Several of the fans at the World Superbike Championships at Miller Motorsports Park seemed almost giddy as they cheered on their favorite riders this weekend.

Italian racing fan Ciuliano Caimmi who lives in Alberta, Canada made the trek south to Utah this week to take in the World Superbike circuit at MMP.

"This is really big in Europe. I'm here to cheer on the Italian teams. This is fantastic," he said. One of his favorites, Michel Frabrizio, finished third in both races on Sunday.

Bill Lyle and Bryan Parker did not have to travel as far. They hopped on their motorcycles and rode from Park City. "This place (MMP) blows my mind," Parker said. "We came out last year and this year it is even better for the fans with the covered grandstands, grassy areas and concesssions. It's also fun to come out here and just watch people. The place is huge, but you can always catch the shuttle," he said.

"We like it because we ride motorcycles all the time," Lyle said. "We ski in the winter and ride motorcyles in the summer."

Henry Hernandez of Long Beach, Calif. said motorcyle racing is better than auto racing.

"It's absolutely better. It's just the man and the machine -- two separate pieces. When they turn they need to move their bodies not rely on four tires and a car to do all the work for you," Hernandez said. "I'm happy that the World Superbikes have returned to the United States. I just hope this attracts more fans here in the U.S. This is a great track and this should get bigger every year."

Duane Buck of Lawrence, Kan. said he and his friends are big AMA fans and they rode from Kansas to Utah for the AMA events and the World Superbike Championships.

"We just like to get out and ride and this was a great destination. We like the scenery. We knew about the scenery in southern Utah, but the scenery in northern Utah is also good," Buck said. "We're AMA fans and hit a couple of these events each year. We only wish that the AMA riders could have raced on the same track, but the big thing here was to promote the World Superbikes so they probably did not want the AMA guys to upstage the world guys."

World Superbike fan Ken Overa of Anacortes, Wash. said the fans in Europe would be jealous if they knew how close the fans could get to the riders at MMP.

"Some of these races in Europe draw 300,000 fans. I'm extremely glad I came here this week. This is a great venue for these races it beats Laguna Seca where it is just a madhouse. I camped out here for four nights and went into Tooele each night for dinner. This track should do a lot for the economy around here," Overa said.

mwatson@tooeletranscript.com