There is a long and healthy history of international rivalries in motorcycle racing, and these rivalries change with each generation. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a clash of East vs West, as the Japanese manufacturers entered, then dominated the world championship series, forcing out the European makes. In the 1970s and 1980s came the clash of the Americans versus the British, which culminated - and was exemplified by - the Transatlantic Challenge.
In the 21st Century, the chief rivalry has been more provincial. It is a rivalry between two countries separated not by a continent or an ocean, but just a few hundred miles of scenic coastal road. But it is a rivalry perhaps more intense than ever, as it encompasses not just riders or manufacturers, but entire World Championships.
The MotoGP series is a strongly Spanish, or perhaps even strongly Catalan affair, the organizer being based in Barcelona and the series full of Catalan teams and riders. The World Superbike series, on the other hand, is an almost entirely Italian affair, the organizers, the teams, the riders, even the dominant bikes to a large extent Italian. A walk through the World Superbike paddock is like taking a stroll through a small Italian village, with groups of men gathered in small groups talking and gesticulating furiously in that unmistakably Italian style.
So inevitably, there is friction when World Superbikes encroaches on Spanish territory. The Spanish national TV broadcaster, TVE, barely rates the series worth a mention, having splashed a considerable portion of its outside broadcast budget on MotoGP - though the fact that a rival broadcaster has the rights to the series may also have something to do with the lack of interest from TVE.
