This weekend the British Superbike Championship heads to Thruxton for round seven of the 2019 season.
Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati) arrives in Thruxton as the championship leader – both overall and in podium points – and off the back of another strong weekend in Snetterton where he took a double-victory. Redding now has six wins in 2019, more than any other rider, but Thruxton is yet another new track for the ex-MotoGP rider, and one of the most unique of the British Superbike calendar.
Thruxton has the highest average speed of the year, faster than any MotoGP track. Mostly, riders spend their time on the right side of the tyre, well in excess of 100mph, with smoke pouring off the rear Pirelli. The Hampshire track is a particular challenge for the riders, since with its speed and character comes enjoyment, so the riders want to push, they want to spin the rear tyre because it is fun. However, to win, of course you have to protect the tyre, and the rider who can balance the speed with protecting the rear tyre is generally the one that will come out on top. Perhaps this is no different to any other circuit, but the sheer amount of time spent on the side of the tyre with a lot of speed and a lot of power means that Thruxton is quite peculiar.
In the past, Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati) has proven particularly successful at the game of tyre management in Thruxton, winning the second race last year as well as the first one in 2017; both races in 2015 on his way to the title; both races in 2014; race two in 2012 and race two in 2010. Brookes’ success in Thruxton has lasted a long time. With the success of his teammate, Redding, in 2019, there is perhaps no better circuit for Brookes to go to in his attempt to try and reclaim some momentum in the championship and to try to close the deficit he currently suffers to Redding in the podium points standings.
Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing) has seen success in Thruxton, too, winning in 2017 when Brookes crashed out and going 3-2 last year despite being hospitalised on Saturday night. Whether Hickman can replicate this form this year with the 2019 BMW S1000RR, vastly different to the old model, remains to be seen but regardless the #60 should be one to watch this weekend.
Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing) and Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) had difficult weekends in Snetterton, at least results-wise. Both riders arguably had the pace to win, but came away with the same score-card, with one third place and one DNF each. It will be important for both riders to rebound this weekend, since the two Be Wiser riders extended their advantage at the last round and with the Showdown edging closer podium points are becoming increasingly important.
On the other side, the battle for the all-important sixth-place is getting closer. Xavi Fores (Honda Racing) currently holds sixth in the championship, but only twenty-two points back is Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW Motorrad) in ninth. Between Fores and Iddon are Hickman and Fores’ Honda Racing teammate Andrew Irwin. These are the four riders fighting for the last spot, and they have three rounds, including Thruxton, to decide amongst them who would get it.
At Tyco BMW Motorrad, Glenn Irwin has arrived from Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki to replace Keith Farmer for the rest of the season, following Irwin’s departure from the 2018 championship-winning squad. At Quattro Plant, Hector Barbera is replacing Irwin after his good impression in his replacements so far this year, first for Ben Currie, and then for Irwin in Snetterton.
The 2019 MotoGP World Championship returns to action this weekend after the summer break with the Czech Grand Prix, round ten of the season.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) comes into this round as the clear championship leader – fifty-eight points clear of Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) – and the favourite for this weekend. Still, Marquez is the only rider in 2019 to have won more than one race in the MotoGP class, with five wins to his name in the first half of the season. Additionally, in his history in the premier class, Marquez has only missed the podium in Brno once, back in 2014. In 2013, his first year at Brno on a MotoGP bike, Marquez won; 2015 saw him take second place between the two factory Yamaha riders; in 2016 he was third and the top-placed rider with the soft-option rear wet tyre; in 2017 he completely out-smarted the rest and won by almost twenty seconds in the flag-to-flag conditions; and last year he was out-raced by Andrea Dovizioso who made the most of the power advantage of the Ducati. This year, Ducati do not have that same power advantage over Honda, and that could be enough for the reigning World Champion to pull clear on Sunday afternoon.
With Ducati still suffering with mid-corner speed, they are relying on their power, and Dovizioso’s race-craft to win this weekend. The #04’s tactics have won him several races over the last few years, including last year in Brno. However, the aforementioned power gains of Honda this year could make things more complicated for the Italian this year. Previously, Dovizioso would sit at the front, knowing that people can’t pass him in the middle of the corner, and that he is better on the brakes, better on acceleration and better on top speed. Compared to Marquez, at least, the latter two points are no longer as valid as they were before.
