World Superbike: Moscow Round Cancelled
Gordon Ritchie | February 12, 2015
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
As has been long expected by the cynics (read, realists) in the World Superbike paddock, the proposed 14-round 2015 FIM Superbike World Championship will not feature an event in Moscow Raceway after all.
The planned Russian race was cancelled last year after the dual realities of a lack of funding and the political situation between Russia and the Ukraine hit home, and again this year financial issues have been quoted as the reason not to go ahead at Moscow Raceway on July 5.
The official press release states… “Dorna WSBK Organization [DWO] and the FIM, Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, regret to inform of the cancellation of the Russian round scheduled to be held at Moscow Raceway on July 5th 2015.
The Russian event promoter, YMS Promotion, has not provided the required contract guarantees defined by DWO to confirm and implement the event organization.”
There will be no ‘super-sub’ to keep the calendar at 14-rounds and the loss of the Moscow race also means that the local WSS squad that had proven podium finisher Vladimir Leonov, and one other unnamed rider, set to compete in 2015 will not now take part in the championship.
The release confirmed that, “The Round will not be replaced and the 2015 WSBK Calendar will consist of the 13 confirmed events… As a consequence, the Moscow Region Yakhnich Motorsport Team which applied to the FIM Supersport World Championship will not participate in the series for the 2015 season.”
Gordon Ritchie | World Superbike Editor
You may not understand Ritchie and his Scottish accent if you had him on the phone, but you can definitely understand what he writes as our World Superbike editor.
