WSBK is looking a little healthier this year with the probability of 24 bikes on the grid if the published list of entrants today is any indication.

• (3) Max Biaggi / ITA / Alitalia Aprilia RSV4
• (58) Eugene Laverty / Ireland / Alitalia Aprilia RSV4
• (7) Carlos Checa / Spain / Althea Ducati 1198 R
• (34) Davide Giugliano / Italy / Althea Ducati 1198 R
• (50) Sylvain Guintoli / France / Team Effenbert-Liberty Ducati 1198 R
• (96) Jakub Smrz / Czech Republic / Team Effenbert-Liberty Ducati 1198 R
• (33) Marco Melandri /Italy / BMW Motorrad S1000RR
• (91) Leon Haslam / Great Britain / BMW S1000RR
• (4) Hiroshi Aoyama / Japan / Honda World Superbike CBR1000RR
• (65) Jonathan Rea / Great Britain / Honda World Superbike CBR1000RR
• (84) Michel Fabrizio / Italy / BMW Motorrad Italia S1000RR
• (86) Ayrton Badovini / Italy / BMW Motorrad Italia S1000RR
• (78) Lorenzo Zanetti / Italy / Pata Racing Ducati 1198 R
• (17) Joan Lascorz / Spain / Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R
• (66) Tom Sykes / Great Britain / Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R
• (36 Leandro Mercado / Argentina / Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R
• (44 David Salom / Spain / Team Pedercin Kawasaki ZX-10R
• (21) John Hopkins / USA / Crescent Suzuki GSX-R 1000
• Leon Camier / Great Britain / Crescent Suzuki GSX-R 1000
• Mark Aitchison / Australia / Grellini BMW S1000RR
• (121) Maxime Berger / France / Team Liberty Ducati 1198 R
• (19) Chaz Davies / Great Britain / ParkingGO Aprilia RSV4
• (35) Raffaele De Rosa / Italy / Pro Ride Motorsports Honda CRB1000RR
• (59) Niccolò Canepa / Italy / Team Roma Ducati 1198 R

Note that there are some number changes. Despite being the defending champion, Carlos Checa will continue to use his familiar #7. Max Biaggi is back to his usual #3 and Hiroshi Aoyama will carry over his familiar #4 from MotoGp. John Hopkins will carry the #21 made famous by Troy Bayliss after Troy agreed to “un” retire it. Despite the fact that this list shows the Italian airline, Alitalia as Aprilia’s sponsor, in fact Alitalia has finished its sponsorship and Aprilia has not yet replaced them as their naming rights sponsor. The last-minute inclusion of Raffaelle d Rosa (from Moto2) is notable as is the omission of Noriyuki Haga whose career at WSBK certainly seems to be over. He will be missed.

Another year over and a new one just begun. Personally, I’m hoping for a slightly better 2012 than 2011 was for purely selfish reasons.

2011 began with me still in a wheelchair and only 2 months since my crash on Macquarie Pass. My wife was still suffering the debilitating effects of Graves Disease, a thyroid ailment, and was being treated for that plus trying to care for a seriously injured husband. Her mother had passed away a month before and the house was still filled with memories and memorabilia of her with which she had neither the time nor the inclination to deal.

Then, in February, her brother suddenly passed away with liver failure after a long battle with alcoholism. He was only 55, younger than her. To say that the family was devastated again is an understatement.

For her, the rest of the year has consisted of dealing with the after-effects, both physical and emotional of these two upheavals, plus becoming the sole bread-winner in the household. Rushing home from work to care for an invalid partner when you’re already exhausted is not a recipe for a wonderful life. Still, we managed it and trying to ensure that she didn’t have to bear the burden entirely alone was one of the main catalysts for my recovery.

That and her inspired suggestion that I “try and restore that old bike out the back”. If ever there was a project that would cover all the necessary bases in my recovery, physical, emotional and psychological, that was it.

So the year consisted of my frenetic attempts to do anything and everything that would take me from being a wheelchair-bound dependent into a fully functioning human being again. And, I’m pleased to say that, while the leg is still not fully recovered (it may take another year, at least, my physio people tell me) I can now do pretty much what I want, within those limitations.

And, 2012 should be the year where I bring my project to fruition and see it on display (and, hopefully, ridden), at the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway on the last weekend in March. It has been a labour of love and a community project that has eerily mimicked the bike’s original construction.

So, can 2012 be better? Of course it can, and I’m going to do everything within my power to ensure that it is. To all my readers, both my “regulars” and the “casuals” who just drop in from time to time, thank you for your support and encouragement and may I wish you the very best that life can offer you in 2012.

Watch this space.

Sheesh, turn you back for a second and they all change chairs. Let’s see what’s happened in the last 24 hours.

1. Alvaro Bautista has split with Rizla Suzuki after 2 years which saw the bike improve considerably but still not threaten the podium. The usual platitudes were published.

