1988 Donington Superbike World Championship round

The first grand prix in the history of the Superbike World Championship took place on April 3, 1988, on the 3.149 km National Circuit layout of Donington Park. 45 riders participated in qualifying, with pole position initially going to Doug Polen of the Yoshimura Suzuki team, but he, along with teammate Scott Gray, were disqualified (and deprived of the opportunity to participate in either race) because their bikes were found to have a cubic volume of 765 cm³, against the imposed limit of 750 cm³.^[1] This arose from the fact that the AMA Superbike regulations (the championship in which Polen and Gray raced) allowed this through "overboring" of the Suzuki's cylinders, while the World Superbike regulations were more rigid.^[2] With the exclusion of Polen from the starting grid, pole was inherited by Roger Burnett, who became the first rider to take pole position in a World Superbike race.

In the first race, 40 riders (the maximum allowed) lined up, but only 39 left the grid; rider Peter Häfner unable to take the start. The first race was won by Davide Tardozzi on a Bimota, despite having to manually restart the electronic injection system a few laps from the finish. The 1981 FIM 500cc World Champion Marco Lucchinelli finished second on the lone Ducati in the field, while Joey Dunlop finished third.^[3]

Only riders who made it to at least half distance in the first race were allowed to compete in the second, therefore only 31 riders were allowed to take the start, however only 30 did so. In the second race, Tardozzi and Lucchinelli once again fought for the top two positions, with the battle only being decided when Tardozzi crashed just after Starkey's Bridge on the final lap. Three-time AMA Superbike champion Fred Merkel would take second, and Burnett third.^[4]

Due to the points system being based on the combined results of the two races, Tardozzi's final lap crash would prevent him from scoring any points, despite his win in the first race. From the next round at Hungary onwards, half points would be awarded, but now for each race.^[5]

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	2	Davide Tardozzi	Bimota	30	37:50.720	2
2	39	Marco Lucchinelli	Ducati	30	+1.090	3
3	3	Joey Dunlop	Honda	30	+30.050	5
4	17	Fred Merkel	Honda	30	+31.870	11
5	11	Roger Marshall	Suzuki	30	+35.830	6
6	8	Kenny Irons	Honda	30	+36.090	9
7	15	Jari Suhonen	Yamaha	30	+42.670	27
8	10	Fabrizio Pirovano	Yamaha	30	+51.670	13
9	18	Andy McGladdery	Suzuki	30	+1:00.940	18
10	36	Michel Mercier	Suzuki	30	+1:01.790	15
11	24	Steve Williams	Bimota	30	+1:10.160	20
12	57	José Maria Pardo	Yamaha	30	+1:11.360	24
13	35	Rueben McMurter	Yamaha	30	+1:17.430	19
14	41	Mark Farmer	Suzuki	29	+1 lap	21
15	63	Dave Leach	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	25
16	37	Tom Douglas	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	30
17	65	John Lofthouse	Suzuki	29	+1 lap	31
18	60	Kimmo Kopra	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	28
19	56	Asa Moyce	Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	34
20	22	Esko Kuparinen	Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	36
21	61	Steve Veasey	Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	35
22	64	Steve Mason	Suzuki	28	+2 laps	40
23	62	Dave Hill	Suzuki	27	+3 laps	37
24	19	Graeme McGregor	Honda	25	+5 laps	32
25	7	Anders Andersson	Suzuki	24	+6 laps	17
Ret	6	Stéphane Mertens	Bimota	28	Retirement	4
Ret	34	Gary Goodfellow	Suzuki	24	Accident	7
Ret	16	Keith Huewen	Bimota	24	Retirement	22
Ret	31	Bubba Shobert	Honda	20	Retirement	10
Ret	14	Peter Rubatto	Bimota	17	Retirement	16
Ret	9	Roger Burnett	Honda	15	Accident	1
Ret	4	Mark Phillips	Bimota	14	Retirement	12
Ret	43	Michael Williams	Honda	13	Accident	39
Ret	42	Hans Lindner	Honda	9	Retirement	14
Ret	30	Des Barry	Yamaha	9	Retirement	29
Ret	20	Robert Dunlop	Honda	9	Retirement	26
Ret	49	Antonio García Moreno	Bimota	8	Retirement	33
Ret	23	Michael Galinski	Bimota	4	Retirement	23
Ret	21	Paul Iddon	Bimota	2	Retirement	8
DNS	47	Peter Häfner	Bimota	0	Did not start	38
DSQ	32	Doug Polen	Suzuki		Disqualified
DSQ	66	Scott Gray	Suzuki		Disqualified
DNQ	54	Claudio Biesele	Bimota
DNQ	52	Darren Dixon	Suzuki
DNQ	1	Virginio Ferrari	Honda

