2003 Superbike World Championship season

The 2003 Superbike World Championship season was the 16th F.I.M. Superbike World Championship season. The season started on March 2 at Valencia, and finished on October 19 at Magny-Cours after 12 rounds.

Rule changes for 2003 allowed 1000cc machines (either twins, triples or four-cylinder) to race. The recent rule changes in MotoGP to allow 4-stroke engines meant that the Japanese manufacturers had focused their resources there leaving the Superbike World Championship with limited factory involvement^[1] With only Ducati Suzuki and also new for 2003 Carl Fogarty’s Foggy Petronas as the only factory teams. As a result of most of the field being Ducati motorcycles the championship was given the derogatory title of "the Ducati Cup".^[2]

The Factory Ducati Team entered the only 2 Ducati 999s in the field, taking 20 wins from 24 races in a season where all races were won by Ducati. Neil Hodgson won the rider's championship and Ducati won the manufacturer's championship.

[edit] Season Calendar

No	Date	Round	Circuit	Race 1 Winner	Race 2 Winner	Report
1	March 2	Spain	Valencia	Neil Hodgson	Neil Hodgson	Report
2	March 30	Australia	Phillip Island	Neil Hodgson	Neil Hodgson	Report
3	April 27	Japan	Sugo	Neil Hodgson	Neil Hodgson	Report
4	May 18	Italy	Monza	Neil Hodgson	Neil Hodgson	Report
5	June 1	Germany	Oschersleben	Neil Hodgson	James Toseland	Report
6	June 15	United Kingdom	Silverstone	Neil Hodgson	Neil Hodgson	Report
7	June 22	San Marino	Misano	Rubén Xaus	Rubén Xaus	Report
8	July 13	United States	Laguna Seca	Pierfrancesco Chili	Rubén Xaus	Report
9	July 27	United Kingdom	Brands Hatch	Shane Byrne	Shane Byrne	Report
10	September 07	Netherlands	Assen	Rubén Xaus	Neil Hodgson	Report
11	September 28	Italy	Imola	Rubén Xaus	Rubén Xaus	Report
12	October 19	France	Magny-Cours	Neil Hodgson	Rubén Xaus	Report

[edit] Season Standings

[edit] Rider Standings

Pos Rider Bike ESP AUS JPN ITA GER GBR SMR USA GBR NED ITA FRA Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 Hodgson Ducati 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 5 2 1 2 4 1 489 2 Xaus Ducati 2 2 2 2 4 4 7 5 3 3 1 1 1 4 1 2 1 1 2 1 386 3 Toseland Ducati 4 3 5 3 5 4 5 3 1 2 4 2 3 6 3 4 5 2 271 4 Laconi Ducati 5 6 4 2 7 2 4 4 4 4 6 3 4 4 4 8 4 3 2 6 267 5 Lavilla Suzuki 7 6 3 7 5 2 3 2 2 4 5 5 7 6 3 4 3 4 4 256 6 Walker Ducati 3 4 7 6 6 6 5 3 9 8 5 8 5 3 3 5 8 5 3 3 234 7 Chili Ducati 3 3 5 3 2 11 7 7 3 1 9 7 3 5 5 197 8 Martin Ducati 6 5 4 9 15 9 7 6 6 6 9 14 9 11 6 7 5 139 9 Pedercini Ducati 8 9 10 14 7 10 10 9 10 11 11 8 6 10 12 14 6 11 112 10 Borciani Ducati 9 10 9 10 13 13 8 8 7 9 10 13 11 14 10 9 14 13 10 11 14 111 11 Sanchini Kawasaki 13 13 12 11 10 14 12 11 12 13 14 9 11 9 8 15 15 10 12 8 8 10 10 108 12 Corser Petronas 7 5 8 12 13 12 14 7 10 8 6 9 7 7 8 107 13 Borja Ducati 14 8 12 15 10 9 7 12 11 7 12 11 9 9 7 87 14 Clementi Kawasaki 11 14 11 11 8 13 14 10 13 13 13 8 7 9 9 76 15 Bussei Ducati 11 14 12 11 13 10 12 12 7 6 52 16 Byrne Ducati 1 1 50 17 Reynolds Suzuki 6 10 2 10 42 18 Iannuzzo Suzuki 12 9 8 8 15 7 37 19 Gramigni Yamaha 11 11 12 15 11 11 15 13 12 12 37 20 Kagayama Suzuki 5 5 10 9 35 21 Haslam Ducati 10 7 6 6 35 22 García Ducati 10 12 8 12 10 28 23 Rutter Ducati 8 9 8 23 24 Izutsu Honda 6 6 20 25 Mladin Suzuki 4 13 26 Haydon Petronas 12 15 9 12 27 Fuertes Suzuki 15 15 14 13 11 12 28 Emmett Ducati 5 11 29 Russo Ducati 13 15 13 13 15 11 30 Yates Suzuki 6 10 31 Ellison Ducati 11 12 9 32 Gimbert Suzuki 8 8 33 Watanabe Suzuki 8 8 34 Foti Ducati 15 14 14 15 14 8 35 Tortoroglio Honda 15 15 12 6 36 Stey Honda 13 13 6 37 Saiger Yamaha 13 14 15 6 38 Zaiser Suzuki 12 4 39 Nakamura Honda 14 14 4 40 Pedersoli Ducati 13 3 41 Blora Ducati 13 3 42 Protat Yamaha 14 15 3 43 Liverani Yamaha 14 2 44 Pini Suzuki 15 15 2 45 Mrkyvka Ducati 15 15 2 Pos Rider Bike ESP AUS JPN ITA GER GBR SMR USA GBR NED ITA FRA Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Purple Did not finish (Ret) Not classified (NC) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Blank Did not participate Injured (INJ) Excluded (EX)

