Walters to ride Aprilia for ASBK 2023
After almost 15 years racing Kawasaki machinery Matt Walters will not be riding for Team Green in season 2023, the 30-year-old is turning over a new leaf and making a bold move to Aprilia machinery for season 2023.
What makes this move particularly interesting is that Walters will not be racing on a 1000 cc RSV4, but on what is essentially a base RSV4 1100.
That’s right, due to special dispensation from Motorcycling Australia, in response to a request from Team Walters, Matt will be allowed to run the longer stroke 1099 cc engined machine in ASBK this year.
An update to Motorcycling Australia’s Sporting Regulations has now been promulgated to reflect the change.
Walters has just ordered some race fairings from overseas, but it is highly doubtful they will make it in time for the official ASBK test at SMP. If they don’t turn up in time he will just have to contend with a major lack of seat time leading up to the opening round.
The 2022 Aprilia RSV4 that Matt has taken delivery of comes with Sachs suspension, however he will run K-Tech DDS suspension when it is time for the ASBK season to get underway at Phillip Island in late February.
In standard form, Aprilia claim 217 horsepower at 13,000 rpm from the 1,099cc RSV4, along with 125 Nm at 10,500 rpm. In road trim the RSV4 tips the scales at 202 kg with 15 litres of fuel in the 19-litre tank.
For comparison sake, the Ducati V4 R makes 218 horsepower in road trim, or 240 horsepower and 118 Nm with the track kit, and weighs around 10 kg less than the Aprilia. However, we know that it is quite easy to get the Ducati down to the 172 kg minimum weight mandated by Motorcycling Australia for ASBK competition.
There is no ‘kit’ ECU nominated by Aprilia Australia so Matt will be running the standard electronics kit that comes on the road going RSV4 and I think it is fair to say he is not going to be able to get the weight of the bike down to anywhere near the ASBK minimum, especially as he is racing the RSV4 ,and not the RSV4 Factory that comes with trick Forged Marchesini rims.
Of course, should any real advantage be shown, Motorcycling Australia has the right, clearly stated in the regulations, to apply performance balancing as they see fit in order to maintain equality amongst machines. Any decision to apply the balancing method will be taken by ASBK Management in consultation with the MA Road Race commission when deemed necessary to ensure fair competition.
I am generally 100 per cent against having different capacity limits for different motorcycles, and always have been, but if this helps keep someone on the Australian Superbike grid, that otherwise would have hung up his leathers, and adds a little extra shot of variety to the ASBK field along the way, then perhaps it is worth a try after all…
2023 ASBK Calendar
| 2023 ASBK Calendar | |||
| Round | Circuit | Location | Date |
| Test | Sydney Motorsport Park | NSW | Feb 1-2 |
| R1 | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | VIC | Feb 24-26 |
| R2 | Sydney Motorsports Park | NSW | Mar 24-25 |
| R3 | Queensland Raceway | QLD | Apr 28-30 |
| R4 | Hidden Valley Raceway | NT | Jun 16-18 |
| R5 | Morgan Park Raceway | QLD | Jul 14-16 |
| R6 | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | VIC | Oct 27-29 |
| R7 | The Bend Motorsport Park | SA | Dec 1 – 3 |
2023 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK)
