Airwaves threaten Donington withdrawal.

Airwaves Ducati team principal Darrell Healey says he is astounded by the announcement by the MCRCB/MSVR of changes to the technical regulations for the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, which looks set to result in the title leading team withdrawing from the fourth round of the year at Donington Park.

Ahead of the 2008 campaign, it was agreed that the new Ducati 1098R could have a higher 1200cc capacity to compensate for the twin-cylinder's lower maximum rpm potential compared to the 1000cc four-cylinders, although in return Ducati had to join its four-cylinder rivals in running standard engine components.

"It was understood by all parties that this differentiation [between 1200cc twins and 1000c fours] would be subject to periodic review and that if significant disparity was believed to exist a mechanism would be employed to balance inherent performance," said an MCRCB/MSVR statement, which has made the rule change under article A5 of the sporting code.

"After carrying out a detailed review of the performance of the twin cylinder and four cylinder machines over the first three 2008 BSB events, MCRCB consider the twin cylinder machines have enjoyed a competitive advantage and has authorised the modification of the minimum 165kg weight limit regulation for both twin and four cylinder machines by applying an increased new minimum weight limit of 175kg for twin cylinder 1200cc motorcycles."

Four of the six races held so far have been won by Airwaves rider Shane Byrne, helping the former champion to establish an early 44-point lead in the 2008 standings. Injured HM Plant Honda rider Cal Crutchlow is second in the points with the 1098s of Leon Camier (Airwaves) and Michael Rutter (NW200) third and fourth.

However, Byrne and Camier have finished every race so far - while accidents and retirements have cost fellow title contenders Crutchlow, Leon Haslam (HM Plant Honda) and Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) at least one race finish.

The statement announcing the weight penalty added "circumstances detailing different weight limits for twin and four cylinder motorcycles are prescribed in the regulations for the FIM World Superbike Championship, (which also includes an air-inlet restriction for twin cylinder engines), the FIM World Endurance Championship and the AMA Superbike Championship" - although it appears there was not a clearly determined system, as present in WSBK, for deciding if and when weight adjustments would be made to the 1098 in BSB.

In WSBK, a system of average points for the leading two- and four-cylinder machines is used to determine if any weight/inlet adjustments will be needed. The 1098s began the season weighing 6kg more than the four-cylinders, with no amendments so far necessary.

GSE Racing - the team behind the Airwaves squad - has responded to the news of a 1098 weight change with a strongly worded statement, in which it claims the penalty has been imposed 'without any supporting performance related reason or prior consultation with the team'.

"I am absolutely astounded that the changes have been introduced after only three race meetings and four days before the next event at Donington Park," team principal Healey said. "We, as a team, have spent tens of thousands of pounds testing and developing the 1098R based on what we thought were fixed regulations, but it is now clear that under article A5, MSVR/MCRCB can clearly change the rules as and when they please! This is not a situation that either the team or I are comfortable with, and whilst little can be done for this year, I would certainly require absolute clarity on a fixed set of technical rules if we were to compete in any future British Superbike Championships.

"The bottom line is that we do not have the most competitive race bike performance wise, and that is clear for everybody to see, but both of our riders have been consistent over the first six races and that is why Shane leads the championship. Similarly, had our competitors achieved consistent race finishes, our lead would most probably be less than five points, which begs the question as to whether the organisers would have reached the same conclusion!

"However, the real joke here is that last October, we, on behalf of Ducati, requested the use of non-production pistons on safety grounds to use in this years BSB Championship, and that request was completely thrown out by ALL the teams racing four cylinder motorcycles. Now, just over six months later, those same teams are demanding rule changes to allow non-standard engine parts to be fitted on safety grounds!

"I would suggest that their time would be better spent concentrating on producing fast, but reliable race bikes, rather than constantly whingeing to the race organisers to vary the technical rules."

Those words are in response to concerns recently raised by some four-cylinder teams over the reliability of their machines due to the use of standard engine parts - and seems to be the only area in which Healey and the MCRCB/MSVR agree.

"With engine tuning freedom still currently not including any maximum rpm limit, it is clearly the responsibility of the teams to ensure that no excessive tuning is undertaken which may over-stress components and significantly compromise reliability and safety through component failure, as in any category from club racing to MotoGP," said the MSVR/MCRCB statement.

"MSVR believes that the quality of the mandated standard components in all BSB superbikes is of a sufficiently high standard to allow reliable sustained high performance use, providing excessive tuning is not undertaken, and each manufacturer has been asked for clarification of this by MSVR."

But that is just one small area of common ground and, putting the argument of whether the penalty should imposed to one side, GSE is particularly concerned by the timing of the announcement, which comes just days before this weekend's Donington Park round.

The GSE statement went on to say that the team is in discussions with Ducati to see if the extra weight can be carried safely on the bike but with the additional 10kg scenario being completely untested, 'it is unlikely that a safe solution will be found prior to the next meeting at Donington Park this weekend, in which case GSE Racing would have no alternative but to withdraw from the event on safety grounds'.