Kawasaki Racing Team secured their fourth 1-2 finish of the season, as Jonathan Rea led home Tom Sykes under the floodlights of Losail.
Rea made the holeshot from the grid to take the lead at turn 1 and, as so often is the case, began pulling clear from the field almost immediately. Once with a manageable gap, the newly-crowned 4x world champion was able to dictate terms with his familiar metronomic rhythm. Today’s victory makes it 17 for the Northern Irishman this season – equalling the record set by Doug Polen, way back in 1991.
Tom Sykes, in his final weekend for the Kawasaki Racing Team has not been prepared to go out on a whimper. The Yorkshireman secured pole position in qualifying earlier this afternoon, and also had his sights set on victory. Whilst his teammate ensured that this was impossible, Sykes secured second place – his first podium finish in five races (and his eighth of the season).
Such is the vast length of the Losail International Circuit (5.38km) and the technical nature of the corners, within a couple of laps there were considerable time gaps already opening up between the various groups of riders. Nevertheless, there was action aplenty as riders diced and duelled with each other.
Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati) and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Ducati) thrilling fight over fourth and fifth places. Lacking the cornering stability of the factory counterparts, Fores produced a strong defensive ride on his independent Ducati, utilising the raw horsepower to pull as much of an advantage down the 1km long main straight, and holding a defensive line through the sweeping corners. However disaster stuck for the Spaniard as technical issues forced him to drop back through the pack – eventually crawling home in P13.
His loss was very much Melandri’s gain, as well as more than a fair amount of relief. Despite throwing everything at him, the factory Ducati man could not find a way past the independent Ducati rider. The Italian, who is seeking a new ride for next season, finished in P5 – collecting a very respectable 11 points for the factory backed outfit.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati) started P11 on the grid and immediately set about trying to carve his way up the order. Doubtless he was motivated on by the ongoing battle for second place in the championship with Dutch rider Michael Van der Mark (Pata Yamaha). Van der Mark eventually finished in P7, taking the bragging rights today and ensuring that this personal battle for honours goes down to the final race tomorrow. Both riders however were royally mugged in the closing stages by Loris Baz (Gulf Althea BMW). The Frenchman had done a remarkable job of preserving his tyres, and blasted past the duo who could offer no reply.
Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) were locked in a thrilling battle for the final place on the podium. Both riders have looked strong throughout the weekend so far, with Laverty firmly putting himself in the proverbial shop window for a potential ride with Red Bull Honda next season. However it was Lowes who emerged the triumphant, forcing his R1 machine past the Aprilia on the final lap, holding on to third place through the final corners. Laverty will at least have the consolation of starting from pole position on tomorrow’s partially reversed grid.
Jake Gagne (Red Bull Honda) secured his best finish of the season so far, with a hard fought ninth place. It has been a tough debut season for the young American, with his place under much scrutiny in recent weeks. A solid return of points today might go some way to securing his future in the class for 2019. Additionally, the result makes up for his teammate Leon Camier who crashed out with 10 laps of the race remaining.
Rounding out the top ten, and being the first independent rider home, was Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki). The Turkish star once again managed to extract the most amount of performance from his ZX-10R machine, fighting with the Hondas and Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) for much of the race.
The curtain falls on the 2018 Superbike World Championship under the floodlights of the Losail Circuit.
So here we are, after twelve rounds and seven months of globe trotting, the FIM Superbike World Championship reaches its final round this weekend at the Losail International Circuit, in Qatar.
It is the final time that the current race format will be used. From 2019 onwards World Superbikes will have three races each weekend, comprised of two ‘regular’ length races and one shorter ‘sprint’. The precise details – such as scheduling and points allocation for the sprint are yet to be confirmed. The general understanding is that the regular length races will remain in their current slots (one each at the end of Saturday and Sunday), whilst the sprint will begin Sunday’s race program.
As ever, all eyes will be on Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea. Having completed another victory double last time out in Argentina, the reigning world champion has his sites set on breaking the outright points record for a single season. It should be worth noting that Rea currently holds the record, having finished the 2017 campaign with a total of 556. To break his own record, Rea will need to score 37 points, which in simplest terms equates to a race win (25pts) and a fourth place finish (13pts).
There is also another record which the Northern Irishman could break this year – the number of race victories in a season. Another double this weekend will see Rea catch and surpass the current record of 17 wins in a season – set by Doug Polen, on a Ducati, way back in 1991. Should he do that, then only the record for number of world championships would remain on his hit-list.
Jonathan Rea is set to break all the records in WorldSBK history.
Across the other side of the KRT garage, and there is a real sense of the end of an era. Tom Sykes will ride for the team for the final time this weekend, bringing down the curtain on an eight-year relationship with the Japanese marque. Whilst this season has been difficult for the Yorkshireman, both rider and team can look back fondly over a period of considerable success, including 34 wins and 47 pole positions. Not to mention that Sykes claimed the first championship crown for the team back in 2013. Both he and the team will be hoping to go out on a high, with one final victory together.
The ‘end of an era’ feeling is magnified further in the Aruba.it Ducati garage. For the Ducati Corse supported team, they say farewell to both Marco Melandri and the V-twin engine Panigale R machine this weekend. Whilst there is an undeniable level of disappointment in the team, that the Panigale has failed to follow in the wheel tracks of its illustrious predecessors (every previous Ducati Superbike model has been ridden at least 1 championship title), it has been tempered by the testing results of the upcoming Panigale V4 machine – which is being introduced for 2019.
