1988 Superbike World Championship

The 1988 Superbike World Championship was the inaugural FIM Superbike World Championship season. The season started on 3 April at Donington Park and finished on 3 October at Manfeild Autocourse after 9 rounds.

American Fred Merkel won the riders' championship and Honda won the manufacturers' championship.

Race calendar and results[]

The second Le Mans race was not held due to schedule issues.^[1]

Round		Country	Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning rider	Winning team	Report
1	R1	Great Britain	Donington Park	3 April	Roger Burnett	Marco Lucchinelli	Davide Tardozzi	Bimota SpA	Report
	R2					Bubba Shobert	Marco Lucchinelli	Ducati Team Lucky
2	R1	Hungary	Hungaroring	30 April	Davide Tardozzi	Fred Merkel	Fred Merkel	RCM
	R2					Marco Lucchinelli	Adrien Morillas	Team Kawasaki France
3	R1	West Germany	Hockenheimring	8 May			Davide Tardozzi	Bimota SpA
	R2					Virginio Ferrari	Davide Tardozzi	Bimota SpA
4	R1	Austria	Zeltweg	3 July		Davide Tardozzi	Marco Lucchinelli	Ducati Team Lucky
	R2						Davide Tardozzi	Bimota SpA
5	R1	Japan	Sugo	28 August	Marco Lucchinelli			Don Knit Sugano Racing Team
	R2						Mick Doohan	Marlboro Yamaha Dealer Team
6	R1	France	Le Mans	4 September	Marco Lucchinelli	Fabrizio Pirovano	Fabrizio Pirovano	Moto Club Carate Brianza
	R2					Race cancelled
7	R1	Portugal	Estoril	11 September	Stéphane Mertens	Davide Tardozzi	Davide Tardozzi	Bimota SpA
	R2					Raymond Roche	Stéphane Mertens	Bimota SpA
8	R1	Australia	Oran Park	25 September	Mick Doohan	Fred Merkel	Mick Doohan	Marlboro Yamaha Dealer Team
	R2					Mick Doohan	Mick Doohan	Marlboro Yamaha Dealer Team
9	R1	New Zealand	Manfeild	2 October	Davide Tardozzi	Fred Merkel	Fred Merkel	RCM
	R2					Stéphane Mertens	Stéphane Mertens	Bimota SpA

Championship standings[]

In each race, points were awarded as follows:^[1]

For the first ever Superbike World Championship round at Donington Park, and for the only time in the championship's history, the race results were combined to determine an overall winner;^[2] double points were awarded on that occasion, as well as in the only race held in Le Mans.^[1]

Riders' standings[]

