WSB at Silverstone

The World Superbike champion arrives at the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire this weekend (May 27-29), and preparations are well under way to make this the biggest and best biking event held at the circuit to date.

The first major change is to use the shorter 3.6km International track, as used by the British Superbike championship, rather than the longer 5km GP circuit, in an effort to provide the fans with more action.

Tickets are now available for the race weekend, which includes the Superbike races, Supersport, and the 600cc and 1000cc Superstock championships. Entry on Friday is free, Saturday qualifying costs £20 on the day (£15 in advance), and race day tickets are £40 (£35 in advance).

Two British riders will be making wildcard appearances in the World Supersport championship, with Craig Jones and Cal Crutchlow riding for the Northpoint Honda Racing team.

But before the action kicks off on track, several of the top WSB riders, including James Toseland, Chris Walker, Troy Corser and Chris Vermeulen will be taking on a host of ex-Premiership footballers in a pre-race five-aside football match. We’ll be there to photgraph and vide to the drama when the motorcycle stars take on former England players Les Ferdinand and Mark Bright, amongst others.

And the football stars will then be treated to pillion rides around the track on the back of a Xerox Ducati World Superbike. Although the match and pillion rides won’t be open to the public, there will be free access to both the circuit and paddock, including the SBK Paddock Show, with riders attending to sign autographs and meet fans.

And if you’d like to meet up with MCN staff and fellow www.motorcyclenews.com readers, follow the Related Topics link, right, to find out when and where we’ll be meeting up.

Keep checking www.motorcyclenews.com for the latest news in the run-up to the event, and for live coverage from the circuit throughout the race weekend.