Category: Crew On Two

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A close fought battle for the lead in Race 2 at Aragon

Round 5 of the WorldSBK Race 2 took place on Sunday 6th September from MotorLand Aragon with Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) in pole position followed by the reigning Champion, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and then Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) taking the last place on the front row of the grid.

The starting grid for Race 2 looked like this:

Row 1 : Redding : Rea : Rinaldi Row 2 : Bautista : Davies : Lowes

Row 3 : Razgatlioglu : Haslam : Sykes Row 4 : Baz : Caricasulo : van der Mark

Row 5 : Scheib : Gerloff : Fores Row 6 : Laverty : Melandri : Ramos

Row 7 : Barrier : Ferrari : Takahashi

With 18 laps of racing, Race 2 gets underway with Rea getting off to a great start and is first into Turn 1 followed by Redding, Rinaldi, Bautista, Davies and Razgatlioglu. Lowes has dropped from 6th to 9th, Redding surprises Rea on the inside and takes him. Rea is looking to get the place back but cannot get the move on Redding. Rinaldi is now homing in on Rea.

Scott Redding and Jonathan Rea at Teruel WorldSBK 2020. Image courtesy of Ducati

Sykes retires on lap 2 and the following lap sees Haslam pass Razgatlioglu swiftly followed by Lowes who has now dropped two places. Scheib crashes at Turn 15 on lap 4 putting an early end to his race and Baz has dropped five places to 15th. Redding puts in the fastest lap but Rea is hot on his heels.

Lap 5 sees Bautista go down at Turn 15 and although he has managed to rejoin the track, he is now at the back of the grid. There is less than 3/10ths of second between Redding, Rea and Rinaldi and going into Turn 7 Rea slips up the inside of Redding and they are neck and neck going round the corner, Rea pulls ahead slightly but Redding pulls the lead back and manages to hold on to 1st place.

Whilst Redding and Rea are jostling, Rinaldi takes advantage and pulls down the inside of Rea up into 2nd and then continues up on the inside of Redding into Turn 12 to take the lead. Rea tries to follow Rinaldi through but doesn’t make it but then on the last corner going into lap 6, Rea passes Redding. Redding has lost 2 places in one lap. Haslam has moved up into 5th position followed by Lowes who are both putting pressure on Davies for 4th place.

Lap 9 sees a one second gap between Rinaldi and Rea with Redding dropping back slightly on the front runners. Rea closes the gap on Rinaldi on the corners but the Ducati of Rinaldi has the speed on the straights.

Lowes is hot on the heels of Haslam, van der Mark has moved up into 7th and Barrier crashes out. Rea is glued to the tail of Rinaldi but he is not backing off and is managing to hold off the reigning World Champion, defending his position perfectly.

By lap 13, Redding is just over a second behind Rea, Rea is not giving up on trying to gain first position but can Rinaldi hold him off for the remaining laps? Turn 14 sees Davies go down and out of the race with the fight for 4th position, now between Haslam, Lowes, van der Mark and Razgatlioglu.

Redding has closed the gap to just under a second on Rea by the following lap but the fight between Rinaldi and Rea continues with Rea continually having a look to see if he can make his move on Rinaldi. Going into turn 5, Rea goes down the inside of Rinaldi but then by turns 6 and 7 Rinaldi is back in front again. Rea has a huge wobble and gets totally out of shape but somehow manages to save the bike and the place but he’s now got to make up the gap between him and Rinaldi again.

On turns 6 and 7 on the following lap, Rea goes down the inside of Rinaldi again and this time he makes the pass stick and by the end of the lap has pulled out a .3 second gap. Haslam is holding off Lowes in the fight for 4th position and by the last lap the gap is now .6 seconds between Rea and Rinaldi.

Rea is looking good for the win and he passes the chequered flag first for his 96th WorldSBK win in such a closely fought battle followed by Rinaldi and Redding.

Rea now has a 36 point lead over Redding in the Championship.

The next race is at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain on the 18-20 September.

BK

The Driver’s / Team Standings so far at the end of Round 5 at MotorLand Aragon on the 5/6 September August looked like this:

Pos

 Rider

Points

Pos

 Team

Points

1

 Jonathan Rea

243

1

 Kawasaki

269

2

 Scott Redding

207

2

 Ducati

245

3

 Toprak Razgatlioglu

147

3

 Yamaha

185

4

 Chaz Davies

141

4

 Honda

116

5

 Michael van der Mark

133

5

 BMW

66

6

 Michael Ruben Rinaldi

131

6

 Aprilia

4

7

 Alex Lowes

127

8

 Alvaro Bautista

83

9

 Loris Baz

76

10

 Leon Haslam

75

11

 Tom Sykes

58

12

 Garrett Gerloff

39

13

 Federico Caricasulo

36

14

 Xavi Fores

33

15

 Eugene Laverty

31

16

 Marco Melandri

23

17

 Sandro Cortese

14

18

 Leandro Mercado

12

19

 Maximillan Scheib

11

20

 Sylvain Barrier

5

21

 Christophe Ponsson

4

22

 Roman Ramos

4

23

 Matteo Ferrari

4

24

 Takumi Takahashi

2

 

 

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An incredible win for Rinaldi and Ducati Team Go Eleven

Round 5 of the WorldSBK Superpole and Race 1 took place on Saturday from MotorLand Aragon with the reigning Champion, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) taking back to back pole positions at Aragon and beating his own lap record in the process. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) had his best ever WorldSBK Superpole race by securing 2nd on the grid followed by Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) in third position.

