Farewell, Phillip Island: The Bend starting in 2028, but Superbike needs more non-European rounds

As with MotoGP, SBK will also no longer race at the famous Australian circuit—but the change won’t happen in 2027.

Phillip Island will no longer host either MotoGP or Superbike. From 2027, the Motorcycle World Championship will stop in Adelaide, while from 2028 the production-derived championship will race at Tailem Bend. It had long been in the air that The Bend Motorsport Park would host WorldSBK, and official confirmation has now arrived.

The Phillip Island round is one of the historic fixtures on the calendar. It hosted races from 1990 to 1992, then from 1990 to 2020. There were two years off due to the well-known Covid emergency, then the action returned in 2022. In 2027 there will be the final edition of the event in the Australian state of Victoria. It was recently announced that the race weekend is scheduled for February 19–21, with the final pre-season test to be held on February 15–16.

It’s worth remembering that Superbike had already raced in Australia at a venue other than Phillip Island: in 1988 and 1989 it was the Oran Park Raceway in Narellan, southwest of Sydney (State of New South Wales), that hosted the races. From 2028 everything will move to the state of South Australia. The Bend Motorsport Park is located about 100 km from Adelaide, where MotoGP will race starting in 2027.

For several years, the Australian round has served as the opening event of the WorldSBK season, and we’ll see if that remains the case in 2028. Since 2024 it has also been the only round held outside Europe. 2023 was the last year with at least two non-European rounds, Phillip Island and Mandalika (Indonesia).

For a world championship, having just one stop outside the Old Continent is a bit meager. Finding solutions is essential for the product’s growth. Places like the United States, Latin America, China, and Southeast Asia could be strategic. We’ll see if the 2027 calendar brings some welcome news. So far, almost no one has noticed the arrival of Liberty Media as Superbike’s new owner, also because the American company’s focus is primarily on MotoGP. No surprise there, to be honest, but the production-derived series deserves to be elevated.