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	39	Marco Lucchinelli	Ducati	30	38:15.910	3
2	17	Fred Merkel	Honda	30	+9.350	10
3	9	Roger Burnett	Honda	30	+15.500	1
4	10	Fabrizio Pirovano	Yamaha	30	+20.930	11
5	3	Joey Dunlop	Honda	30	+21.580	5
6	11	Roger Marshall	Suzuki	30	+23.890	6
7	18	Andy McGladdery	Suzuki	30	+46.610	15
8	8	Kenny Irons	Honda	30	+50.370	8
9	24	Steve Williams	Bimota	30	+53.780	17
10	15	Jari Suhonen	Yamaha	30	+53.820	22
11	41	Mark Farmer	Suzuki	30	+1:16.270	18
12	7	Anders Andersson	Suzuki	30	+1:25.010	14
13	63	Dave Leach	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	21
14	65	John Lofthouse	Suzuki	29	+1 lap	25
15	37	Tom Douglas	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	24
16	56	Asa Moyce	Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	27
17	22	Esko Kuparinen	Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	29
18	61	Steve Veasey	Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	28
19	19	Graeme McGregor	Honda	28	+2 laps	26
20	62	Dave Hill	Suzuki	27	+3 laps	30
Ret	2	Davide Tardozzi	Bimota	29	Accident	2
Ret	35	Rueben McMurter	Yamaha	29	Retirement	16
Ret	14	Peter Rubatto	Bimota	21	Retirement	13
Ret	31	Bubba Shobert	Honda	19	Retirement	9
Ret	57	José Maria Pardo	Yamaha	19	Accident	20
Ret	36	Michel Mercier	Suzuki	11	Accident	12
Ret	16	Keith Huewen	Bimota	10	Retirement	19
Ret	6	Stéphane Mertens	Bimota	0	Accident	4
Ret	60	Kimmo Kopra	Yamaha	0	Accident	23
Ret	64	Steve Mason	Suzuki	0	Accident	31
DNS	34	Gary Goodfellow	Suzuki		Injured	7

Only riders that finished both races were included.

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time/Retired	Pts
1	39	Marco Lucchinelli	Ducati	60	1:16:07.720	20
2	17	Fred Merkel	Honda	60	+40.130	17
3	3	Joey Dunlop	Honda	60	+50.540	15
4	11	Roger Marshall	Suzuki	60	+58.630	13
5	10	Fabrizio Pirovano	Yamaha	60	+1:11.510	11
6	8	Kenny Irons	Honda	60	+1:25.370	10
7	15	Jari Suhonen	Yamaha	60	+1:35.400	9
8	18	Andy McGladdery	Suzuki	60	+1:46.460	8
9	24	Steve Williams	Bimota	60	+2:02.850	7
10	41	Mark Farmer	Suzuki	59	+1 lap	6
11	63	Dave Leach	Yamaha	58	+2 laps	5
12	37	Tom Douglas	Yamaha	58	+2 laps	4
13	65	John Lofthouse	Suzuki	58	+2 laps	3
14	56	Asa Moyce	Kawasaki	58	+2 laps	2
15	22	Esko Kuparinen	Kawasaki	58	+2 laps	1
16	61	Steve Veasey	Kawasaki	58	+2 laps
17	62	Dave Hill	Suzuki	54	+6 laps
18	7	Anders Andersson	Suzuki	54	+6 laps
19	19	Graeme McGregor	Honda	53	+7 laps