Finding the regulatory balance is one of the biggest headaches of the Superbike World Championship. Ensuring that the performance is similar between machines from different manufacturers and that there is a battle between them is the gold that the championship has been pursuing for a long time, and that we have only been able to see on certain occasions.
In fact, Ducati now dominates with an iron fist, and has done so for several years. Although Toprak Razgatlioglu with the BMW was able to do practically magic, taking advantage of the moment when Bulega had no experience, and the regulations punished Bautista to achieve two titles.
But the mountains cannot prevent you from seeing the sea, and the sea in question is that only Ducati is competitive, BMW depends on its drivers, Bimota depends on the circuits and Honda and Yamaha depend on the weather. And we are not talking about those dependencies to win, no, we are talking about those dependencies to reach the podium or even get into the top5. Something almost exclusively reserved for Ducati riders.
The fact is that the Superbike World Championship is an ideal competition to experience from the inside, it still retains a certain essence of real racing. Without the unnecessary and mercantilist paraphernalia that has turned MotoGP into a pseudo-F1 for the privileged. In the WSBK you pay your entry and in some circuits, it already gives you access to the paddock, and in others you get it for a small extra.
Finding balance, the long-awaited goal of the Superbike World Championship
Even with that and with the reality that there are motorcycles on the track that, by regulation, must be sold to the rival for a maximum of 100,000 euros (another day we will address the trap behind it so that no one executes that right), they are capable of riding in times very close to the MotoGP, or even score better splits than them on some occasions.
Well, with the challenge that the World Superbike has to be attractive, a rumor has begun to circulate in the paddock in which a change in regulations is proposed in which either the maximum displacement would be increased or, directly, that limitation would be removed. The idea would be to allow more brands to compete.
It must be remembered that it is currently limited and, for example, brands like Aprilia that have their RSV4 1100 could enter, while others could change their philosophy or their models that are directly linked to production. Therefore it is more than a sporting decision but also a business one.
It is for this reason that, according to information, this rumor does not have the support of the brands already present in the competition that met in Misano to address the issue. What’s more, Ducati had to rethink its strategy with the Panigale V4. And not only that, we must not forget that other companies such as CFMOTO are considering a future in the WSBK but based on the current regulations.
So the change is not expected until at least 2028 or, perhaps, 2029. Then the decision will be made whether to follow a path that, of course, in Supersport and SportBike has given good results on an equal level.
