If you believe that the bikes taking part in the series derivative championship have the same list price as the road ones, you are sadly mistaken. The figure will surprise you.
The Superbike championship is among the most spectacular in the world. The battles on the track are explosive also thanks to the simplified aerodynamics of the vehicles. The bikes are, theoretically, taken from the official ranges of Ducati, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and BMWbut undergo heavy modifications to be super competitive on the most iconic tracks in the world.
In SBK the challenge has become very exciting compared to last year. Ducati with Bautista has lost that sensational technical advantage in favor of a more open challenge with the other manufacturers as well. There were many changes to the jersey that inflamed the competition. Toprak Razgatlioglu’s move to BMW caused a stir after the long glorious epic at Yamaha. Jonathan Rea from Kawasaki arrived to replace the Turkish rider.
There was also great attention on Andrea Iannone’s return to the track, four years after the very heavy disqualification for doping he had in his MotoGP days. The Abruzzo native is back on a Goeleven team Ducati. In Kawasaki, however, Axel Bassani was selected instead of Rea.
Honda, Yamaha, BMW and Kawasaki will try to slow down the dominance of the V4 Panigale. If Bautista was delayed with the technical arrangements aimed at ballasting the number 1, his new teammate Nicolò Bulega, after his time in the Supersport championship, has already started on the right foot.
The former Valentino Rossi Academy rider was preferred to Rinaldi, achieving a historic success for the Emilian manufacturer on the V2 Panigale. Now in SBK, on the V4, he is proving to be the rider who was believed to become in the premier class. The spectacle on the track in SBK never fails. Although in 2022 and 2023 Bautista clearly won he is no longer the absolute favorite due to the new provisions.
The exponential costs of Superbikes
Until the 2022 season, Superbike had a maximum spending cap. No vehicles could be used that exceeded a sales cost of 40 thousand euros. Ducati raised its voice, given that the total price of his super sports car was 44 thousand euros. The direction of the championship was that of cost containment, even more so after the pandemic which had sent the system into a tailspin. Here’s how many bikes compete in SBK.
The ceiling thus rose to 45 thousand and then even 50 thousand euros because the general cost of motorcycles has gone up. Only partially do the best riders race on production motorcycles. The cars that go on the track have more horsepower, thanks to various modified technical elements, such as the exhausts.
Everything is squeezed to the maximum to record spectacular performances on the track. The V4 Panigale sent to the track or the Kawasaki ZX10RR which, in 2019, had made sparks in the independent World Championship with Toprak Razgatlioglu far exceed the 50 thousand euro ceiling. The greenback in the non-standardized version exceeds 75 thousand euros. These are racing cars created to achieve impressive results on the track. To allow you to buy bikes like this, in addition to a bank account, you also need a lot of guts.
