In the late 1990s, World Superbikes popularity was at its height. Hundreds of thousands of fans flooded into race circuits all over the world to watch the action on track while millions more sat at home, glued to their TV screens. But if you were a fan of Japanese bikes, there was a problem – from 1994 until 2000, the series was dominated by Ducati's V-twins. Honda grabbed a single victory in 1997, but that took an RC45, the genius of John Kocinski and an open cheque book