2. Bautista signs with Gresini Honda to replace the late Marco Simoncelli (that was the first surprise.) He tested with the team yesterday and did well. (see test times below)

3. Randy de Puniet, after splitting with PRAMAC Ducati, turned up at Valencia on Monday doing a supposed “guest ride” on the Suzuki. The “guest” bit got a bit less believable when he tested again yesterday. Opinion is divided as to whether this signals a continuation of Suzuki’s involvement in MotoGp or not. In any event, the FIM has given them till Friday to make their intentions clear. Should they stay (many now expect they will), expect them to at least start the season on existing 800cc machinery and with RdP and one other rider, or perhaps they will continue as a 1-bike team.

4. Kenan Sofoglu, 2 times WSS champion also announced overnight that he will be leaving Moto2 and heading back to WSS, heading up a Kawasaki team that may, or may not, include Aussie Broc Parkes.

In other testing news, Ducati continued to struggle despite trying out the “experimental” dual-spar aluminium frame on both test days. Rossi was still over a second off the pace of the Hondas. Battaini subbed for the injured Nicky Hayden who has been diagnosed with a broken scaphoid (ouch) after his T1 off at Valencia. Lorenzo also didn’t test.

This was the last test for the year and leaves the engineers and teams a big time frame now to sort things out before the first test of 2012. Notably, the CRT bikes taking past in the test were awfully slow.

Tuesday times.

1. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1’31.807
2. Casey Stoner (Honda) 1’31.968
3. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1’32.338
4. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1’32.550
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 1’33.256
6. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1’33.332
7. Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 1’33.433
8. Hector Barbera Pramac Racing Team 1’33.648
9. Alvaro Bautista (Honda) 1’33.814
10. Stefan Bradl (Honda) 1’34.142
11. Kousuke Akiyoshi (Honda) 1’34.546
12. Franco Battaini (Ducati) 1’34.840
13. Carmelo Morales (TeamLaglisse) 1’35.911
14. Ivan Silva (BQR Inmotec) 1’36.695
15. Yonny Hernandez (BQR FTR) 1’37.279
16. Federico Sandi (Grillini Team) 1’38.680

On a non-bike riding front I had what turned out to be my last visit to the Fracture Clinic at Wollongong Hospital yesterday. The doctor was happy that the X-ray shows the femur healing really well with more than half of the bone now joined up completely and indications that the healing is creeping around to the other side of the bone. So, they don’t want to see me any more. A huge relief and another return to normality (well, as normal as I can get – it never is COMPLETELY normal nor was it EVER)

Speedway kicks off this weekend with yours truly doing the microphone duties at Nowra Speedway. It’s been a long off-season and I can’t wait to get back into it. www.nowraspeedway.com

Very productive day today at WordCamp on the Gold Coast. The Bond University is HUGE. I’ve learned a lot and made some great contacts, too. Some lovely people as well. Qualifying at Valencia later tonight. Will have to check the TV programme. Keep it brief because I’m on the phone.

I don’t know if you’ve read Lance Armstrong’s autobiography with the above title. It’s a pretty harrowing read, actually, especially when it is detailing the after-effects of the chemotherapy he endured. What does come through is that his struggle, his recovery and his triumph in the Tour de France WASN’T about the bike, it was about the mental toughness that he exhibited in fighting and beating cancer.

I was reminded about this this morning when I noticed an excellent B&W shot of Livio Suppo on the Asphalt and Rubber web site. The story attached harks back to when Suppo was head of Ducati’s race effort back in 2007, the year they controversially signed Casey Stoner and then presided over his amazing world championship win. During that year, Suppo was constantly asked what it was about the bike that made it such a dominant force, and, time after time, Suppo told journalists that they hadn’t done anything that special with the bike, it was just the way that Stoner was riding it. Of course, he wasn’t believed. The international press found the idea of an upstart Australian with little MotoGp experience beating Valentino Rossi at his own game on skill alone to be altogether too unpalatable for words. So, his championship was decried with the dismissive, “Well, he had the best bike” aphorism (especially on American forums, it must be said)

Well, think back to that scenario now and ask yourself two questions.

1. WAS it just the bike? Or, was Suppo right when he consistently told the journalists that it was Casey’s riding that made the difference? Incidentally, if it WAS just the bike, why didn’t Casey’s team-mate do as well as he did?

2. Will the same journalists trot out the same crap again in 2011 when (if) Casey Stoner is crowned World Champion again at Phillip Island in a couple of weeks’ time? Already the TV commentators have alluded many times to how much better than everybody else’s bike the Honda has been this year. Will this be used as an excuse to belittle Stoner’s performance again? I am guessing that, in some quarters, it will be.

And, most importantly, do not we have being clearly played out before us every meeting the PROOF that it wasn’t just the bike? NOBODY has achieved any level of success on the Ducati EXCEPT Stoner. Not even Rossi, rightfully acknowledged as the Greatest of all Time, has been able to wrestle from the Italian beast the level of performance and consistent winning success that Stoner was able to achieve.

I’ll get down off my soap box now.

Overnight, the Gresini team announced that Marco Simoncelli has re-signed with the team for 2012, so that reduces even further the number of chairs left in the game. Over the next few weeks we should see the picture becoming even clearer.

Should John Hopkins win the BSB next weekend, he has been promised a wild-card at the season-ending GP at Valencia (I’m guessing it won’t make any difference if he doesn’t win, the ride’s been promised anyway)