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W O R L D S B K
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CHANGES and DIFFERENCES WorldSBK is shaping up to be a boom-or-bust rollercoaster. Gordon Ritchie spreads out the maps for the new campaigns shortly before the first high-speed manoeuvres are launched By Gordon Ritchie Photos by Chippy Wood/Gold and Goose
L
ong before race officials switched on the starting lights at Phillip Island, I imagined enticing possibilities for this year’s WorldSBK championship—little green shoots of hope popping through the topsoil all but guaranteeing a surefire harvest of classic races. OK, I have done this many times before, staring blissfully into the unexplored canyon of a grand-looking new season. But even as I embark for the season-opener in Australia, my cold journalist heart is skipping a little. And my grey-haired head is in agreement. Here’s why: We knew changes were coming to the series well in advance of Álvaro Bautista wrapping up a dominant, second-consecutive title on his Ducati V4 R. There are two ways to look at these changes: 1) All change is good; and 2) all change is pure cost. The cost thing is minimal, even with new rules bringing greater tuning freedoms for some and a few more kilograms of handicapping for others. In short, the new regulations are not some dry, bureaucratic, box-ticking exercise to keep the Swiss blazerati in jobs.
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