Top 10 moments: WORLD SUPERBIKES’ GOLDEN YEARS
For many years the World Superbike championship was the world’s number one four-stroke racing series – it really had it all. It had the men – youngsters on their way up, hungry for success and fearless, as well as grizzled veterans who had seen it all before and wanted to prove a point and bag one last big pay day.
This was before political correctness and sponsor-speak. Young or old, the racers never held back. Up-and-comers like Troy Corser, Colin Edwards, Anthony Gobert, our own no-nonsense Carl Fogarty, the super-cool Scott Russell and then the old guard like Robbie Phillis (Syph to his friends), Raymond Roche (hard as nails) and former GP ace Marco Lucchinelli, who later got into trouble with the police over cocaine possession… Each and every one was a character.
World Superbikes had the circuits too. Some were the best in the world, like Donington Park, through to the old Hockenheim, the spectacular Osterreichring and some very iffy circuits, such as the pre-GP Laguna Seca, where the barriers and straw bales seemed oh-so close. Whatever the circuit, all these men gave no quarter and asked for none in return.
And then there were the bikes. Like Ducati’s 851 and 888, morphing into the 916 series. Honda’s VFR750R RC30, which took the first two titles, Bimota’s YB4 EI, Yamaha’s steel-framed FZ750s, then the exotic OW-01 and YZF750. Kawasaki’s GPX750, then ZXR and ZX-7R models and Suzuki’s GSX-R750s…
Yes, in the glory years
