BSB: MSVR unveil 2021 event format ahead of 25th anniversary season

Bennetts British Superbike Championship promoter MSVR has revealed several format changes ahead of the 2021 season.

Following the success of this year’s triple-header events, all 11 race meetings next year will feature a three-race format. The practice and qualifying format will also be updated for BSB’s 25th Anniversary season – of the relaunch of the Championship by the Motorcycle Circuit Racing Control Board in 1996.

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Event Schedule

Fridays will be return to two free practice sessions for the BSB class, with the fastest 12 riders overall being seeded directly to the Saturday’s Qualifying 2 (Q2) session.

On Saturday morning there will be a third, shorter free practice session followed be Qualifying 1 (Q1). The three fastest riders in Q1 will progress through to the Q2 session to join the 12 pre-qualifiers from the opening day.

The ‘sprint race’ will then take place later that afternoon, with a warmup and the two feature races taking place on the Sunday.

Showdown

With a full calendar, hopefully, going ahead the Showdown will return to the championship. However, there are some changes to the format.

The ‘Main Season’ will now consist of eight events and 24 races, with points being awarded using the regular system.

After the 24th race, the top eight riders in the championship standings will graduate as ‘Title Fighters’ and be elevated to 1000 points together with any Podium Points accrued in the Main Season. Podium Points will be awarded for each main season race as follows

• 1st – 5 points
• 2nd – 3 points
• 3rd – 1 point.

For the remaining three events, nine races, points will awarded to the first 15 finishers using the regular format.The BSB Riders Cup will continue to be awarded to the first rider outside of the Title Fighters in the final standings.

There have also been changes to BSB testing regulations ahead of the new season, which outlaw full team testing outside of UK. BSB Teams may test for a maximum of 16 days in the UK during the season.

The 2020 season was a huge challenge for everyone, but the outcome was hugely satisfying,” series director Stuart Higgs commented. “The co-operation and passion for the championship has never been stronger.

“Even before the 2020 season had completed we were carefully scoping the structure for the 2021 season together with the teams, and the announcement today represents the next exciting phase of the Championship, which will see it celebrate its 25th anniversary next season.”