The starting grid for Race 1 looked like this:

Row 1 : Rea : Rinaldi : Redding  Row 2: Haslam : Bautista : Sykes

Row 3 : Lowes : Davies : Razgatlioglu  Row 4 : van der Mark : Caricasulo : Baz

Row 5 : Fores : Gerloff : Scheib  Row 6 : Ramos : Melandri : Laverty

Row 7 : Takahashi : Ferrari : Barrier

With 18 laps of racing, Race 1 got underway with Rea getting off to a great start and is in the lead by Turn 1 followed by Redding and Rinaldi. Fores runs wide at Turn 2 and rejoins the grid in last place, Rinaldi, who is running the soft tyre, passes Redding going out of Turn 2 and Razgatlioglu has dropped from 4th to 7th place.

Just as Rea and Rinaldi are at the end of lap 1, Rinaldi makes a move on Rea on the inside and passes him, taking the lead into lap 2. Rea is on Rinaldi’s tail looking to get past but Rinaldi is not letting go of that place. Redding meanwhile is now on the tail of Rea and is waiting for the opportunity to pass. Barrier crashes out putting an abrupt end to his now very short race.

Scott Redding at Teruel round 2020 WSBK. Image courtesy of Ducati

By lap 3, Rinaldi has a half second gap on Rea, Bautista takes Razgatlioglu in a very nice move on the inside and Scheib crashes at Turn 3 coming up the hill and is out of the race. Davies is next up to attack Razgatlioglu and he goes cleanly up on the outside, Razgatlioglu is looking to get back past but so far he is not able to and Davies is holding the place.

Lowes, who has not been well all week, is all over Haslam in 8th place on lap 4 and is looking for a chance to get past and manages to do so on the following lap. This is the first race for Matteo Ferrari on the Ducati who has just passed Melandri up into 16th place.

By lap 6 the gap between Rinaldi and Rea is now 2 seconds, Redding runs wide and Bautista who is right up with him looks for a chance to get past but Redding manages to hold Bautista back but as we come out of Turn 4 on the following lap, Redding loses it and goes down sliding into the gravel and out of the race.

Rinaldi has now pulled out a lead of 4.1 seconds on Rea coming into lap 9 and the battle for 11th place is heating up between Gerloff and Baz. Lowes runs wide at Turn 1 just at the start of lap 10 and is now down in 10th place.

Bautista is closing in on Rea and the battle for 7th is between Sykes and Haslam, Lowes has passed Caricusulo into 9th but then Sykes runs wide allowing Haslam, Lowes and Caricusulo to go through and dropping from 7th to 10th place in a few short moments.

Lap 13 sees Lowes pass Haslam in a very smooth move up the inside and into 7th spot. The following lap Bautista passes Davies up into 3rd position, Davies is looking to get the place back but can’t manage it but then at Turn 14, Bautista goes down and out of the race. Judging by his body language, that is one very unhappy Bautista, his second retirement of the year having retired from Race 1 last weekend at Aragon too!

Going into lap 15, Rinaldi’s lead increases to 6.9 seconds on Rea and by lap 18 Rinaldi, Rea and Davies are all riding their own races and have a good lead against the rest of the pack. They just need to keep it steady and not make any mistakes for the next couple of laps. Lowes is in 6th position followed by Haslam and Caricusulo who are hot on his heels.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CExAQfWHCS8/

The chequered flag sees 24 year old Rinaldi first past the line making him the 78th different winner in the WorldSBK Championship. Rinaldi, riding for Ducati Team GOELEVEN, has secured the first independent team victory since 2012. Rea follows through in 2nd place followed by Davies in 3rd.

What an incredible win for Rinaldi and Ducati Team GOELEVEN, you can see his obvious elation at his victory and his team go wild in the pits.

BK

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The BSB Winner’s Enclosure Welcomes Two New Members At Silverstone

Two more riders entered the winner’s enclosure in the Bennett’s British Superbike Championship at Silverstone as McAms Yamaha’s Tarran Mackenzie and Buildbase Suzuki’s Kyle Ryde took the spoils in Northamptonshire over the weekend.

It was Mackenzie who took race one on Saturday at the end of an exciting final lap that saw the Yamaha cross the line just 0.105 seconds clear of an improving Ryde who took his first BSB podium. McAms team-mate Jason O’Halloran rounded out the podium in third.

A fourth placed finish for Glenn Irwin allowed the Northern Irish Honda rider to extend his lead at the top of the championship with brother Andrew coming home in fifth, Josh Brookes finished sixth ahead of Lee Jackson. Brookes’ VisionTrack Ducati team-mate Christian Iddon finished eighth with Tommy Bridewell claiming a points finish to hold on to second place in the championship.

