The 1988 Superbike World Championship was the inaugural

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

season. The season started on 3 April at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

and finished on 3 October at

Manfeild Autocourse Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon (formerly Manfeild Autocourse) is a motor sport circuit located in Feilding, New Zealand. It was built by thManawatu Car Clubin 1973 as a purpose-built course. In 1990 extra land was acquired and the circuit extensio ...

after 9 rounds. American

Fred Merkel Fred Merkel (born September 28, 1962, in Stockton, California) is an American former professional motorcycle road racer and two-time Superbike World Champion. Motorcycle racing career In 1984 he teamed with Mike Baldwin to win the Suzuka 8 Ho ...

won the riders' championship and

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

won the manufacturers' championship.

Race calendar and results

The second Le Mans race was not held due to schedule issues.

Championship standings

For the first ever

round at

, and for the only time in the championship's history, the race results were combined to determine an overall winner. For future weekends, it was decided to award half points for each race instead, although the original system was used again at Le Mans due to only one race being run.

Riders' standings

Manufacturers' standings

References

External links

* {{Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship seasons

Superbike A sport bike (sports motorcycle, or sports bike) is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...