Pos. Rider Bike GBR Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 Fred Merkel Honda 4 2 1 5 17 Ret Ret 8 2 11 6 C 4 5 4 3 1 5 99 2 Fabrizio Pirovano Yamaha 8 4 5 6 11 8 2 7 Ret 10 1 C 6 6 6 7 2 13 93.5 3 Davide Tardozzi Bimota 1 Ret 2 3 1 1 5 1 Ret 4 12 C 1 2 11 10 5 DNS 91.5 4 Stéphane Mertens Bimota Ret Ret 3 2 13 2 4 16 3 C 2 1 7 6 6 1 90.5 5 Marco Lucchinelli Ducati 2 1 9 Ret 6 11 1 Ret 12 Ret 10 C 3 4 63 6 Honda 3 3 4 3 4 C 42 7 Rob Phillis Kawasaki 8 Ret 6 6 3 4 4 3 42 8 Suzuki Ret DNS 1 3 39.5 Honda 8 5 3 6 9 Honda 3 6 17 15 5 8 11 2 33.5 10 Terry Rymer Honda 8 C 5 3 14 11 9 7 32.5 11 Roger Burnett Honda Ret 3 8 4 5 4 Ret DNS 7 C 31.5 12 Mick Doohan Yamaha NC 1 1 1 30 13 Joey Dunlop Honda 3 5 6 Ret 7 5 30 14 Kawasaki 11 13 9 6 2 C 29.5 15 Honda 2 Ret Ret 2 5 C 28 16 Adrien Morillas Kawasaki 4 1 19 16 7 5 Ret C 26.5 17 Honda 4 Ret 6 4 Ret 5 16 C Ret DNS 23.5 18 Yamaha 7 10 14 10 Ret DNS 17 13 16 27 11 C Ret 13 21 19 Suzuki 9 7 15 Ret DNQ DNQ 18.5 Honda 19 C 15 12 12 13 14 10 20 Suzuki 25 12 18 12 20 23 9 12 15 19 13 C 8 9 18.5 21 Honda 9 9 8 4 17.5 22 Yamaha Ret Ret 2 2 17 23 Bimota Ret DNS 12 8 12 13 32 Ret 9 8 17 24 Virginio Ferrari Honda DNQ DNQ Ret 11 10 9 Ret Ret 10 8 Ret C 16 25 Honda 6 8 14 7 15.5 26 Suzuki 10 9 18 27 10 10 Ret C 12 Ret 14.5 27 Suzuki 5 6 20 18 13 28 Bimota 28 Ret Ret 9 9 C 16 11 13 29 Robert Dunlop Honda Ret DNS 26 17 29 21 21 23 18 C 10 7 13 14 15 12 12.5 30 Yamaha 16 15 17 Ret 7 11 11 31 Suzuki 3 13 9 32 Suzuki 7 7 21 Ret Ret DNS DNQ C 21 Ret 9 33 Honda Ret 2 8.5 34 Honda 8 9 7.5 35 Bimota 11 9 19 16 31 Ret 7 36 Bimota Ret Ret 21 14 15 14 16 Ret 23 C 7 17 7 37 Honda 8 10 7 38 Ducati 10 8 7 39 Suzuki 14 11 6 40 Ducati 15 Ret 21 C 11 10 6 41 Yamaha 5 24 5.5 42 Aaron Slight Bimota 7 14 5.5 43 Honda 9 12 5.5 44 Andrew Stroud Bimota 13 9 5 45 Honda 10 12 5 46 Yamaha 15 13 24 18 DNQ DNQ 22 C 5 47 Honda 26 7 4.5 48 Suzuki 17 14 3 49 Bimota DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 11 18 25 C 18 19 2.5 50 Honda Ret 11 DNS C 2.5 51 Yamaha 11 25 2.5 52 Honda 12 15 2.5 53 Ducati 12 15 2.5 54 Bimota 22 17 13 14 27 C 17 16 2.5 55 Honda 24 24 Ret C 13 14 2.5 56 Kawasaki 19 16 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 2 57 Bimota Ret 12 Ret Ret 2 58 Yamaha 14 C 2 59 Bimota Ret DNS 13 Ret Ret 15 2 60 Jean-Louis Guignabodet Honda 20 15 25 Ret 18 17 17 C 14 15 2 61 Suzuki 13 17 1.5 62 Kawasaki 20 17 25 23 DNQ DNQ 1 63 Honda 14 16 DNS C 1 64 Honda 14 22 1 65 Honda 15 C 1 66 Honda NC 14 1 67 Suzuki 15 Ret 0.5 68 Yamaha Ret 15 0.5 Pos. Rider Bike GBR Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole position Italics – Fastest lap Source:[3]

Manufacturers' standings[]

Pos.	Manufacturer	GBR																		Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1	Honda	3	2	1	4	2	3	3	2	2	2	4	C	4	3	4	3	1	2	142
2	Bimota	1	9	2	2	1	1	5	1	4	4	3	C	1	1	7	6	5	1	132.5
3	Yamaha	7	4	5	6	11	8	2	7	5	1	1	C	6	6	1	1	2	11	117.5
4	Kawasaki	19	16	4	1	9	6	7	5	6	6	2	C	25	24	3	4	4	3	92
5	Ducati	2	1	9	Ret	6	11	1	21	12	Ret	10	C	3	4	20	19	10	8	70
6	Suzuki	5	6	7	7	18	20	9	10	1	3	13	C	8	9	15	16	16	16	57
Pos.	Manufacturer	GBR																		Pts

References[]

External links[]

• "1988 Qualifying & Race Results". wsb-archives.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-01-04. Retrieved 2015-01-05.