2011 calendar confirmation promises a season of highlights

The FIM has handed down the updated 2011 WSBK calendar and as was the case in 2010 it features 13 rounds, which will take place at some of the world's most evocative and iconic racetracks.

The season opener takes place at the incomparable seaside circuit of Phillip Island, one of the fastest and most open circuits in the entire world of racing (photo). It, like many others, is an old friend of WSBK racing and it will of course feature as an official pre-season test venue, shortly before race weekend, on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22. Raceday itself will be Sunday, 27 February 2011 - make a note of it now. At Phillip Island World Supersport will also make its only non-European appearance of the year.

Early springtime at Donington Park will echo the very beginnings of WSBK in 1988, with this brilliant motorcycle racing venue all ready to welcome back WSBK racing after a year's absence. March 27 will be raceday, for the first of two races to be held in the UK next year.

April 17 is the day for yet another classic WSBK venue, Assen, while the first of three Italian-based WSBK rounds come along at super-fast Monza, on May 8. The normal European theatre of operations is left behind for a short period after Monza, and the Superbike class alone heads to America and the Miller Motorsports Park this year, for a race on Monday May 30 - on the Memorial Day holiday. Note that there will be no Supersport World Championship round at Miller in 2011, but the programme will see the reintegration of a round of the AMA Superbike Championship.

Two race weekends in a row will be enjoyed in June, the first being the San Marino Round at Misano on June 12 and then a new adventure beckons for the full WSBK travelling circus, the debut of the Motorland Aragon Circuit in Spain on June 19.

The wide corners and chicanes of Brno form round eight on July 10; the even faster layout of Silverstone has its latest taste of WSBK action on July 31. Double the thrills for British fans, and they will have several top riders to cheer on again, as they did in 2010.

August is a race-free month for all WSBK classes, with action reconvening at the historic Nürburgring circuit on September 4. An intense end to the season sees three European rounds, Imola, Magny Cours and Portimao, all coming along within a four-weekend period.

Imola has been reconfirmed on September 25, Magny-Cours in France is the penultimate round of the year on October 2, while instant classic Portimao is again the venue for the final round of the season, on October 16. Portimao will, in fact, bracket the WSBK season neatly, as it hosts the first official test of the year, between 26 and 28 January.

Ten rounds remain in the Superstock classes, as there will be no races for those classes in Donington, and their season gets underway at Assen, on April 17.