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MORE WORLD SUPERBIKE RULE CHANGES
A
raft of changes to the World
Superbike rules for 2014
were brought in recently by Dorna, and communicated via the
FIM. While most of the previous
ones were technical in nature
these are a fundamental change
to many sporting aspects of the
series.
The effective eradication of
Superpole qualifying means that
there will be a MotoGP style twostage qualifying, with the fastest
riders already into it while the
mid-pack and tail enders fight it
out in qualifying one – and only
the best going to the final qualifying session.
The new race-day schedule is
another big change and will see
the first Superbike race taking
place at 10:30 a.m. (not noon as
in the past), followed by the World
Supersport race at 11:40/11:45
or so (not 1:30 as now), the second Superbike race at 1 p.m. –
1:10 (not the always-was-too-late
3:30). With F1 starting at 2 p.m.
in Europe this would make sure
the second World Superbike
race will finish before the TV cov-
World Superbike races will start
earlier in 2014 and Superpole
has also been scrapped in
favor of emulating the MotoGP
qualifying method.
erage would have to change to
F1. The Superstock 1000 will be
the final race on the day instead
of the first and will go off at 2:30
or so.
The overarching idea is to get
a World Superbike race day finished before the other bigger
sports - that would take any available airtime from it - get underway in Europe.
Red flagged races will also get
restarted sooner, but there are no
details on how yet. There will also
be a license points penalty system, similar to MotoGP, for riders
who break rules on the track.
A final meeting of the SBK
Commission on December 10 in
Madrid will finalize all the details
of the 2014 rules and regulations
and the finer points of the new
Dorna World Superbike way.
This meeting will also hear the
final inputs on what the exact
'all-Evo' World Superbike rules
package set to begin in 2015.
Gordon Ritchie
DOWNUNDER MOTORSPORTS
NEARLY READY
T
he much-desired Australian dream team that is trying to find a spot in the World
Superbike paddock next year
is currently being organized by
the vastly experienced former
Honda and BMW crew chief Tom
Larsen.
Almost all the elements are in
place to compete with two riders
in the Evo class in 2014, according to British-based Larsen, who
was Troy Corser's crew chief for
a time in the official BMW team.
One crucial element missing
continued on page 24
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
IN
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