Manufacturers threaten to quit over new rules.

Yesterday's announcement that the World Superbike Championship would align itself more closely to production machinery, and the rules of various national series, has angered the six principal manufacturers involved - all of whom have served notice to quit the formula should the new rules go ahead.

On the assumption that the WSBK would adopt their own ideas from 2004, each of the participating manufacturers - all members of the MSMA - worked together over a period of two years to create an environment where differences in performance could be reduced for a relatively low level of investment. This aimed to put a stop to increases in engine power thanks to large injections of finance, and, in spite of performance differences due to differing numbers of cylinders, make the performance gap between different engine configurations a thing of the past.

In order to do this, the MSMA created a rule bringing in the adoption of air restrictors, as already fitted to the current Suzuki bikes, and, after receiving the understanding of the various parties involved, this was adopted as an FIM rule for 2004 onwards. The regulation was drawn up so that the six manufacturers - all of which are involved in commercial production - would not exceed the boundaries of equipment and performance which would normally be needed for commercial motorcycles, consequently keeping the price of the base machinery stable.

Yesterday's announcement by the FIM appears to have wrecked the accord, however, leaving the six manufacturers - Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha - disappointed and discouraged by the sudden adoption of new formula 2004.

All feel that this change does not allow the WSBK to maintain the necessary quality and status of a world championship, and does not meet basic requirements for technical rules, such as enabling large numbers of teams and companies to compete under fairer condition. The MSMA was invited to attended the SBK Commission meeting where the rule was drawn up and announced, but the body rejected the offer - and has now decided to secede from the Commission.

The MSMA points out that this is not the first time that a ruling has been forced through against their better judgement, citing the 2000 decision whereby kit-part rules for WSBK were suddenly changed only half a year before they were due to be implemented. On that occasion, as with the current situation, each of the member companies had already incurred the costs of developing and manufacturing new components, only to find that they had been rendered obsolete by the governing body..

As a consequence, the large majority of the MSMA members who had expressed an interest in entering next year's WSBK have now reviewed their positions and decided against the move.