The 2017 World Superbike calendar is close to being finalized. When it was announced at the combined WorldSBK/MotoGP test in November of last year, the calendar featured thirteen rounds of racing, only twelve of which had been confirmed.
The missing round, many present at the test felt, was a Jerez-shaped hole waiting to be filled. Now, we have learned, the penultimate round of World Superbikes will indeed take place at Jerez.
The 2017 MotoGP calendar is now officially confirmed. The FIM removed the provisional status of the calendar after Dorna finalized contracts with the two remaining circuits still left with an asterisk: Silverstone and Sepang.
The situation with Sepang had been settled earlier, with Sepang keen to retain a MotoGP race for the long term. Sepang has grown to become one of the best-attended races on the calendar. So large are the crowds that they now easily outnumber attendance for F1, which the circuit is trying to drop.
Silverstone was the last race to be finalized. Representatives from the Circuit of Wales, which holds the contract for the British round of MotoGP, had traveled to the Movistar Yamaha launch in Madrid, where they met with Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta.
The FIM today issued a revised and updated version of the provisional 2017 MotoGP calendar. The calendar features just a single change: the date of the German round of MotoGP at Sachsenring has been moved forward two weeks, and will now take place on July 2nd.
The change has both benefits and disadvantages. On the plus side, moving the date of the Sachsenring race means that the riders now have a proper summer break again, with a month off to recover between the Sachsenring and the following race at Brno.
The provisional 2017 World Superbike calendar has been released, but unlike the MotoGP calendar, which is unchanged, there are a couple of minor differences to the schedule.
The World Superbike class will contest 13 rounds, just as they did in 2016, spread across three continents. Sepang and Jerez have been dropped, and Portimao makes a comeback.
The WorldSBK calendar also sees a new class added to the series. As announced previously, the new World Supersport 300 class has been added as a cheap entry series, where young riders will take each other on aboard a wide range of the cheap, one and two cylinder sports bikes which manufacturers are currently building.
The 2017 calendar for the newly rebranded American Flat Track racing series has been released. The 18-round schedule traverses the USA, with four different race track varieties: (6) mile-long tracks, (7) half-mile track, (2) short-track courses, and (3) TT type courses.
2017 also sees American Flat Track using a new class structure, with the premier class is the AFT Twins class, comprised of two-cylinder motorcycles with displacements ranging from 650cc to 999cc. There will also be an AFT Singles class for upcoming riders, which will be based on 450cc single-cylinder bikes.
With plenty of opportunities through the year, and through out the country, we supremely suggest you attend an American Flat Track round this coming season. We think you will find it highly satisfying to your two-wheeled inclinations.
The provisional calendar for the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Race Championship has been released, and it features a 10-stop tour for American road racing.
The 2017 calendar looks like an improvement over the 2016 schedule, with fewer gaps between races and no repeat venues. Fans will also welcome the return of Sonoma Raceway (that’s Sears Point to you locals) to the calendar, as well as the debut of Pittsburgh International Race Complex (one of my personal favorite tracks).
Geographically, the 2017 MotoAmerica calendar makes a lot more sense too, with more of a logical progression across the map between races, a benefit for teams and logistics personnel.
Fans from around the USA should be able to get to at least one round within a day’s travel by car, which should help attendance numbers.
The 2017 season is starting to take shape. After the announcement of the provisional 2017 MotoGP calendar in the run up to Aragon, Dorna published the schedule of official tests for the 2017 preseason. Like the race calendar, the test calendar looks remarkably similar to last year.
Testing kicks off after the final race of 2016 in Valencia, and as last year, the riders get a day off between the race and the test, with the bikes taking to the track on Tuesday.
Up until last year, the test had always started on the Monday after the race, but that was changed last year, with the explanation that the teams needed an extra day of preparation to get the bikes set up with the Michelin tires and spec electronics.
No major technical rules are to change for 2017 (with the exception of the banning of winglets), but the extra day of rest is to be maintained.
There is a current fashion in moviemaking, of taking proven formulas from the past, giving them a light makeover and then relaunching them, then trying to spice them up by referring to them as a “reboot” or “reloaded”.
Dorna executives must have been to see Ghostbusters, Mad Max, and many more, as the 2017 MotoGP calendar is best described as 2016 Reloaded.
The 2017 MotoGP calendar is almost identical to the 2016 calendar, with a couple of minor tweaks. Those tweaks are a clear improvement on 2016: there are fewer large gaps, and there are fewer back-to-back races.
There have been some changes to help with logistics, and some to help with race organizations.
Two major announcements for the MotoGP calendar came at the Sachsenring on Sunday. That the organizers of the German Grand Prix have extended their contract for another five years, securing its future through 2021. And that Finland is to host a MotoGP round from 2018 onwards.
The announcement of the German Grand Prix had been expected. What the agreement does not cover, however, is which circuit the race will be at.
The Sachsenring is the current favorite, and extraordinarily popular with the fans, but the organizers have struggled to make the race profitable.
The 2016 World Superbike calendar will have just thirteen rounds. Attempts at finding a replacement for the canceled Monza round have failed, causing the calendar to definitively lose a round.
Dorna had been in talks with several other circuits to replace the races at Monza, with the Estoril circuit being the most popular candidate. However, no agreement could be reached with any of the replacement candidates, and Dorna had no choice but to cancel.
All hope is not lost for Monza, however. Work continues at the iconic Italian track, including efforts to make it suitable for motorcycle racing. The circuit could yet make a return, but not this year.
If you were looking forward to the return of World Superbike racing at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, we have bad news for you, as the Italian track has been dropped from this year’s Championship calendar.
The move comes as more time is required to understand and fix the problems with the circuit, in order for Monza to meet FIM homologation and safety requirements.