Nevertheless, much is on the line this weekend for Ducati’s number one rider, Chaz Davies. The Welshman has battled injury ever since the mid-season break, having broken his collarbone in a crash during training. The highly physical demands of the somewhat volatile Ducati, have ensured the injury has not healed. Despite this considerable setback, Davies is still fighting for second place in the championship. With the Losail circuit traditionally playing to the Panigale’s straight line strength, the Qatar round presents Davies with his best chance of securing a brace of strong results for the first time since back at Imola.
Michael Van der Mark (Pata Yamaha) is also gunning for second place in the championship and, sitting just 16 points behind Davies, knows it is a very realistic possibility. The Dutchman has had an outstanding campaign, and has fully lived up to his pre-season billing as the most exciting prospect of the series. Two race wins and a further eight podium finishes this season, have put the 25-year old in pole position to secure that second place overall.
Will it be Chaz Davies (Left) or Michael Van der Mark (Right) who finishes as ‘Best of the Rest’ this season?
This week also sees the final outing for the Shaun Muir Racing team, in their current guise as Milwaukee Aprilia. After weeks of speculation, the team will switch from running Aprilia machinery, to the newly updated BMW S1000RR. The deal reportedly also includes significant factory support from the German manufacturer. As a result of this, it is all change as far as the riders are concerned. Sykes moves across from KRT, whilst Markus Reiterberger moves up from the – now defunct – European Superstock 1000 class having won the championship aboard a BMW.
The decision to hire two new riders for 2019 leaves the current incumbents (Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori) without a ride for next season. Both riders feel they should be at one of the factory supported teams. This is especially the case for Laverty who has taken two podium finishes and a pole position this season, on his way to scoring 145 points. At time of writing there is just one seat left available with such a team – Red Bull Honda. Expect the pair to throw the kitchen sink and more this weekend, as they desperately try to secure that seat for themselves.
A fourth consecutive WorldSBK double brought Jonathan Rea his fourth consecutive world title two weeks ago in Magny-Cours.
A fortnight on and the paddock is heading to Argentina for the Superbike World Championship’s first visit to South America. A lot has been said about the San Juan track, with its construction times creating a reasonable amount of controversy within the WSBK community. However, upon arrival, the track seems to be in a good condition, with a layout that the riders are generally quite excited about, and (temporary) facilities which would appear to be adequate for the time being.
Despite the championship having been wrapped up by Rea in France, the Northern Irishman will surely be eager to take a fifth successive double this weekend, which would be a historic one in itself thanks to this being the first WSBK visit to Argentina.
Unfortunately, from a neutral perspective, Rea is likely to dominate this weekend in much the same way as he has dominated the last five, and likely the main battle will be over second place.
Chaz Davis 2nd at Magny Cours. Image Courtesy f Ducati Media
Chaz Davies and Michael van der Mark will be the main riders to watch here, as they are also the two main riders fighting for second in the championship standings. Of course, second place might seem irrelevant, and really it is, but there is no doubt that the riders will have a reasonable bonus in their contract for finishing second in the championship.
Furthermore, for van der Mark (and Yamaha), second in the championship would be a fantastic achievement in his second season aboard the M1, and would send him into 2019 in a good shape. Meanwhile, for Davies (and Ducati), to be beaten by the still relatively juvenile R1 would be particularly humbling, especially considering that the team are forced to retire the 1199 Panigale at the end of this season as the first Ducati superbike model to not win a World Championship, with the V4 Panigale coming for next season.
Currently, Davies and van der Mark are separated by 26 points in Davies’ favour, which may seem a lot, but at the same time, we all know that in motorcycle racing, anything can happen.
Thirty-six points further back of van der Mark is Tom Sykes, who is approaching the end of his time with Kawasaki and still in search of a ride for 2019. It looks like he is out of the running for even the top three in the championship, which would make 2018 his worst season – results-wise – since 2011. However, there are still two rounds to go for Sykes to add to his solitary victory of the season so far, and given his decent speed in France, he could have the opportunity this weekend.
A couple of riders who will be hoping for improved fortunes this weekend compared to the previous round are Eugene Laverty and Alex Lowes. The pair of them struggled in France two weeks ago, and Lowes also suffered a lot in Portimao. Thankfully for Lowes, he has a contract sorted for 2019, although that doesn’t even nearly mean that he will be content with his recent performances.
In comparison, Laverty is still yet to secure himself a berth for next season, so strong results are essential at the moment for advertising purposes as much as his own contentment.
The flowing nature of the Argentine circuit should suit both the R1 and the RSV4, so both Lowes and Laverty will be keen to take advantage of that in the two races this weekend.
There are also a few new faces this weekend, with Yonny Hernandez being replaced by Gabriele Ruiu at the Pedercini team. Ruiu will become the second-youngest rider in WorldSBK history this weekend, being 18 years, 5 months and 27 days old. Hernandez was actually the rider who replaced Ruiu in the Pedercini team for this season, after the Italian’s initial contract with the squad was thrown out due to his age (he wouldn’t have been able to race until Donington). If Ruiu scores points this weekend he will be the youngest rider to ever do so.
