World Supersport 300 Championship to End After 2025 Season

Right from the start, the “300” name was a bit of a misnomer, with the Kawasaki Ninja 300 the only eligible model that was an actual 300. The Ninja (which would be replaced by the Ninja 400 in 2018) went up against the 321cc Yamaha YZF-R3, the 373cc KTM RC 390 and the 471cc Honda CBR500R. In recent years, Chinese brand Kove entered the series with its 321RR.

We don’t know what the replacement class will look like, but we can expect it to include models like the Ninja 500 or ZX-4R, and likely a new 399cc KTM RC 390 and other new models to come in the next few years.

Meanwhile, the upper classes started to see their own transformations, first with the traditional 600-class Supersport market starting to weaken in the face of tightening emission regulations, and more recently, we’re seeing the same at the 1,000cc Superbike level. Yamaha offers a good example in both cases, with the R6 and now the R1 no longer being offered as a road-legal model in Europe, and Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 and GSX-R1000R following suit.

In response, the World Supersport class introduced its Next Generation rules for 2021, opening the series up to larger-displacement models like the MV Agusta F3, Ducati Panigale V2, Triumph Street Triple RS 765 and QJ GSR 800.

Those Next Generation rules may turn out to be a stopgap, as all levels of World Superbike racing are preparing for another shakeup. At the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme’s (FIM’s) Circuit Racing Commission’s meeting in Lyon, France, in February, a new strategic plan was discussed, with one of the topics being to “identify classes of the future”. The end of the Supersport 300 class was no doubt part of those discussions, as well as a realignment of the Supersport and Superbike classes.

What these classes will look like in a few years time is unclear, but a look at the sportbikes being sold gives us an idea. Looking again to Yamaha as an example, we’ve got the R7 currently on the market, and long-running rumors of a new R9 on the horizon, essentially replacing the R6 and R1 in markets outside the U.S. Suzuki’s GSX-R750 is eligible under Next Generation rules, but you’d have to think it is positioning the GSX-8R as a competitor in any future Supersport regulations. KTM recently showed a 990 RC R prototype, and confirmed it will be appearing as a non-scoring wildcard in select European Supersport racing series. Honda doesn’t have a sportbike in this class yet, but it’s not difficult to imagine a new model using the Transalp and Hornet’s 755cc engine.

Lurking on the periphery of all of this is Liberty Media Corporation, which will gain an 86% stake in Dorna Sports by the end of the year, and with it both MotoGP and the World Superbike Championship and their supporting classes. MotoGP is seeing its own changes with a move to 850cc engines in 2027, and it looks like the production-bike Superbike series will undergo more changes as well.

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