Dramatic win for Rea
A 48,500 strong crowd saw some astounding race action at Donington in two sun-blessed 23-lap races, which culminated in a moment of history for one of the world’s most important motorcycle manufacturers, some of the best SBK racing ever seen and changes near the top of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship table.
After Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) won the first race, the German manufacturer added its name to the list of race-winning makes for the very first time. In race two a classic multi-rider battle ended up in joy and heartbreak for some top riders, as Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) came out on top after a final corner melee.
The end result of one of the best days of racing imaginable is that Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) leads the championship with 128.5 points, from double podium man Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) on 123, and Rea on 108. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) is fourth on 105.5. The top four championship places are now covered by only 23 points, after five rounds and nine individual races.
Race 1
A truly historic 1-2 for BMW saw Melandri win the opening race with his team-mate Leon Haslam only 0.728 seconds behind. An eventual five rider fight for the podium places provided overtaking and personal duels aplenty as the race order changed multiple times. Tissot-Superpole winner Sykes won a tense battle to go third, with Rea making up places in the final laps to overhaul Biaggi and take fourth. The leading five were covered by only 2.102 seconds at the end of the race. Checa was sixth, four seconds from the win, making it five different manufacturers in the top six at the flag. Melandri’s win also means that six different riders have now won races this year, representing five different manufacturers – and all with nine rounds and 18 races left to go.
Marco Melandri: “It means a lot to me to win this for such a good factory like BMW, it’s history and something I could not dream about when I was young. I just want to say thanks to BMW in Germany, the team on track and everybody involved in the project. We have been working so hard and we never give up even when we found some difficulties. We are working still right now to stay at the top and I am so happy to be here. I had good race pace yesterday and today the tyres have been working very good until the end. We managed the situation well but at the beginning I was not so fast, but fortunately Tom and Leon were fighting a lot so they lost a bit of time and we could catch them again. We are so happy for this win.”
Leon Haslam: “I found myself on the wrong side of Marco, on the right side of him into the Esses and I nearly went into the back off him so I had to let off the brakes and I am disappointed because I did feel quite good up to that point. Fair play to Marco and we got a BMW 1-2 which is fantastic. Hopefully we can make amends in the next one and not make that mistake. I want to dedicate this result to the late Robert Fearnall, who was a big, big friend of the family and Donington.”
Tom Sykes: “A fantastic race, I really enjoyed it and it certainly felt like a long, seemed to go on for many laps. Overall I think we had a very good show, lots of passing, and a little bit too much at some corners, especially at the Foggy Esses, which seemed to claim a few victims. Overall I am very happy to be on the podium and collecting some good solid points again with the Ninja ZX-10R. Unfortunately we seemed to struggle at one particular part of the track and that definitely affected our race performance, but hopefully we can improve on that very small sector and go better in race two. As for now a podium is good enough.”
Results: 1. Melandri M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 34’26.736; 2. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 0.728; 3. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1.609; 4. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1.819; 5. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2.102; 6. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 4.820; 7. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 7.520; 8. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 7.927; 9. Camier L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 15.144; 10. Fabrizio M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 16.065; 11. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 19.805; 12. Davies C. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 20.170; 13. Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 21.274; 14. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 21.517; 15. Laverty E. (IRL) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 26.920; 16. Baz L. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35.025; etc.
Race 2
Rea took his second win of the season after an incident-strewn Race 2 at Donington. On the first corner Checa and Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) touched and Checa went down, taking out Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert Ducati) and Checa’s team-mate Davide Giugliano. Then Laverty himself crashed heading down Craner Curves as eventual third place man Sykes led for most of race distance. He was finally overhauled by a warring faction which included eventual second place man Biaggi plus Haslam and Melandri. After a multitude of overtakes and riders running off track on occasion, Haslam looked to have it won until both he and Melandri ran wide as the Italian attempted a pass into the very last corner and Rea pushed inside as a gap opened up. He and Haslam collided and Haslam fell, knocking off Melandri with his stricken bike as he slid across the track. Rea held on to win by just over half a second from Biaggi, with Sykes two second back in third place. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) was an impressive fourth.
Jonathan Rea: “In the last corner there were five guys out there wanting to win a race, most of all Melandri came from a long way back on Leon to create a gap that I went for, me and Leon touched and I’m really sorry that he crashed. But more importantly we’ve won, taken 25 points and I’ve given my team a great reward for giving me a great bike this weekend.”
Max Biaggi: “In race 2 the bike was a little better, I could keep up and race with the guys more than before. When the tyre went off I was struggling and then the last lap was simple, everyone tried to go inside and take my position: Melandri, Jonathan, everybody! I didn’t give up, stayed cool and second place came automatically. I cannot say I’m very happy but the result is OK.”
Tom Sykes: “Yet again we got the holeshot and led for a number of laps, but I was missing a bit of feeling with the wind, which was unfortunate. I managed to stay out front but made one mistake and all the other guys came past at a rate of knots. We didn’t quite have the best setting this weekend but a pole position and two podiums is great for myself and the Kawasaki team. I had the best seat in the house for the last couple of laps, but for me five minus two equals a podium so I’m very happy!”