[edit] Manufacturers Standings

Pos	Manufacturer	ESP		AUS		JPN		ITA		GER		GBR		SMR		USA		GBR		NED		ITA		FRA		Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1	Ducati	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	600
2	Suzuki	7	6	3	7	5	2	3	2	8	8	5	2	4	5	4	5	7	2		3	4	3	4	4	306
3	Kawasaki	11	13	11	11	11	8	14	12	11	12	13	14	9	11	9	8	13	13	8	7	8	8	10	9	130
4	Petronas	12	7	5	8	9	12	13		12	14			7	10	8				6	9	7	7	8		118
5	Yamaha		11	14		12	11	11	11	10		12	12	12	15				11	11	15	13	12	14	12	69
6	Honda					6	6		15							12								13	13	31
Pos	Manufacturer	ESP		AUS		JPN		ITA		GER		GBR		SMR		USA		GBR		NED		ITA		FRA		Pts

[edit] Participants

No Rider Team Motorcycle Tyre 4 Troy Corser Foggy PETRONAS Racing Petronas FP1 M 5 Ivan Clementi Kawasaki Bertocchi Kawasaki ZX-7RR D 6 Mauro Sanchini Kawasaki Bertocchi Kawasaki ZX-7RR D 7 Pierfrancesco Chili Team PSG-1 Ducati 998RS D 8 James Haydon Foggy PETRONAS Racing Petronas FP1 M 9 Chris Walker HM Plant Ducati Ducati 998F02 D 10 Gregorio Lavilla Alstare Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 D 11 Ruben Xaus Ducati Fila Ducati 999F03 M 16 Sergio Fuertes MIR Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 D 19 Lucio Pedercini Team Pedercini Ducati 998RS D 20 Marco Borciani D.F.X. Racing Team Ducati 998RS P 23 Jiri Mrkyvka JM SBK Team Ducati 998RS D 26 Luca Pedersoli Team Pedercini Ducati 998RS D 27 Mark Heckles Team Rumi Honda VTR1000SP2 M 28 Serafino Foti Team Pedercini Ducati 998RS D 31 Vittorio Iannuzzo Alstare Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 D 33 Juan Bautista Borja D.F.X. Racing Team Ducati 998RS P 35 Nello Russo Team Pedercini Ducati 998RS D 38 Giancarlo De Matteis Caracchi NCR Nortel Net. Ducati 998RS D 48 David Garcia Caracchi NCR Nortel Net. Ducati 998RS D 51 Davide Messori UnionBike GiMotorsport Yamaha YZF-R1 D 52 James Toseland HM Plant Ducati Ducati 998F02 D 55 Régis Laconi Caracchi NCR Nortel Net. Ducati 998RS D 68 Bertrand Stey White Endurance Honda VTR1000SP2 D 91 Walter Tortoroglio White Endurance Honda VTR1000SP2 D 92 Frederic Protat UnionBike GiMotorsport Yamaha YZF-R1 D 98 Gianmaria Liverani UnionBike GiMotorsport Yamaha YZF-R1 D 99 Steve Martin D.F.X. Racing Team Ducati 998RS P 100 Neil Hodgson Ducati Fila Ducati 999F03 M 15 Giovanni Bussei Ducati Austin Ducati 998RS 22 Horst Saiger Remus Racing Austria Yamaha YZF-R1 29 Giuseppe Zannini Team Pro.Con. Ducati 998RS 32 Eric Bostrom Kawasaki Road Racing Kawasaki ZX-7RR 36 Sundby Dag Steinar Komatsu Sundby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 39 Alessandro Gramigni Nuvolari 391