Canadian Steps Up to WSBK

The Effenbert Liberty Racing Team has decided to withdraw from the 2012 World SuperStock championship but they're not deserting their new SuperStock rider: 2011 Canadian Superbike Champion Brett McCormick ... who has now been promoted to World SuperBike. Effernbert will consolidate their racing team budgets allowing them to run four riders in WSBK. Brett's teammates are Sylvain Guintoli, Jakub Smrz and Maxime Berger and he'll be on track with them for the next round at Imola in two weeks. The Canadian roadracing series (and tracks) are pretty lame so it's quite an accomplishment for a Canadian to make it to this level. Go Brett.

Biaggi Shows What Can Do When He Wants

A bit late with this post, but if you didn't already know, things didn't quite work out as expected for Checa at Phillip Island. With a neck-snapping, lightningbolt of a highside, Carlos was spat out of the lead in the first race. Biaggi made good use of the opportunity and rode his smooth as silk lines to finish first. In Race 2, Checa rode to first place as might be expected, but the star of the show was Biaggi again. He made contact with Tom Sykes, ran off the track on the first lap and regained the paved surface in a distant last place. He carved his way through the pack and made it all the way back to second place which is very likely where he would've finished anyway. Even if you're not a fan of the little Roman, you've got to be impressed. So, Checa didn't run away with the Championship lead in the first round ... leader on the board is Max Biaggi ... for now anyway.