Mackenzie, son of triple BSB Champion Niall, replicated his heroics from Silverstone in 2019 and truly catapulted himself into contention for the 2020 title.

If Saturday belonged to Mackenzie, then there is no doubt who should have joined him in the headlines on Sunday as Kyle Ryde earned his first British top-flight wins with a pair of fine victories.

Ryde was clearly brimming with confidence after securing his maiden BSB podium on Saturday and bided his time and held his position behind Josh Brookes before making his move on the Australian on lap 27. After pulling in front of the Ducati rider, Ryde put the hammer down and opened up a healthy lead to cross the line 1.686 seconds clear of Brookes and recording the fastest lap of the race in the process. Jason O’Halloran once again came home in third with Glenn Irwin replicating his result from race one in fourth.

Bradley Ray came out on top of an exciting battle for fifth place ahead of a chasing pack that included Tommy Bridewell, Lee Jackson and Danny Buchan, although FS3 Kawasaki rider Buchan was docked a grid place for exceeding track limits out of the final corner. Honda’s Andrew Irwin came home in ninth with OMG Racing’s Hector Barbera rounding out the top 10.

Kyle Ryde, winner; Tarran Mackenzie, second place and Jason O’Halloran third in Race 2 at the 2020 BSB Silverstone round.
Image courtesy of Impact Image/McAMS Yamaha

It was more of the same for Ryde in the final race of the weekend as he led from lights to flag to secure a dominant win, coming home 1.549 seconds ahead of nearest challenger Tarran Mackenzie. Jason O’Halloran finished on the bottom step of the podium for the third time this weekend with Glenn Irwin also recording a hat-trick of fourth placed finishes which allowed the Honda rider to extend his lead at the top of the championship to 35 points.

Tommy Bridewell prevailed after a three-way Ducati battle for fifth place, getting the better of Brookes and Iddon who finished sixth and seventh respectively. Lee Jackson finished in eighth position ahead of Andrew Irwin and Luke Mossey (ninth and tenth respectively) who just edged Danny Buchan out of the top 10 on the final lap of the weekend.

Ryde’s double wins puts him into fourth place in the standings with 114 points behind Josh Brookes and Tommy Bridewell who are both locked on 122 behind Glenn Irwin on 157.

All eyes will be on the Cheshire countryside on the weekend of 18-20 September when BSB heads to Oulton Park for round four.

Featured image courtesy of Impact Image/McAMS Yamaha

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Rea rides to victory in Aragon despite pressure from Davies

Day 2 of Round 4 of the WorldSBK Superpole and Race 2 took place on Sunday from MotorLand Aragon with the reigning Champion, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) continuing his streak of victories in the Superpole races for this 2020 season followed by Championship leader Scott Redding on the (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) and Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) making up the rest of the front row.

The starting grid for Race 2 looked like this:

Row 1 : Rea : Redding : van der Mark Row 2: Bautista : Davies : Lowes

Row 3 : Raz : Rinaldi : Baz Row 4 : Haslam : Gerloff : Scheib

Row 5 : Fores : Sykes : Caricasulo Row 6 : Ponsson : Laverty : Melandri

Row 7 : Barrier : Ramos : Takahashi Row 8 : Gabellini

With 18 laps of racing, Race 2 gets underway with Redding getting a great start off the line but by Turn 1, Rea sweeps back round the outside to take 1st position with van der Mark keeping the third position he started with on the grid.

It’s all change further down the pack by the second lap with Davies, who started in 5th down to 6th, Razgatlioglu up to 5th and Haslam up to 8th having started in 10th place. Lowes has had a terrible start and is down in 12th having started 6th on the grid. Van der Mark is having a peek round the side of Redding but didn’t quite have the pace to get past but then Redding runs wide and van der Mark gets through, with Bautista is right on the tail of Redding. Redding runs wide again allowing Bautista to sweep past. Redding is running a different compound tyre to many of the other riders, perhaps this is having an effect when he is cornering and causing him to run wide.

Alvaro Bautista and Scott Redding at Aragon Round 4 WSBK 2020. Image courtesy of Honda Racing

By Lap 3 Rea has put in the fastest lap and pulled out a lead. Davies is right on the tail of his teammate and goes down the inside of Redding and although Redding is looking to get the place back, Davies makes the overtake stick and is now hot on the heels of his former teammate, Bautista and at Turn 13, Davies sweeps cleanly past and then swiftly past van der Mark and is now up in 2nd place.

At Turn 15 on the following lap, Baz hits trouble and crashes out into the gravel ending his race early. Davies is now bearing down on Rea looking to close the gap and by lap 7 the gap is down to 1.3 seconds but by the end of the lap it’s back up to 1.6 seconds. Fores and Lowes have passed Haslam and they in turn now have their sights set on Razgatlioglu.

Redding, on lap 8, finds himself in a Rinaldi and van der Mark sandwich with Rinaldi looking to get past the championship leader which he does with a clean overtake. Bautista is all over Davies desperately looking for a way to get past and by Lap 10 Lowes has lost 3 places and is down in 11th.

