This week's Bikesport News cover story said it all - "WHEN WE WERE KINGS ..." then asking "Britain's WSBK rounds used to be monstrous. Where did everyone go?"

The sad truth is that it is not just the British rounds which have suffered from dwindling attendances, so have many others. There were even fewer at Portimao than at Donington, which should be a bastion of WSBK support.

At the start of the season, we suggested this was a make or break year for WSBK. And so far there are few signs which give rise to optimism. The series is now down to twelve rounds and only three are left following the cancellation of South Africa. The final is a night race in Qatar but with any luck the championship will have been won by then.

Next season it will be difficult to get even twelve rounds. A number of the current circuits have lost money on the event and simply won't run without a sizeable reduction in the fee which WSBK charge to being their show to town.

What is to be done?

Former Superbike champions like Carl Fogarty, Neil Hodgson and James Toseland have aired their opinions which range from too many Brits, too nice (Fogarty); no underdog battling against the world (Toseland); plenty of characters, no stars (Hodgson). All have their merit but what must also be taken into account is that there is only so much money and so much hero worship to spread around. And apart from a couple of meetings at Brands Hatch, where talk of a 130,000 crowd is surely bollocks, we may be in danger of rewriting history.

Maybe, a bit, but the series is in crisis and the sad fact is that it probably wouldn't matter to owners Dorna if it disappeared altogether. It used to offer some sort of challenge to MotoGP but under common ownership that is the very opposite of what is required. It is a support series which has lost its identity and personality, especially now that there is very little difference between it's formula and that of MotoGP.

So RIP WSBK? A massive and expensive relaunch is required and as a business Dorna will be weighing up the costs involved and the return on the investment. The likely outcome! A further season of muddling through otherwise known as kicking the can down the road

But could there be an opportunity here? British Superbikes which is driven by a canny promoter who has the benefit of owning half the circuits and controlling the series made an interesting move a couple of years ago by taking one of the rounds to Assen. Could it be seen as some sort of Trojan horse, establishing a foothold in Europe for another series!

How about a Champions League where, let's say, the top teams from Superbike Championships in four other European countries compete at an event in each country? So there would be five rounds, it would attract television and it would create local interest. Remember Britain v America in the Transatlantic Trophy?

Unlike a series which has become boring and moribund fans could, and would, travel to support their teams competing against new top teams and their riders. And travel costs for those teams would be no more than, say, driving from Brands Hatch to Knockhill.