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World Superbikes: The First 20 Years
World Superbikes: The First 20 Years “Even if you’ve never
  hankered after a motor-
  bike, you have to admit
  that in its ultimate form
  it is a pretty awesome
  piece of machinery.
  World Superbikes: The
  First 20 Years looks at
  the exciting world of
  racing where the bikes
  can reach speeds of
  over 200mph...”

TWENTY YEARS AGO, in 1988, the first World Superbike Championship took place and was seen as just another race series. However, it is now a global phenomenon — one of motorcycle sport's biggest crowd-pullers, with factory teams from all the major Japanese manufacturers and (of course) Ducati.

Now that more European manufacturers intend to compete, the championship can only get stronger. Already attendance at the British round at Brands Hatch regularly tops six figures and is one of the largest sports events in the country.

World Superbikes is a contact sport like no other. Where else would rivals be fighting each other for the same piece of race track at over 200mph? Thanks to the strictly-enforced regulations, the bikes — based on machines anybody can buy locally — are very close to each other technically, promising hard-fought racing with plenty of thrills
and spills.

Capturing the excitement of the race, World Superbikes: The First 20 Years has been completely re-designed for a third edition and includes extensive new material. In this best-selling book, you will find the
full year-by-year history of World Superbikes — from the earliest beginnings right up to Toseland's dramatic title fight in 2007. Read all about the men, the machines, the politics and the title battles along with extensive results and statistics.

Great motorbike images fill the pages as the bikes lean over at impossible angles. One of the best — with Noriyuki Haga riding — is
on page 106. Haga won at Sugo and saved Yamaha's face before he moved on to Grands Prix. Another image, on page 136, shows Ben Bostrom who was moved sideways by Ducati but donned the Evel Knievel leathers and was fast again! Check out the picture of Max Biaggi at Monza on page 214 — his bike appears to defy gravity.

Packed with facts and anecdotes, World Superbikes: The First 20 Years is a great book with superb colour photographs of the sport that also include some unusual shots — on page 37 there is a picture of Terry Rymer standing up astride his bike with both hands raised in triumph (yes, I know…) after winning in New Zealand. And there's also a great picture of Raymond Roche, who had an altercation with a lady marshal, apologised later and gave her one of his crash helmets — but that didn't save him from a fine.

As well as having the widest possible variety of machinery, Superbike has always featured a colourful bunch of riders, from the charismatic Californian, Flyin' Fred Merkel, in the 1980s through to stars like Aaron Slight, Frankie Chilli and Carl Fogarty, the outspoken Lancastrian whose success on a Ducati revived interest in motorcylcle racing in the UK. More recently, the crown has been taken by multi-talented Briton James Toseland and tough Aussie Troy Bayliss.

The book also raises pertinent questions: How come Troy Corser could win the first two races of the year in 2001 in Spain, and never stand on the top box of the podium again? And how can Honda's new man, Tady Okada, winner of the Suzuka 8 Hour on a Superbike, appear so uncompetitive?

The book covers the years from 1988 through to 2007 with season results and interesting snippets: In 2001, the Benelli Tornado claimed to be unique in Superbike terms because — unusually — the racer came before the street bike. And did you know that, in 2003, The Ducati Cup Year, the Bologna Bullets won all 24 races with five different riders?

• World Superbikes: The First 20 Years (Third Edition) by Julian Ryder and Kel Edge with a Foreword by James Toseland is out now in hard-back and available from all good bookshops at an RRP of £25.00. ISBN: 978 1 84425 474 3.

"Looking at this superb book will rekindle all the fond memories I have of the championship and will give outsiders a glimpse of what World Superbikes really is all about" — World Superbike Champion James Toseland

Kel Edge has been photographing motorcycle sport for over 25 years. He was at the first WSB round at Donington in 1988 and has covered more Superbike races than any other photographer. He also works as
a journalist and has conducted the post-race interviews for the live television broadcast and the Paddock Show for a number of years. Julian Ryder commentated on the World Superbike Championship for Sky Sports TV.