Florian Marino is also making his WorldSBK debut this weekend for the Triple M Honda team, who have parted ways with PJ Jacobsen. Marino has been riding the Pata Yamaha R1 in the European Superstock 1000 championship for the past two seasons, although this year he didn’t enjoy the factory support he had in 2017. With STK1000 now dead, Marino will be aiming to make a good impression this weekend, to try to grab one of the seats available for 2019.
Finally, 2018 European Superstock 1000 championship contender, Max Scheib, will be making his World Superbike debut this weekend, as well, as the Chilean replaces Jordi Torres, who is out at MV, who let the Spaniard go, allowing him to concentrate on his MotoGP duties, where he is replacing Tito Rabat. Schieb is definitely a spectacular rider, and certainly not concerned about the rear of the bike sliding, although having been riding an Aprilia in the STK1000 championship, he will have some adapting to do in the first sessions this weekend to acclimatise himself with the MV.
The 2018 FIM Superbike World Championship is set to be decided this weekend, whilst history could be made in the junior class, at the beautiful Magny-Cours circuit in France.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) has his first clear cut opportunity to wrap up the Superbike World Championship this weekend. The 31-year old arrives at the French round with an imperious 116-point lead to closest rival Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati). Provided Rea finishes the weekend with a lead of 100 points or more, he will be crowned champion with two rounds of the season to spare.
For Davies, as the only other rider now with any mathematical chance of winning the championship, it simply “win or bust”. The Welshman produced a heroic ride in Race 2 last time out in Portimao – defying the pain caused by a badly broken collarbone, and holding off Rea in a thrilling scrap over the race lead for the first half of the race. Although still not 100% recovered, the fortnight’s break between Portimao and Magny-Cours will have considerably aided Davies’ recovery and fitness.
Chaz Davies (#7) produced one of the rides of the season at Portimao, defying his broken collarbone to hold off Jonathan Rea (#1) for as long as he did.
With the championship now an exclusive affair between Davies and Rea, the remainder of the field are focused solely on the glory of race wins. Alex Lowes and Michael Van der Mark (both Pata-Yamaha) have not shied away from this being their sole objective for the final three rounds of the season. Van der Mark arrives this weekend off the back of another impressive performance, claiming podium finishes in both races in Portugal. Now with 9 podiums to his name this season, the flying Dutchman looks the most likely of the pair to add to his brace of victories this season.
There is also the matter of pride – and indeed team honour – at stake in the battle to secure a top 10 finish in the standings. Five riders – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pucetti Kawasaki), Loris Baz (Gulf-Althea BMW), Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), Jordi Torres (MV Agusta) and Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda) – are all in this fight, and are covered by just 18 points.
Savadori will be desperate to return a brace of strong results this weekend, having crashed out of Race 1 at Portimao when sat in a comfortable podium position. With his place in the Milwaukee team for next year reportedly uncertain at best, he perhaps has the most to gain by ensuring he finishes the season inside the top 10.
World Supersport 300
Ana Carrasco (DS Kawasaki Junior Team) Is on the verge of creating history
Ana Carrasco (DS Junior Team Kawasaki) is on the verge of making history this weekend. Should see clinch the Supersport 300 championship on Sunday, the 21-year old Spaniard will become the first woman to ever win a solo world-level series. With two wins this season, and 90 points to her name, Carrasco arrives at Magny-Cours in pole-position at the top of the standings.
However, Carrasco will be pushed all the way to the chequered flag this weekend, as there are three other riders who can also win the ‘300 crown. Scott Deroue (Motoport Kawasaki), Mika Perez (Kawasaki Parkingo Team) and Luca Grunwald (Freudenberg KTM) are all within striking range of the title.
Deroue is closest to catching Carrasco, with the young Dutchman sitting on 80 points. How fitting it should be that these two should be duking it out for the title – in 2014 they were teammates together in the FIM Moto3 world championship. A difficult campaign for them both saw them seek pastures new. Carrasco remained in Moto3 in 2015 the following year – but racing for a different team, whilst Deroue entered and won the British Motostar championship.
Although we cannot completely discount Perez and Grunwald, it is highly likely that – come Sunday night – it will be either Ana Carrasco or Scott Deroue who is crowned world champion.
World Superbikes roared back into life over the weekend with Round 10 taking place in Portugal. Another brace of victories for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) means he just needs to score 9 points at Magny-Cours to secure his fourth consecutive world title.
However, there were other stories to emerge this weekend other than Rea’s dominance.
Schedule Success
Before the weekend had started, it was announced that WorldSBK would be trialing a new ‘race day’ schedule for the remaining rounds of the season. The objective of which was to boost attendances on the Sunday, which have been alarmingly sparse for the last few seasons.
The general consensus behind this was that spectators are ‘put off’ by the feature race opening proceedings, with the support classes following. In short, the day is effectively over by 1pm with most paying punters tending not to stay for the ‘junior’ categories.
By reversing the schedule, Sunday felt more like a traditional race day, with the Superbike race being the grand finale to the weekend. The success of this change was in clear evidence at Portimao as the attendance was visibly higher than last year. Certainly a step in the right direction to bringing back the crowds.
