The season is yet to officially begun, but the 2024 Superbike calendar may already be in for a significant change. Phillip Island paddock rumour has it that the Balaton round is one step away from being cancelled.

The reason, as is often the case in these situations, appears to be financial, with a lack of government support looking to be the main factor, with regard to a track that is not state owned but in fact private.

From the MotoGP dream to the risk of cancellation

The scheduled Hungarian round would have seen the production-derived series return to the country for the first time in 34 years, competing at a newly constructed Balaton Park facility. Its inclusion on the SBK calendar was meant to pave the way for a possible MotoGP round in the future.

A dream that now looks to be going up in smoke. If the Hungarian round were to be cancelled, Dorna would have to replace it, to avoid having only eleven rounds in a 2024 season that already has just one non-European event, in the shape of Phillip Island. There is no clear plan B for now, though one possibility might be Germany, while the simplest solution would be another Spanish round.