Motorcycle racing in Great Britain had been a confusing sport in the early 1990s: several different championships running similar classes, lack of clarity over which one counted as the 'British Championship', and a TT Superbike class that still had to cater for British-built bikes not technically eligible for FIM competition. For 1996 the Motorcycle Circuit Racing Control Board was established to unify the disparate championships and raise the profile of the British Championship. It was an immediate success, helped by the push for national television coverage of the new British Superbike Championship which brought with it well-funded sponsors for the leading teams. The class of the field were clearly the Cadbury's Boost Yamaha team of ex-Grand Prix rider Niall Mackenzie and World Superbike race-winner James Whitham who won 15 of the 22 races and took the championship fight right to the final race at Donington, where Whitham's win would have earned him the title had Mackenzie finished one position lower. The remainder of the races were won by Old Spice Ducati's Terry Rymer, whose standout performance came at Thruxton when he won the first race from last place on the grid.