The following lap Rinaldi goes down the inside of van der Mark into Turn 1 and cleanly takes the place, van der Mark is immediately trying to get the place back but Rinaldi makes the overtake stick. Melandri is off the bike, he tries to rejoin the race but is unable to.

The gap is now down to 1.2 seconds between Rea and Davies on Lap 12 and although Rea runs wide he manages to gather himself and the bike but the gap has just got shorter. Fores passes Baz up into 7th place and Lowes runs really wide and is now down in 12th.

Turn 16 on the following lap, Rea runs wide again allowing Davies to go down on the inside and sweep past but by Turn 4 Rea passes Davies to take the lead but Davies is all over Rea, he is not giving up and Bautista has both Davies and Rea in his sights and is waiting for one or both of them to make a mistake so he can sweep past.

The gap between Rea and Davies is now half a second. Lowes has managed to fight his way up the grid again and passes Haslam and Razgatlioglu is up into 7th.

Although Davies is doing all he can to get past Rea on the last lap, Rea is managing to hold him off and takes the chequered flag closely followed by Davies and Bautista.

A fantastic end to another great weekend of WorldSBK racing with Rea now the championship leader again.

Looking forward to Round 5 next weekend when we are back at Aragon.

BK

The Driver’s / Team Standings so far at the end of Round 4 at Aragon on the 29th/30th August looked like this:

 

Pos

 Rider

Points

Pos

 Team

Points

1

 Jonathan Rea

189

1

 Kawasaki

215

2

 Scott Redding

179

2

 Ducati

188

3

 Toprak Razgatlioglu

124

3

 Yamaha

159

4

 Chaz Davies

120

4

 Honda

88

5

 Michael van der Mark

110

5

 BMW

52

6

 Alex Lowes

102

6

 Aprilia

4

7

 Michael Ruben Rinaldi

79

8

 Alvaro Bautista

77

9

 Loris Baz

64

10

 Leon Haslam

51

11

 Tom Sykes

51

12

 Garrett Gerloff

28

13

 Xavi Fores

27

14

 Federico Caricasulo

22

15

 Marco Melandri

19

16

 Eugene Laverty

18

17

 Sandro Cortese

14

18

 Leandro Mercado

12

19

 Maximillan Scheib

11

20

 Sylvain Barrier

5

21

 Christophe Ponsson

4

22

 Roman Ramos

3

23

 Takumi Takahashi

1

Featured image courtesy of Ducati

 

 

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Redding now back in the Championship lead after Race 1

Round 4 of the WorldSBK Superpole and Race 1 took place at MotorLand Aragon with the reigning Champion, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) taking his 25th pole position of his WorldSBK career and smashing the lap record in doing so. Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) will start second on the grid followed by Scott Redding on the (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati)

The starting grid for Race 1 looked like this:

Row 1 : Rea : Baz : Redding Row 2: Lowes : Rinaldi : Haslam

Row 3 : Bautista : van der Mark : Davies Row 4 : Scheib : Razgatlioglu : Gerloff

Row 5 : Fores : Sykes : Mercado Row 6 : Caricasulo : Ponsson : Laverty

Row 7 : Melandri : Barrier : Ramos Row 8 : Takahashi : Gabellini

With 18 laps of racing, Race 1 gets underway with Rea not getting off to a great start as Baz is in the lead by the first corner followed by Rea, Lowes and Redding but by the end of the first lap, Baz is down into fourth having had Rea, Lowes and Redding all pass him.

Bautista, who started off in 7th has not had a good start to the race and went backwards to 12th with Razgatlioglu and Haslam swapping places.

Rea sets the fastest lap on Lap 3 but Lowes is hot on his heels closely followed by Redding who is piling on the pressure. Redding passes on the inside of Lowes, Lowes tries to duck back past but doesn’t manage to get past and now Redding has his sights on Rea.

Exiting out of Turn 3 on Lap 4, Lowes’ bike highsides throwing him off into the middle of the track but luckily he quickly gets to his feet and off the track having thankfully been missed by the other riders behind him. An unfortunate end to his race.

Davies has passed van der Mark up into 3rd which means that at the moment both Ducati’s are in for a podium position. Rea and Redding are starting to pull out a lead but meanwhile Laverty, who is in 15th place, has received a ride through penalty as his mechanics were working on his bike on the grid before the start of the race and he has now dropped to 18th place.

Scott Redding and Jonathan Rea during Race One at Aragon WSBK 2020. Image courtesy of Ducati

Gerloff hits trouble on Lap 7 and is now running in last place whilst Redding is putting pressure on Rea and on the start/finish line going into lap 8, Redding neatly pulls past Rea, Rea is looking to get straight back past but can’t match the power of the Ducati on the straights. Razgatlioglu passes Bautista up into 6th place with Baz, who started 3rd on the grid, now down in 8th place.

By Lap 11, Davies, who is still in 3rd place has pulled out a gap between 4th place and has his sights set on Rea. Rea doesn’t seem to have an answer to the speed of the Ducati on the straights but is up with Redding on the corners.

Lap 13 we see Scheib rejoin the track down in 18th place, Bautista crashes out at Turn 5 ending his race and Rinaldi is up into 5th place. The following lap Rea, so very nearly gets past Redding on a left hander but he then runs wide meaning the gap between him and Davies just got a lot shorter.

