WorldSBK big boss Carmelo Ezpeleta wants to return WorldSBK to its ‘original idea’ of production bikes and rules could adopt Superstock 1000 engine regulations with a control ECU as soon as next season.

In an exclusive interview with BSN’s Maria Guidotti, the Dorna CEO said that WorldSBK should be as production-based as possible and not try to compete with MotoGP while still retaining its fan base and TV numbers.

“The rules need to change possibly starting from the 2018 season. All teams agree about it”, said Ezpeleta. “WorldSBK is a championship for production bikes. The bikes have to be based on production vehicles, but the current situation is not like this.

“In this moment the Superbike machines are more prototypes than production bikes and this is not possible. In the past the Superbike was conceived as championship that wanted to compete with MotoGP, but this doesn’t work. You cannot compete with MotoGP. We need to go back to the original idea.”

Ezpeleta believes that WorldSBK is more popular now than ever before but to keep that going, technical regulations must change sooner rather than later, so a radical proposal is on the table.

“The proposal is not only related to the introduction of a single ECU, it is more complex. First of all and most important, all teams agree to adopt the rules of the Superstock 1000 to Superbikes and then the introduction of a single ECU.

“One thing is clear, the definition of the Superbike championship is for bikes derived from the production line. Full stop. For years this has not been respected and we see the results now. What is the idea behind this championship? A customer who buys a Superbike can use it mainly in a racetrack because it’s very sophisticated.

“If he can buy a bike as similar as possible to the one that competes in WorldSBK, it would be really interesting for him to compare his performance with the one of his heroes. He can say: look on that track I was lapping 20 seconds behind Jonathan Rea. This is the target.”