BSB: Team bosses discuss changes for 2017 season

A number of changes could be afoot for the MCE British Superbike Championship following the annual teams meeting in Birmingham last week.

Each year, team bosses meet with series organisers to discuss the future of the series and potential regulation changes ahead of the upcoming season.

While no official minutes of the meeting are released, MCN has been given exclusive access to some brief notes on the topics discussed and decisions made in the lengthy group session.

One proposal raised was an idea to shake up the way in which BSB riders qualify for their second (and sometimes third) race of the weekend. While one-lap Superpole is to remain (in dry conditions) for deciding the sharp end of the grid for the first race, organisers are considering ditching the current system for selecting the grid for the second race.

At present, riders are ranked in the order of their fastest laps from the opening encounter, but MCN understands an idea to move to a reverse grid option for the first 12 riders (a similar system to that used in the British Touring Car Championship) has been considered. However, this is by no means final. The teams meeting did not reach a conclusion on this topic and series bosses MSVR have simply said “various proposals are being evaluated by the promoter and teams group”. 

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One change that will be made to Saturday’s qualifying sessions will be that the three tyres available will be made available across sessions rather than having one tyre per session.

Following numerous riders struggling with severe tyre wear following the race restart at Thruxton this year, an exception to the rule that riders cannot change tyres in a dry red flag situation will be added for the Hampshire track only.

The opening free practice for the MCE BSB class is set to take place later in the day on Friday, moving to a time closer to that of the opening race rather than around 10.15am.

Team bosses unanimously approved a proposal to allow blipper systems for 2017 with all homologated models now featuring such systems on the standard road bikes. However, this rule change is dependent on ensuring such systems will work with the spec-Motec ECU. 

Big changes could be on the way for the Superstock class next year as organisers move to raise the profile of the Pirelli-backed series. An extended number of championship races has been promised with organisers looking to change race lengths and format. There will also be some revisions to technical regulations, specifically concerning electronics. 

Series promoter MSVR have said a full statement will be made in regards to any changes in due course. 

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