Word in the paddock is that – following a ‘fan survey’ conducted in partnership with the Motorsport Leadership Group – Dorna will be implementing further changes to the race weekend schedule next season. Details of which will be announced during the winter.
Kept Waiting For History
The phrase “History waits for no man” may well be true – however, it is certainly having to wait for Ana Carrasco. The young Spanish rider is on the verge of becoming the first woman to win a solo motorcycle world championship series.
Carrasco (DS Kawasaki Junior Team) has had a tremendous year in the World Supersport 300 class, featuring two devastating race wins at Imola and Donington Park earlier in the season. The former was secured by a colossal margin of 13 seconds. To put that into perspective for an ‘average’ winning time gap, it is normally around 0.5 seconds as competitors slip-stream each other from lights to flag on their small 40bhp machines.
Although she was unable to secure the championship in Portimao, she heads into the French round (the final round for the ‘300 class) with a ten-point lead at the top of the standings. Provided she can finish on the podium, Carrasco will become the world champion – regardless of where her rivals finish.
Ana Carrasco (DS Kawasaki Junior Team) Is on the verge of creating history
Tom Sykes – Where To Next?
Whilst Rea was busy taking the 65th and 66th victories of his superbike career, it was another difficult weekend for his teammate Tom Sykes. The 2013 world champion secured a brace of 5th place finishes. Were it in any other team, this would go down as a very solid weekend. The Yorkshireman cut a gloomy figure this weekend. Despite best pretenses from rider and team, all is not well at his side of the garage.
If ‘silly season’ rumours have any substance to them then it appears likely that Red Bull Honda are making advances for him in 2019. He would almost certainly be partnered alongside Leon Camier, and would no doubt increase Honda’s chances of returning to winning ways next season.
Alternatively, speaking in an interview to Eurosport UK prior to Sunday’s race, Milwaukee Aprilia team principal Shaun Muir openly admitted to be interested in signing Sykes for next year.
Two things are certain: Sykes is still a quality rider, and does have options to remain in WorldSBK for 2019. A change of team could be just what he needs to bring the best out of him again.
All Change For Milwaukee
Finally, as alluded to above, Shaun Muir is openly looking at bringing at least one new rider into his team for next season. However, being the shrewd competitor and businessman that he is, the Milwaukee outfit seem set to change manufacturers for 2019.
Currently running factory supported Aprilia machinery, it the team are discussing options with them, BMW and Suzuki.
From a British fan’s perspective, a potential deal with Suzuki could open the door for Bradley Ray to make his move into world level racing. The 21-year old (currently wowing spectators and TV viewers in British Superbikes) has made no secret of his desire to move up and compete in world championships. With all his BSB experience on Suzuki machinery, it would be a straight forward move for both Mailwaukee and Ray to make.
However, it seems that BMW are in fact the most likely option which Muir will take up. With the S1000RR model being significantly upgraded by the German manufacturer for 2019, the promise of being the most competitive machinery of the three is likely to be the deal maker.
Jonathan Rea stretched his winning streak to six straight races this afternoon at the Autodromo Algarve – also securing his sixth straight victory at the circuit (a run which began back in 2015).
Due to the partial grid reversal system implemented for Sunday’s race, Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) started in ninth place. Such is his extraordinary ability, combined with the strong ZX-10R, he made light work of most of his rivals climbing up to fourth by the end of the opening lap. Unlike yesterday, Rea was made to work for his lead, and was not able to storm clear into the distance even when he had just clear tarmac in front of him. Today was about providing a timely reminder to the (very few) critics he has left, that his racecraft is as razor sharp as ever.
In the closing stages, as his rivals threatened to close him down, Rea managed to raise his own tempo, demonstrating to the others that he still had plenty of rubber left on his tyres should they want to push the limits with him. They were not. The art of subtly controlling a race is yet another area of strength for Rea. No matter what his rivals tried, Rea always had an answer good enough to beat them off. A sixth straight win secured, and the championship lead has now grown to 116 points.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati) produced another heroic display this afternoon. Starting from pole position, the Welshman once more defied the pain barrier for as long as he could, dueling with Rea throughout the first half of the race for contention of the lead. When fully fit, Davies is the only man who can consistently challenge the triple world champion at the front of a race.
Even when nursing a badly broken collarbone like today, Davies was more than a handful. Wringing the neck of the volatile Panigale-R around the 20 laps of the roller coaster that is the Portimao track. Eventually though not even he could defy his injuries and, having eventually been passed by Rea, dropped back to a more manageable pace. Davies ended up finishing in P4, just ahead of the other KRT machine ridden by Tom Sykes.
Whilst a podium place was ultimately a step too far for Davies, it was not so for his teammate Marco Melandri. With his future in WorldSBK up in the air, the veteran Italian needed a strong showing this weekend. That is precisely what we got. Third place today means that Melandri has now featured on the podium three races on the bounce – equalled only by Rea. Although never really in contention to challenge for victory in either race, the points accumulated this weekend has seen Melandri close down Sykes in the rider standings to just 11 points.
Michael Van der Mark (Pata Yamaha) produced one of the overtakes of the season to secure his second place finish today, disposing of both Davies and Melandri simultaneously at turn one on lap 14. Since taken his maiden victory in the class – back at Donington in May – the Dutchman has gradually begun establishing himself as the number one rider within the team. Today marked the ninth time this season that the 25-year old had finished on the rostrum.
