Originally the track was 3.488 kilometres in length but in 1993 the facility received an upgrade to facilities and the track was lengthened to 4.060km. Misano has hosted a round of the SuperBike World Championship every season since 1991.

Steve Martin, 1999 Australian SuperBike Champion, talks us through a riders perspective of the Misano circuit.

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Misano is definitely one of the hardest tracks on the European circuit for tyre wear and bike set up. Gearing is also critical, one tooth too long and you can bog down out of some corners, too short and your hitting the rev limiter.

Heading down the start-finish straight in third I click back to second for the first corner, a flat out no room for error right hander that
really pushes the front . Second sounds slow but on our bikes that's always over 130 140 kph.

Turn two is also another balls out right hander that tightens up on itself. As I exit two I hit the brakes hard get the back moving a lot as I flick in for turn three, the first left hander of the track.

Turns three-four-five and six are all full lean angle left handers starting from first gear at three, to nearly flat out in fifth gear for turn six. This series of bends is where you can make or break your lap times . You really work the left hand side of the tyre to the max', not to mention your heart rate, if you get it wrong your history in a big way. I have geared my bike to use fifth down the back straight, before braking in to turn seven which is a 180 degree left.

This corner (turn seven) is cambered, which means you can get on the gas harder than you feel you can. I get a lot of wheel spin out of seven and it can be a bit hairy over the bumps when the tyre is old. I change up to third, short shift to fourth for drive on to the next straight, which has a small kink in it.

At the 100 metre marker I slam on the brakes, down the box in to second gear to set up for a tricky, and blind, right hand hairpin. I am always careful when I open the gas here as its easy to go from hero to zero with not a lot of grip on the exit.

I hold second down the next short straight, just brushing the rev limiter briefly before backing off for the chicane. You really have to muscle the bike through here, it's hard work.

The exit of the chicane is more like a motocross track than a road race circuit, it is really difficult to get the power to the ground on the way out. Up another gear before going all the way back to first for turn 13.

This is a hard left hairpin, another easy spot to get yourself in to trouble. After 13 we have a short straight which brings us to the final 'S' curve and on to the start finish straight again.

Well that's my lap of Misano, if any one knows any short cuts let me know before the weekend !

Steve Martin #99
DFX Racing Ducati Pirelli