Robin Miller: Is bike racing an extreme sport?

Is motorcycle racing an extreme sport? Many people, including the governing bodies, see it as getting too dangerous and are trying to make it safe or, at the very least, safer.

Nobody would dare argue against this and the organisers of the TT, a race known as the most dangerous race in the world, are going out of their way in promoting their efforts to reduce risk. Very different from many years ago when they put all the responsibility on the rider by saying ‘the throttle works both ways’.

But despite all the ‘Improvements’ made to many circuits, especially in Europe, it remains an extreme sport, much less from the ‘furniture’ , much more from the quantity of bikes travelling faster than ever before.

That is the appeal just as watching John McGuiness wrestle his 200 horsepower Superbike down Bray Hill at a speed not far short of 200mph had even hardened watchers stepping back while newcomers cannot believe their eyes.

And even Estoril WorldSBK had the fans gasping in disbelief as they witnessed the dozens of bikes, fairings clashing in outbraking battles from 150mph to 50mph, to get round corner one and the rest.

And all three Superbike races are no longer processional with three or four riders, maybe even five, fighting it out on rival makes and taking risks rarely seen in recent years in order to win the Championship. And unlike MotoGP we have British riders, led by Jonathan Rea surely one of the best we have ever produced, capable of being on that podium.

Whether an extreme sport or maybe only spectacular the question remains as to why World Superbikes or MotoGP does not attract the audience levels or the media coverage, except perhaps in countries like Spain or Italy, anywhere near that achieved by F1.

And yet even