New generation World Supersport motorcycles and their weight limits

World Supersport Next Generation

While the technical rules applicable to the World Supersport 300 Championship remain unchanged for 2022 we are on the cusp of a completely new generation of World Supersport competition.

Dubbed ‘Supersport Next Generation’, the class now does away with the previous long-running limits of 600 cc for four-cylinder, 675 cc for triples, and 750 cc for twins. That was always relatively simple to get your head around, but the new look World Supersport Championship is a lot more complex…

955 cc Ducati Panigale V2 motorcycles will debut and compete against 765 cc Triumph Street Triple RS, 798 cc MV Agusta F3 800 and Suzuki’s GSX-R750.  The 636 cc version of the ZX-6R will become eligible in 2023 under the current plan.

We believe Yamaha’s YZF-R6 and Honda’s CBR600RR will retain their existing 600 cc capacities, but if they start to get left behind by the new generation machines, then organisers will allow them more performance modifications to help redress the balance.

Performance balancing is going to comprise of Concession Parts, Torque limited map with Rev Limit, Minimum Weight, Air restrictor, and allowed Modifications.

For motorcycle such as the GSX-R750, where no fly by wire system is on the motorcycle as standard, they must be fitted with a control fly-by-wire throttle body system mandated by Dorna. This is to allow all motorcycles to be balanced for performance via torque mapping.

Simply put, organisers can pull power/torque from all the motorcycle types in the championship at various rpm to aid them in trying to provide a fairly level playing field. Brave new world this one…

We also have weight limits set on a combined basis of rider (in full race gear) and motorcycle, with a minimum limit also in place.  All machines start with a minimum combined weight of 239 kg, apart from the largest engined bike in the field, the 955 cc Ducati, which must be a minimum combination of 244 kg.

Effectively it looks as though we will end up having two championships running in the same race.  A conventional World Supersport catergy we are accustomed to, but also the new Next Generation class fighting their own battles.

It does look as though it might get a bit messy in regards to balancing parity, but lets hope it produces some great racing!  And of course we will have Oli Bayliss and Ben Currie to cheer on!  Action gets underway at Aragon on the weekend of April 10.

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