With final testing on the 2.762-mile, 12-turn Phillip Island circuit now complete and the opening round of the 14-stop, 8-month-long 2009 Hannspree FIM Superbike World Championship set to run at the brilliantly quick, sweeping Australia track this Sunday, today, the traditional pre-event media conference took place in the Phillip Island circuit media center, a brief reprieve before practice and qualifying begins tomorrow. 11 World Superbike riders participated in the conference and here is what a few Alpinestars-supported riders had to say about it all.

“Yes, who would have thought a few years ago that I would have been racing a BMW in World Superbike!” exclaimed Troy Corser of BMW and his BMW S 1000 RR. It was a late start for us as I had to wait until my previous contract expired before I could test the bike, but we’ve made some good progress,” “Every time we’ve made a test, I’ve given them information and they’ve gone away and made some improvements, so fingers crossed we can keep doing that this year. Maybe for some people it’s a bit of a gamble, but I think I’ve got enough experience to get to the front.”

Three-time and reigning AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies also took his turn at the microphone, visible pleased with his place in the globetrotting series.

“The team is really good, the bike was a big change in switching to Yamaha from another manufacturer, and the tires are new,” offered the American rookie. “Even for Yamaha the bike is new, so it’s a big change for them too. It’s been going really good so far, but it’s going to be a tough year. There are a lot of fast guys around here and I’m used to racing pretty much one, now it’s ten who can win the title so it’s a really good series.”

After a long and illustrious stint of competing on works Yamaha WSB equipment, the mercurial Noriyuki Haga will ride a twin-cylinder Ducati in 2009 and is excited about it.

“The biggest difference is of course the engine characteristics, in acceleration especially,” explained Haga of the differences between the Japanese and Italian race machinery. “Turning for me is not so different so far, but the riding feels more smoothly and more comfortable. Because the bike is already ready for winning, always I have big pressure because I have to win this season.”

Eric Johnson