Davies passes Rea on lap 16 up into 2nd place with Rea doing all he can to get the place back but to no avail, Davies makes the overtake stick and is now catching up with his teammate and is pushing to close the gap.

The last lap sees Davies reeling Redding in but he doesn’t have enough time left to catch him, Davies must be desperately hoping Redding will make a mistake but Redding keeps his cool and passes the chequered flag first closely followed by Davies and Rea in 3rd place.

A fantastic top two finish for Ducati and Redding is now at the top of the Championship leaderboard.

What will Race 2 on sunday, bring us? I can’t wait to find out.

BK

Featured Image courtesy of Ducati

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Austria GP

This weekend’s MotoGP action came to us from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.

The track temperature were set to be HOT and indeed they were which resulted in an absolute cracker of a race. Ever since Marc Marquez suffered an injury and is currently recuperating, anyone can win this.

The riders have lined up on the grid ready to go and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) had a good start leading at the first corner.

Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) is going back down the field on the first lap and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is moving up the field.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) has lost 5 places on the first lap and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) has gone down to 3rd place. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) had a cracking start to the race .

Andrea Dovizioso at the 2020 Austrian MotoGP race. Image courtesy of Ducati

Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) has been racing well in the first couple of laps and staying up there with everyone.

This circuit has 7 right and 3 left hand corners and although it is a shorter track than most circuits, by the end of the race they will have covered 75 miles.

You can see that the Ducati’s are finding the windy part of the track hard to keep the bikes under control.

Rins is in 12th place now and it is like the Suzuki on rails going around this track , it is an absolute pleasure to watch.

Rossi’s front end went down then but he managed to keep it upright, the Championship leader is dead last right now after making a mistake on Turn 4 so it’s going to be a slow race for him now.

A chaos strewn incident causes a Red Flag

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) were side by on the straight coming down into Turn 3 and as they braked they made contact with each other and both bikes and riders went down.

In what can only be described as an absolutely terrifying few moments, both bikes hurtled towards Turn 4 at a tremendous rate of knots, both hitting the air-fence which slowed them down but then headed straight into the path of Vinales and Rossi with Morbidelli’s bike going through the gap between Vinales and Rossi and Zarco’s bike narrowly missing Vinales.

Thankfully Morbidelli and Zarco both got to their feet and after going to the medical centre for a check-up, both were declared fit.

This is the second red flagged race of the day, the first being in the Moto2 race.

The riders have been in the pits after the red flag whilst the marshals did a great job clearing up the debris and fixing the air-fence. After looking at a replay you can see Rossi’s bike was clipped in the incident.

Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) is getting instructions in the pit and Zarco is now out the race.

Rossi still looks in shock, we thought Rossi had seen everything except a bike coming though the air inches from his face. Now he has to get back on the bike and ride (there’s a song there somewhere).

Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales during the Austrian 2020 Race in which both riders avoided bikes re-entering the track. Image courtesy of Yamaha Motor Racing

All bikes that are in race condition are back out on track ready for a restart. The starting grid was decided on countback to the previous completed lap which meant that Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was on pole.

The Race Restart

Crutchlow starts near the back and it’s been a steady restart, Miller has a good start although he does go wide on the second corner but managed to keep the lead.

Rossi does not look on it right now since the red flag incident but Miller is pulling out a good lead of a second and everyone is behind him picking up the laps.

Dovizioso and Mir are closing in on Miller then Dovizioso carved past Miller into Turn 1 and at Turn 9 later in the lap, Rins followed Dovizioso through. Rins really was on a charge but then his race prematurely ended at Turn 6 when he went down and out. Barring a mistake on the part of Dovizioso, the win was his now.

The top three at at the chequered flag were as follows:

1st Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team)
2nd Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar)
3rd Jack Miller (Pramac Racing)

Great race today, and luckily we don’t have to wait long until the next race which is on the 21st to 24th of August,  back at the Red Bull Ring.

Featured Image courtesy of Ducati
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Thrilling Climax to WSBK Racing in Portimao

If Saturday’s Superpole and Race 1 from the Algarve International Circuit, Portimão was edge of the seat racing, what would Sunday’s racing hold in store for us? The reigning Champion, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) had a commanding lead from start to finish in both the Superpole and Race 1 – are we going to see a repeat performance?

An update on Sandro Cortese (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR) following his crash at the end of Race 1: Cortese underwent surgery for a fractured vertebra and has also suffered a fracture of the right tibial bone, four fractured ribs and a suspected fracture of the right ankle. Wishing Cortese a speedy recovery.

Superpole got underway and again it was Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) who claimed victory to start from pole position in Race 2 with Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) in second place despite the early pressure he put in on Rea having passed Rea into Turn 1 but then running wide allowing Rea to pass back into 1st and build a gap. Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) finished the top 3 with his first podium since 2014.

Despite an early challenge from Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati), Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) finished 4th, Redding 5th and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in an impressive 6th place.

Michael van der Mark at Portimão WSBK 2020. Image courtesy of Yamaha.

