Two-day race weekends. We already have two of them in the 2024 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), but is it in fact the way of the future and where the sport should be guided in a bid to not only save on costs per round, but even potentially add more rounds in a bolstered calendar? It’s a fascinating topic and one that’s not without its complexities.

ASBK in its modern era under Motorcycling Australia (MA) management has largely settled in at seven rounds over more than eight months, with extensive breaks stalling the series’ momentum on multiple occasions in the middle stages of the year.

Sydney Motorsport Park – which was the second round of the season – is contested under lights and spans just two days, without any real compromise due to the length of the schedule across Friday and Saturday into the evening. Phillip Island 2, meanwhile, was stripped back to a Saturday-Sunday only race weekend, but only had the Superbike, Supersport, Supersport 300 and Superbike Masters classes on track (as well as the Aussie Racing Cars). That meant the Oceania Junior Cup and R3 Cup categories were parked.

It’s little secret that while Fridays at ASBK can be of value as riders and teams search to find any edge possible while effectively easing into the weekend, they can often be one of the most non-eventful days on the national motorcycle racing calendar. From there, the weekends ramp up into Saturday – which is awfully quiet in itself on most occasions with limited laps turned – for qualifying and the opening races, before the main game takes off on Sunday when livestream and the broadcast formally begins. It’s a long road to that point, the business end of the round.

For the premier Superbike class at Phillip Island this past weekend, which was the second time ASBK has been at the Victorian venue this year in addition to playing a supporting act on World Superbike weekend in February at the season-opener, the reduction in track time was minimal to only miss out on FP4 in particular, and lap-times were reasonably quick considering the cool, blustery conditions in the region. As long as the teams don’t go on a testing blitz to make up for any perceived loss of laps on the Friday, it appears a workable solution.

ASBK is largely made up of independent or family-operated teams across all classes, with only the Yamaha Racing Team and DesmoSport Ducati considered to be of ‘factory’ status. For Yamaha, as a broad supporter of the series, it’s a subject that has been of interest on and off over many years as a manufacturer-operated program, but motorsport manager Scott Bishop told CycleOnline that there are a lot of pros and cons to weigh up when considering the benefits or negatives.

“There has been a lot of discussion regarding the formats and length of ASBK rounds in recent years,” Bishop explained. “The weekend saw us run a two-day event, which isn’t the first time at ASBK as SMSP rounds have been ran over two days the last couple of years.

“The pros for a two-day event hopefully are reduced costs for riders in teams in terms of accommodation, travel expenses and less track time, so reduced tyres and things like that. The cons are reduced track time and additional costs in being away and time off work. The schedule in a two-day event is busy and while I haven’t looked at all the classes to see exactly what track time was lost, I feel the days seem to go quicker with less sitting around and you see the guys on the track more often.

“I often think about what a Saturday spectator gets to see at an ASBK round and if they are getting value for money, but in a two-day event – they get to see a whole lot more track activity on Saturday and with the best guys on track more often. My personal opinion – and it is formed from being a racer – is that I like going racing, so if by reducing existing three-day rounds back to two-day events and that allows us to race more rounds or often, then I’m good with that.

“I would rather ride with a purpose – that is for a championship, for prize money/bonus money and on TV with a crowd at the venue, than do laps on a Friday where none of that is possible. For example, this year we have five three-day rounds and two two-day rounds, which equals 19 days. Could we do nine two-day rounds, that is 18 days, so one less than we do now? Again, I’m not saying this is Yamaha’s view or this is the best option, but just options which can be looked at.

“The consideration that MA has to make is what suits the majority of their customer base, as the issues they face can be quite different to a manufacturer team. Do they use Friday as a chance to get some riding under their belt and prepare for the weekend, especially those that can’t ride between rounds? Does the cost of Friday make it a challenge for MA? Track fees, Racesafe, staff, all add up, and can they continue to offset their outlay across a three-day format? It’s never as simple as we think and a lot needs to be considered before decisions are made.”

And that’s the thing, there are all sorts of agendas, preferences and opinions that MA must take into account when determining the structure of any given championship. MA CEO Peter Doyle, who was a renowned team manager and crew chief on an international scale prior to returning home and eventually leading the sport’s national governing body, suggests that more two-day race weekends could certainly be implemented in ASBK.

“Everyone is going to have an opinion, but the cost of a three-day event when you consider costs to put an event on, the biggest single cost is the track hire cost,” Doyle told CycleOnline. “Do we need three-day events with the added costs, not only to us, but also to competitors? Can we shorten it to a two-day event and does that save overall costs? People will argue that both ways. From an event perspective, I think you can work with either, but hosting an event, I don’t see the advantage of a three-day event.

“What’s the downside? The only downside that people could argue with, to me, would be less track time. Sydney was the first one that came in because it was under lights and we’ve trialled it this year with Phillip Island. I’m sure [ASBK management] will go to people now and ask for feedback, but I think there could be more two-day events. I don’t think your marquee events – WorldSBK or the final round where we have multiple classes – could be two days, but I think there definitely could be more two-day events.”

From an independent team point of view, BCperformance owner Kelvin Reilly – who is behind Kawasaki-mounted Supersport rider Hayden Nelson this year and has extensive experience fielding multiple riders across all of the primary categories – saw the benefits of the two-day format at round five, which was further elevated as a result of limited testing available to the riders and teams in the lead-up.

“I actually quite liked it,” Reilly told CycleOnline. “Obviously we all prefer a three-day event in terms of the extra testing time [on Friday], but someone asked me on Sunday night what I thought as well, and I enjoyed it. I could actually see a future in those two-day events and I liked that those that could actually afford it weren’t able to test there beforehand – that worked out really well, getting to Phillip Island on a more level playing field. I thought that was fair and square.”