Silverstone drops WSBK round

SILVERSTONE will not host a World Superbike round in 2014, the circuit has announced.

Since 2011 there have been two UK WSBK rounds, at Donington Park and Silverstone.

In that time, attendance of the Silverstone round has dropped from 64,000 in 2011 to 28,000 in 2013, according to the circuit's figures.

The 2010 race at Silverstone was held in sunny weather and all top-five finishers were British: Cal Crutchlow, Jonathan Rea, Leon Camier, Leon Haslam, James Toseland and Shane Byrne.

Fast forward to 2013 and we still have a strong group of British riders, yet attendance is down over 50%.

Richard Phillips, MD of Silverstone Circuits Ltd, said: "We believe it is only commercially viable to stage one round of the championship in the UK at the moment. As a result, we will be focusing our efforts and attention on hosting MotoGP and the British Superbike Championship next year”.

So is WSBK on the slide?

Attendance figures:

2010: 65,000

2011: 64,000

2012: 42,000

2013: 28,000