In contrast, it was a very difficult weekend for Alex Lowes on the other Pata Yamaha machine. As with Saturday’s race, the British rider found himself caught up in the mid-field carnage on the first lap, and found himself bogged, scrapping for minor points places. Lowes finished down in P11 – some 20 seconds behind the front runners, and just fending off American rookie Jake Gagne (Red Bull Honda).
After the calamity of race one, today’s outing was far more straightforward for Milwaukee Aprilia. Having fallen off when a podium finish had beckoned, Lorenzo Savadori produced a solid ride to finish in P6, out-dragging his teammate Eugene Laverty to the line on the final lap. For Laverty, P7 draws a line under this weekend where lady luck so cruelly turned away from him.
Just behind the Aprilia riders came Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati Junior Team) and Loris Baz (Gulf Althea BMW) in P8 and P9 respectively. The latter has enjoyed a good weekend on the privately run S1000RR machine, finishing both races inside the top 10.
The 2018 FIM World Superbike Championship resumes with the French Round at Magny-Cours, September 28-30.
After a 10-week long summer hiatus, the 2018 FIM Superbike World Championship finally resumed hostilities today, at the Autodromo Algarve, in Portugal.
Jonathan Rea made the holeshot after Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Ducati) ran wide at the first corner. He had company from the Italian for the early laps, but it wasn’t to last. Once he’d settled into his rhythm, Rea did what comes most naturally to him – set a series of blisteringly fast lap times and clear off. The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” could not be more apt to describe this strategy.
Such a plan requires a very good motorcycle (which the Kawasaki ZX10R undoubtedly is) and a rider capable of pushing it to the limit, and making zero errors. Rea is a master at balancing the relentless lap speed with astonishing consistency, and today was the most complete example of this. Once Melandri had been cleared, a fifth straight win around the Portimao circuit for Rea was a formality. It was also his fifth victory in a row this season, extending his championship lead out to a staggering 104 points.
Behind, Melandri was consigned to second place from early on in the race. However, this is not to say his race was uneventful. In truth, it was anything but. The battle for the podium was fierce, and an exclusively all Italian affair as the Ducati man faced his challenge from Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia). The pair diced back and forth throughout the first half of the race until, on lap 11, Savadori lunged up the inside into turn 1 but lost the front end under braking.
Savadori’s crash ended a cruel afternoon for the team. Eugene Laverty who earlier in the day has secured his first pole position start for the first time since 2013. One can only wonder if he may have been able to have offered a challenge to Rea, as he was punted out of the race by Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati) at turn 2 on the opening lap. It was a worrying moment for the team – the Irishman has already suffered serious injuries following an enormous crash earlier this season at Buriram. Fortunately, he walked away safely today. The team will be praying for better fortune tomorrow.
It was a mixed race for Pata Yamaha. Michael Van der Mark brought home yet another podium finish (P3) today. The young Dutchman had looked solid throughout the three practice sessions on Friday, and showed good single-lap pace with a starting position of P5 on the grid. Race pace today proved to be equally consistent. When Savadori unceremoniously dumped his Aprilia in the gravel, the Yamaha rider inherited third place. Another rostrum finish in this thoroughly impressive campaign which the 25 year-old is having.
In contrast Alex Lowes spent the entirety of today’s race in damage limitation mode. Following an unfortunate crash in the dying moments of qualifying, he had to make do with a grid start of P12. Things got worse when he became caught up in the first lap shenanigans and found himself pushed down to the back of the pack. Lowes eventually climbed his way back into P10, securing a handful of points.
With the podium places secured, attention in the closing stages of the race was focused on a fantastic scrap between Jordi Torres (MV Agusta) and Loris Baz (Gulf Athea BMW) over sixth place. Buoyed by the announcement on Friday night that he will be making his MotoGP debut next weekend at the Aragon Grand Prix, Torres did what he could on his out-dated MV-F4 machine to hold his position. Inevitably though, the superiority of the BMW S1000RR could not be denied, with Baz forcing his way through at the hairpin of turn 5.
Despite visibly struggling all weekend with his collarbone injury, Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati) made a super start to the race, making up eight places on the opening lap. The first half of the race was spent keeping Van der Mark within sight, but inevitably fatigue took its toll on the Welshman, and he was forced to drop to a more manageable pace. Nevertheless he still had enough in hand to keep Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) at bay, securing P4 today and ensuring he starts tomorrow’s race from pole position.
After a ten-week summer hiatus, the 2018 FIM Superbike World Championship finally resumes this weekend in Portugal, at the spectacular Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.
It will be the twelfth time that the series has visited Portugal. the first two editions were run at the Estoril circuit in 1988 and 1993 respectively. Following a 15 year hiatus, the world championship returned to Portugal in 2008, but the event has been exclusively held at the modern 2.9 mile (4.7km) Algarve circuit.
The circuit was designed and commissioned with the intention of bringing Formula One and MotoGP to the region. F1 teams tested here in the winters prior to the 2009 and 2010 seasons – and plans were in place for an F1 race in 2012 – but financial difficulties scuppered this. Similarly, the circuit was set to take over the running of the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix from 2013, but plans were abandoned for the same reasons.