Maverick Vinales and the Yamaha Team. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
The characteristics of Brno have historically leant themselves to ‘corner-speed bikes’ quite well. Whilst Honda have been successful in Brno with four-strokes – with Rossi, Gibernau , Pedrosa, Stoner, Crutchlow, and Marquez – Yamaha have also found success there with their almost opposite design philosophy. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) won for Yamaha in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009. In addition to his Honda wins in 2001 and 2003, Rossi is the most successful rider in Brno in the premier class with six wins. In total, Rossi has eight wins in Brno, and of course his first win in the World Championship came at the Czech track in 1996. After a difficult period for the Italian before the summer break, Rossi is in need of a strong result in Brno, where he has not been on the podium since 2016.
Perhaps Yamaha’s best options for this weekend lie in Rossi’s Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammate, Maverick Vinales, and Petronas Yamaha SRT’s star rookie Fabio Quartararo. Vinales is riding the crest of a wave at the moment. He has not ridden the M1 as well as he is now since his first races with Yamaha in 2017 and will fancy himself for the podium this weekend at a track which should suit the M1, although the Spaniard has not been on the Czech GP podium in the MotoGP class – his last rostrum in Brno coming in 2013 when he was second in the Moto3 race.
Quartararo, on the other hand, arrives in Brno after his first crash in a MotoGP race in Sachsenring. Brno shares characteristics with Assen and Catalunya, where Quartararo was strong and took consecutive podiums. On the other hand, Brno shares characteristics with Mugello, where the Frenchman was tenth. What you can say, though, is that Brno is less reliant on top speed than Mugello, which sees the highest speeds of the year. With that in mind, the flowing nature of Brno should prove fruitful for the #20.
Alex Rins. Image courtesy of Suzuki Racing
What works for Yamaha generally works for Suzuki, and sometimes even better. For example, when Marquez crashed in Texas this year, it worked well for Yamaha, as Valentino Rossi inherited the lead, but it worked better for Suzuki because Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) had better pace. Similarly, the meandering undulations of Mugello work well for Yamaha, but this year they worked better for Suzuki who have more power in the GSX-RR than the YZR-M1.
One of the key features of Brno is ‘Horsepower Hill’, previously known as ‘Honda Hill’ – a tag which may return this year for the run between turns twelve and thirteen. This is the part of the track that will not work for the weak-motored M1, but with slightly more power in the GSX-RR Suzuki could make advantage of this area. For sure, they will be at a disadvantage here to Ducati and Honda, but their potential advantage in the rest of the track could cancel this out. Alex Rins has a good chance to win this weekend, which would edge Suzuki back ahead of Yamaha in their private battle for the title of ‘best MotoGP inline-four’.
Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) will be missing once again following his crash in Assen. Stefan Bradl continues to be his replacement, who is fresh from a podium finish at the Suzuka 8 Hour on the factory Honda.
The Moto3 World Championship heads to Brno this weekend for the tenth round of the 2019 season, and the beginning of the second half of the season.
Having taken his first win of the season in Sachsenring, Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) arrives in Brno as the leader of the Moto3 World Championship by two points from Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team).
Dalla Porta has had a strong season so far, and especially since the start of the European season he has been consistently fast. Having missed out narrowly in Assen and Mugello to Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) for those wins, taking victory in Sachsenring was important for his season, and it came at an important time – directly before the summer break. Dalla Porta was only tenth in Brno last season, but his smooth riding style, in combination with the Honda’s comfort in the mid-corner, should make the Italian a potent force this weekend.
Aron Canet, by comparison, has had a more complicated year, but his avoidance of incidents has kept him atop the championship for most of the season. Now having lost the championship lead it will be interesting to see how Canet responds this weekend in Brno, where he was second to Fabio Di Giannantonio last year.
Dalla Porta and Canet have a large margin over the rest of the field in the championship. Third in the points is Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse), fifty-eight points behind the leading Dalla Porta. The battle for third, though, is quite tight, with only twelve points between Antonelli in third and Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) in eighth. Between Antonelli and Masia are Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) who won in Barcelona; Tony Arbolino who is the only multiple-winner in Moto3 this year; John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) who won in Le Mans and Celestino Vietti (SKY Racing Team VR46) who has impressed with two podiums in his rookie year.
