2003 World Superbike 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. 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".

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.

Season Calendar

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

Season Standings

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

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

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

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 Template:FlagiconNORSundby Dag Steinar Komatsu Sundby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 39 Alessandro Gramigni Nuvolari 391 Yamaha YZF-R1 40 Nick Medd Renegade Ducati Ducati 998RS 41 Robert Menzen Racing Team R. Menzen Suzuki GSX-R1000 42 Paul Mooijman Kruisinga Motoren Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 44 Stefan Nebel Elf Yoshimura Shafer Motorsp. Suzuki GSX-R1000 50 Marco Masetti Caracchi NCR Nortel Net. Ducati 996RS 57 Simone Conti Scuderia HF Suzuki GSX-R1000 60 Michael Rutter Renegade Ducati Ducati 998F02 61 John Reynolds Rizla Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 62 Sean Emmett ETI Racing Ducati 998RS 64 Yukio Kagayama Rizla Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 66 Mat Mladin Suzuki Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 67 Shane Byrne Monstermob Ducati Ducati 998F02 69 Karl Truchsess Remus Racing Austria Yamaha YZF-R1 70 Christian Zaiser Racing Team Zaiser Suzuki GSX-R1000 71 Martin Benito Isaac Acumoto Racing Team Yamaha YZF-R1 73 Steven Cutting Motorcycle Weaponry Suzuki GSX-R1000 74 Kenichiro Nakamura Blue Helmet MSC Honda VTR1000SP2 75 Alistair Maxwell Michelin Honda Honda CBR954RR M 76 Atsushi Watanabe Team Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 77 Hitoyasu Izutsu Team HRC Honda VTR1000SPW 78 Jay Normoyle Warren & Brown Lightpaths Suzuki GSX-R1000 79 Noriyasu Numata Team Foundatlon Ducati 996RS 82 Lorenzo Mauri Team Pedercini Ducati 998RS 89 Dean Ellison Firepower Ducati Ducati 996 90 Leon Haslam Renegade Ducati Ducati 998RS 93 Sébastien Gimbert SERT Suzuki GSX-R1000 96 Luca Pini Boselli Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 113 Paolo Blora Lucido Corse Ducati 996RS 120 Aaron Yates Suzuki Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000

Key Wildcard Rider