We cannot trust every rumour we hear of course. And we hope to be proved wrong in this case, but for now it’s looking as if the SBK calendar is about to undergo some significant changes unfortunately.

It appears that the 2021 championship might not kick off at Assen over the last weekend of April as originally planned. Something we had already anticipated in fact. But it is also possible that the second round, at Estoril, will also be postponed. This means that the season would get underway at Aragón, originally set to host round 3, over the weekend of 21-23 May.

The reasons? The same as roughly one year ago (we won't cite them for fear of bad luck). We hope this is not the case of course, for us and for everyone involved. In any case, Dorna is about to publish a new calendar and it remains to be seen whether the changes are slight or more dramatic. We shall see on Tuesday. Fingers’ crossed.

Translated by Heather Watson

WorldSBK, paddock rumours: Bradley Smith with Ten Kate