2017 MotoAmerica Rules
Last week, the SBK Commission (the governing body of World Superbike) announced a major rule change for race-two starting positions in 2017.
The somewhat-confusing SBK grid lineup rule bases the top-nine starting grid positions of race two on the race-one results, but with some alterations: the podium finishers will start on row three (but winners and third-place finishers will swap positions); the fourth-sixth finishers will start on row one, and the seventh-ninth finishers will start on row two.
The AMA/FIM North America-sanctioned MotoAmerica Superbike Series usually mirrors WorldSBK, such as the two-day race format, but qualifying will remain the same for 2017.
The WorldSBK grid change announcement caused some chatter that MotoAmerica would follow suit, but MotoAmerica partner Chuch Aksland says this is not the case.
“We went to the two-races-on-one-day concept that was used by World Superbike at the time, and we’ve switched back to a two-day format with the Superbike races for next year after monitoring World Superbikes lead for a year,” Aksland said.
“For the new World Superbike grid system, we will take the same look, review how it works over the year and then assess if we move forward or not. It’ll be interesting to watch and we look forward to seeing if the benefits make it worthwhile for MotoAmerica to move in that direction in 2018.”
The 10-round 2017 MotoAmerica Championship begins April 10-23 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, running in conjunction with MotoGP. Prior to the season opener, there will be a two-day MotoAmerica team test at COTA, March 28-29. For more, visit MotoAmerica.