Of course, things are difficult to predict in a series as tight as Moto3, where the front group can be as strong as twenty riders. Brno should be one of the tracks where the group is big, because there are several medium-length straights where the slipstream will have some effect and keep the field together. This makes Brno a dangerous race for the championship contenders, because in a group as large as twenty, things can go wrong at 150mph, and without any real fault you can be on the floor and scoring no points while your rivals are still fighting at the front. Incident avoidance has been a strong point of Aron Canet’s riding this season, and it could be critical this weekend if the race is particularly hectic.
This weekend the Moto2 World Championship returns from its summer break in the Czech Republic, as Brno hosts the tenth round of the 2019 season.
Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) returns from his holidays leading the championship by eight points from Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP). Sachsenring was another masterclass from Marquez, who has clearly been the rider who has made the best adaptation to this year’s regulation changes with the Triumph engines as increased electronics in Grand Prix racing’s intermediate class. In Germany, Marquez won by over one second, as he did in Barcelona, Mugello and Le Mans, and dominated the field to reclaim the championship lead as his closest rival Luthi finished only fifth to relinquish the championship lead. Marquez has a decent record in Brno, finishing fourth in his first Moto2 Czech Grand Prix in 2015, fifth in 2016 and second in 2017, so will be hoping to extend his advantage again this weekend.
Tom Luthi won his last Moto2 race in Brno back in 2017 in the rain, although his previous Czech podium to that was third in 2013, following a second in 2012. Luthi’s last win before his 2017 triumph was back in 2005, his 125cc championship-winning year. The Swiss needs to add a third Czech win this weekend if he wants to keep the pressure on Marquez, who currently looks nailed on for the title based on his pace advantage in the latter part of the race.
Another disappointing race for Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) in Sachsenring, where he finished seventh, six seconds off the win, saw him fall out of championship contention despite dominating the early part of the season. Finishing behind his Pons teammate, Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40), also saw the Spaniard extend his points lead over Baldassarri in their battle for third in the championship.
Also involved in that third-place points battle are Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) and Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) who are both joint on ninety-seven points with Baldassarri, as well as Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) just seven points further back and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) just six points back of Marini.
Navarro’s season has been up-and-down, but more up than down. The Spaniard was near the back at turn one in Germany, but his comeback was strong and he finished eighth, a performance which backed up his podiums from earlier in the year. All that is missing from Navarro’s season is a win, and the Speed Up’s prowess in the mid-corner could prove pivotal for him in the flowing corners of Brno.
Marcel Schrotter’s season has been similar to Navarro’s, in that he is just missing a win. He was back on the pace in Germany, but fell back just after the start and that compromised his podium challenge.
Luca Marini suffered with his shoulder in Germany, but last year fought with Miguel Oliveira for the win in Brno so should be expected to fight at the front again this year, as will Brad Binder who has been second in the last two races for KTM on a bike which arguably should not be in the top three, and now has a MotoGP contract in place for 2020 at Red Bull KTM Tech 3.
The ninth round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship took place in Germany at the Sachsenring, where Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) took his tenth consecutive win at the German track.
Marquez made a relatively bad start from his tenth-straight Sachsenring pole and was out-dragged towards turn one by fellow front-row starters Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), but the #93 out-brakes the Yamaha riders around the outside on the entry to the first turn.
Maverick Vinales at the 2019 MotoGP German race. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
Vinales, in turn, forced out Quartararo in turn one, as Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) took third. Before the end of the first lap, though, Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) took third away from Miller, although the Ducati rider came back in turn one.
A crash for Quartararo broke the pack up on lap two. The Frenchman was unhurt but it allowed a gap to appear between Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) in fifth and Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) in sixth.
On lap three, Marquez started to move the pace on, and Mille started to struggle. Rins had already passed him back for third, and before the end of the lap Crutchlow was through for fourth. Miller’s lack of pace had brought Danilo Petrucci back towards him and Crutchlow, and the second Mission Winnow Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso was there, too, as well as Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT), Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in tenth.
At turn twelve on lap four, Alex Rins got past Maverick Vinales for second place as Marquez’s advantage grew to six tenths. Marquez’ strategy was to use the first two laps to warm his front tyre, and then push to open a gap. It was a strategy which worked – Rins was able to go faster than Vinales, but not fast enough to close Marquez.
With twenty-four laps to go, Marquez’ advantage was over one second, and with twenty-two to go it was approaching 1.5 seconds over Rins, who in turn had over one second back to Vinales, whilst Crutchlow was pressuring the #12.
