SUPERSPORT SINK OR SWIM?
Think back; it’s the year 2000, you’re sitting in front of a big fat telly with a small screen, watching the bustling crowds take up every last inch of space as the penultimate race of the World Supersport Championship rolls out at Oschersleben. It was a year-long four way dice for the title, and on the finalcorner of the finallap the Alpha Technik Yamaha duo of Christian Kellner and Jorg Teuchert infamously took each other out after being a dream team all year; it was a script so crazy even Quentin Ta rantino couldn’t have thought it up. But that wasn’t all – at a jam-packed Brands Hatch for the final round, it was still anyone’s game, and going into the final corner of the final lap it was Te uchert who took the title. It was constant, pure and beautiful carnage. Each race was busier than rush hour on the M25 and more exciting than jumping into a volcano naked – and there was near enough as much danger, thanks to an array of similar spec’d machinery, a bustling field of talent and regs that meant everything was held together in one not-so-tidy package. Fast forward fifteen years and things couldn’t be more different: Honda and Suzuki had both chucked their respective 600cc sportsbikes from their range, Kawasaki only produced one with an illegal 636cc motor and Ya maha’s glorious R6 was getting on for being a decade old in design. The arrival of Moto2 on the GP stage didn’t help proceedings either, and even though the thought of the best riders in the world going hammer and tongs on identical engine packages was mouthwatering, the actual racing hadn’t seen anywhere near the levels of bar bashing we’d come to love from a class of screaming middleweights. On the production racing front, thanks to superstock stock-spec racing gaining momentum alongside advancements in tech, supersport bikes had become ever more sophisticated which meant they skyrocketed in price; ultimately meaning the grids started to dwindle while the racing itself lost its kamikaze-esque edge that had made it all so popular. Chucking an eight grand stocker down the road is a lot less eye watering than doing the same to a thirty grand supersport machine. But don’t fear folks, as it looks like there’s a resurgence on the cards. Take the racing as an example; this year in Wo rld Superbikes, 407 points separated the top ten riders, while in World Supersport it was just 157, and it came down to the last few laps of the final round to settle the title after a balls-to-thewall finale – 40 riders scoring points throughout the year and the championship going down to the wire, and at a time when World Superbike needs all the help it can get. And then look at the likes of BSB – the Supersport class is absolutely booming after capping the regs, with some proper close racing and a bunch of GP2 bikes slowly sliding in to the mix. I’m not normally a fan of ‘mixed’ classes as most of the riders will agree with, but it’s been looking pretty good to me from in front of a TV screen with a cup of tea. But what comes next?
A YEAR OR TWO AGO, WE COULD’VE QUITE EASILY BEEN PUTTING TOGETHER AN OBITUARY OF THE SUPERSPORT SERIES
Looking at this a year or two ago, we could’ve quite easily been putting together an obituary of the Supersport series which would’ve been worse than spending a night in the van with Boothy. For me personally, from being a whippersnapper at the races, to a full blown fanatic, Supersport racing has always been a show unlike any other. And it’s not even just being selfish; Supersport racing was the pinnacle of feeder championships, which meant even the likes of big lads like the late great Karl ‘Bomber’ Harris had to cut their teeth in the savage 600 class. But the real good news is, it still is. I mean, Current World Supersport Champ Sandro Cortese has just bagged himself a solidly-supported Yamaha ride in the World Superbike Championship, while British Supersport runner-up Ben Currie has found himself with the Championship-winning team in British Superbikes. So don’t fear folks, this isn’t a sad ending to one of the best championship structures in the world. It’s just a beginning of a new era in a changing time…