WSB stars swap sport

As part of the publicity for the World Superbike round at the Silverstone circuit on Sunday, May 29, 2005, the stars of the championship swaps bikes for balls to take part in a special football match.

The five-a-side game included Brits James Toseland and Chris Walker, plus team boss Carl Fogarty, alongside former England star Les Ferdinand and F1 commentator Tony Jardine, taking on a ‘rest of the World’ team of Karl Muggeridge, Andrew Pitt, Chris Vermulen, Gianluca Nannelli, and Aaron Ferdinand.

The game was suprisingly clean, with few players trying to take out their rivals the day before the racing gets underway. And despite each half lasting seven minutes, plenty of the stars were breathing hard by the final whistle.

The score, incidentally, ended as 4-1 to the England team, with the lone goal for the Rest of the World V coming from an Aaron Ferdinand penalty. See the clips below for some of the match highlights.

After the game, the riders returned to the paddock where there were plenty of chances for pictures and autograph signing sessions. Les and Aaron Ferdinand were also lucky enough to be taken around the circuit on the special two-seater Ducati WSB machine, with rider Dario Marchetti. Road rider Les spoke to us when his two laps as pillion had ended, and if you can’t hear due to wind noise, the Ducati-riding former-England star is saying it’s the most exciting thing he’s ever done.

Practice kicks off today, Friday, May 27, with no rider having an experience of the shorter Silverstone circuit being used for the event. We’ll have live updates throughout the weekend.