World Superbike will be celebrating its 25th anniversary at the Monza Round this coming weekend, offering Italian fans a unique opportunity to be able to get up close with the bikes and riders that since 1988 have helped to create the history of the championship.
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is one of the historic venues of the production-based series and due to its tradition and fascination there could not be a better place to host an event of this kind.
The first appointment is scheduled for Thursday at 1 pm with the inauguration of the exhibition “SBK 25 Years: the Top Bikes”, with around thirty of the most representative machines ever to grace the World Superbike racing stage, including amongst others the Honda RC30 with which Californian Fred Merkel won the first world title in 1988.
There will also be all the most important models from Aprilia, Bimota, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and also the Petronas FP1, which together with Benelli, is the only three-cylinder machine to have raced in Superbike.
Infront Motor Sports, WSB promoter and organiser, also bring to Monza many of the greatest world champions who have graced the last 25 years of racing in the five Continents.
The long list of legendary names includes Merkel (two world titles), Texan Doug Polen (two titles), New Zealand’s Aaron Slight, and Italians Fabrizio Pirovano and Pierfrancesco Chili.
High expectations also surround the attendance of Britain’s Carl Fogarty, the undisputed King’ of Superbike with 59 wins and 4 titles to his name, as well as the much-loved and never-forgotten Troy Bayliss (3 titles), all the way from Australia.
One of the key moments of the Monza weekend celebrations will be on Thursday evening with a Gala Dinner for the riders, team managers, organizers, sponsors, partners, journalists and photographers who have been a part of World Superbike history over the past 25 years.
The evening event will take place at the Palaghiaccio in Milan.
Race-going fans on the other hand can meet the legends on Saturday 5 May in the Paddock Show at the end of the Superpole press conference (approx.
4.
15 pm), where they will be available for autograph signing sessions.
The initiative will be repeated on Sunday 6 May after the race 2 press conference (approx 4.
20 pm).