1997 Superbike World Championship Explained

The 1997 Superbike World Championship was the tenth FIM Superbike World Championship season. The season started on 23 March at Phillip Island and finished on 12 October at Sentul after 12 rounds.

John Kocinski won the riders' championship with 9 victories and Honda won the manufacturers' championship.

Race calendar and results

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning rider	Winning team	Report
1	R1	Phillip Island	23 March	Aaron Slight	John Kocinski	John Kocinski	Castrol Honda	Report
	R2				Colin Edwards	Aaron Slight	Castrol Honda
2	R1	Misano	20 April	Akira Yanagawa	Pierfrancesco Chili	Pierfrancesco Chili	Gattolone Racing	Report
	R2				John Kocinski	John Kocinski	Castrol Honda
3	R1	Donington	4 May	Neil Hodgson	Pierfrancesco Chili	Aaron Slight	Castrol Honda	Report
	R2				Carl Fogarty	Carl Fogarty	Ducati Corse ADVF
4	R1	Hockenheim	8 June	Simon Crafar	John Kocinski	Aaron Slight	Castrol Honda	Report
	R2				Carl Fogarty	Carl Fogarty	Ducati Corse ADVF
5	R1	Monza	22 June	Scott Russell	Aaron Slight	John Kocinski	Castrol Honda	Report
	R2				Pierfrancesco Chili	Pierfrancesco Chili	Gattolone Racing
6	R1	Laguna Seca	13 July	Pierfrancesco Chili	Carl Fogarty	John Kocinski	Castrol Honda	Report
	R2				John Kocinski	John Kocinski	Castrol Honda
7	R1	Brands Hatch	3 August	Pierfrancesco Chili	Niall Mackenzie	Pierfrancesco Chili	Gattolone Racing	Report
	R2				Carl Fogarty	Carl Fogarty	Ducati Corse ADVF
8	R1	A1-Ring	17 August	Pierfrancesco Chili	Akira Yanagawa	Carl Fogarty	Ducati Corse ADVF	Report
	R2				Akira Yanagawa	Akira Yanagawa	Kawasaki Racing
9	R1	Assen	31 August	John Kocinski	Pierfrancesco Chili	John Kocinski	Castrol Honda	Report
	R2				Pierfrancesco Chili	Carl Fogarty	Ducati Corse ADVF
10	R1	Albacete	21 September	John Kocinski	John Kocinski	John Kocinski	Castrol Honda	Report
	R2				Simon Crafar	John Kocinski	Castrol Honda
11	R1	Sugo	5 October	Akira Yanagawa	Akira Yanagawa	Akira Yanagawa	Kawasaki Racing	Report
	R2				Noriyuki Haga	Noriyuki Haga	Yamaha World Superbike
12	R1	Sentul	12 October	John Kocinski	John Kocinski	John Kocinski	Castrol Honda	Report
	R2				John Kocinski	Carl Fogarty	Ducati Corse ADVF

Championship standings

Riders' standings

Riders entered into the European Superbike Championship—who scored points towards a separate championship— were not eligible to score World Championship points.^[1]

