The ASBK series has come a long way in recent years?

We all know where the championship was. We used 2016 to build a stable championship with solid rules, good infrastructure and an easy-to-follow program.

Last year we started to work heavily towards creating entertainment and a bit of a show. We were trying to reach out to a broader audience, hence the investment in free-to-air TV. It has been successful in that way, and we are competing against many other sports and activities.

We want to engage with fans, and as the championship grows in that sense, it’s better for the competitors and more valuable for the sponsors. In 2015 we had 250k viewers on TV and by 2017 it had jumped to three million viewers.

The official factory teams are all back on board now and that lifts the standard and the show.

We’re also excited to partner with the Asian Road Racing Championship at Tailem Bend – and all this is done with a full-time staff of four people.

If there’s any criticism it’s the live fan experience – price, facilities, etc. Is that a fair comment?

Yes – that’s the third phase of the rebuild. The first thing is making sure we have a solid championship from a rules and competitor perspective.

The second phase now is to reach out to a broader audience and show them the championship is worth watching. Once we’ve reached that, we have to look at how we start getting them through the gate. We are looking at things like introducing big screens so fans can see all the action right around the circuit.

We also want to engage the industry so there are more stalls and stands. We have our trade alley, but we also want to attract local industry, who will only be interested when the crowd comes – so it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg type scenario.

We’re seeing crowd numbers grow, but admittedly not as fast as we would like. If we can introduce things like big screens, that will help, but it’s a massive investment.

The second thing that will help this year is having Troy Bayliss back on the bike. There is a lot of interest in seeing how this pans out. There is a little bit of pressure on Troy to see how he stacks up against the younger riders. I think all eyes will be on that first round!

What’s the plan around the controversial cancellation of the Sydney round?

Our preference is to be at Sydney Motorsport Park. We want to see the Sydney round happen and last year was very positive. It’s got everything we need, a tier-one venue with great facilities and track. It is a little challenging for spectators, which is why we think big screens will be beneficial, but at this point of the ASBK rebuilding phase, it isn’t commercially viable. Their pricing model simply made it too expensive to host a round,
at least in 2018.

But we’re not closing the door at all. Right now, at this point in time with the championship growing, we have other areas where we thought that money could be better spent.

And the 300 class…when we last spoke, you mentioned MA might look at how the FIM structure the class with the increasing introduction of new models?

Yes, that’s right…and this year, when we analysed the results and competitiveness of the Kawasaki Ninja 300, the Yamaha YZF-R3 and the KTM RC390, we found the number of best laps, top speeds and race wins was very well balanced out across
the board.

The biggest change for 2018 is there will be no under- or over-300 class, it’s just one event.

Other rules haven’t changed, it just means at some tracks some bikes work better than others, but the challenge with keeping parity in the class is that there is not a specific capacity across manufacturer.

We’ve got to look ahead and see how we get the Ninja 400 in, or the Honda CBR500, we will look at how it works with the FIM class and see how weights and rev limits work to ensure that every bike in Supersport 300 has a chance to win a race. 

Interview Matt O’Connell