New Supersport EVO class confirmed for 2027 NZSBK series

A new class, Supersport EVO, will join the grid in 2027. It is the result of six months of work by Supersport 300 class co-ordinator Sloan Frost.

The class will debut during the three-round 2027 Better Finance New Zealand Superbike Championship, presented by Bridgestone. It will run alongside the existing Supersport 300 category.

The 2027 NZSBK Supersport 300 Championship will run under its current regulations. The Supersport EVO bikes will share the same grid but won’t be part of the championship in their first season.

Eligible bikes include the Kawasaki Ninja 500, CFMoto 450SR, Honda CBR500R and Aprilia RS 457, along with the Kawasaki Ninja 400 in unrestricted form.

Lucas Hyslop on his Aprilia 457, battled hard with Ryder Chamberlain on his Yamaha R3 last weekend at the King of Canterbury meeting at Euromarque Motorsport Park.

Frost and the MNZ Race Commission created the class because they saw a need for new models that better reflect today’s market, with the long-term future of Supersport 300 in mind.

“Supersport 300 has been one of the backbones of both NZSBK and our Club Series for many years,” says MNZ Race Commissioner Andy Skelton. “As such, we won’t be making changes to the existing class structure for 2027.”

Skelton says the time has come to start evolving the class, bringing in new models that have already been through initial performance parity testing.

Frost has led the project and has been working closely with several manufacturers to find suitable motorcycles and set up a fair parity framework.

The plan is for the new models to become a championship class from 2028, provided the evaluation and parity process delivers the desired results.

“The future of Supersport EVO depends on the numbers,” says Skelton. “If we can build a reasonable-sized grid, it will become a championship class in 2028, and the Yamaha R3s will form their own separate championship as the Yamaha R3 Cup, similar to what has happened in Australia.

“One thing that isn’t negotiable in this process is looking after our current crop of Yamaha R3 riders. Whatever happens in the coming years, they will have a championship to contest.”