To date, World Superbikes has been the only FIM Grade 1 listed event to be held at the circuit.
This weekend sees a slight revision to Sunday’s race schedule, with the second Superbike race moved from its usual 12pm slot to 3.15pm. This makes the headline event the last race of the weekend and it is hoped – by series organiser Dorna – to increase the race day attendance.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) arrives at the Portimao circuit with a commanding lead in the standings, he sits 92 points clear of his nearest challenger, Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati). It can be argued that the reigning world champion regards this place as a ‘home-from-home’, having secured victory in all of the last four races that have been staged here. Rea comes into this weekend seeking to equal his 5-race winning streak (achieved last season winning the double in Australia and Thailand, and winning the opening race at Aragon). With such a large lead in the championship, and with such a strong record in Portimao, it is hard to imagine Rea not at least equaling this feat.
Davies will be out to do all he can to prevent his rival’s championship charge. The Welshman is realistically the only other rider who harbours any title-winning hopes for this season. Both he and the Aruba.it Ducati team will be under no illusions about the scale of the task at hand – made even harder with Davies’ collarbone injury sustained in a training accident last month. The Italian outfit has known success around the Portimao circuit, having taken victory four times between 2008 and 2011. Caution must be thrown to the wind as, realistically, Davies needs to win every race between now and the season’s end.
As has been the case for the past three seasons – Chaz Davies (left) is the only rider who can challenge Jonathan Rea (right) for the title.
As this season has proved though, the battle for the front is no longer an exclusive Kawasaki-Ducati affair. The Pata Yamaha team have well and truly closed the gap, and have been an almost guaranteed presence on the rostrums throughout the season. With the circuit abundant in high and medium speed corners – which greatly favours the Yamaha R1 – both Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark will be expecting a strong weekend. Following the official summer test here, Lowes spoke confidently about the team’s progress, stating that “the target is for us (Yamaha) to win another race this season”. Van der Mark concurred with this, announcing to the media that he “will go all out to beat him (Chaz Davies) to second place in the championship”.
The Algarve-Portimao circuit has also been a happy hunting ground over the years for the factory supported Milwaukee-Aprilia team, in particular for their rider Eugene Laverty. As with Ducati, the Noale-based factory outfit have taken four wins at the Portuguese round, with the Irishman claiming their most recent victory back in 2013. In total, the team have an additional ten podium trophies (though none since 2015). With both riders, Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori fighting fit, expectations are high within the team for a good weekend.
Finally, the Red Bull Honda team will be hoping for continued improvements this weekend. The first half of the 2018 season was one trial after another, an inexperienced rookie (Jake Gagne) can only be expected to do so much, whilst main man Leon Camier has had his campaign dogged by injury. The most significant of these troubles included a fracture of his C5 vertebrae whilst testing for the Suzuka 8 hours. However, with Camier now declared fully fit, this weekend will hopefully see the team resume their development program, in preparation for a championship challenge in 2019.
Fourth place in race one gave Michael van der Mark pole position for World Superbike’s second race of the weekend in Misano, and with the pace he displayed in Saturday’s race one the Dutchman had a prime opportunity to take his third World Superbike win.
But it was Xavi Fores, from third on the grid, who made the holeshot, and took the early lead in race two, and in the early stages he led well, until his Barni Racing Ducati expired on the second lap of the race. It was a tough blow for Fores, who returned to the front in Rimini after a few difficult races since Donington, and a podium – which was on the cards, it would have been the perfect way for the Spaniard to go into the eternal summer break.
The retirement of Fores let Van der Mark into the lead, a position which he relished. Battling behind between Jonathan Rea, Tom Sykes, Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies – especially between Rea and Melandri when the Northern Irishman was trying to take second place from the Italian – allowed the Donington double winner to create an advantage, and before too long the #60 Pata Yamaha was over one second up the street.
It was about at this point that Rea finally dispatched Melandri and with nine laps to go set on after the 2014 World Supersport Champion. It took the reigning champion all of about three laps to catch Van der Mark, but unlike the other seven riders he had fought past in the race to this point, Magic Michael put up a defence strong enough to keep Rea behind. Rea had been making moves in turn three, turn six and turn fourteen almost with ease to this point in the race, but Van der Mark rode superbly to keep him at bay for a number of laps.
The battling at the front allowed Marco Melandri to catch the two leaders, at which point Rea dealt with Van der Mark. Melandri then had the opportunity to take second place from Van der Mark and challenge Rea for the win, but was unable to set something up. It was a tense ending to the race, but with each of the three riders in the front group having just enough to keep them out of range of the rider behind, it was a stalemate from the beginning of lap nineteen to the flag; Jonathan Rea leading over the line from Michael van der Mark and Marco Melandri.
