South Africa’s Kyalami circuit is being tipped to plug the March hole the departure of Buriram will leave in the 2020 WorldSBK calendar.
The track, which is between Pretoria and carjacking capital of the world Johannesburg, has undergone extensive work in the past two years and is now up to scratch.
Kyalami last hosted a WorldSBK round in 2010 and was a popular venue with riders and teams alike but the track’s contract with then World Superbike owners FG Sport was bought out by the provincial Gauteng government due to an economic recession.
Because Buriram is now a March 22 fixture on the MotoGP schedule, WorldSBK needs something to do between Phillip Island at the end of February and the first European round which looks likely to again be at the poorly-attended Aragon in April.
But Dorna’s problems don’t end there as Laguna looks unlikely to re-book, so a new venue is needed in required in July.
Step forward Portimao as it makes sense to hold a race when the Algarve is full of people like it is in July and not when it’s empty, like it is in September, and bring Magny-Cours forward a month so it’s less likely to piss down all weekend.
There was some talk last season of the new Sokol track in Kazakhstan being included, which is no bad thing, and whether the San Juan round will go ahead this year let alone next is debatable as the country is in a massive economic crisis.
WorldSBK should wrap up in September before MotoGP’s title is getting close to being decided as unfortunately, all interest is in Dorna’s cash cow from October onwards.
