1701 RF final

PADDOCK NEWS
Brought
to you by
WORLD SUPERBIKE TRIES TO ADD EXCITEMENT
BY MANIPULATING THE GRID FOR RACE 2
The Superbike Commission, governing body for the World Superbike Championship, met in Madrid to
introduce a number of changes to the rules for the World Superbike and World Supersport series for 2017.
There were some minor changes to the sporting
regulations, as well as a couple of tweaks to the
technical regulations. But there were also two
major changes which will have a significant impact
for next season and beyond.
The biggest change is also the most surprising and
the least comprehensible. There is to be a major
shake up in the way the grid for the second World
Superbike race is set.
The Superpole session run on Saturday morning
will continue to set the grid for Race 1. The grid for
Race 2, however, will be partially set by the results
of Race 1, using a slightly complex formula.
The first three rows of the grid for Race 2 will be
filled by the riders who finished in 1st through
9th place in Race 1. They will not, however,
line up in their finishing order. The riders who
finished in 4th, 5th, and 6th in Race 1 will start
Race 2 from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd on the grid. The
riders who finished in 7th, 8th, and 9th will start
from 4th, 5th, and 6th.
The riders who finished on the podium,
however, will line up on the third row of the grid
in reverse order. This means that the winner will
line up in 9th, the rider who finished 2nd will
start in 8th, and the rider who finished in 3rd will
start the race from 7th on the grid.
The grid from 10th place onwards will be set
based on Superpole results. That does not
necessarily mean that the starting positions
10 through 22 will be the same as in Race 1,
however, as riders who started outside of the
Top 9 places, but finished 9th or better will
move up.
Similarly, riders who qualified in the Top 9 but
crashed out or finished outside the Top 9 will be
reshuffled down to the fourth row or worse.
All this makes calculating grid positions a
little complicated for 10th place and beyond.
Basically, the riders who did not finish in the Top
9 in Race 1 will start Race 2 in order of their
qualifying time.
Of the remaining riders, the rider with the best
qualifying position from Superpole will start from
10th, the second best qualifying position will
start from 11th, etc.
The most controversial change is obviously the
change to the Top 9, however. In what appears
to be an attempt to make the racing a little more
exciting, success in Race 1 is to be punished,
with the podium finishers being put back to the
third row of the grid.
The idea, presumably, is that the best riders
from Race 1 will have to make their way through
traffic, providing some excitement and making it
more difficult for a rider who dominates Race 1
to do the same in Race 2.
This would appear to be a misguided idea for
several reasons: firstly, the essence of World
Championship motorcycle racing is to find the
rider and machine combination that performs
best in each race.
Adding additional, complex obstacles to one
group while not applying the same to another
would appear to violate the sporting ethos of a
World Championship series. That risks alienating
the hardcore World Superbike fans that are the
backbone of the sport.
Secondly, making the way the grid is set so
complex risks making it difficult for casual fans
to understand what is going on. Fans will find
it hard to remember the process, and have
difficulty explaining it to their friends.
Though ultimately, grid positions are not
the most important part of a race weekend,
unnecessary complexity is more likely to make
things worse rather than better.
Finally, it is unlikely to make much difference.
In 2016, Jonathan Rea, Tom Sykes, and Chaz
Davies split the overwhelming majority of race
wins among them.
Rea and Davies both won races starting from
6th position, while Sykes won starting from 4th,
and finished 2nd starting from 5th. Rea, Sykes,
and Davies were dominant throughout 2016,
often finishing many seconds ahead of the rest
of the field.
Starting from 7th through 9th will slow them
up only slightly, and is unlikely to reduce their
chances of winning.
Such a system is more likely to result in one
rider dominating the second race. With the three
best riders on the third row, the chances of
them all hitting the front together is slim.
It is more likely that one rider will get a break
and get through quickly, while one or both of
the others gets caught up briefly. If one of the
fastest riders hits the front on his own, he is
more likely to get a gap and get away.
An intellectually more interesting question –
but one which again highlights the weakness
of the new system – is whether it places a
premium on finishing 4th. The points differential
between finishing 3rd and 4th in Race 1 is 3
points (16 vs 13).
The question riders who find themselves battling
for 3rd in Race 1 will have to ask themselves
is whether they will gain more points over their
championship rivals in Race 2 by starting from
pole than they would by taking the 3 extra
points for 3rd and starting from 7th, two rows
further back.
Battles for 3rd place could devolve into the
opposite, a battle for 4th with riders slowing
down to try to force the others to overtake. That
will not make the championship look very good.
It is easy to guess why the Superbike
Commission made such a change. With the
popularity of the series languishing, they are
trying to find a way to make it more attractive.
They are caught between a rock and a hard
place, however: they have already split up the
two-race format over two days, and moved the
races to start at 1pm local time.
They have done this to avoid racing at the same
time as Formula One, which they often clash with
over the course of the season. The early races
make it less attractive to attend each weekend,
but more attractive for TV stations, who can
show the World Superbike series without the fear
of having to go against the ratings juggernaut
which is Formula One.
The question is, just how successful will this rule
change be? The omens are not particularly good.
The second major change to the rules is far
less controversial. World Supersport races are
now also to be run under the same flag-to-flag
format as World Superbike. This requires a
change in the technical rules, to allow parts to
be replaced which will make wheel swaps faster.
20 RIDEFAST MAGAZINE JANUARY 2017