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Bimota Misses WSBK Homologation Target

Wed, 12 Feb 2014

The World Superbike Championship welcomed two new manufacturers for the 2014 season in Erik Buell Racing and MV Agusta, but another potential entrant has missed the cut .

Bimota and riders Ayrton Badovini and Christian Iddon were not among the teams mentioned in a WSBK press release previewing the 2014 season. Badovini and Iddon were among the 27 riders listed on a provisional entry list released Jan. 30 but with an asterisk indicating their inclusion was subject to homologation.

The International Motorcycling Federation confirmed today that EBR has met the minimum production levels to qualify the 1190RX but Bimota did not reach minimum of 125 units produced by the initial homologation inspection deadline.

Unfortunately I won’t be in Australia for Rd1 of WSBK. I’m sure we will be stronger for not going. Lots of hard work behind the scenes!!!

— Christian Iddon (@christianiddon) February 11, 2014

Iddon confirmed the news, both in his Twitter feed and in an interview with Bennetts.

“There are a number of reasons for the delay but the rules mean you have to have a certain amount of bikes produced before we can race,” Iddon tells Bennetts. “Everything with the Bimota is brand new and there are so many things the team and factory have to do. Production runs have been arranged and then the race team is getting everything ready for us on the track side of things.”

Though it won’t be ready to start the season, Iddon says the team will continue testing to be ready for when Bimota receives the O.K. Bimota can still try to meet the production requirements to qualify for later rounds in the season.

“Missing any race means missing out on valuable potential championship points but I’m not massively concerned about the Championship at this stage,” says Iddon. “I hate missing any race because I love racing, it’s what we do so it’s gutting not to be out there but I believe we will be better placed for not going. We can structure testing more productively and hopefully come back stronger than if we were actually out in Australia right now.”

[Source: Christian Iddon (Twitter), Bennetts]


By Dennis Chung


See also: 2014 WSBK Provisional Entry List – 27 Riders and 9 Manufacturers, FIM to Revise WSBK Homologation Requirements, Bimota Entering WSBK Championship with Team Alstare.