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This weekend is going to be absolutely fascinating as far as the World Superbike Championship goes - because for the first time ever, all 2009 teams are coming together for a huge group test.

The venue is at Portimao in Portugal, one of the finest (if not, the finest) circuits in the world.

And even the weather is coming out to play, with sunshine and temperatures in the 60s forecast.

Everyone is fit, the bikes have been tweaked and we're all raring to go. Look at this as WSB round zero. This, with the full compliment of riders out there, is going to get very entertaining indeed.

Oh sure, there will be a lot of handshaking, back-slapping and smiling going on at the start - there always is at things like this, but pretty quickly that will all be put to one side in the pursuit of the fastest laps possible.

Of course I, like a lot of you, will be eager to see how the Brits get on in the heat of battle. Let's face it, the hype has been going on for long enough and they've all got a point or two to prove, so this is just going to be a flat out blast for them.

All of the Brits, with the exception of Tommy Hill, who are joining WSB this year have at least ridden a Superbike around Portimao, either as wild card entries in the final round of the 2008 season or during tests back in November.

And none of them disgraced themselves out here then (in fact Shane Byrne bathed himself in glory by being quickest), so there's little reason to expect them to this time round.

The test is a three day long affair this time. Starting today (Friday) it continues until the end of play on Sunday, so there's lots of track time for the WSS and WSB guys to get serious.

Personally, I will be fascinated to watch Tom Sykes out in action on the Yamaha. When he and his factory team went out to Kyalami in South Africa at the end of last year for a three-day, top-teams test for Pirelli Tom was struck down with a stomach virus and then catapulted off his R1 in a big high-side.

Fair to say that the test wasn't exactly a success for him there then, but now he's back and - stomach bugs aside - is firing on all cylinders, eager to show his skills on the all-new Yamaha racebike.

Actually, I can't wait to see all the riders out there. It will be very interesting to see how the pace of the BMW S1000RR has improved since those end of 2008 tests, when it was quite a way off the pace at the end of the three days.

I'm sure that Troy Corser, who is famous for his ability to focus a new motorcycle down to a potential race winner, will have got the project by the scruff of the neck and already improved things further. And BMW are in no way going to sit back and rest on their laurels after producing such a gorgeous machine. They want to get out there and be challenging at the front of the pack, too.

And no matter how manic or competitive the three days in Portugal turns out to be for the big bike class, it'll be as intense in the World Supersport championship too. Where we will get to see our very own Cal Crutchlow on the Yamaha doing the business for the very first time against the lads he's going to race against all season.

With the furore going on in MotoGP, there has been much talk of the WSB championship becoming the premier motorcycle racing series of 2009.

Given the bulging grids, huge depth of talent banging elbows and fairings at 160mph+ speeds and the variety of machinery all trying for the title, I reckon that might just be a fair assessment of how things are going to pan out in 2009.

And we haven't even factored in Nori Haga on the Xerox Ducati yet...

Tony Carter / Eurosport