Photo: colin.barschel.net
The 2015 WSBK calendar will only consist of 13 rounds, an official press release from the sporting body informs us. The Russian round, which was supposed to take place at the Moscow Raceway on July 5th was cancelled and will not be replaced, the same WSBK’s official website tells us.
Dorna WSBK Organization (DWO) and the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) announced that the Russian round was cancelled because the local event promoter, Yakhnich Motorsport Team (YMS, a former partner of MV Agusta’s) has failed to provide the guarantees the contract required. In the absence of these guarantees, Dorna was unable to confirm the vent as no proof for the implementation of the Russian round was offered.
Sporting management company Infront had signed a 10-year deal with Yakhnich Motorsport Team to stage a Russian round at the Moscow circuit. At the end of 2012, Dorna bought the rights to the World Superbike Series from Infront and was willing to carry out the former deal YMS and Infront had. Still, the deterioration of conditions on multiple levels seem to have led to a hiatus which we daresay will endure.
Even though the Russian round was added to the 2015 calendar as a default move derived from the contract between Yakhnich Motorsport Team and Dorna, it looks like nobody had too much hope in it. As a result of cancelling the round on the aforementioned basis, Yakhnich Motorsport Team is also losing their slot on the grid.
We are looking to see a season which kicks off in Australia on February 22nd and ends on October 18 in Qatar, with 13 rounds of which 7 will also host Superstock 1000 and Superstock 600 races. STK 1000 has one more race than STK600, since it appears like the latter will not be staged at Donington. Unfortunately, Donington Park will not have a MotoGP round as we hoped.
Sporting management company Infront had signed a 10-year deal with Yakhnich Motorsport Team to stage a Russian round at the Moscow circuit. At the end of 2012, Dorna bought the rights to the World Superbike Series from Infront and was willing to carry out the former deal YMS and Infront had. Still, the deterioration of conditions on multiple levels seem to have led to a hiatus which we daresay will endure.
Sports and politics, Europe vs Russia
The continued political instability in Russia and the Ukrainian tensions have only made things worse for the Moscow round. It’s no secret that the Russian economy, together with the exchange rates are plummeting lately, as it appears like Russia is more keen to invest in military structures and supporting separatist forces in Easter Ukraine. The European Union has already imposed a large set of economic and financial sanctions against Russia and this adds to the instability affecting the sporting event.Even though the Russian round was added to the 2015 calendar as a default move derived from the contract between Yakhnich Motorsport Team and Dorna, it looks like nobody had too much hope in it. As a result of cancelling the round on the aforementioned basis, Yakhnich Motorsport Team is also losing their slot on the grid.
We are looking to see a season which kicks off in Australia on February 22nd and ends on October 18 in Qatar, with 13 rounds of which 7 will also host Superstock 1000 and Superstock 600 races. STK 1000 has one more race than STK600, since it appears like the latter will not be staged at Donington. Unfortunately, Donington Park will not have a MotoGP round as we hoped.
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