World Supersport 300 To Be Replaced By New Twins Class

https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/supersport-300-world-championship-will-be-replaced-in-2026/
Few of us follow the lowest class in WSBK, but this is a significant development. WSS300 has been surprisingly dangerous during its short tenure. Replacing it with a higher horsepower class should reduce the obsession with slipstreaming and pack racing.

On the other hand, juniors probably can't jump directly to Twins, which could lead to an expansion of Moto3 racing worldwide. We'll see. MotoAmerica won't be on the list of potential series to adopt Moto3. They've worked with Kramer to build a bespoke bike for juniors.

mylexicon said:

https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/supersport-300-world-championship-will-be-replaced-in-2026/
Few of us follow the lowest class in WSBK, but this is a significant development. WSS300 has been surprisingly dangerous during its short tenure. Replacing it with a higher horsepower class should reduce the obsession with slipstreaming and pack racing.

On the other hand, juniors probably can't jump directly to Twins, which could lead to an expansion of Moto3 racing worldwide. We'll see. MotoAmerica won't be on the list of potential series to adopt Moto3. They've worked with Kramer to build a bespoke bike for juniors.

Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with MotoAmerica, but note that they have a Junior Cup which has a number of motorcycles listed, 4 stroke, 1 or 2 cyclinder, with minimum weights given for some Yamaha, and KTM machines. The minimum weights seem much higher than Moto3, but I'm not sure if the MotoAmerica weights are with rider. Classes - MotoAmerica HP is limited to 50hp, about the same as Moto3. The description on the MotoAmerica site says that it's common to see the bikes in 'large packs'. The Kramer bike is also said to be 50hp. Krämer Motorcycles to supply the 2025 MotoAmerica Talent Cup So, I'm not sure how replacing the Junior Cup with the Kramer one-make series will lessons slipstreaming.

Large packs and frantic slipstreaming also seem reasonably common in Moto3 too. I'm not sure how more Moto3 will lessen those dangers. Unless WSS300 and the Junior Cup are even worse than Moto3. Are they?

EDIT: Lois Baz quotes the weights of the bikes (more than Moto3, it seems) as being important in the danger of the class. https://www.motorsport.com/wsbk/news/baz-supersport-300-dangerous-class/6676982/

AnnoyingTwit said:

I'm not familiar with MotoAmerica, but note that they have a Junior Cup which has a number of motorcycles listed, 4 stroke, 1 or 2 cyclinder, with minimum weights given for some Yamaha, and KTM machines. The minimum weights seem much higher than Moto3, but I'm not sure if the MotoAmerica weights are with rider. Classes - MotoAmerica HP is limited to 50hp, about the same as Moto3. The description on the MotoAmerica site says that it's common to see the bikes in 'large packs'. The Kramer bike is also said to be 50hp. Krämer Motorcycles to supply the 2025 MotoAmerica Talent Cup So, I'm not sure how replacing the Junior Cup with the Kramer one-make series will lessons slipstreaming.

Large packs and frantic slipstreaming also seem reasonably common in Moto3 too. I'm not sure how more Moto3 will lessen those dangers. Unless WSS300 and the Junior Cup are even worse than Moto3. Are they?

EDIT: Lois Baz quotes the weights of the bikes (more than Moto3, it seems) as being important in the danger of the class. https://www.motorsport.com/wsbk/news/baz-supersport-300-dangerous-class/6676982/

Click to expand...

Replacing Junior Cup (WSS300 facsimile) with a Kramer one-make junior cup will probably not improve safety substantially, but the bike should be lighter than the current Ninja 400. Talent is less concentrated at the national level so the safety concerns of pack racing may be mitigated in MotoAmerica. At the international level, WSS300 has proven to be quite unsafe, and replacing it with a Twins class will hopefully spread out the field slightly and make slipstreaming less important.

From the standpoint of a casual fan, Moto3 appears to be safer than WSS300. WSS300 and Moto3 have similar horsepower and top speeds. If a rider is struck by a WSS300 bike in a slipstreaming accident, he will presumably be struck with much greater force than in Moto3. This sort of speculation is above my paygrade, but a switch to Moto3 from WSS300 could make a slight improvement in safety around the globe. I hope scrapping the class in WSBK will make racing much safer internationally. We'll see.

This could be the break that Moto3 needs to become a global racing format. Right now the bikes and spares are too scarce, but that could change in countries were Moto3 expands to fill the role of WSS300.