EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ‘We are always receptive to looking into new things’ Stuart Higgs
Race Director discusses the upcoming Bennetts British Superbike Championship campaign…
Josh Close
Did last year’s title fight lead to increased viewership and attendances?
“Viewing and audience figures are quite fickle and can be influenced by all sorts of things – not just economically, but by other events and, ultimately, the weather.
“There was a purity and rawness to this, which caught everyone’s attention, and we certainly saw an energy and connection with the audience that hadn’t been seen for a long time. With any sport, you don’t have to be an aficionado – if you catch wind of something going on, whether it’s a rivalry or certain personality, it hooks you in.
“What we saw with Tommy and Glenn is that they also have very partisan fan bases, which creates its own energy, too. There was a lot of passion around it.”
You must be happy with how the points system worked?
“You can’t get much better than that! I’ll never talk bad of the original showdown period because I think it served the championship well. Some hated it but converted, some always hated it, but it was the right thing for that moment.
“With the old showdown format you found yourself eliminating 20% of your higher-level teams at a time when the relationship between the end of one season and the start of the next was critical. It’s not in anybody’s interest if you amplify a team’s bad luck or performance to the point where it could be detrimental to their chances of being in the championship the following year.
“This new system doesn’t do that. Everyone is in the game for a bit
April 17 2024
longer, but in a slightly less artificial way. Obviously, it can’t be judged on one season, it’ll take two or three to work out if it’s absolutely spot on.
“What I will say is that in our team discussions in the second half of last year, where we plot things for the following season, the points system didn’t get a reference.
In this industry, if something isn’t mentioned, that’s as good as saying it works.”
There’s plenty of talk around entertainment versus racing in motorsport. What’s your view? You haven’t been scared to mix things up…
“The first group of people you can’t kid is the audience. They know what they like and like what they
‘Great to be able to present BSB to new audience’
know. When you have to go down to something so artificial in some cases, you’ve lost the argument at that point – and ultimately it is a sporting competition, so must have sporting credibility.
“You can play with the formats, but there are parameters, and you must do it with consensus. Looking at the showdown, we reached a point where the consensus was telling us it had passed its optimum shelf life, and we should look into doing something else.
“Evolution, not revolution, is always a good philosophy to live by. You can tweak things in a slightly subtle way to get a good end result. I don’t see anything super-radical coming down the down the line for us, but we’re always receptive to looking at new things – like the new weekend schedule for this season [see p32].
“Ultimately, we’re judged on the output – and the output is the racing. It begins and ends with the racing, in all classes, at all times.”
The race at Navarra has proven controversial. How do you see it?
“We’ve had a race outside mainland Britain for at least 50% of the championship’s history – whether it be at Mondello or Assen. So this isn’t a new thing.
“We acquired a circuit in the European motorsport heartland on the basis that there is a link between the UK and Spain on a number of levels, particularly racing in the junior classes.
“Riders and teams spend a good deal of time in Spain for testing, and we’ve annexed testing and racing into a single week and event, again, creating economies of scale. If you look back at 2019, we had a 12-round series including Assen, and the teams went testing in Spain. Now it’s 11 rounds, with one in Spain that is annexed to testing in Spain.
“It’s one outbound and return crossing, whereas previously teams and riders would be going back and forth to Spain testing.
“Teams and riders experiencing international circuits is part of the fabric of the championship, certainly having experienced it with Assen. Most people who complain about Assen, never went there, and I can’t ever find people who did the trip who say negative things about it. I think Navarra will be the same.
“There’s a feeling of adventure when you go to these events and it’s great to be able to present BSB in a new environment, on an international-standard circuit, to an international audience.
The pictures will be beamed back to the UK, and most of our audience at most events watches on TV, so that’s not being compromised.”
The Pathway class was initially a big talking point for 2024, but we’re down to three entrants…
“It’s still right to run it for the year with the representative teams. We have two Hondas and an Aprilia, and those entrants wouldn’t be on the grid otherwise. It’s still part of the evaluation of whether the whole BSB class needs to go down that route in the future, and the only way to benchmark or quantify that is by running a full season.
“The riders can fight among themselves, but as Franco Bourne proved last year there will be days where they’ll come into their own and score regular points anyway.
“The important thing is that these teams are in now – and once they’re in they can add to their configuration at any time, which should bring them into current superbike spec.
“What was the previous barrier to entry? It was the leap in the first instance being too big. We’ve seen this – it doesn’t matter how much money you have, you can’t come into BSB and dominate. You’ll have some days where you do better than you would otherwise, but over the long haul, it doesn’t work like that.
“Riders too, suddenly going to a Superbike level from Superstock or Supersport – there’s nothing more confidence-zapping than getting beaten up from the first free practice session.
“Coming in this way, you can dial in. There will be some frustration if they’re giving away performance, but they will know what they need to do to get on to that platform. And they’ll have recognition from racing among themselves.”