The 2007 YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship series will be telecast nationally on the NINE Network in a deal signed last week with the producers of the Saturday afternoon motorsport show Speed Machine.

Series promoter Terry O'Neill from the Australasian Superbike Company (AUSCO) said the agreement for the NINE Network to broadcast a highlights package of all rounds of the 2007 series, reaffirms the growing reputation of the Australian Superbike Championship as one of the countries top two motorsport series. "This great opportunity to be on NINE came out of the blue. We had only two days to put a financial package together to make this work and after only a couple of phone calls, two of our major sponsors SsangYong, our official vehicle supplier and Yamaha Motor Australia, our naming rights sponsor through YMF Loan, stepped up and grabbed the opportunity,"  he said.

The Nine Network coverage will comprise eight half hour segments in Speed Machine, the popular Saturday afternoon motorsports show. Each round of the 2007 series will be featured in its own half hour segment highlighting the premier Superbike class. The NINE Network shows will compliment the existing twenty hours of airtime for the 2007 Australian Superbike Championship series on SBS Speedweek and FOX Sports, as well as being shown through out the Asia Pacific potentially to many tens of millions of people on ABC's Australia Network.

O'Neill said the opportunity to get the Superbikes on NINE was too good to miss. "It's only a one year deal at this stage, but it's great for the sport and a fantastic bonus for our sponsors who will now get even more national television exposure through their association with Australia's premier motorcycle racing series,"  he said.

Scheduling has yet to be finalized, but it's likely the NINE Network programming will go to air within a couple of weeks of each round.

Round 1 of the 2007 YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship series gets underway this week at Eastern Creek, Sydney, 16 ­ 18 February.

Full details can be found at the 2007 YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship Series website: www.australiansuperbikechampionship.com