In 7th place Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) managed to finish four seconds ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) and Leon Haslam (Team HRC) who were battling for 8th position.

Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) and Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) had an incident at the Turn 5 hairpin on Lap 2 resulting in both riders managing to continue with the race but having fallen down the order in so doing and unfortunately Davies subsequently retiring from the race a few laps later.

With a few laps remaining at Turn 3 we saw Maximilian Scheib (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) and Marco Melandri (Barni Racing Team) run off the track but fortunately for both riders they were able to continue with Superpole.

After an eventful session the starting grid looked like this:

Row 1 : Rea : Razgatlioglu : Baz  Row 2: Lowes : Redding : Sykes

Row 3 : van der Mark : Rinaldi : Haslam  Row 4 : Gerloff : Bautista : Caricasulo

Row 5 : Fores : Mercado : Melandri  Row 6 : Barrier : Ponsson : Gabellini

Row 7 : Takahashi : Laverty : Scheib  Row 8 : Davies

With 20 laps of racing, Race 2 gets underway with Rea just managing to stay ahead of Razgatlioglu going into the first corner, Redding goes up into 3rd and Baz is down to 4th. At Turn 5 Laverty goes down with his bike ending up in the gravel, Haslam goes up into 7th and on the last corner at Turn 14, Baz suffers a high speed off and goes rolling into the gravel thus bringing his race to an early end.

Redding is now up into 2nd with Rea in 3rd and Lowes passes van der Mark up into 4th. By Lap 3 Rea puts in fastest lap and is just starting to pull out a bit of a gap ahead of Redding who has dropped half a second and is now feeling the heat from Razgatlioglu who is closing in. Van der Mark is hot on the heels of Lowes and Davies is looking to get past Haslam who is causing a bottleneck with Rinaldi and Fores closing in.

Razgatlioglu goes sliding into Turn 5 on Lap 6, he manages to recover the bike and rejoin the track in 14th place and now has a lot of work to do to fight his way back up the field. Turn 5 strikes again when Lowes goes down too, again he manages to rejoin the track but only to make his way to the pits and an early end to his race.

The gap between Rea and third place van der Mark is 3 seconds. Razgatlioglu is looking to get past Mercado to take 12th position and makes his move at the end of the start/finish straight into Turn 1 with a late braking move slipping up on the inside.

Scott Redding at Portimao 2020 WSbK Image courtesy of Ducati

On Lap 11 Van der Mark is closing in on Redding and Turn 5 strikes again when Haslam goes down rejoining the track back down in 13th. Bautista is challenging Rinaldi for 5th position and successfully passes and is now looking to close in on Davies who is in 4th place

Redding is starting to look like he is struggling for pace as van der Mark is all over him and then at Turn 5 Redding runs wide allowing van der Mark to cut through on the inside and claim 2nd place but then loses ground, runs wide at the next corner allowing Redding to pass by on the inside, van der Mark tries to cut back through but doesn’t make it.

By lap 14 Rea has stretched the gap to 4 seconds ahead of Redding with van der Mark hot on his heels determined to gain 2nd place back again.

Gerloff runs wide in Turn 2 on Lap 15 onto the kerb and comes back onto the track and into Fores. Fores goes down and out but Gerloff manages to keep the bike upright going through the gravel to rejoin the track in 11th place.

Van der Mark is not giving up and is trying at every available opportunity to get that 2nd place with Rea stretching his lead to a comfortable 5 seconds.

On the penultimate lap, Haslam passes Melandri up into 12th position with Laverty having a look too. Razgatlioglu has made his way up into 9th and as Caricasulo runs wide, manages to make up another place. The battle for 2nd place is so close, van der Mark is not giving up but Redding is successfully defending his position to the finish line. Rea takes a comfortable win and is now 4 points ahead of Redding in the Championship.

An absolutely thrilling nail biting race and a terrific end to a great weekend of WorldSBK racing.

Round 4 takes places at MotorLand Aragon, Teruel, Spain on the 28th to 30th August.

BK

The Driver’s/Team Standings so far at the end of Round 3 look like this:

Riders Standings Team Standings
Pos Rider Points Pos Team Points
1 Jonathan Rea 136 1 Kawasaki 162
2 Scott Redding 132 2 Ducati 134
3 Toprak Razgatlioglu 103 3 Yamaha 131
4 Alex Lowes 91 4 Honda 60
5 Michael van der Mark 82 5 BMW 48
6 Chaz Davies 75 6 Aprilia 4
7 Alvaro Bautista 55
8 Loris Baz 54
9 Michael Ruben Rinaldi 53
10 Tom Sykes 47
11 Leon Haslam 36
12 Garrett Gerloff 22
13 Marco Melandri 17
14 Eugene Laverty 16
15 Sandro Cortese 14
16 Xavi Fores 14
17 Federico Caricasulo 12
18 Maximillan Scheib 10
19 Leandro Mercado 7
20 Christophe Ponsson 4
21 Sylvain Barrier 1

Featured image courtesy of Ducati

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Thrills And Spills Aplenty As The #BSBRestart Heats Up At Donington

After all of the drama and excitement of yesterday’s (Saturday August 8th)  opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, how would rounds two and three pan out on day two of the #BSBRestart? Read on to find out. 

