SBK at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah - May, 2012

World Superbike Championship (SBK) follows World Series by Renault (WSR) as the second international racing event to be held at Moscow Raceway. The newest addition to the international motorsports venue collection, Moscow Raceway will play host to numerous national and international events such as German DTM, FIA GT1, WSR, and SBK. 

The new circuit opened in July this year and welcomed WSR as its first event. American driver Alexander Rossi took to the track and finished P11 in Race 1 and P5 in Race 2, a solid position for the first event held on the new circuit.

Today's SBK race is the first two-wheeled event to be held at the circuit and should be exciting. New circuits have a constantly evolving track surface which makes controlling the bikes a more delicate strategy than a seasoned track. You'll want to tune in to SPEED TV and watch Race 1 at 3pm CDT and Race 2 at 4pm CDT to witness it firsthand. Though the event has concluded, there's no spoilers here. I'm avoiding the internet until I can watch this race and see how the bikes do on this new circuit.

Be sure to keep an eye out for the fan attendance at the race as well. Russia is beefing up it's motorsports collection to increase its global appeal. In addition to this new Moscow Raceway, the 2014 Olympics Winter Games' Olympic Park Circuit is under construction, and both are working to appeal to the international crowd. Bernie Ecclestone signed a seven year contract to host Formula 1 in Sochi beginning in 2014, so the F1 world is keeping an eye on Russia to see if they're falling in love with international motorsports.

Two Years, Two Wheels

Today we celebrate the official Formula 1 announcement of F1 returning to the US via Austin Texas. That announcement kicked off our efforts to help connect Austinites with what was once a foreign sport but will now be in our backyard in 177 days. Along the way we have befriended amazing friends and supporters worldwide and because of your enthusiasm for F1 coming to Texas, Austin will soon welcome additional motorsports; V8 Supercars will be here in 2013 and the MotoGP contract is still a viable option.

To celebrate this two year milestone, we are broadening our motorsports horizons to include two wheel coverage. We're at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah for an eventful racing weekend. Four wheel fans will be enjoying the glitterati in Monaco this weekend, celebrating the 96^th Annual Indy 500, and cheering their favorite drivers and riders in one of the many road races taking place this Memorial Day.

This weekend, Miller Motorsports Park (“MMP”) hosts Round 6 of the Superbike World Championship (“SBK”). The series celebrates their 25^th Anniversary this year and Salt Lake City is their only American “round.” The SBK season consists of a series of rounds held at circuits worldwide, similar to F1. Each round has two races and also like F1, the results are combined to determine two annual World Championships, one for riders and one for manufacturers. Like most other racing series, a race weekend is full of activities, including multiple practice and qualifying sessions before the grands prix. For this weekend, SBK practices will be on Saturday and Sunday, with climatic Races 1 and 2 on Monday.

Also on location is the American Motorcycle Association (“AMA”) for a series of races – AMA Pro National Guard Superbike, AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SuperBike, AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com, and AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Championships.

For real-time social sharing, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (search for "AustinGrandPrix") for photos and updates from the various events. We'll be sharing the weekend's festivities well into next week!

Many thanks to our Contributing Editors Mike McKinnon, Andrew Swinghamer, Jamey Price, Benedict Wong, Allison Berguin and Iain Robertson for their valuable contributions and support these past two years.

And last but not least, THANK YOU to our fans and supporters!