🏍️ Get Ready to Rumble! The World Sportbike (WorldSPB) Class is HERE! 🤯
The World Superbike structure just chugged a massive energy drink and leveled up! Say goodbye to the plucky-but-pint-sized Supersport 300 class—it’s been shown the door. In its place, we’ve got the brand-spanking-new, tire-shredding, adrenaline-pumping World Sportbike (WorldSPB)!
🔥 The Middleweight Monsters Are Unleashed!
This isn’t your grandma’s scooter race. We’re talking about a lineup of absolute beasts fresh from the middleweight factory floors! Get ready to see these icons go head-to-head in a glorious, full-throttle frenzy:
- The Green Machine: The mighty Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636!
- The Tuning Fork Terror: The sleek Yamaha R7!
- The Winged Warrior: The aggressive Honda CBR600RR!
But here’s the twist that makes it all a delicious chaos: To keep the action tighter than a freshly tensioned chain, all these superbikes are being put on a strict diet, regulated to cough up around a level playing field of 90 hp! Forget horsepower wars—this is going to be about pure rider skill, drafting genius, and who has the biggest set of cojones on the final lap!
💥 Team MTM Kawasaki: The First to Dive In!
The starting grid is already buzzing, and the first major player to throw their hat into the high-octane ring is the formidable MTM Kawasaki squad!
They’re not messing around. They’re strapping their riders onto the legendary Ninja ZX-6R 636 and have signed a duo that’s ready to make some serious noise:
- The Comeback Kid: Loris Veneman! This guy was the WorldSSP300 runner-up—he knows what it takes to fight for a title, and he’s hungry for that top step!
- The Grand Prix Powerhouse: Xavi Artigas! Remember that name! He’s a former Moto3 winner bringing that sharp, elbow-banging, Grand Prix aggression straight into the WorldSPB paddock!
Get ready for sparks to fly! This class promises elbow-to-elbow racing, unbelievable overtakes, and the kind of drama that will make your popcorn fly! The revolution has begun!
2026 WorldSPB Calendar
The new World Sportbike (WorldSPB) class will join the main show at 11 of the 12 rounds on the 2026 World Superbike calendar.
The real headline? The bikes won’t even wait for the traditional season opener in Australia!
🏁 WorldSPB: The Full Throttle 2026 Schedule!
The WorldSPB class is set to make its INAUGURAL DEBUT in Europe at the second round of the season.
| Round | Dates | Location | Circuit | WorldSPB Debut! |
| 1 | Feb 20 – 22 | Australia | Phillip Island GP Circuit | NO |
| 2 | Mar 27 – 29 | Portugal | Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (Portimão) | YES! |
| 3 | Apr 17 – 19 | Netherlands | TT Circuit Assen | YES |
| 4 | May 1 – 3 | Hungary | Balaton Park Circuit | YES |
| 5 | May 15 – 17 | Czech Republic | Autodrom Most | YES |
| 6 | May 29 – 31 | Spain | MotorLand Aragón | YES |
| 7 | Jun 12 – 14 | Italy | Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” | YES |
| 8 | Jul 10 – 12 | UK | Donington Park | YES |
| Summer Break | ||||
| 9 | Sep 4 – 6 | France | Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours | YES |
| 10 | Sep 25 – 27 | Italy | Cremona Circuit | YES |
| 11 | Oct 9 – 11 | Portugal | Circuito Estoril | YES |
| 12 | Oct 16 – 18 | Spain | Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto (Season Finale!) | YES! |
🚨 Key Takeaways for the Super-Fan!
The Grand Finale: The entire season, including the WorldSPB championship, will be decided at the classic Jerez circuit in Spain in mid-October!
WorldSPB’s First Race: Mark your calendar for March 27th-29th in Portimão, Portugal! That’s where we get our first look at the new 90 hp monsters battling it out.
The Global Start: The main WorldSBK and WorldSSP classes will still kick things off at the incredible Phillip Island in Australia on the third weekend of February.
The rider line-up for the new World Sportbike class is turning into a battleground for former champions and hungry young guns.
Kawasaki has the experience with Veneman and Artigas, but Yamaha is counter-punching with serious talent from the WorldSSP300 ranks on their Yamaha R7!
💙 Yamaha’s WorldSPB Strike Force: The R7 Attack!
Yamaha has made it clear: they are putting full factory support behind the new class, using it as a direct stepping stone for their young riders. They are trusting their brand-new, regulated Yamaha R7 to carry the torch.
Here are the confirmed riders leading the charge for the ‘Tuning Fork Terror’:
| Team | Machine | Rider | Notable Feat |
| BR Corse | Yamaha R7 | Carter Thompson 🇦🇺 | 2025 WorldSSP300 Runner-up (Lost the title narrowly to Aldi Mahendra while riding for MTM Kawasaki! Talk about a massive switch!) |
| ARCO Motor University | Yamaha R7 | Alessandro Di Persio 🇮🇹 | 2025 Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup Winner (The first-ever graduate from the R3 Cup, showcasing Yamaha’s true ‘step-up’ philosophy for the class!) |
🥊 The Head-to-Head Rivalry is Built-In!
This is where the drama gets spicy:
- Carter Thompson and Loris Veneman were fierce rivals in the WorldSSP300 class, often battling for podiums. Now, they’ve split! Thompson is on the Yamaha R7 for BR Corse, while Veneman is on the Kawasaki ZX-6R 636 for MTM Kawasaki! Their rivalry is immediately the heart of the new class.
- The class is designed to be a proving ground. We have a blend of former MotoGP-paddock winners (Kawasaki’s Artigas) and the best young talent from the smaller classes (Yamaha’s Thompson and Di Persio).
The World Sportbike class is officially an unmissable spectacle!
Official Source URLs for WorldSPB News
- Yamaha’s Commitment & Rider Lineup (Carter Thompson & Alessandro Di Persio on the R7):
- https://www.yamaha-racing.com/news/superbike/yamaha-motor-europe-to-enter-inaugural-sportbike-world-championship-with-r7/
- This is the official press release from Yamaha, confirming the R7, the BR Corse and Arco Motor University teams, and riders Carter Thompson and Alessandro Di Persio.
- MTM Kawasaki Entry & Rider Lineup (Veneman & Artigas on the ZX-6R 636):
- https://www.motorcycle.com/bikes/news/kawasaki-to-race-world-sportbike-with-the-ninja-zx-6r-44656624
- This article confirms MTM Kawasaki’s entry with the Ninja ZX-6R 636, and the signing of Loris Veneman and Xavi Artigas, along with details about the regulated 90 hp and other eligible bikes like the Honda CBR600RR.
- 2026 WorldSBK Calendar & WorldSPB Debut:
- https://www.fim-moto.com/en/news/news-detail/article/2026-worldsbk-calendar-unveiled-with-new-dates-for-classic-rounds
- This is the official FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) release detailing the provisional 2026 calendar, confirming the 12 rounds and the debut of the WorldSPB class at Portimão (Portugal) in March.
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