Round Two

It was more of the same for Honda Racing’s Andrew Irwin as he once again saw off older brother Glenn to take maximum points from round two at Donington Park.

Pole sitter Josh Brookes started brightly aboard his VisionTrack Ducati but was pegged back by Glenn Irwin at the Old Hairpin. Christian Iddon improved his position to third place and soon had Andrew Irwin for company with the Carrickfergus man performing an excellent manoeuvre on Iddon at the Craner Curves whilst McAms Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran edged himself into the thoughts of the front runners by running in fourth.

Australian rider O’Halloran was soon engaged in an interesting battle with Oxford Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell as the two swapped places during the midway point of the race. O’Halloran eventually prevailed and attempted to pilot himself within distance of the Hondas after swatting away the challenge of Iddon on lap 16.

With five laps to go, the Australian made his move on Andrew Irwin and temporarily held second place before the Northern Irishman fired back and took back his position with a move at Schwantz Curve.

As the action moved into the final lap, either one of the Irwin brothers or Jason O’Halloran could have taken the victory. It would be the younger Irwin sibling who prevailed, performing a smart braking move at Roberts to force his older brother wide and eventually take the win to complete a second Honda/Irwin 1-2 of the weekend with O’Halloran taking third for McAms Yamaha’s first podium of 2020.

Kyle Ryde at BSB Donington Park 2020. Image courtesy of Suzuki Racing

Buildbase Suzuki’s Kyle Ryde recorded a career best fourth place after securing the position thanks to a last lap move that consigned Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan to fifth place. Josh Brookes made up some lost ground to finish sixth ahead of Tarran Mackenzie and team-mate Christian Iddon.

Tommy Bridewell’s bid for third place on lap 24 almost ended in disaster but the Oxford Ducati man recovered and fought his way back through the field to finish ninth with Hector Barberá rounding out the top 10 on the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW.

Round Three 

The Honda monopoly during the opening weekend of the #BSBRestart was broken as Tommy Bridewell turned out a superb, dominant win aboard the Oxford Products Ducati to take his first win of 2020.

Save for a hairy moment early on that almost unseated the Wiltshire native, Bridewell’s dominance shone through from lights to flag and by lap 11, he was running at almost four seconds a lap quicker than the remainder of the field.

Josh Brookes looked comfortable in second before being reined in by both Irwin brothers and Jason O’Halloran. Glenn Irwin was the first to move on the Australian before the race’s dramatic moment when Andrew Irwin made his move up to second.

At the exit of Redgate, the younger Irwin pulled level with Brookes and a slight collision at the entrance to Hollywood saw the Australian fly off his VisionTrack Ducati and off the track at high speed, thankfully the 38 year old came out of the accident unhurt.

The Irwin Brothers at BSB 2020 Donington Park. Image courtesy of Honda Racing

The collision means that at the time of writing, the result remained under investigation however the maximum points achieved by Tommy Bridewell doesn’t need to be scrutinised further. Andrew Irwin finished in second but faces a time penalty with Glenn coming in third.

Jason O’Halloran ended in fourth position ahead of Christian Iddon, Danny Buchan and Tarran Mackenzie. Kyle Ryde ended an impressive race weekend with eighth place in round three ahead of Hector Barbera in ninth and Ryan Vickers completing the top 10 aboard the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki.

Support Class Round-Up 

Former British Talent Cup winner Rory Skinner took maximum points from the opening rounds of the British Supersport/British GP2 Championship with a  pair of dominant wins on the Tyser Yamaha R6.

Honda’s Tom Neave took race one of the Superstock 1000 weekend before Chrissy Rouse on the Crowe Performance BMW held off the challenge of first Lewis Rollo and then Billy McConnell to take the spoils in race two.

Owen Jenner made it three from three aboard his Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki in the Junior Supersport class while Casey O’Gorman and Franco Bourne were the weekend’s victors in the British Talent Cup.

Featured Image courtesy of Ducati

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All Systems Go At Donington As BSB Finally Gets Underway

At long last the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship got underway this afternoon (Saturday August 8th) at Donington Park. Here’s how the action unfolded during round one of the #BSBRestart. 

Andrew Irwin Winner, Glenn Irwin second and third Josh Brookes. Image courtesy of Honda Racing

Honda Racing’s Andrew Irwin claimed victory at the climax of a thrilling three-way battle alongside his brother/team-mate Glenn and VisionTrack Ducati’s Josh Brookes.

Buildbase Suzuki’s Kyle Ryde took the early initiative from his qualifying position of third and led during the early stages going from Hector Barberá, the Irwin brothers, Danny Buchan and the Ducati pair. Andrew Irwin went into second place during the second lap, out braving Barberá in a classy move at Roberts.

Buchan crashed out early on and was joined back in the garages by Synetiq BMW’s Bradley Ray and then Barberá himself.

