1998 Superbike World Championship

1998 Superbike World Championship
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Supersport World Series

The 1998 Superbike World Championship was the eleventh FIM Superbike World Championship season. The season started on 22 March at Phillip Island and finished on 4 October at Sugo after 12 rounds.

The season saw the introduction of a revised qualifying system: after two timed qualifying sessions, the sixteen fastest riders were admitted to the newly created Superpole, which determined the first four rows of the starting grid; during this session each rider went on the track in reverse qualifying order to take a single flying lap.[1]

Carl Fogarty, who amassed three race victories during the season, won the riders' championship[2] for the third time after 1994 and 1995; Fogarty prevailed over Aaron Slight at the last round, while Troy Corser, who had entered the final event leading the standings, could not race due to injury.[3] Ducati won the manufacturers' championship.[4]

The season also saw Sentul (part of Indonesian Grand Prix) being dropped from 1998 calendar due to 1997 Asian Financial Crisis

  1. ^ "News – Fogarty and Haga share the glory; Mailbox Corner – That's Superpole". superbike.it. SBK Superbike International. April 1998. Archived from the original on 13 June 1998. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference riders was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Mark Pierson (5 October 1998). "Motorcycling: Fogarty flies to hat-trick and Doohan reigns again". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference manufacturers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).