BSSO Scooter Racing Update

New BSSO race classes are introduced this year, which means two champions for the price of one!

Paul Green tells us what to expect from the improved BSSO race series in 2018.

British Scooter Racing has been enjoying a genuine renaissance in recent times and the last five years have seen a steady increase in both the number of riders participating as well as more manufacturers, tuners and home enthusiasts seeking to test their machines to the max racing the BSSO British Championship series. The national racing scene is a huge attraction for people all around the world and is at the forefront of scooter racing.

This upward cycle in the sport has been further buoyed by the advent and inclusion of the LCGB Sponsored Production Class Series in 2016. This class has really caught the imagination and has attracted much interest from both newcomers and experienced racers who are attracted to the closely controlled and cost restricted class which has provided some of the most strongly contested racing in years.

The BSSO have now welcomed Scomadi as a new title sponsor for the BSSO Automatic Production Class which they hope will further the growth of the sport in the UK and bring a new dimension to circuit racing with four-stroke machines competing in the Scomadi Cup, which like the LCGB Production class has been financially subsidised, but in this case new riders don’t even need to get their hands dirty as you can buy a complete race prepared Scomadi from 20 identically prepared scooters available at a subsidised price.

Two British Championships

The continued growth in numbers has resulted in the BSSO negotiating a Second official ACU British Championship, enabling the further growth of the sport in the UK. The two championships will be the ACU British Super Scooter Championship and the ACU British Scooter Stock Championship.

The Super Scooters will see the fastest ‘Special’ machines battling it out. The specials are potentially bigger cc machines, both geared and automatic and can change bodywork to feature motorway

fairings, water cooling, reed valves and a whole host of extra exotic tuning. In 2017 these machines were hitting over 110mph at some circuits and are generally some of the fastest machines on track.

The Scooter Stock Championship will feature the remaining classes which all retain the standard scooter silhouette and full bodywork so will be made up of the old Group 4 class, a new Evo Class, Production Classes open to both Lambretta and Vespa, and the newly sponsored Scomadi Automatic Production Series which will feature the hotly awaited Scomadi Cup for riders on the factorysupplied TL200 machines.

Both these championships will undoubtedly be closely fought during their inaugural year.

The racing year – lots of it!

For 2018 the BSSO will promote eight British Championship rounds supported by a series of additional events commencing with the Northern Cup in March following two separate pre-season test days at Mallory and Cadwell Park.

Each championship round will feature two grids and an exciting new format for race day with timed practice and qualifying to decide grid positions for all championship events meaning that the grids will be decided fully by lap time and speed for the first time rather than just machine class. So the fastest riders and machines will be all together on track which should undoubtedly lead to very close racing.

There will be two separate grids at the championship rounds to reflect the Super Scooter and Scooter Stock championship splits.