Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki's John Hopkins (Photo: BritishSuperbike.com)

The lower cost (electronics excepted) AMA rules have delivered outstanding racing, and these 'budget' Superbikes easily pass the eyeball test. They look like true Superbikes, are capable of traveling in excess of 200mph, and from the fence, every bit as spectacular as a full-on World Superbike.

However, Flammini has argued that more heavily restricted rules penalize manufacturers who race models that are less high-spec at their starting point (i.e. the street model). However, the solution to simply allow more open Superbike rules seems backwards in this era of containing costs.

Rather than allow everyone to build exotic racers, why not finally do away with the 'SPs' -- the homologation specials -- that have enjoyed a long and storied history in World Superbike racing but always flirted on the wrong side of the spirit of the rules? Why not either further increase homologation number requirements, or draw up a rule that states that the base model (generally the one produced in the greatest numbers) must form the basis for a Superbike racer? That would make Ducati's baseline 1198 (not the 1098R or 1198SP) and Aprilia's RSV4 R (as opposed to the RSV4 Factory/2) their respective Superbike starting points and put them on considerably more leveled terrain with their Japanese and German rivals when faced with more restricted Superbike rules. While perhaps not fair to implement overnight, a year or two lead time would provide everyone the advance warning needed to do battle under these constraints.

However, there is room for compromise in both directions. The beauty of common rules is that they could go slightly higher in specification compared to the current AMA Superbike regs and still keep costs in check due to economies of scale. That is, production costs would be lowered by standardized development at the manufacturer-level. In addition, manufacturers (or tuning firms like Yoshimura) could offer competitive kits/complete-to-the-rules racebikes for worldwide distribution.

Besides the cost benefits and the possibility for a Superbike World Cup invitational, common rules would also re-open the doors to all sorts of additional cross-pollination. Along with potentially reinstalling the Anglo-American Match Races, wild card entries could become widely prevalent once again, and Daytona might even attract some international competitors like in the past. You might also see more reverse direction wild cards, such as the days when Regis Laconi and Lorenzo Lanzi turned up at VIR to race in an AMA Superbike round.