When Marquez’ gap reached three seconds, he backed the pace off to conserve the tyre which had been a concern over the weekend for the whole field, such were the temperatures and the particular demands of the especially anti-clockwise Sachsenring.
Marc Marquez celebrating his win at the 2019 Sachsengring MotoGP race. Image courtesy of Box Repsol
Marquez’ lead was extended further on lap twelve when Alex Rins crashed at turn eleven out of second place. If his win wasn’t assured already, it was now. Marquez continued out front for eleven relatively comfortable laps, and took his tenth-straight Sachsenring win. Additionally, it was his fifth win of the season, and his championship advantage opened up to fifty-eight points ahead of the summer break – a healthy margin with ten races to go and a useful buffer with strong tracks for Ducati coming up on the calendar.
Maverick Vinales spent most of the race with Cal Crutchlow no more than two tenths behind him. Originally, this was for third place but Rins’ crash made that into the second-place battle. Towards the end, the gap between the Spaniard and the Briton increased and Vinales took second place 4.587 seconds behind Marquez, and over three seconds clear of Crutchlow as he took his third podium of the season a week on from his dominant win in Assen.
Crutchlow was unsure whether he would be able to race on Sunday such was the pain he was in after his bicycle accident between Assen and Sachsenring in which he broke the top of his tibia. To turn from that on Sunday to a third place and his second podium of the season in Sachsenring is impressive from the Briton who has struggled for front feeling with the 2019 Honda. Finishing the first half of the season the way he started it is a good way to go into the summer break for the #35.
Fourth place went to Danilo Petrucci who came out on top in a big battle between himself, Dovizioso, Miller and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar). Petrucci knew that Sachsenring was not a favourable track for Ducati, but he enjoyed the track himself – with a new Ducati contract for 2020 under his belt he had no problems taking points away from Dovizioso who he now trails by only six points in the championship.
Andrea Dovizioso & Danilo Petrucci at the 2019 German MotoGP. Image courtesy of Ducati
Dovizioso himself was able to turn a difficult weekend and a thirteenth-place grid slot into a fifth place, although this was not enough to lift his mood as he saw the 2019 world title slip even further away.
Jack Miller took sixth place. To be fighting with the factory GP19s is all Miller could have hoped for in Sachsenring, and he had them both well in sight at the flag. Joan Mir was seventh after a strong ride in which he almost certainly learned a great deal about how to fight in a MotoGP race and how to conserve a tyre.
Valentino Rossi was in the fight with Mir and the GP19s until the closing stages of the race, when his medium rear tyre – which most riders commented was harder than the hard compound – started to give up. The summer break has come at the right time for Rossi, who needs to reset for the second half of the season having missed the podium since Texas and not been in the top five since Le Mans.
Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) suffered similar late-race pace to Rossi and finished ninth. Perhaps it is useful to consider in this moment that Morbidelli has been open about modelling his own riding style on Rossi’s. Considering the comparable results of the two in recent races, perhaps it can be judged that – at least for this year’s edition of the YZR-M1 – this decision by Morbidelli has not been the best one.
Stefan Bradl, in place of Jorge Lorenzo at the Repsol Honda Team, was able to finish tenth, giving the factory Honda team their first double-top ten since Malaysia 2018 when Marquez won and Dani Pedrosa was fifth.
Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) finished eleventh, ahead of Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini), the heavily and increasingly injured Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) and Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) who completed the points.
Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was sixteenth, ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) whose clearance to race was a questionable one after being admitted to hospital and admitting himself to headaches after a practice crash on Friday. The Italian had a big run-on in turn one early in the race, which compromised his result. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) crashed early on, and was the final classified rider in seventeenth.
After Fabio Quartararo crashed out on lap two, Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) also crashed out a lap later. There was not another retirement until Rins dropped out on lap nineteen. After Rins fell, only Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) dropped out, as he crashed with two laps to go after a strong ride in which he was fighting for the top ten.
Qualifying for the sixth round of the British Superbike Championship took place at Snetterton. The weather had been inconsistent throughout the weekend but the track remained dry for qualifying.
Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati) had been fastest throughout the weekend, and so was the favourite for pole position heading into qualifying. His promise from free practice was one he was able to deliver on as the ex-MotoGP rider took his second pole position of the season on his first visit to Snetterton – perhaps the most ‘European’ of the British tracks with the exceptions of Donington and Silverstone.
Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) was second on the grid. In a weekend where Ducati have been dominant with Redding and competitive with Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati) and Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing) it has been Mackenzie who has represented some resistance to the Panigale V4R with his YZF-R1, and starting from the middle of the front row gives him a good chance for the first race tomorrow.
Tommy Bridewell ensured Mackenzie’s Yamaha was the meat in the Ducati sandwich on the front row for tomorrow’s first race as he qualified third. It has been a quiet weekend for the #46, but when the lap time counted he found himself competitive and was able to give himself a good opportunity tomorrow.
Josh Brookes was mostly off the pace compared to his teammate; Redding, throughout free practice, but he seemed to find something in qualifying. The Australian was able to almost match his teammate in Q1, although in the final pole position shootout of Q3 he was only able to manage fourth. The second row is not a disaster for Brookes, of course, and with the fastest four riders of the weekend heading up the grid the races tomorrow should be quite open.
Dan Linfoot (Santander Salt TAG Yamaha) qualified fifth, continuing his good form. Xavi Fores (Honda Racing) also continued his good qualifying form by taking sixth place after his pole position in Knockhill. Danny Buchan (FS-3 Kawasaki) set the seventh-fastest time in Q2, and will line up on the third row ahead of Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) who crashed in Q2 and Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing) who suffered his first crash of the season on the exit of the final corner in Q3 which brought out the red flags as his bike was stranded in the middle of the track.
Bradley Ray – Buildbase Suzuki. Image courtesy of Suzuki racing
Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki) was the fastest of the riders to not make Q3 and qualified tenth aead of Luke Stapleford (Buidlbase Suzuki) and Luke Mossey (OMG Racing Suzuki) who was disappointed to round out the fourth row after a strong showing in free practice.
Michael Laverty, replacing Keith Farmer at Tyco BMW Motorrad, qualified thirteenth ahead of Hector Barbers who is back in at Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki replacing Glenn Irwin who has vision issues following a bout of the flu. Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW Motorrad), complete with a nineteen-day-old broken leg, completes row five.
Josh Elliott (OMG Racing Suzuki) qualified sixteenth ahead of Joe Francis (Lloyd & Jones Bowker Motorrad) on his first competitive outing with the 2019 BMW S1000RR. Ben Currie (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) was the slowest of the riders in Q2 and will line up eighteenth for race one.
James Ellison (Smiths Racing) qualified nineteenth and will head up row seven in race one, ahead of Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki) on his return from injury. Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) suffered two crashes in Q1 – at least one confirmed to be a bike problem as he hit a false neutral into turn four – and will complete the seventh row.
Claudio Corti (Team WD-40) was twenty-second fastest, ahead of Matt Truelove (Raceways Yamaha) and David Allingham (EHA Yamaha); whilst Dean Harrison (Silicone Engineering Racing) heads up row nine from Shaun Winfield (Santander Salt TAG Yamaha) and Sam Coventry (Team 64 Motorsports).
Fraser Rogers (Gearlink Kawasaki) was thought to be out of the weekend after a problem on Friday morning, but continued at Snetterton and qualified twenty-eighth, heading up the last row from Danny Kent (Bike Devil Sweda MV Agusta) – who suffered bike problems with the MV F4 – and Dean Hipwell (CDH Racing) who completes the grid for race one.
A dramatic Superpole Race in Laguna Seca for round nine of the 2019 Superbike World Championship saw Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secure his second win of the weekend, his ninth of the season.
Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) challenged Rea into turn two on the first lap, but the drama was further behind, as Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) made contact with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) and crashed.
There was possible good fortune for the Spaniard, though, as a heavy crash for JD Beach (Attack Performance Estenson Yamaha) and Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team) brought out the red flags. Both Beach and Delbianco were okay, but Bautista was taken to the medical centre after he brought back the #19 Ducati, and then failed to make the restart.
At the resumption of the race, Rea took the holeshot and immediately cleared off, despite being the only rider not on the SCX tyre, designed especially for the ten-lap sprint races. The reigning World Champion was once again untouchable, and collected another thirteen points, extending his points lead to sixty-one – almost a full weekend’s worth of points and a complete flip of the gap between Rea and Bautista ahead of race two in Jerez. It was Rea’s eightieth World Superbike victory, and the 250th for a British rider in the series.
Chaz Davis at Laguna Seca WSBK 2019. Image courtesy of Ducati
Chaz Davies was similarly unchallenged to take another second place, his third of the season. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) took the final podium spot for his third top three of the season.
