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Infront Motor Sports, rights holder to the World Superbike Championship series, has responded to the news that Ducati Corse will be leaving the series in 2011. Responding with an official press release, IMS’s message essentially boils down to poking holes in Ducati’s statement about technical regulations.

Stating that the 2009 season was dominated by the Ducati 1198 Superbike, sans one Ben Spies, the Italian firm has clearly been able to be competitive with the current formula. IMS goes on to basically say that WSBK is about more than one manufacturer, and can’t cater to Ducati’s whims even if they do have a lengthy history together. Check the press release after the jump.

After being unable to achieve the racing regulations in World Superbike that it desires, Ducati has announced that it has officially pulled out of WSBK racing in order to focus its technical efforts on MotoGP racing, and bringing new technology to its street motorcycles. While Ducati Corse will continue to provide motorcycles and support to private teams, the Italian company will not field a factory team in the 2011 season.

Although Xerox is apparently still game to foot the bill for Ducati’s WSBK effort, the title sponsor only wishes to do so if the factory team is winning races. This goal becomes increasingly more difficult for Ducati, who is finding the current 1198 Superbike not on equal footing performance-wise with the inline-four Japanese Superbikes. Closing the performance gap for Ducati means either the simple fix of adding larger throttle bodies to the existing race package, or the expensive choice of developing the 1198 motor further.

Kawasaki is at the track again with its 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R World Superbike platform, and this time at the helm is WSBK rider Tom Sykes. Sykes, who is picking up the slack for his injured teamamte Christopher Vermeulen, isn’t sure of his chances of staying with Team Green in 2011, but was obliged to help the team develop it’s new superbike. Kawasaki has had a horrible run of things in WSBK lately, despite killing its MotoGP program. Hoping to turnaround its poor results, Kawasaki has been teasing us with its WSBK development, which of course also clues us in to how the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R road bike will shape up. Photos and videos after the jump.

OTT caught up with John Hopkins at the AMA Pro Racing round in Mid-Ohio, and was able to ask the injured AMA racer about the differences between the bikes found in World Superbike and MotoGP, and how those differences affect how a rider approaches riding each particular type of racing motorcycle. Hopper of course has the unique perspective of riding not only in MotoGP, and WSBK, but also in AMA Superbike as well, and thus might be the most qualified person in talking about their relative pluses and minuses. Check the video after the jump.

Despite what you may be reading on the interwebernetz this morning, Max Biaggi has yet to renew his contract with Aprilia. Early reports are claiming that Biaggi has signed a two-year, €1 million/year contract with Aprilia that includes bonuses (likely performance based); however confirmation from the company says that’s not the case.

Aprilia, who is keen on giving Biaggi a pay cut next year, is close to winning its first WSBK title with the 39-year-old Italian at the helm. Meanwhile Biaggi is likely holding out for a pay increase, which is understandable since he’s been an unstoppable force this season.

During the rider debrief on Thursday we found Valentino Rossi looking in good form and ready for the race weekend at Laguna Seca. Noticeably better on his feet, the conversation actually turned from the Italian’s injury, and approached normalcy by centering once again on Rossi’s future.

However this time the speculation wasn’t about whether he’d ride for Ducati, but instead what Rossi would like to do after he finishes his MotoGP career. His answer? World Superbike. Read it for yourself in the Q&A after the jump.

From the official results of World Superbike’s stop at Brno, the FIM has once again determined that twin-cylinder motorcycles, i.e. Ducatis, will get another minimum weight reduction. Averaging more than a five point deficit over the last three WSBK events (Miller Motorsports Park, Misano, and Brno), WSBK rules require that twins be given another 3kg weight reduction, as the rules have been deemed to “favor” the 1000cc 4-cylinder motorcycles too heavily.

After crashing Saturday at Brno and injuring his knee, Christopher Vermeulen has bowed out of the World Superbike series for the remainder of the 2010 season. The Australian racer first injured his knee at WSBK’s opening round at Phillip Island, and has been plagued by the injury ever since. Now with his crash at Brno, Vermeulen has decided to persue a ligament replacement surgery that he had previously shelved until after this racing days were over.

World Superbike racing is in the Czech Republic this weekend, and Cal Crutchlow has shown himself to be the man to beat at Brno. Leading through all three Superpole sessions, the British rider easily sailed into the #1 grid spot for Sunday’s races. WSBK continues to show diversity on the grid, with every manufacturer having a bike up front…except Kawasaki (only one Team Green bike made it into the second Superpole round). With Crutchlow looking for his first win, Haslam looking to make up ground on Biaggi, and BMW looking for a top-step on the podium, racing action at Brno should be good come Sunday.

This week marks a first in recent World Superbike history: an Aprilia satellite team in WSBK. The news comes as Jakub Smrz and PATA B&G Racing have jumped ship from the Ducati 1198 platform to the race dominating Aprilia RSV4. The change isn’t a huge surprise for those close the B&G, as the team has been unhappy with Ducati since May because of issues of reliability and other technical issues with the Ducati.