The officials have a real juggling act, I believe. It's not just the number of cylinders, though even that alone is difficult. It's interesting that AMA superbike has NOT been a parade of the twins, even though the rules aren't that much different from WSB; it doesn't take much to swing the results one way or the other, apparently. Presumably, the displacement spread can be made smaller, but a weight penalty applied to the 4's; it's not absolutely clear how that would work, though.
There are also the "production base" and homologation rules. Theoretically, one attraction of WSB and AMA SB has been the idea that the machines out on the track are sort of like the ones in the show room, and that someone with a heavy bank account can buy a race kit version (well, not a Honda RC45 or a Harley VTR1000, but even Honda has come around with their twin). With the new GP rules, it gets more tricky. It's now obvious to everyone that no dealer sells anything like a 500 cc, 200 horsepower, 4 cylinder 2 stroke in the show room. If SB tries to be more restrictive, they move toward the Supersport series, which may or may not be a bad thing. If they get a little looser, it's impossible to tell the difference from the new GP.
Anyhow, it will be interesting to see what they come up with.
There are also the "production base" and homologation rules. Theoretically, one attraction of WSB and AMA SB has been the idea that the machines out on the track are sort of like the ones in the show room, and that someone with a heavy bank account can buy a race kit version (well, not a Honda RC45 or a Harley VTR1000, but even Honda has come around with their twin). With the new GP rules, it gets more tricky. It's now obvious to everyone that no dealer sells anything like a 500 cc, 200 horsepower, 4 cylinder 2 stroke in the show room. If SB tries to be more restrictive, they move toward the Supersport series, which may or may not be a bad thing. If they get a little looser, it's impossible to tell the difference from the new GP.
Anyhow, it will be interesting to see what they come up with.