WSBK 2018 Misano race 2 Podium. Image courtesy of Ducati
Rea’s victory was an important one, as it was his third double in the last five rounds and took him 92 points clear at the top of the championship – out of range. It’s difficult to find words for Jonathan Rea anymore. He controlled the first race of the weekend from lights to flag, and then made a perfect start in the second race which was followed by some tough battling and sublime overtaking. Once again, he showed his knowledge of the Pirelli tyres and how to get the maximum out of them, hauling the bike up on the exit of every corner like no other to minimise spin without too much electronic intervention. This has been a common trait of Rea’s riding since he arrived at Kawasaki in 2015 and realised that, whilst the overall package of the ZX10-R was an improvement over his previous machine, he wouldn’t be able to run the corner speed of the Honda with the Kawasaki. Instead, Rea changed his style to break hard and late, trail braking deeper into the corner than any other rider – somehow without ever losing the front – and then using the power of the Kawasaki to fire him out of the corner. This style has only been exaggerated this year with the rev limits which have been placed on the Kawasaki limiting both its top speed and, more importantly, its acceleration. These limitations which have been placed on the Kawasaki this year have basically made it essential for their riders to make all their lap time on the brakes, and this is where the difference is between Rea and teammate Tom Sykes, because Rea is more confident braking late and on angle than Sykes, and even when the reigning champion gets out of shape in the braking zone, he can still make the apex. This is in part because Rea has tremendous front feel, but also because the bike is quite clearly set up in a way to suit this style perfectly. Rea’s advantage in this area has been visible all season, especially on Sunday in the second Misano race, and for the most part it is why he is able to win so many races.
Michael van der Mark’s second place was an important one after a tough Laguna Seca round, and being hampered by a poor Superpole for the first race. It could have been a win had it not been for the mastery of Rea, but then, without Rea, the championship fight would actually be, well, a fight. Either way, Van der Mark rode beautifully and in the laps where he was being challenged by Rea his replies were superb, his answers to Rea’s probes were ones which no other rider could imitate. He adapted his lines to match Rea’s attacks, and whilst he was overcome in the end, his performance was perhaps the best of any pilot in the field in this race.
Marco Melandri at Misano. Image courtesy of Ducati
Third place for Marco Melandri was partly disappointing, but also very positive for the Italian. Firstly, it was disappointing for Melandri because he could have won. This was not only because he was there in the front trio, but also because he suffered a lot on Friday, and losing both FP3 and FP4 was critical for his weekend, as it cost him time to adapt for the new front tyre which Pirelli took to Misano, and was the popular choice amongst the riders for both races. The first race turned into a test for Marco, trying to work out what he needed to make the new tyre work, and the warm up was in the same vein. In the end, it worked for Melandri, as he was able to fight for the win, but the point is that had he not lost the third and fourth sessions of the weekend he may well have been able to challenge harder for the win. But, this is racing. Unfortunately for Melandri, he has to hold onto the positivity of the progress made between Saturday and Sunday in Misano for 9 weeks before World Superbike returns in September at Portimao.
Chaz Davies ended the race over two seconds off the win, which will be a disappointment after he made such a positive start, making moves on many riders and looking like he had the pace. However, the longer the race went on, the longer it became clear that Davies would be without a second trophy from Misano. Being 92 points back in the championship, it’s pretty much rostrum or hospital now for Davies, not because he can still win the title if he does that but because no one goes racing to not come home with a cup.
It was a second fifth place of the weekend for Tom Sykes. After the Kawasaki garage exploded in Brno, and the scything words from Sykes aimed towards both Rea and his crew chief, it was to be expected that the 2013 World Champion might have put up a bit of a fight against Jonathan Rea, but that never came. It looks like Sykes has lost a bit of motivation, and to me it seems like the best thing that can happen for Tom right now is for him to get this season over with, get out of Kawasaki, to a new manufacturer where he feels more comfortable and then perhaps we can see him back at his unbeatable best.
Sixth place went to Alex Lowes, who was looking for pretty much anything after two crashes in the first race. Finishing six seconds off his teammate won’t have pleased him too much, but coming from twelfth was always going to be difficult, as he noted himself both before and after the race. Now Lowes goes to Japan, and the Suzuka 8 Hour along with his Pata Yamaha teammate, Michael van der Mark and many other World Superbike riders, as well as about half the British Superbike grid, to try to win for the fourth successive time in the biggest single race of the year.
Lorenzo Savadori took seventh place, beating teammate and Saturday’s third place man, Eugene Laverty, over the line. Laverty put his downturn in both pace and result between Saturday and Sunday down to the rear tyre, which he claimed had no grip in the second race. It has been the target of Aprilia and SMR all season to give Laverty a bike which has some rear grip. They finally arrived at that point in Laguna, and continued that in Misano, at least until the end of the first race, and the podiums that arrived when they found him some rear grip served as proof that Laverty is still a top runner when he has what he wants, so to lose that on Sunday to what seems like a tyre problem was a big shame for Laverty. But Portimao is next for the Northern Irishman, and his target there is to win – he has nine weeks to think about how to do that.
Ninth place went to Loris Baz, and he finished ahead of Leon Camier who rounded out the top ten. Camier is another of the riders heading out to Suzuka. Leon is riding the first full factory HRC Honda there has been in a long time, as they look to end Yamaha’s winning streak at Honda’s home circuit.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi at Misanso 2018. Image courtesy of Ducati
Michael Ruben Rinaldi showed a big improvement in race two compared to the rest of the weekend, but could still only manage eleventh place, whilst the injured Toprak Razgatlioglu was twelfth. Nicolo Canepa scored thirteenth in his third wildcard race of the season, as he beat Jake Gagne home, whilst Roman Ramos rounded out the points.
