Yamaha Motor Australia (YMA) has re-affirmed its commitment to the local round of the Superbike World Championship, and will be the principal sponsor of the Phillip Island-based event for the next five years.

The Australian leg of the production-based title will continue to be branded as the Yamaha Phillip Island Superbike World Championship until 2011, starting with next year's encounter from March 2-4.

YMA first began its sponsorship of the Phillip Island World Superbike round in 2005.

"YMA is pleased to have secured the naming rights sponsorship of the Australian round of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island for the next five years," said Yamaha Motor Australia Director, Steven Cotterell.

"The Island is a magical place with a fantastic track that's a favourite of both riders and spectators... good reasons for the increased popularity of the Supers in recent years."

"Following Yamaha Racing's return to this event and now Australian Troy Corser joining fellow local riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes at the top level, the time is right to cement a longer term deal."

"And what better way to highlight Yamaha's all new YZF-R1 Superbike and cutting edge YZF-R6 Supersport machine than by supporting the world class race series that each bike is competing in."

The 2007 Yamaha Phillip Island Superbike World Championship round -- which will mark the 19th consecutive year that the 4.445km circuit has hosted World Superbike action -- is shaping up to be yet another classic battle between Australia's two premier Superbike combatants: Troy Corser and Troy Bayliss.

The duo shared honours in the 2006 round at Phillip Island with one win a piece, before the Ducati-backed Bayliss wrested control of the championship in a mid-year blitz that included eight successive wins. It was no surprise when the 37-year-old Bayliss claimed his second world title at the penultimate round in Italy.

Bayliss will remain in the factory Ducati sphere in 2007, while Corser was squeezed out of Suzuki at the end of the 2006 season to make way for four-time world 250 GP champion Max Biaggi.

However, the Wollongong (NSW) rider who has won two world titles ¨ in 1996 for Ducati and in 2005 to Suzuki - quickly found a new home at Yamaha Motor Italia alongside Japan's Noriyuki Haga, replacing compatriot Andrew Pitt in the process.

Corser has won three of his last four outings at Phillip Island, and he's certain to again be one of the front-runners after a full pre-season aboard the latest incarnation of the YZF-R1.

Meanwhile, Bayliss is just as adept at closing a Phillip Island deal as Corser, including a clean sweep in 2002 on top of his victory in 2006.

Once again, local loyalties will be divided between the two Troys, but the other three Aussies in the 2007 championship ¨ Gold Coast's Karl Muggeridge (Team Bertocchi ¨ Honda) , Melbourne's Steve Martin (DFX Racing ¨ Honda) and Sydney's Josh Brookes (Team Bertocchi ¨ Honda) -- will arrive at the island with plenty of support from local fans.

Martin's seventh year in World Superbikes will see him re-unite with the Italian-based DFX Racing, where he spent his first four seasons in the championship.

Thirty-eight-year-old Martin, who recently became a dad for the first time, competed on a customer-spec Ducati from 2001-2004, but his return to the DFX fold will be on a Honda alongside impressive Italian Michel Fabrizio.

After two frustrating years on the underperforming Foggy Petronas triple, Martin, who originally hails from Adelaide, now has the resources at his disposal to join some illustrious Aussies on the world Superbike winners' list, including Mick Doohan, Kevin Magee, Garry McCoy, Chris Vermeulen, Corser, Bayliss and Rob Phillis.

Martin is also blindingly fast at Phillip Island ¨ as is Brookes, who won the world Supersport round there in 2004.

Brookes, 22, will remain at Team Bertocchi in 2007, but he's switching from Kawasaki to Honda machinery. Muggeridge, the 2004 world Supersport champion, will join Brookes at Bertocchi in what is shaping up as a potent antipodean combination.

But the Aussies won't have it all their own way in 2007, with experienced competition coming from not only the Samurai of Slide, Haga, but also Biaggi, who has already set tongues wagging with a brilliant testing performance; proven race winner Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki); 2004 World Superbike champion James Toseland (Honda); ex MotoGP rider Roberto Rolfo (Honda); Ruben Xaus (Ducati); Bayliss' teammate Lorenzo Lanzi; Fabrizio; and the Kawasaki pairing of Regis Laconi and Fonsi Nieto.

Five manufacturers will be represented on the grid at Phillip Island ¨ Yamaha, Ducati, Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki ¨ with all of them drawing from the same pool of Pirelli control tyres.

The tyre parity means that up to ten riders are capable of winning at Phillip Island ¨ a uniqueû characteristic that world superbikes boasts in the often sole competitor dominated arena of global motorsport.

Curtain and Parkes to fly the Aussie flag in World Supersport

In the major support class of world Supersport, the Novocastrian pair of veteran Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) will continue to fly the Aussie flag.

Curtain has been runner-up in the past two championships ¨ a crash in last year's final round handed the trophy to arch-rival Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) ¨ while Parkes is now ready to shoot for championship honours.

They will compete in one 21-lap race at the island against a field of spirited hard chargers from around the globe, led by Charpentier and his lightning fast Turkish teammate, Kenan Sofuoglu.

Also on the Phillip Island event card will be national support events for Superbike, Supersport and Superstock riders.

The three-day event sees practice and qualifying on Friday March 2; second qualifying, Superpole and support racing on Saturday, March 3 and a packed program of racing on Sunday March 4.