World Superbike has added a new minimum weight rule for the 2024 season, which significantly disadvantages reigning world champion Alvaro Bautista, who will have to add 6.5 kilos of weight to his bike to comply with the new rules.
The regulation establishes that the minimum weight is 80 kg, but for riders below this figure it is necessary to calculate half the difference between the weight and the limit and add it to the bike. Since Bautista with the suit and all the equipment weighs 67 kg (60 without anything), the 13 kg difference compared to the 80 kg must be divided by two and the resulting 6.5 kg must be applied to the bike.
This is a rule change imposed to limit the advantage that the Talavera rider could have by weighing less than his rivals (Jonathan Reapesa 70 kg and Toprak Razgatlioglu, 68 kg).
The two-time world champion criticized the new rules and said that if his bike becomes “dangerous after adding weight, I won’t race”.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing Ducati
One of his rivals, Toprak Razgatlioglu, responded to Bautista’s comments with laughter. “In my opinion the weight rule won’t change anything for next season. Bautista will probably add 5 kilos to his bike and nothing will change,” said the new BMW rider for 2024. And then, laughing, he added: “It shouldn’t be afraid, five or eight kilos are nothing, okay. What’s so dangerous? Come on, he’s a world champion.”
If his opponents point out that Bautista’s lightness helps him on straights, in the acceleration zones at the exit of corners and in tire protection in general, Alvaro himself lists the disadvantages: “Being light on a racing bike, even before this rule, it was a problem, a disadvantage because racing bikes move a lot underneath you and you need power to hold the bike. When the bike gets heavier, it will be even more difficult for me to do that and control the bike.”
“Look at Pedrosa in MotoGP. Everyone said that Pedrosa had problems because he weighed less and the bike was very heavy and fast. Pedrosa had to work harder, he had moments where he wobbled when exiting corners and it was more difficult for him to be fast in all the conditions”.
“So Pedrosa’s low weight was seen as a disadvantage. In the last two years something happened and suddenly this vision has changed. Lightness is seen as an advantage, especially in SBK. The new rules will only be a disadvantage for me, I will have to work twice as hard. Adding weight to my bike is neither safe nor right. After all, I can’t add more weight to myself, I can’t gain weight. At the moment I eat as much as I want, I have no limits. So I can’t put on a few kilos.”
“So we’ll try to make the bike heavier, but to be honest, I’m here because I like racing and I feel confident on the bike, so if I add weight and try it and think it’s more dangerous than necessary, I’ll stay home. That’s very clear to me. Of course I will try the new rules, I will test the bike with the weight, but it will be much more dangerous. When the bike is heavier it moves more, it is more difficult to control. Also, in case of a fall, I will need more space. It will be more dangerous in every way. I don’t want to call this weight rule the ‘anti-motorcycle rule’, but ultimately it was created to slow me down,” he concluded.
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