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2016 marks the 29th season of the WorldSBK series since it came into being at the start of 1988. Now with a new full title of MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, teams and riders were busy testing ahead of the opening two rounds in Australia and Thailand, staged in February and March respectively.

Leading up to one of the most eagerly-anticipated campaigns ever, the WorldSBK.com team got together. What are the ten things we should be most excited about? Ahead of the European season, which kicks off in Aragon on Friday 1st April, we use this week to go through them. In no particular order…

The first back-to-back Champion of the century?
Since the Year 2000 and before Jonathan Rea, no less than ten different riders have become Superbike World Champion. Some of them went on to do it more than once, but none of them did it consecutively. In fact, no rider has won back-to-back crowns since Carl Fogarty in 1998 and 1999. Can Rea become the first WorldSBK rider to successfully defend a title since the turn of the new Millennium? The Northern Irishman has certainly started well, with 95 points from a potential 100 following the opening four races – matching his points total from after two rounds in 2015.

Racing on a Saturday
It’s been all-change in terms of race weekend schedule. There have always been two races in WorldSBK’s premier class, but never on different days in a permanent schedule. That is different in 2016, as the two races are shared across Saturday and Sunday at each of the rounds. This opens up possibilities for two very different races, especially if there is a change in the weather. It also puts more emphasis on Friday: only Practice Sessions 1 and 2 influence which ten riders go through into Superpole 2.

On Tuesday, Key Points of 2016 will continue with Part 2…