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SBK<br />
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ALL THE RIGHT MOVES...<br />
More than Europe’s<br />
largest MC store<br />
It would seem that part of the ‘sport’ of WorldSBK in the final<br />
weeks of the current season is actually putting together<br />
the puzzle for the forthcoming season.<br />
There have been some announcements<br />
on rider signings but whilst<br />
most other series have declared<br />
their calendars for 2020, the<br />
WorldSBK schedule is still a mystery.<br />
We know that the first race will<br />
take place in Phillip Island as usual,<br />
at the end of February, but after<br />
that it is anyone’s guess.<br />
The Buriram race will be consigned<br />
to the history books given that MotoGP<br />
has moved to an earlier slot<br />
but options for a replacement seem<br />
limited. There had been a suggestion<br />
that a return to Sepang was on<br />
the cards, it may still be, but my<br />
understanding is that the previous<br />
WorldSBK events were so poorly<br />
attended that the circuit have no<br />
interest in hosting another one. All<br />
indications point to another European<br />
race being added to maintain<br />
a 13 date schedule but I can’t<br />
imagine anywhere other than Jerez<br />
being an attractive option climate<br />
wise for racing in March.<br />
There have been press reports that<br />
the series will return to Oscherleben<br />
in Germany but ‘when’ is the<br />
big question. Slotting it in in the<br />
middle of March I don’t think would<br />
be ideal from a weather perspective.<br />
It would inevitably have a<br />
detrimental effect on the crowd<br />
figure and when you are trying to<br />
re-establish the event, a slot between<br />
June and September would<br />
be preferred. That, however, is the<br />
most congested part of the calendar<br />
at the moment so something<br />
else would need to be shuffled.<br />
When the Superbike championship<br />
last visited the German circuit it<br />
was at the end of May/beginning of<br />
June, but that itself was a shift from<br />
an early September slot. The World<br />
Endurance championship currently<br />
has the 8 hours of Oschersleben<br />
in June so a March or September<br />
opening might be the only choice.<br />
I would still like to see a race in<br />
August to fill in the summer gap.<br />
The MotoAmerica championship<br />
has released their calendar for<br />
2020 with the usual early July date<br />
for Laguna Seca. However, there<br />
is a big TBC next to the entry on<br />
their website and I have heard<br />
from some of the photographers<br />
and journalists I work with in the<br />
US that the circuit and County<br />
of Monterey are playing hardball<br />
again. The last I heard was that it<br />
would not happen but then that<br />
MA calendar was announced, so<br />
I would put it back in the ‘maybe’<br />
folder. I have already had a look for<br />
accommodation and with a two star<br />
motel charging $200 per night I<br />
guess someone is hanging their hat<br />
on that date.<br />
Personally I would really like to see<br />
a race in Japan to fill that early part<br />
of the season. I really enjoy travelling<br />
to Japan and with the current<br />
level of manufacturer support in<br />
the championship form Kawasaki,<br />
Yamaha and Honda I really think a<br />
Japanese race could be viable.
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