The British Superbike season starts in April, and the first BSB Official Test 2016 was held today at Silverstone as the riders got to show off their bikes ahead of the championship, which opens back at the Northamptonshire circuit on the weekend of the 8th-10th April. Reigning champion Josh Brookes is not in the series this year as he heads off to World Superbikes, although there are of course new riders to BSB, notably for me Glenn Irwin, who is an alumnus of the same school as me, Larne Grammar. With Jonathan Rea, the current World Superbike champion also having gone to the same school, I’m beginning to think I missed the day when motorbike skills were taught…
The British Superbikes calendar for 2016 has the usual nine weekends of racing followed by the final three “showdown” events that will see them leave the UK and head to the Netherlands for a round at the Assen circuit, which has been part of the series since 2012.
I popped along to Silverstone to the test day to have a look, and there was plenty going on in changeable conditions with a dry start to the day giving way to a wet end, although the session was just coming to an end when the heaviest rain was starting to fall. Here are a few photos from my trip…
