Image: Keith Muir.

The Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship could undergo a surprise mid-season qualifying restructure with just two rounds remaining, Australian Road and Track Rider Promotions (ARTRP) general manager Terry O’Neill has revealed.

The fastest laps recorded during Saturday’s trio of YMF-Loan Australian FX-Superbike Championship races currently decide Sunday’s Swann Series grid, however considerations to revise the format are currently under discussion.

A number of riders throughout the field have forfeited Saturday’s race results in favour of posting fast laps to ensure a strong grid position for Sunday, which has prompted O’Neill to open communication on the matter via Facebook.

“Apart from the shenanigans of some racers, mainly in the Superbike class, are pulling by not actually racing seriously in the Saturday races, the new format has been working pretty well,” O’Neill explained. ”

Sure there will be some other fine tuning of the format as we go on, but right now I have decided that there will be big change on how a rider’s Sunday qualifying position is worked out in the Superbike, Supersport and to a lesser extent Formula Oz classes for the next round on.

“To date the best idea anyone has come to me with is the Saturday round points are the qualifying position for Sunday. This would stop the few riders from not taking seriously the Saturday races as the other 99 percent of racers do; in fact it would make the Saturday races extremely important. So that is the change I am seriously considering on introducing.”

The post has sparked a major debate on the structure, with a decision pending over the coming weeks before Wakefield Park hosts round six on 12-14 September.