BRITISH GP 2 IS HERE!
Yep, as predicted, the newMoto 2’esque championship to join British Supersport has been announced. Traditional Supersport bikes will remain as is, but these new breeds will be allowed to use any 600cc four-cylinder, or 675cc three-cylinder engine, as the basis for their ‘British GP2’ projects. The engines will have to remain similar to a Superstock 600’s specification, so there’s some parity with the heavier, but slightly more powerful, proper Supersport machines.
BSB’s queso grande, Stuart Higgs, is understandably chuffed with his latest decision. “This is a critical point for this racing category,” he said. “We have been concerned for some time that certain manufacturers have ceased producing 600cc sports bikes, which directly affects the sustainability of the Supersport class. The integration of independently constructed bikes with a racing chassis and a standard engine has proven to be equitable with the Supersport technical level of a standard chassis and a tuned engine.”
He’s hoping it will ignite interest from engineering and fabrication companies to join forces with established teams, a bit like the Spirit bike Alastair Seeley raced in 2017 with a lot of success. The series will run alongside Supersport, but in two separate categories, which isn’t going to be confusing at all for the casual viewer…
We do have some concerns though. The BSB paddock is well funded at some levels, but not at others, and just like in Moto 2 it could start an arms race. At world level, it was supposed to make racing cheaper, but by the end of the first season they had spent way above what they ever did leasing Aprilia 250s, and it’s only gone up. It’s all about who has the latest chassis that matches the control tyres better, if one rider has it, others must have, and so on. How they control this will be key, but we have faith in Higgs et al to nail it. And we hope manufacturers will start building 750cc sportsbikes again, so they can join the likes of MV’s F3 800, Suzuki’s GSX-R750, Triumph’s incoming Daytona 765 and Ducati’s Panigale 959. Then we can have a proper production ‘Supersport’ class again. Here’s hoping…