Toprak Razgatlioglu was closing on Sykes in the closing laps of the race, but ran out of time, finishing fourth in the end ahead of Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) who rounded out the top five. Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) took sixth place ahead of Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha), Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing), Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) who took the final point in ninth and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) who completed the top ten.
Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) was eleventh ahead of Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK), Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team), Eugene Laverty (Team Goeleven), Ryuichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) and Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) who was the final classified rider in sixteenth after running on at turn two.
The only non-finishers were the non-starters of Delbianco, Beach and Bautista.
The Californian sun welcomed the Superbike World Championship for race one of round nine of the 2019 season, which saw Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) take his eighth win of the season and extend his championship advantage.
From his first Laguna Seca pole position, Rea made the holeshot from Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) who came from third on the grid to follow the Northern Irishman into turn two, the first braking point of the track.
Bautista’s pace on the opening lap was not spectacular, though, and the Spaniard’s ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati teammate, Chaz Davies, moved through in the penultimate corner. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) was able to pass Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) at turn six for fourth place and, in the early part of the race, was able to go with the leaders.
Alvaro Bautista and Chaz Davies in Race One at Laguna Seca WSBK 2019. Image courtesy of Ducati
It was not long, though, before Rea, Davies and Bautista were able to get away at the front. There was fighting brewing between them, though. Davies had chosen the SCX rear tyre, designed for the ten-lap Superpole race, and knew he needed to get to the front to make the most of that choice. He made a move on Rea at the Andretti Hairpin, but was unable to make it stick. At this point, Bautista’s pace was starting to pick up and the #19 was beginning to pressurise his teammate.
Bautista’s challenge for the win was over before long, though, as he crashed out at turn six with twenty-one laps to go. The Spaniard was able to get back on, but didn’t have the pace to reach the points. To pour the salt into the wounds of the 2006 125cc World Champion, he was later lapped by Rea and Davies.
After Bautista’s crash, Davies’ time was running out to make a move before his tyre went away. That move never came, and eventually Rea eased away to what became an eighth win of 2019, which he took by 5.693 seconds. Rea’s twenty-five-point extension took his championship advantage to forty-nine points which, with four-and-two-thirds rounds to go, including Magny-Cours, makes the championship look significantly less attainable for Bautista. The turnaround in fortunes between the championship’s top two since Imola has been stark, and completely unexpected which has been reflected in the surprise of almost everyone involved with the championship from the fans to the riders themselves.
Davies’ second place was his first rostrum since the Imola Superpole race and the result of what appears to be a breakthrough with the Panigale V4R for the Welshman over the course of this weekend. In the two remaining races Davies will be aiming for his first win of the season. His preference towards the SCX tyre might suggest his best chance will be the Superpole race. With Bautista at such a mathematical disadvantage in the championship, it will be interesting to see the extent to which Ducati now ask Davies to play the team game for the rest of the season, and whether Davies will be in the position to help out his teammate if that is what is asked of him.
Toprak Razgatlioglu continued his run of podium positions, taking at least one in every round since Imola. It was a lonely race for the Turk, finishing two seconds ahead of Sykes in fourth, who was unable to respond to Toprak’s lap one move, and seven seconds behind Davies. Toprak’s poor qualifying position of seventh place didn’t impact his race as much as initially thought, since he didn’t have the pace of the leaders regardless of where he started.
Sykes’ fourth place might not have been a podium, but BMW will have been happy to beat the factory Yamaha of Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) in such a tight track. Equally, fifth will have been below the expectations of both Lowes and Yamaha coming into this weekend, where they were on the podium one year ago.
Sixth place went to Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing) who had a fantastic race on the privateer Kawasaki, running in fifth place for much of the race before his SCX tyre gave best and had a few goes at flicking the Spaniard. Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) was able to take his broken wrist to another top ten with seventh place ahead of Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha), Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team) who completed the top ten.
Eugene Laverty (Team Goeleven) finished his first race since Assen in eleventh place, still suffering with two broken wrists. Particularly the right wrist was a problem for Laverty, a problem which is helped, relatively, by Laguna’s layout which contains only four right-handers. Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) was twelfth ahead of Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team), Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), who looks somewhat lost at the moment with the YZF-R1, and Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) who took the final point on his return to the World Championship after missing Donington with the flu.