Results: 1. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 34’31.847; 2. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 0.508; 3. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2.029; 4. Camier L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 4.245; 5. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 6.595; 6. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 17.469; 7. Davies C. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 17.788; 8. Baz L. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 21.093; 9. Hickman P. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 21.866; 10. Aoyama H. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 22.620; 11. Canepa N. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 26.764; 12. Zanetti L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 27.043; 13. Fabrizio M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 28.390; 14. Aitchison M. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 56.618; 15. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1’20.196; etc.
Points (after 5 of 14 rounds): 1. Biaggi 128.5; 2. Sykes 123.5; 3. Rea 108; 4. Checa 105.5; 5. Melandri 97.5; 6. Haslam 89; 7. Guintoli 85; 8. Laverty 65; 9. Giugliano 50; 10. Smrz 44.5; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 161.5; 2. Aprilia 139; 3. BMW 131; 4. Kawasaki 129.5; 5. Honda 112; 6. Suzuki 40.5.
World Supersport
In winning his first ever WSS race British rider Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) became the fifth different winner in five races this season and the third in a row on a Honda machine. Having struggled on with a stomach bug of some kind since Friday, and suffering a serious finger injury in a fall on Saturday, Lowes had to work hard to resist a late push from eventual second place finisher, Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini). Lowes came within 0.003 seconds of setting a new lap record in his efforts to keep the Turkish rider behind him on the penultimate lap, and is now only six points from Sofuoglu in the championship. Third place today was taken by third ranked rider overall, Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda). Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) was in the early fight for the podium places but dropped back to fourth, while Glen Richards (Smiths Gloucester Triumph) finished fifth today and Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini) sixth.
Results: 1. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 33’43.603; 2. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Kawasaki ZX-6R 0.678; 3. Cluzel J. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 3.987; 4. Parkes B. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 8.088; 5. Richards G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 11.786; 6. Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 20.849; 7. Quarmby R. (RSA) Honda CBR600RR 23.795; 8. Debise V. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 24.094; etc.
Points (after 5 of 13 rounds): 1. Sofuoglu 81; 2. Lowes 76; 3. Cluzel 64; 4. Foret 55; 5. Parkes 42; 6. Baldolini 38; 7. Quarmby 34; 8. Morais 27; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Honda 111; 2. Kawasaki 106; 3. Triumph 51; 4. Yamaha 43; 5. Suzuki 6.
Official Tyre Supplier
“This weekend on English soil provided truly great and heated races for both Superbike and Supersport. The work done during the tests at Imola proved to be very important: in Superbike the R302 solution for the rear, developed from this year’s standard SC1, designed to work at lower temperatures and to prevent cold tearing, was quite popular with pretty much all the riders. In Supersport as well, the R303, also a development of the SC1, was chosen by various riders. For this reason, given the excellent feedback received, we will definitely see these two solutions again in some of the future championship races. The Superbike Championship competition is very tight every year, and this year is no exception: in race two six different manufacturers crossed the finish line in the top six places, which shows just how much Pirelli’s work contributes to placing all the teams in optimum conditions to be able to realistically aspire to the world title. In addition to congratulations to Marco Melandri and Jonathan Rea, respectively the winners of race 1 and race 2, my compliments go to Max Biaggi who had the best lap in both races as well as Sam Lowes, current ranking leader of the Pirelli Supersport best lap awards” – Giorgio Barbier, Racing Director, Pirelli Moto
Pirelli BEST LAP Awards:
SBK Race 1 – Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) 1’28.992 (Lap 6)
SBK Race 2 – Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) 1’28.995 (Lap 4)
Total BEST LAP (SBK): Checa C. (Althea Racing) 3, Biaggi M. (Aprilia Racing Team) 3, Sykes T. (Kawasaki Racing Team) 2, Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) 1
WSS – Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) 1’31.097 (Lap 21)
Total BEST LAP (WSS): Lowes S. (Bogdanka PTR Honda) 2, Foret F. (Kawasaki Intermoto Step) 1, Parkes B. (Ten Kate Racing Products) 1, Lanzi L. (Prorace) 1.
World Supersport Championship race (22 laps)
1 Sam Lowes (Honda)
2 Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki)
3 Jules Cluzel (Honda)
4 Broc Parkes (Honda)
5 Glen Richards (Smiths (Gloucester) Racing Triumph)
Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship race 1 (12 laps)
1 Alex Olsen (Triumph)
2 Ben Burke (Yamaha)
3 Jake Dixon (Yamaha)
4 Lee Jackson (Kawasaki)
5 James Rose (Yamaha)
6 Bjorn Estment (Yamaha)
Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship race 2 (12 laps)
1 Alex Olsen (Triumph)
2 Ben Burke (Yamaha)
3 James Rose (Yamaha)
4 Lee Jackson (Kawasaki)
5 Johnny Blackshaw (Smiths (Gloucester) Racing Triumph)
6 Tom Fisher (Kawasaki)
Championship standings (after five rounds)
1 Dixon 70pts
= Olsen 70
3 Rose 67
4 Burke 61
5 Whitaker 55
6 Jackson 43
source: infrontsports.com, worldsbk.com
Medcalf And Russo Impress At Donington
The AP Kawasaki team were back in action at the weekend at Donington Park for rounds four and five of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000cc Championship races and it proved to be a successful weekend with both Patrick Medcalf and Freddie Russo scoring strong top ten finishes.