Andrew Irwin claimed the lead from Ryde in the sixth lap as the Suzuki rider found himself as the filling in an Irwin sandwich as Glenn took second position to fight for supremacy with his brother. Josh Brookes had been biding his time and made his move on lap eight before being reeled back in by Ryde. Unfortunately for the Buildbase Suzuki man, technical issues forced his withdrawal from the race allowing Brookes back into third.

It was Glenn Irwin who held the lead when Brookes eventually made his bid for first on lap sixteen, which was successful but only temporarily as the Irwin brothers made a brave attack on Brookes at Schwantz which powered the two Hondas into the top 2.

During a pulsating final lap, Andrew Irwin made his final and decisive move on his brother which saw him take the lead, a stern defensive approach followed which saw the younger Irwin brother take the first win of the delayed 2020 season by a tight margin of 0.119s with Brookes in third.

Brookes’ Ducati team-mate Christian Iddon claimed fourth place ahead of Oxford Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell. Luke Mossey aboard the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW came home in sixth. Tarran Mackenzie finished in seventh, ahead of team-mate and pole sitter Jason O’Halloran, whose progress was hampered by the necessity for evasive action after Danny Buchan’s accident. Ryan Vickers on the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki and Lee Jackson on the Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki rounded out the top 10.

Attention now shifts to races two and three which will take place tomorrow afternoon (Sunday August 9th).

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Edge of the Seat Racing from Portimao in Superpole and Race 1

WorldSBK Superpole and Race 1 took place today from Algarve International Circuit, Portimão, Portugal with the reigning Champion, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) taking pole position by nearly three tenths of a second with Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) taking second place and Rea’s teammate, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), slotting into third place.

Last weekend’s Race 2 winner, Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT – Racing Ducati); took a tumble at Turn 5 but was able to get back on the track and to the pits for some quick repairs by his team before getting back out on the track again to finish in 8th place.

The top independent rider, Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), secured a second row start with his impressive pace with the highest place Honda of Leon Haslam (Team HRC) in tenth position. Haslam’s teammate, Alvaro Bautista crashed in Sector 3 and, like Redding, he was able to get the bike back on track and to the pits.

After a tense session the starting grid looked like this:

Row 1 : Rea : Razgatlioglu : Lowes Row 2: Sykes : van der Mark : Baz

Row 3 : Rinaldi : Redding : Laverty Row 4 : Haslam : Gerloff : Bautista

Row 5 : Davies : Cortese : Fores Row 6 : Caricasulo : Scheib : Mercado

Row 7 : Melandri : Barrier : Takahashi Row 8 : Ponsson : Gabellini

With 20 laps of racing, Race 1 gets underway with Rea getting off to a great start with the opposite happening for Redding who, by the first corner is down two places. Sykes on his BMW has a full on wobble nearly losing it at Turn 4 but incredibly recovers and stays on track. Lowes has dropped back into 4th and Redding is now in 6th by Turn 6 and along with Lowes is now closing in on van der Mark.

Rinaldi and Haslam got off to a good start but by Lap 2 Sykes is down to 9th having started from 4th place but manages to make up a place by Lap 3. Rea has set the fastest lap and is now starting to pull away from Razgatlioglu in 2nd place.

Lap 4 sees Redding pass Lowes but then, Redding runs wide and Lowes takes the place back but Redding is all over Lowes looking to get back past. At Turn 11 Redding manages to pass Lowes and this time he makes it stick.

Scott Redding at Portimao WSBK 2020. Image courtesy of Ducati

Third place is now being fought over by Baz, van der Mark and Redding with some incredible racing taking place with the Ducati all over the Yamahas and at one point they are neck and neck but still holding their positions. Van der Mark has a huge wobble and how he managed to hold onto it and his place is incredible.

Lap 6 sees van der Mark running wide and losing two places allowing Redding up into 4th and Lowes into 5th.

On the start-finish straight on Lap 8 Redding passes Baz in a very smooth overtake on the inside and then on the following lap Baz runs wide allowing Lowes and van der Mark to nip past. Meanwhile Redding’s teammate, Davies, is not having a good race at all and has now dropped back to 14th.

By Lap 11 van der Mark is hot on the heels of Redding fighting for position and Baz is now down into 7th place having been passed by Lowes on Lap 12 who is closing in on van der Mark and Redding. The fight for 3rd place is edge of the seat racing.

Rea, by Lap 15, has now pulled out a 4 second lead ahead of Razgatlioglu, both of whom are having a very controlled and smooth race.

Lowes has gone up the inside of Redding and now Rinaldi is having a look. Lap 16 sees Redding run wide, Rinaldi tries to get past on the inside but doesn’t manage it. Lowes is edging away from Redding and the battle for fifth is hotting up.

On Lap 19 Rinaldi passes Redding and they both run wide with Rinaldi managing to stay ahead but Baz slips past Redding up into 6th place with Sykes now having a look to see if he can pass by too.

It’s the final lap and Redding is looking to get back past Baz but Baz is managing to hold the Ducati off for now. Rea crosses the finish line easily in 1st position followed by Razgatlioglu, van der Mark and Lowes. Baz managed to hold off Redding to finish 6th with Redding down in 7th.

Fantastic racing in Race 1, Race 2 is going to be nail biting!

BK

Featured image courtesy of Yamaha Racing

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