Jim Moore explains how new CRMC eligibility rules will see machines like these racing around Donington again
THE SIGHTS AND sounds of WSB’s glory years will resonate around the UK’s race tracks again this summer, when the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club’s new eligibility rules allow four-cylinder 750cc and twin-cylinder 1000cc superbikes, produced before January 1, 1995, to compete in the series for the first time.
That means machines such as Honda RC30s and RC45s, Kawasaki ZXR750RRs, Yamaha YZF750SPs, and Ducati 916s fighting it out in a new Post Classic Superbike Championship. It’s set to be a mouth-watering prospect, especially when the series arrives at Donington Park, Leicestershire, at the end of July – the scene of many epic WSB battles during the ’90s, and the place in 1992 where future four-time champion Carl Fogarty took his very first win on a privately entered Ducati 888.
Welcoming these 140bhp superbikes into its ranks is a bold step for the CRMC. Up to now, the club’s eligibility stretched only as far as pre-’87 bikes – with early Honda VFR750Fs, Kawasaki GPX750s, Yamaha FZ750s and Suzuki GSX-R750s competing under basic Superstock rules – while popularity for earlier pre-’73 machinery still generates strong grids.
“It’s an exciting move for us,” CRMC Chairman and Post Classic Eligibility Officer Andy Pike told CB. “Many of us of a certain age look back at the 1990s as WSB’s golden age, a time when Superbike racing was more popular than 500 Grand Prix in certain countries – particularly the UK. Having Fogarty in Superbikes helped, obviously, but so did the bikes. They were based on production machines that we could buy at our local dealers and ride to the tracks, so there was a direct connection for the fans.”
The CRMC’s revised rules don’t stop at welcoming a new-look superbike class for 2024. Supersport machines from the same period will also be allowed to compete in newly-formed 400 and 600cc championships. Cue a tsunami of eligibility forms to the club from VFR400, ZXR400, FZR400/600, CBR600, GSX600 and Ducati 750SS owners eager to take part...
