By Dean AdamsYamaha’s release this morning confirming that they will re-join the WSBK paddock in 2016 puts Brand Y solidly back in the production world championship.
While on the whole WSBK looks to be gaining another factory effort the reality is that they may actually be losing two others.
Basically Paul Denning’s Suzuki WSBK team structure will swap brands to Yamaha. So where does that leave Suzuki in 2016, with a new GSX-R said to be race-ready around July or “after the Suzuka Eight Hours”? Does Suzuki intend to race the WSBK championship in 2016? There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer to that, although it’s known that representatives of the Suzuki factory in Japan met with Nicky Hayden at the July Laguna Seca round.
And what of Aprilia’s 2016 WSBK plans?
You’d probably have better luck trying to predict how a garage sale run by three old women will play out than trying to anticipate what Aprilia’s 2016 WSBK plans might be. Consider the current season when the scope of their WSBK plan changed at least three times: from an all-out withdrawal from the series, to running the effort through a private or satellite team to running the squad directly through the factory, and entering their test rider, former WSBK champ Biaggi in two rounds.
Therefor Aprilia’s 2016 plans could change tomorrow, or in January, but at the present time insiders suggest they will not have a official team in WSBK next season.
