Superbike & Supersport World Championships Changes to the Rules The Superbike Commission, composed of Messrs. Paolo Flammini (FGSport), Claude Danis (FIM) and Giulio Bardi (Team representative), in a meeting held today in Vallelunga, unanimously decided to introduce the following modifications and clarifications to the Road Racing Superbike & Supersport World Championship, for application as from 1.1.2009: Sporting Regulations Superpole for Superbike (Art. 1.16) The format of the Superpole will be entirely changed. The procedure will be as follows for the Superbike free and qualifying practices sessions, and the Superpole: On Friday, one free practice session(60 minutes), one qualifying practice session(60 minutes). On Saturday, one qualifying practice session(45 minutes), one free practice session(45 minutes). Then: Interval of 15 minutes Superpole – The first 20 riders of the qualifying practice on the track – session of 12 minutes. Interval of 7 minutes – The best 16 riders of the preceding session on the track – session of 12 minutes. Interval of 7 minutes – The best 8 riders of the preceding session on the track – session of 12 minutes. Starting grid – 1st row: the best 4 riders of the 3rd session, – 2nd row: the 5th,6th,7th and 8th rider of the 3rd session, – 3rd row: the 9th,10th,11th and 12th rider of the 2nd session, – 4th row: the 13th,14th,15th and 16th rider of the 2nd session, – 5th row: the 17th,18th,19th and 20th rider of the 1st session, – other rows: based on the result of the qualifying practices. Wet and dry races for Superbike (Art. 1.21.3 & 4) The Superbike races will be held “flag to flag”, i.e. the race will not be interrupted for climatic reasons, and riders will be allowed to change machine during the race. Wild-card riders in Superbike (Art. 1.11.5 and 6) The number of wild-card riders per event will be 2 nominated by the FMNR. Supersport: age limit (Art. 1.10) The age limit in the Supersport class foreseen for 2010 has been withdrawn. Practice Restictions. – Only 1 testing circuit for Superbike. – No more testing circuits for Supersport and Superstock. The final text of the amendments to the rules will be published after the end of the 2008 season.