The wait is over, the long winter months draw to a close (sort of) and at long last the motorcycle racing calendar revs up this weekend with the first World Superbikes races from Philip Island-hoorah!

It seems like, and in fact it is, months since the last race in 2009, and in between we have heard which racers are going where, how their winter testing has gone, some good some not so good, but there’s no doubting, to us Brits anyway, that the 2010 World Superbikes is the going to be the one to watch.

This years line up could prove to be very interesting indeed with seven Brits on the grid plus some already proven world beating riders in the form of Nori Haga – will this be the year for him? Michel Fabrizio, Haga’s teammate who was snapping around his ankles last year when there was a bit of hoohar over some of his lack of team tactics that stopped Haga winning the championship, resulting in team manager Davide Tardozzi flitting to BMW. Talking of BMW we can’t discount former world champion Troy Corser or for that matter teammate Ruben Xaus.

Pre-season testing has given some indication of just how close this years riding is likely to be with no rider clearly leading the pack. Most of the Brits have done well pre-season, alternately leading the timing sheets, as well as some of the older hands. Going into Philip Island it’s anyones race. Although sadly we hear that the new Yamaha R1 is proving to be a challenge for teammates double World Superbikes champion James Toseland and 2009 World Supersport champion Cal Crutchlow. That is not what either riders needs going into the opening round particularly Toseland who is most certainly back (from Moto GP) to prove a point.

You can check out the form at http://www.worldsbk.com

There’s no doubting that this years WSB is going to be really exciting. C’mon On!

If you want to do a bit more than watch the action from your armchair, how about winning an Yamaha R6 by choosing riders from all three main championships – WSB,Moto GP and British Superbikes(BSB)? You can do just that by picking your fantasy teams in the MCN competition by clicking here

The action starts Saturday 3am on Eurosport2 with Superpole.

Why not take part in my poll to see who you think will win World Superbikes this year:

Click Here