Yonny Hernandez was sixteenth, and Leandro Mercado re-mounted his Orelac Racing Kawasaki after a crash early on to be the last of the seventeen finishers.
Jordi Torres retired at the end of lap one when his MV expired, and half a lap later Fores’ Panigale blew. Karel Hanika’s replacement, Alessandro Andreozzi, retired with six laps to go and PJ Jacobsen went out with two to go.
Now the Superbike World Championship heads for its nine-week-long summer break, after which it heads to the Autodromo do Algarve in Portimao.
It was Tom Sykes who qualified on pole position, his seventh consecutive Misano pole position, for the Rimini Riviera round of the 2018 Superbike World Championship. However, it was Jonathan Rea who, believe it or not, looked fastest on the race pace. Sykes had to make a start to try to hold Rea in the early stages of the race to try to keep the Northern Irishman in reach, but the reigning champion got a great jump from the middle of the front row, and got to turn one first.
From there, Rea edged out his lead and, whilst there was a reasonable amount of battling behind, none of it was any trouble for Rea, who did not see another rider’s front tyre for the whole race. It was vintage Jonathan Rea, and a perfect illustration of a few things, notably what can happen when bike and rider are working perfectly in unison, that the combination of Rea and ZX10-RR is the best one on the grid, and also that Jonathan Rea is the best rider of the current crop. Of course, many times in the last three years, these things have been displayed by Rea and Kawasaki, but this one was particularly worrying for everyone else thanks to Rea’s admission that, in reality, he was nowhere near the limit.
Chaz Davis at Misano 2018. Image courtesy Ducati media
Closer to his limit was Chaz Davies. He only qualified seventh and, throughout the weekend, had been struggling with pace on the fresh tyres. However, he made a brilliant start, almost passing Eugene Laverty for third into turn two, but going round the outside in the middle of the Variante del Parco was never going to work for the Ducati rider, so it was fourth place after lap one for Chaz. However, after five or six laps, when Tom Sykes started to struggle, he was passed by Laverty and once this happened, Davies was right on the rear wheel of the number 66. It didn’t take much longer for Davies to pass Sykes, taking third place away from the Kawasaki rider in turn eight with a beautiful, sideways-on move. He then struggled to catch Laverty, but with a drop in pace and ultimately a mistake from the Northern Irishman at the final corner, Davies was through. From there, it was a fairly comfortable five or so laps for the Welshman, and second place it was in the end at the second home round for Ducati. A win would be the goal for Chaz and Ducati, but with the searing pace of Rea, even when he isn’t pushing, the struggles of Ducati and with both of them coming from row three. After the 1st race it is hard to imagine that the Fratelli d’Italia will be aired on the 2nd race’s podium.
Despite a broken sensor, which caused the drop in pace and the mistake which let Davies through, Eugene Laverty managed to bring the Aprilia home for a second consecutive podium finish. It was another brilliant ride from Laverty, and at a circuit which he was concerned about ahead of the weekend due to the number of heavy braking zones and the difficulty in getting the RSV4 stopped. However, his fears were clearly unnecessary, as his pace was good enough for second. Thus, he will be disappointed with third, but a podium seemed a long way away a few weeks ago and all of a sudden he has two in two races. Coming from row three will be a tough task for Eugene in Race two, especially considering who is on pole, but his pace means you cannot rule him out of yet another podium fight.
The rider on pole position in race 2 is Michael van der Mark, who made a brilliant recovery from a difficult Friday and a difficult SP2 session, in which he qualified P11 only, to finish fourth. He nearly had a podium, but he just needed a little bit more time to catch Laverty. But, anyway, Magic Michael, from pole position in Race Two, has a great opportunity to take a podium, or maybe even a victory.
Tom Sykes could only manage fifth place from pole position in Race One. After five laps his pace dropped and, although he could keep pace with Davies for a couple of laps after the Welshman passed him, he was unable to stay there for long, and once Van der Mark was in range, Sykes had nothing left to fight with. It seems the situation inside Kawasaki is having a very negative effect on Sykes.
Sixth place went to Xavi Fores who has had a good weekend in Misano. The Spaniard, riding for the Italian Barni Racing Team, was sporting a special Tricolore livery and with it he beat the factory Panigale of Marco Melandri, who was seventh, and a disappointing seventh at that. However, Melandri did put a stunning move on Lorenzo Savadori between turns twelve and thirteen for that seventh place, although it was a shame that the move was for P7, and not, say, the lead. That left Savadori in eighth place, having shot his tyre by the end, and just ahead of Leon Camier in ninth place. Leandro Mercado rounded out the top ten.
PJ Jacobsen. Image courtesy of Honda ProRacing
Toprak Razgatlioglu was eleventh place – impressive considering his discomfort – ahead of Nicolo Canepa the Yamaha wildcard; Roman Ramos, Jake Gagne who raced much better than he qualified, Alessandro Andreozzi, PJ Jacobsen, Michael Ruben Rinaldi who had many problems during Race One and ended up pitting and re-joining the race three laps down; and finally Jordi Torres who was four laps down after a crash and a trip to the pits.
Loris Baz, Yonny Hernandez and Alex Lowes (with two crashes) were the only retirements.
