Motorcycling: Superbike revival attracts five-year television deal

The World Superbike Championship's resurgence has been boosted by a long-term television deal after Eurosport announced a five-year deal yesterday to continue their coverage of the sport until 2009.

The World Superbike Championship's resurgence has been boosted by a long-term television deal after Eurosport announced a five-year deal yesterday to continue their coverage of the sport until 2009.

The series looked to be on the slide at the end of 2003 after defections from top riders and teams, but the title battle went down to the wire this season to rekindle interest.

This has been accompanied by talk of new factory entries to challenge the superiority of the champion James Toseland and the Ducati Fila team.

Paolo Flammini, the chief executive of the series organisers FG Sport, said: "The wide coverage guaranteed by the Eurosport channels represents one of the key assets of the Superbike and Supersport World Championships.

"With this extended agreement, manufacturers, sponsors, teams and fans will continue to enjoy a highly qualified distribution of our championships, which are moving from strength to strength with increasing audiences, both on TV and at the tracks," Flammini added.