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) was the final rider to finish on the lead lap in sixteenth, whilst Alvaro Bautista finished seventeenth after his crash.
Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) went down about half-a-lap before Bautista at the Corkscrew, whilst wildcard JD Beach (Attack Performance Estenson Yamaha) retired from his first WorldSBK race with twelve laps to go.
The good weather from the morning remained in the afternoon in Donington for the second full-length race of the weekend, in which Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) took his first triple of the season.
Starting from pole position, courtesy of his Superpole Sprint Race win, Rea made the holeshot from Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) and Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati), although the Spaniard was soon demoted to fourth by Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) completed the top five on lap one, whilst the three Yamaha riders – Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) and Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha) – were fighting behind.
Alvaro Bautista and Chaz Davis at Donington 2019 WSBK. Image courtesy of Ducati
Lowes and Baz were able to get past van der Mark, and started to close down Davies, who was dropping off Bautista in fourth.
Meanwhile, out front, Rea and Razgatlioglu were edging away from Haslam behind. That is, they were until Toprak hit the front. When the Turk took the lead from Rea, Haslam was able to close in, as was Bautista who was able to make it an eight-wheeled battle for the lead with twenty laps to go.
Rea reclaimed the lead with just over seventeen laps to go when Razgatlioglu ran wide in the Melbourne Hairpin. Fortunately for the #54, he only dropped to second, as Haslam also ran slightly wide. The mistake from Razgatlioglu didn’t split the group, though, and neither did the fighting between Toprak and Haslam who swapped positions in the Foggy Esses and the Melbourne Hairpin.
Two laps after his mistake in the penultimate corner, Razgatlioglu re-took the lead from Rea in the same spot.
With thirteen laps to go, Rea was in second and his teammate, Haslam, in third, Bautista’s desire to get past the #91 Kawasaki was growing.
One lap later, the gap from second to third was negated once more, as Razgatlioglu ran wide on the entry to the Foggy Esses which cost him both time and the lead which Rea took once more.
The lap after, Bautista was past Haslam at the Melbourne Hairpin. It was a clean move, despite coming from quite a way back. It was an important move for the Spaniard to make, as the leading two Kawasakis were escaping and Loris Baz was dragging Alex Lowes up to the front group.
Lowes passed Baz with eight laps to go, but continued to drag the Frenchman up to Haslam, and Sykes was closing too.
With two laps to go, the battle was on for the win, but a moment for Razgatlioglu in the Foggy Esses gave the Turk too much work to do on the final lap, which meant Rea took his third win of the weekend, his sixth of the season and his first triple. Additionally, Rea’s championship advantage grew to twenty-four points over Bautista with tracks Rea believes to be in his favour on the WorldSBK horizon.
Razgatlioglu’s third second place to Jonathan Rea in the last three Sunday races will not have gone down particularly well. However, the Turk has only one less podium since Imola than Bautista who was unbeaten before the Italian round, which is impressive from the second-year Puccetti rider.
Alvaro Bautista ended his recent run of misfortune in WorldSBK second races to take his first podium of the weekend with third place. Having lost the championship lead this weekend, there will now need to be a change in mindset for the Spaniard at Laguna Secam and for the second half of the season.
Alex Lowes was fourth. It was his best race of the weekend, and could have been better but he took too long to pass Haslam, leaving him without the time to attack Bautista for the final podium spot. Haslam’s fifth place looked unlikely with a few laps to go with two Yamahas and a BMW closing him down, but he hung on from Baz who was sixth and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) who recovered from eleventh on the grid (due to his declassification from race one) to finish seventh. However, there will have been some disappointment from Sykes, who could have fought with Rea and Razgatlioglu had he started from the front row.
Michael van der Mark – Pata Yamaha WorldSBK – 2019 WorldSBK – R8 Donington. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
Michael van der Mark’s target for the Donington weekend was top tens following his crash in Misano in which he broke a wrist. Top tens is what he achieved, beating Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) to eighth in race two. Davies himself finished ninth after dropping off following the opening laps when he was fighting inside the top five. Marco Melandri’s gamble on the SCX tyre (designed for the ten lap Superpole race) got him to tenth place with the GRT Yamaha WorldSBK YZF-R1 early on, and the Italian remained there to round out the top ten for the second time on Sunday.
Peter Hickman’s BMW Motorrad WorldSBK S1000RR held together in the second race and he finished eleventh, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team), Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) and Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team) completed the points, whilst Ryuichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) was the final classified rider in sixteenth.
Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing) was the only non-finisher, as he retired with bike problems early on.
There was no rest for the Superbike World Championship after the eighth round of the 2019 season in Donington, as one week later the paddock is in California for round nine of the season at Laguna Seca.
Despite Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) displacing Alvaro Bautista (AUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) from the top of the standings in Donington last week, the biggest news coming into Laguna is that GRT Yamaha WorldSBK’s Marco Melandri is retiring at the end of the season after more than twenty years of World Championship racing. The thirty-six-year-old Italian amassed twenty-two Grand Prix victories across the 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP classes between his debut in 1997 and 2010 before he moved to the Superbike World Championship with what was the factory Yamaha team alongside Eugene Laverty. Although he moved away from Superbikes in 2015 and 2016 at the request of Aprilia with whom he competed the 2014 WSBK series, Melandri was able to achieve twenty-two wins in WorldSBK for Yamaha, BMW, Aprilia and most recently Ducati. The Italian has not endeared himself, necessarily, to all of hisrivals (most recently Chaz Davies in Jerez) but has made a lasting impression on World Championship motorcycle racing and it will be interesting to see how he fairs in the final four months of his racing career.
Marco Melandri – GRT Yamaha Supported WorldSBK – 2019 WorldSBK – R7 Misano. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
Despite his success on the world stage, Melandri has found the top step at Laguna Seca only once, on the Aprilia in 2014.
Jonathan Rea, on the other hand, has four wins at the Weather Tech Raceway since it arrived on the WorldSBK calendar in 2013. The tight, twisty nature of Laguna should suit the Kawasaki of 2019 quite well in its battle with the Ducati Panigale V4R, and Rea’s championship fight with Bautista. Additionally, the hard braking zones of the Andretti Hairpin, the Corkscrew and the final corner should suit Rea’s hard braking style quite well, and could put him in line to extend his championship lead even further from the twenty-four points it currently sits at.
For Bautista, the challenge could be just as difficult as Donignton, with Laguna holding one quite important trait, with respect to the Ducati, which is similar to the British track, that is that there is little time spent at full throttle, and less time spent with the bike upright. Almost all of Laguna Seca is spent on the side of the tyre, and much of it is spent with half-throttle. Bautista has shown often this year that his Panigale is capable of being extremely fast in the high-speed corners, however in the low-speed the Ducati is better matched with the Kawasaki, which could work against Bautista, who has not visited Laguna since MotoGP were last there in 2013. Perhaps it should be noted, though, that Bautista’s result on that 2013 trip to Laguna was one in which he missed the podium to Valentino Rossi by less than half-a-tenth.
One of the surprises of Laguna Seca one year ago was Eugene Laverty, who finished third in race two for his first podium of 2018 on the Aprilia, and the RSV4’s final podium in the Superbike World Championship. Now at Team Goeleven, Laverty arrives in California still nursing two broken wrists after his Imola practice crash in May. Having tried to come back in Donington, but sat out after Friday afternoon, Laverty will try once more this weekend to be back on the grid before the summer break.
Outside of the two championship contenders, Rea and Bautista, there should be plenty of competition for the podium. Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was able to achieve two podiums in Donington, taking his total for the season to six. Haslam’s main issue with the 2019 WorldSBK-spec ZX-10RR is still getting the bike stopped in the heavy braking zones and the three aforementioned big stops (Andretti Hairpin, Corkscrew, final corner) will likely prove problematic for the reigning BSB champion. However, the more flowing sections of the track should suit his style.
Alex Lowes – Pata Yamaha WorldSBK – 2019 WorldSBK – R8 Donington. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
The same could be said for Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) who narrowly missed the podium in race two last week in Donington to Bautista and was third in Laguna race one last year. Lowes’ Pata Yamaha WorldSBK teammate, Michael van der Mark, will still be contending with his own broken wrist. The Dutchman was able to finish inside the top ten in all three races in Britain, and will be aiming for more of the same this time out.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) will probably be wondering at the moment what he has to do to beat Jonathan Rea, having been beaten in race-long battles by the Northern Irishman twice in the last two rounds. His own hard-braking style, more aggressive than Rea’s, could be effective this weekend, although Californian temperatures could lead to tyre degradation problems later in the race for the aggressive Turk. If he can manage the tyre, he should be there in the podium fight.
