WSBK Has Returned to Donington for this Weekend's Rnd 2 in the 2011 WSBK Championship

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Ben Spies' #19 Sterilgarda Yamaha YZF-R1 2009 World Superbike Championship-winning machine sits on display in one of the Yamaha tent's during the Indianapolis RedBull MotoGP round in August of 2010. Spies' assault on the WSBK Championship Series in 2009 is stuff that legends are made of, winning 14 races along the way including a double round win at Donington Park. Spies was the first American WSBK Champion in seven years, following in the footsteps of fellow Texan Colin Edwards. In 28 races covering 14 events, Elbowz also managed an incredible 17 podiums, and won the pole position an astounding 11 times on the season.
Spies has been long-gone from the WSBK scene, instead progressively moving up the ladder in MotoGP after being named the 2010 Rookie of the Year, and now a team mate to '10 MotoGP Jorge Lorenzo on the Factory Yamaha M1. Yamaha's World Superbike team this year again has been completely revamped, and riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty are piloting the #33 and #59 R1s in the 2011 chase. Both riders timed into the top four in the first timed qualifying session earlier today in Donington, and both look to improve on their great results from Philip Island a couple of weeks ago.
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World Superbike Championship round two kicked off earlier today at Donington Park in England for what is looking to be another stellar year in the world production championship. With seven manufacturers contesting the series, competition is again at an all-time premium in the hotly contested championship. With Aprilia's Mad Max Biaggi wearing the #1 proudly on his Aprilia RSV4 Factory machine, the series is seeing the great racing that it has become known for, especially over the last 5-6 years.

The FIM and WSBK also announced the other day that beginning with this second round (of 13 total for 2011), that on-bike cameras will now be part of the mix for the worldwide television and internet viewing audiences. Eight bikes total will carry cameras throughout each race weekend which will surely add to the already great coverage we see in the series.

SpeedTV carries the WSBK Championship on a tape-delayed basis here in the U.S. and will be showing both races back-to-back this Sunday, March 27 at 1500 EDT. The second qualifying practice fires off tomorrow morning at 0645 and 0945 EDT/US and Superpole 1 qualifying rolls off at 1100 EDT tomorrow. You can view both via WSBK's Live Timing and Scoring link (available below) as you can the races themselves on Sunday at 0800 and 1130 EDT/US.
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You can check out all stats, results and info you need here via WSBK's official website:

http://www.worldsbk.com/en/home.html

WSBK Live Timing and Scoring:

http://www.worldsbk.com/livetiming/
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Thanks to Ultimate Motorcycling.com for this great 'stats and facts' story about WSBK and the Donington round this weekend:

http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/2011/donington-world-superbike-stats-and-facts
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