Spaniard Pere Riba won the opening round of this year's championship at Valencia on a Ten Kate Honda and leads the championship with 25 points.  

"Phillip Island is a circuit I really like," says Riba. "But I'm conscious of not trying too hard early in the weekend. It's been six weeks since we raced and every rider will be keen to make a strong impression from the first session on Friday morning. Phillip Island will take some thought, it's the first time there with this machine and we need to keep improving the machine during Friday and Saturday."

Italian Yamaha rider Piergiorgio Bontempi lies second in the Supersport points standings, virtue of his second place at Valencia, with German Christian Kellner, also Yamaha-mounted, third.

Both Australia's Karl Muggeridge and Japan's Katsuaki Fujiwara will make their debuts at the track on the GSX-R600 and after good results first time out, both riders are aiming to top the podium. 

Karl Muggeridge - "I'm really looking forward to Phillip Island and racing at 'home'. I say home because I live in Europe now, so it's always great to race back in Australia and meet up with old friends. I like Phillip Island and I think it'll be good for us. It's quite fast and flowing and a real racer's track. We're still all learning about the 2001 GSX-R600 Suzuki, but it's got good potential and as the season goes on, I'm sure the results are going to improve."

Australia's works Kawasaki motorcycle rider Andrew Pitt goes into this Sunday's second round of the World Supersport Championship at Phillip Island keen to erase memories of his frustrating and incident-packed debut in the series on the Victorian circuit 12 months ago.  "Xaus rolled off the throttle for an instant as he pulled a 'tear-off' from his visor," said Pitt. "When he slowed I was in the slip-stream with nowhere to go and the front of my bike slammed into the back of the Ducati and wrecked the fairing.   "Up until then everything had gone really well in qualifying and the way the race was going I thought a podium finish was possible. What happened was disappointing and for sure it was a setback, so hopefully things will go better on race-day this year."  The 25-year-old accountant and British team-mate Iain MacPherson have prepared for round two by riding their works Kawasakis in the Shark Super Series at 4.5km Phillip Island earlier this month.  "We had the bikes sent out from Germany a little earlier, with the aim of getting some extra track time at Phillip Island," said Pitt. "Importantly, it gave us the chance to work on our bike set-up and test some tyres for this weekend.  "The Kawasaki isn't the fastest bike out there in a straight line, but Phillip Island is the type of track where things even out over a lap. We can carry good rolling-corner speed so I think we'll be competitive."

A trio of Australian Honda riders will also be out to impress on their home soil this weekend. Castrol Honda's Chris Vermeulen crashed out of ninth place in the opening round and will be want to turn that disappointment into joy. Since the March 11 season opener in Spain Vermeulen has won the opening round of the British Supersport championship - as a wild card rider - at Donington Park but was later disqualified from the results due to machine irregularities.

Vermeulen is joined by fellow, Honda-mounted countrymen Adam Fergusson and Kevin Curtain as the Australian riders aim to give their home fans something to cheer.

Fergusson - the Phillip Island lap record holder - makes his championship debut on the Alpha Technik Honda after missing the opening round of the season after cracking his pelvis in a test session in February but is confident that it will not hold him back this weekend. "I had a ride on my 2000 Supersport bike at Winton on Monday.  I felt pretty good on it and my body held up okay.  I would really like to have a good result at the Island this weekend, for my first race back, but I also have to be aware that we have ten races left this year, and I cant win the championship lying on the ground. 

"Both myself and the rest of the Alpha Technik Castrol Honda team are really looking forward to getting in the thick of the action, and hopefully we can get on the podium. The Honda CBR has proved so far to be the superior bike out there, and I think that we can keep it there.... Roll on Sunday!"

Curtain, on a BKM Honda, arrives at Phillip Island having taken fifth place in the Spanish opener and will also be keen to impress in front of the home crowd.

Local Radar's Team Yamaha riders Robbie Baird and Jamie Stauffer will take on the world's best supersport riders as the `wildcard' entries for this weekend's second round of the World Supersport Championships.

The Yamaha duo will have a pair of specially built Yamaha R6 Supersport bikes for the event, as the WSS runs under different rules than the Australian Supersport championship, featuring a wide number of engine upgrades and the inclusion of close ratio gearboxes. The bikes have been prepared in the team's Sydney workshop in recent weeks.

Both Baird and Stauffer will be making their World Supersport Championship debuts, but for Baird, he has had one previous appearance in the World Superbike Championship in 1995. Both riders will be hopeful of strong performance but appreciate the work they have ahead, especially as this is a one-off event during the Australian race program for 2001.

"I would like to be able to arrive at Phillip Island feeling confident that I can score a good result, but I do know how hard the competition is going to be down there," said Queenslander Robbie Baird. "This will be my first race of the year aboard the Yamaha R6, but I'm confident that the team has prepared a bike that will be competitive. The FIM spec Supersport bikes will put out a bit more horsepower than the ones that we race locally, but the overseas riders will also have some very competitive machinery at their disposal. In some ways I'll be taking it as it comes, but I will also be trying to get the best possible result that I can at what will be one of the most important race meetings of the year for us."

For Baird's 21-year-old teammate Jamie Stauffer, the Phillip Island event will be a baptism of fire. Last year he was the highest placed privateer rider in the Australian Supersport Championship and it is that result that earned him a wildcard for this event.

"I tested the FIM-spec bike last week and it felt great," said Stauffer. "The bike develops a bit more horsepower than the one I raced last year and I'm confident of being able to set some quick lap times at the Island. It's by far the most important race that I've ever been involved in and at this point I'm a bit nervous, but excited, to see how well I'll go. It will also be an important weekend for the team as I am competing in both of the Supersport events, so it will be important to get a good finish there as well."

Team manager Dave `Radar' Cullen is optimistic about his teams chances in the World Supersport race and is looking forward to witnessing the outcome of the Yamaha Aussie Supersport events.

"We will have our work cut out for us against the World Supersport competitors," said Cullen. "It is a tall order for any of the local teams here to build bikes for a one-off event such as this, but we will definitely be giving them a run for their money. I think both Robbie and Jamie have the ability, so hopefully they will get the results they deserve." 

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after round 1): Riba 25, Bontempi 20, Kellner 16, Fujiwara 13, Curtain 11, Muggeridge 10, Cogan 9, Guareschi 8, Pirovano 7, Daemen 6, Pitt 5, Casoli 4, Lindholm 3, Hanson 2, Foret.

Andrew Pitt profile - Chris Vermeulen profile

Karl Muggeridge profile - Katsuaki Fujiwara profile