FIM has announced the provisional permanent entry list for World Superbike, World Supersport and World Supersport 300. The grid of the three producation based world champioships is not too surprising, although we can welcome some interresting new entries and surprising changes, including three Indonesian riders in the Supersport 300 World Championship. So the future of Indonesian riders is bright, and the future of motosport in Indonesia also will be better with this opportunity.
In World Superbike the top-teams has remained the same as in 2017. Defending world champions Kawasaki remain unchanged with three times and current world champion Jonathan Rea, now MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), and 2013 world champion Tom Sykes. So do Ducati with Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri, Yamaha with Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark, Milwaukee Aprilia with Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori and Barni-Ducati with Xavi Forès.
But there are also some interresting changes. Leon Camier moves from MV Agusta to the Red Bull Honda Team. Alongside him will be young American Jake Gagne. Gagne das once raced the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, in 2017 he rode the US Superbike Championship for American Honda in the Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda Team. He was also substitute rider at Laguna Seca for fellow countryman Nicky Hayden who sadly passed away in a traffic accident some weeks before. Then Gagne was substitute rider again at Magny-Cours in France and at the seasons final at Losail, and there he convinced the Honda bosses to sign him as their permanent rider in 2018. Stefan Bradl who moved from MotoGP to World Superbike last year, was fast, but as he never found a way to get along with the bike and the team, the managers of Honda Europe decided not to work with him for another year. Camier tested the Honda at Jerez and did impressive progress, so this could be a team for surprises next season. There ia a new Honda team coming. German Triple M, who did a good job in Superstock 1000 will run Honda machinery and signed American PJ Jacobsen, who steps up from World Supersport.
Althea BMW lost both of his riders to MV Agusta. Jordi Torres to the MV Agusta World Superbike team, wher he took Camiers place, and Raffaele de Rosa who moves to MV Agusta´s factory World Supersport team. Althea BMW found a trustful new rider with Loris Baz, who comes back to World Superbike after Avintia Ducati did not sign him for 2018. The tall frenchman impressed testing the BMW, and he wants to proove he is still a World Superbike front runner.
Suzuki is back to World Superbike in 2018, but not with a factory effort but with Italian Grillini team. They have signed veteran Robby Rolfo and young talent, 17 year old Italian Gabriele Ruiu. As the minimum age for World Superbike is 18, he has to sit out the first five rounds. Yonny Hernández will be back in a World Championship, he has signed for Pedercini Kawasaki. Puccetti Kawasaki has signed Turkish talent Toprak Razgatlioglu, runner-up of the 2017 Superstock 1000 European Championship and protégé of World Supersport legend Kenan Sofuoglu.
The Ioda Racing Project of former Piaggio racing director Giampiero Sacchi seems to vanish also from the World Superbike Championship, after they pulled out from Grand Prix racing two years earlier. Neither his Aprilia Superbike nor his World Supersport 300 Yamaha is on the provisional permanent entry list. Argentinian Leonardo Mercado, who surprised with solid performances this year, found a new ride with Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki.
In World Supersport the title winning GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team comes unchanged with world champion Lucas Mahias and Italian wild boy Federico Caricasulo. Puccetti Kawasaki signed Japanese Hikari Okubo alongside five times world champion Kenan Sofuoglu. Kallio Racing lost both Niki Tuuli and Sheridan Morais and signed Belgian Loris Cresson. The second rider is yet to be confirmed. Niki Tuuli moved to CIA Landlord Insurance Honda, who lost Jules Cluzel. The french Vice-Worldchampion moved to the new NRT Yamaha team alongside Austrian talent, IDM Supersport champ Thomas Gradinger. MV Agusta signed Raffaele de Rosa and Ayrton Badovini. Randy Krummenacher comes back to World Supersport after a year in World Superbike with Bardahl Evan Bros. Yamaha, and another very serious contender will be former 125 world champion Mike di Meglio, who comes with the Endurance world champion GMT94 squad.
In World Supersport 300 the selecting commission had a hard time. More then 80 appications came for a grid of 36 permanent entries. After former Moto3-amazon Ana Carrasco on her Kawasaki Ninja 300 became the first woman to win a world championship race at Portimao in September, she is joined in the 300 class by former Moto3-sister Maria Herrera who rides for Yamaha MS Racing alongside Daniel Valle.
Great news for Indonesia: After bLU cRU YAMAHA MOTOXRACING, the official factory supported team of Yamaha gave a wild card ride to Galang Hendra Pratama at the final race at Jerez, that the 18 year old VR46 student won, he got a full season ride with the team. But the other good news is he is not the only Indonesian, as Imanuel Putra Pratna is riding his second World Supersport 300 season with TERRA E MOTO Yamaha. And last but not least an Indonesian-Spanish sqad, the PERTAMINA-ALMERIA Racing Team comes with Ali Adriansyah Rusmiputro and Manuel Gonzalez.
Really lot of chance for Galang because he still very young and the way he won in Jerez was really spectacular, the way he overtook on the last corner very smooth with good technic. Hope he can improve more and more and step by step go to the next level of championship. Also for Imanuel who already have lot of experience in riding and the same wish also goes to Ali Adriansyah. The important thing for the young rider that sometime they forget after being little famous is focus. But with the attitude of three best Indonesian riders who now joining on the WSS 300, hope all the focus still there until acchive the high Dream of them.
Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha are now joined by KTM, as the RC 390 R is homologated now for Supersport 300. The Austrian manufacturer comes with a big blast as we are used from them. They have six bikes with two teams. One is run by their long time German partner Freudenberg Racing, who signed up Luca Grünwald, a former Moto3-contender, who spent 2017 racing in IDM Superbike, but now steps back to a small bike again for another world championship effort. The 24 year old is KTM testrider, so he can bring lots of contribution to the team. Alongside him Freudenberg comes with Maximilian Kappler and Jan Ole Jähnig, the first two of this years German Supersport 300 championship. The other crew comes from Holland, KTM Fortron Racing is bringing the first three of the Dutch KTM Junior Cup.
It will be a new chaptor in the history of the production derived world championship, as new rules were implemented with rev limits, destined to bring the to guys closer together like the control software did in MotoGP. Superstock 1000 is running its last year, so in future SSP300, SSP and SBK will make a three-step championship, like we know from MotoGP. And the factories have already started to build up their future riders, like you can see on Alfonso Coppola, whom the Yamaha factory team promoted to World Supersport after loosing out the first World Supersport 300 title by just one point or 7 hundreds of a second.
dsulistiyo Love Valentino Rossi
