I
t's not fair. One make doing
all the winning. Worse than
that, it's predictable, so it's not
entertaining. Something needs
to be done!
For once, this column isn't
about MotoGP, or not directly. The
premier series is currently off en
-
joying a summer break, wildfires
and sunstroke permitting.
We're looking at WorldSBK and
British Superbikes. Production-
based racing, where the different
makes take part because of the
shared mantra—win on Sunday,
sell on Monday—and where
Ducati's Panigale V4 is making
mincemeat of the opposition.
Oddly (maybe you can tell me
why) it's different in the USA,
where Yamahas currently hog
the top places. Elsewhere, Duca
-
tis have won every race so far in
WorldSBK and every race bar one
in the British series.
Domination by one make is
somewhat normal in racing. The
prime past example: MV Agusta,
which pretty much owned GP
racing from the mid-1950s to the
mid-1970s. After that, domina
-
tion was batted back and forth
between Honda and Yamaha,
right up to the new-century four-
strokes. Then, for the past four
years, Ducati took a turn, though
now under threat by Aprilia.
MSEG (MotoGP Sports Enter
-
tainment Group, formerly Dorna)
has tried hard to make it more
equal: dumbed-down technical
regs, one-for-all tires and electron-
ics, and limited testing. And then
more fine-tuning: the concessions
system that limits development
and testing for successful teams,
and vice versa for the also-rans, to
help them catch up.
But these are prototypes and
have to be dealt with differently.
Superbikes are based on exist
-
P128
CN IIIN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
MAKING RACING CLOSER
BY MAKING
RACING
SLOWER
