Welcome to World Moto Super Grand Prix bikes

[posiden]

So after Mr Sasperellas out burst in MCN last week about there being more people at a BSB meet than at WSB at Donnington, it has been confirmed that BMW are leaving WSB and if you picked up on Neil Hodgsons comments today from Silverstone it is rumoured that Aprilla are also leaving.
So that leave Factory teams from.............Er Kawasaki I think!
Now as Mr Sasperellas owns both racing series (both of which are struggling to put bikes on the grid, get sponsorship and sell tickets.)
Would I be jumping to conclusions by thinking he was manipulating the rules of one series to try and get more bikes into it (CRT/hire an engine class) and also persuading other manufacturers, who currently run factory teams in WSB, that a new CRT type class in MotoGP is the future.
Strange that BMW and Aprillia also provide engines for the CRT class now.
This will eventually lead to no factory teams in WSB and its eventual financial doom, but allow the flagship MotoGP series to flourish with all the mayor manufacturers putting teams in and running a selection of modified road and prototype bikes with trophies for the top three in each class (bigger podium needed?)

I havent got a crystal ball but I think the writings on the wall for WSB.

Thanks for listening.................................

 

[the hunter]

I did see and hear Hodgsons comments today pretty harsh and strong too but I think he was fired up wi that over take move for first place in race one. But as for the rest hmmm you have raised some good points and some I have to agree with hey ho

 

[miloVanMultistrada]

Maybe running a factory WSBK team has got too expensive vs the kind of return you get in terms of increased sales or brand "halo effect"?

The constant rule changes probably don't help, since you've already committed to building production machines based on the rules two years ago and your bike could then end up being uncompetitive by the time it gets to race.

But, it's not surprising that Dorna want to make the differentiation between WSBK and MotoGP - we are now in the slightly crazy situation where Marc Marquez can use 5 engines a year in his "prototype" race bike, but WSB teams can (and do) use upwards of 20 engines a season. So in effect, the MotoGP engines are running in a lower state of tune and are more reliable than the WSBK engines!

The national superbike series like BSB have tried to make it cheaper to run a team to keep interest and entries up after the financial crisis, but WSBK is still pretty expensive. Maybe some of the teams are thinking that if they are going to pay top dollar, they might as well be in the top series?