VOL. 50 ISSUE 26 JULY 2, 2013
n MSMA meeting at Imola
in Italy on Saturday evening
was expected to deliver at least
the shell of the final World Superbike rules, but it appears that
the agreement between manufacturers, Dorna and all interestDorna boss
Carmelo
Ezpeleta was
on hand for the
World Superbike
race at Imola
the day after the
Dutch Grand
Prix.
ed parties is still stuck on the 80
to 85 percent mark. When the
MSMA secretary and the FIM
Press Officer both showed up
at Imola (despite there being a
MotoGP race at Assen the same
weekend) the icing appeared to
have been pre-applied to the
2014 technical cake. But now
it appears how many candles,
and how many on a cake that
will be two tier and not one tier
is holding up the process.
What appears completely certain is that there will be a form of
Evo class Superbike, operating
similarly to CRT in MotoGP, inside World Superbike next year.
It seems logical that it will have a
great advantage over the first go
CRT racing had in GPs in that
the best Superstock bikes in
the paddock are already not far
behind their Superbike equivalents.
With slicks and
a full World Superbike chassis,
but with Superstock electronics and engines
– no single make
control
ECU
is envisaged –
there should be
a championship
within a championship, with
guarantees for
TV exposure in the winner's circle, TV time etc.
Engine power and particularly electronics, are the two main
technical costs in World Superbike for any team, not just privateers, so massive technical savings are possible for privateers
who are in a currently impossible position of shooting high
to beat two or more of the best
official bikes that no less than
six manufacturers are putting
on track every weekend. Those
who do have bikes that are capable of this feat, namely the
Aprilia privateers, are on bikes
only one step behind the fac-
WEEK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
A
Quote
OF THE
continued on next page
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
WORLD SUPERBIKE:
RULES UPDATE
P33
(From left to right) Marc Marquez,
Valentino Rossi and Cal Crutchlow
celebrate in Assen.
to
" I saidhimMarc I
wanted
to see
after the race what
Dani [Pedrosa]
sees on TV.
"
- Cal Crutchlow after hitting
Marc Marquez on the final lap of
Saturday's Dutch Grand Prix in
reference to the many close calls
between Marquez and Dani Pedrosa
in previous GPs.