1997 final riders' standings^[2] ^[3] Pos Rider Bike AUS SMR GBR GER ITA USA EUR AUT NED ESP JPN INA Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 Honda 1 7 2 1 10 5 2 14 1 2 1 1 3 2 5 3 1 3 1 1 9 3 1 Ret 416 2 Fogarty Ducati 2 4 3 3 2 1 4 1 3 4 2 2 Ret 1 1 Ret 2 1 Ret Ret 13 Ret 3 1 358 3 Slight Honda Ret 1 4 2 1 3 1 Ret 2 5 7 10 6 8 3 2 4 4 2 3 6 4 2 4 343 4 Yanagawa Kawasaki 4 Ret Ret 5 DNS DNS 8 2 8 Ret 10 5 5 4 2 1 8 7 4 4 1 Ret 4 2 247 5 Crafar Kawasaki 3 3 5 7 3 4 Ret 6 4 7 4 Ret Ret 7 6 Ret 9 6 3 2 3 2 Ret Ret 234 6 Russell Yamaha 7 6 Ret 6 6 7 3 4 5 8 6 4 2 5 7 4 6 8 Ret 5 14 Ret 6 5 226 7 Chili Ducati Ret DNS 1 Ret Ret 2 5 7 7 1 Ret 6 1 Ret 4 Ret 3 2 5 7 12 Ret Ret Ret 209 8 Whitham Suzuki Ret 11 Ret Ret 8 10 14 3 6 3 8 Ret 7 9 10 6 7 11 Ret 10 DNS DNS 9 6 140 9 Hodgson Ducati Ret Ret 7 4 4 9 6 8 Ret 9 4 6 8 Ret 5 5 Ret 8 18 Ret Ret 7 137 10 Bontempi Kawasaki Ret 10 8 Ret 11 Ret 11 11 9 6 9 7 8 12 9 5 Ret 10 6 6 Ret Ret DNS DNS 118 11 Hale Suzuki Ret Ret Ret 12 15 Ret 9 Ret 10 9 14 Ret 9 11 11 7 11 Ret 8 9 21 10 8 Ret 87 12 Edwards Yamaha Ret 2 6 8 5 6 7 5 DNS DNS WD WD 79 13 Haga Yamaha 2 1 5 3 72 14 Riba Honda 10 17 9 9 18 15 NC 22 18 11 13 13 16 12 12 15 11 13 23 15 11 11 69 15 Jerman Kawasaki 12 Ret 13 Ret 20 17 16 16 15 16 15 13 Ret 15 17 13 16 14 13 20 28 14 10 9 50 16 Walker Yamaha 10 10 12 10 10 9 10 11 47 17 Schmid Kawasaki 13 9 13 10 14 11 13 12 9 12 46 18 Meklau Ducati 8 15 17 14 10 10 11 Ret DNS DNS 15 8 40 19 Duhamel Honda 3 3 32 20 Bayliss Suzuki 5 5 22 21 Rutter Honda 11 3 21 22 Reynolds Ducati 9 11 19 Ret 7 Ret 21 23 Emmett Ducati 14 12 Ret Ret 20 9 Ret 8 21 24 Suzuki 8 5 20 25 Haydon Ducati Ret 14 Ret 11 16 DSQ DNS Ret 12 13 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 15 19 26 Lavilla Ducati 13 13 DNS 13 Ret Ret 7 Ret 18 27 Serizawa Suzuki 10 6 17 28 Craggill Kawasaki 6 9 17 29 Mackenzie Yamaha 7 8 DSQ Ret 17 30 Lavielle Honda 10 10 19 16 17 Ret Ret 12 16 31 Suzuki Ducati 25 11 12 10 15 32 Kitagawa Suzuki 4 Ret 13 33 Kipp Yamaha 12 8 12 34 Lindholm Yamaha 12 Ret 12 12 12 35 Chandler Kawasaki 5 Ret 11 36 Takeda Honda 16 7 11 37 Takeishi Kawasaki 7 Ret 10 38 Ryō Kawasaki 17 8 9 39 Crevier Honda 11 12 9 40 Buckmaster Kawasaki Ret 8 8 41 Korpiaho Kawasaki 15 17 18 16 7 42 Kawasaki 13 13 6 43 Yates Suzuki Ret 11 5 44 Archibald Kawasaki 13 Ret 5 45 Giles Kawasaki 15 14 5 46 N. Fujiwara Yamaha 15 Ret 3 47 Häusle Ducati Ret 16 3 48 Picotte Suzuki 13 Ret 3 49 Delétang Yamaha 16 14 3 50 Wolfsteiner Kawasaki NC 19 2 51 Ruggia Yamaha 14 Ret 2 52 Niederkircher Suzuki 22 22 1 53 Emmerson Suzuki Ret 18 1 Riders not eligible to score points, with at least a top-15 finish Yoshikawa Yamaha 5 Ret 0 Giles Honda 9 10 0 Mark Suzuki 15 15 17 12 13 9 14 13 12 14 0 Cantalupo Ducati 11 13 Ret 19 21 20 20 15 17 22 19 17 23 Ret 14 17 0 Love Ducati 11 16 0 Ito Honda 11 Ret 0 Connell Ducati Ret 11 0 Stringer Kawasaki 12 16 0 Assirelli Yamaha 12 17 21 21 Ret Ret 0 Asai Ducati 24 12 0 Kamada Honda 22 13 0 Mrkývka Honda 14 15 22 21 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 19 21 25 18 Ret 20 15 18 0 Scatola Kawasaki 15 14 Ret DNS 0 Gruschka Yamaha Ret Ret 21 18 18 17 19 18 Ret 19 18 14 20 Ret 16 19 0 Krynock Suzuki 16 14 0 Sampson Kawasaki Ret Ret 14 Ret 0 Moss Honda 14 Ret 0 Esterer Kawasaki 16 DNS 20 19 24 19 20 15 0 Stafford Yamaha 15 19 0 Pos. Rider Bike AUS SMR GBR GER ITA USA EUR AUT NED ESP JPN INA Pts

Bold – Pole position Italics – Fastest lap

Manufacturers' standings

1997 final manufacturers' standings^[4]
Pos.	Manufacturer	AUS		SMR		GBR		GER		ITA		USA		EUR		AUT		NED		ESP		JPN		INA		Pts
R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1	Honda	1	1	2	1	1	3	1	14	1	2	1	1	3	2	3	2	1	3	1	1	6	3	1	4	486
2	Ducati	2	4	1	3	2	1	4	1	3	1	2	2	1	1	1	8	2	1	5	7	11	9	3	1	440
3	Kawasaki	3	3	5	5	3	4	8	2	4	6	4	5	5	4	2	1	8	6	3	2	1	2	4	2	359
4	Yamaha	7	2	6	6	5	6	3	4	5	8	6	4	2	5	7	4	6	8	10	5	2	1	5	3	301
5	Suzuki	5	5	Ret	12	8	10	9	3	6	3	8	11	7	9	10	6	7	11	8	9	4	5	8	6	205
Pos.	Manufacturer	AUS		SMR		GBR		GER		ITA		USA		EUR		AUT		NED		ESP		JPN		INA		Pts

External links

• Web site: 1997 FIM Superbike World Championship. superbike-archives.net.

References

1. Web site: 1997 World Superbike - Rules and Regulations. superbike-archives.net. 2 February 2023.
2. Web site: 1997 World Superbike - Riders Championship - Points Standings. superbike-archives.net. 2 February 2023.
3. Web site: 1997 FIM Superbike World Championship. superbike-archives.net. 2 February 2023.
4. Web site: 1997 World Superbike - Manufacturers Championship - Points Standings. superbike-archives.net. 2 February 2023.