For Australian rider Medcalf it was his best meeting of the year so far and after qualifying in 14th, he made a great start in race one to immediately move into the top ten. Overtaking riders one by one, he was up to a superb seventh place by lap seven and here he remained for nine well earned championship points. It was a similar story in the second race and he was able to claim his second successive top ten finish in 10th to pick up a total of 15 points for the weekend.
Brentwood’s Russo also had a strong weekend and was able to run inside the top 12 in both qualifying and the races. A great start in race one saw him move up to ninth although he slipped back to 12th, the legacy of the same arm pump problem that had affected him at Oulton Park the previous weekend. However, he fought his way back up to 10th at the chequered flag and in the second encounter, he was right behind Medcalf for much of the race and crossed the line just behind his team-mate in 11th. His results also move him up to 11th overall in the title table.
Meanwhile, third member of the team Josh Wainwright was unable to compete in the Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship races due to the injuries sustained at the previous round at Oulton Park. The Thamesmead rider hopes to be back in time for the meeting at Snetterton at the end of the month.
Freddie Russo: “It’s been a good weekend for me and right from the beginning of the season my aim was to finish consistently in the top ten so to achieve that in race one and be very close in race two is very pleasing. I had a bit of arm pump again this weekend but managed to get a bit of treatment from a good physio called Richard Sangwin and it certainly helped. Donington requires a lot of heavy braking in the final third of the circuit so I was a bit slow there and then found I was being held up through the sections where I was quick but, overall, I’m happy with how the two races went. We’re going in the right direction and I was also pleased to see Pat go so well, he was the only rider I was happy to overtake me!”
Patrick Medcalf: “I’m really happy with how this weekend has gone and with some good weather, I’ve been competitive throughout the three days. Donington’s a bit easier to learn than some of the other UK tracks which have a lot of blind corners but I’ve also got the bike working how I want it to so we’ve been able to make some good progress. There was a fair bit of carnage in front of me in the first race and it took me a few laps to get into a good rhythm but once I did I was really pleased with both my riding and the lap times. The second race was a lot tougher and I got carved up pretty badly at the first corner and by the time I’d worked my way back inside the top ten, the front group had gapped me a bit. Overall though, I’ve had two really good races so a big thanks to the team for all their efforts.”
Alan Greig: “It’s been a great weekend for us and I’m really pleased with the efforts of both riders throughout the weekend. They qualified well and raced well so to come away with three top ten finishes out of four is pretty good going. The pleasing aspect is that we’ve improved at each and every round and are moving forward all the time. It’s easy to forget that it’s Freddie’s first year on a 1000cc machine and Patrick’s first year in the UK but they’re bringing the best out of each other and are coming on in leaps and bounds. Their confidence is improving meeting by meeting and the team’s morale is at a real high. We’re really looking forward to Snetterton now and we’ll also have Josh back so let’s hope for more of the same there.”
source: cartersport.com
Richards Heads Impressive Smiths’ Wild Cards At Donington
The Smiths (Gloucester) Racing Triumph team made their World Supersport Championship debut at Donington Park today and it proved to be a more than successful foray with Australians Glen Richards and Billy McConnell as well as British rider Luke Mossey all scoring points, Richards finishing the highest in a superb fifth place.
With all three riders qualifying inside the top 12, Richards being the best in fifth place, hopes were high going into Sunday’s 22 lap race and so it turned out. Former British Supersport champion Richards was never outside the top five and ran as high as third in the early stages. Lapping at a similar pace to the race leaders, Glen found himself involved in a battle with fellow countryman Broc Parkes but in the end he had to give second best and settle for an excellent fifth and 11 World Championship points.
Slightly further back was McConnell and he too made a good start to lie in eighth place at the end of the first lap. Although he got slightly shuffled back to 10th in the first third of the race, he fought his way back up to ninth, just five seconds off a top six finish, to give the team their second top ten result. Third member of the team Mossey was also well in contention and was embroiled in a ferocious five-rider scrap for 11th place. Competing in his first ever World Championship race, the Royston rider put in a great ride to claim 15th and the final championship point.
Metzeler National Superstock 600cc rider Johnny Blackshaw was also in action over the weekend with two races being held for his particular championship although his cause was hindered by a heavy practice crash. The Stretton rider then struggled with brake problems in the first 12-lap race and could only manage 18th place in Saturday’s race but he bounced back strongly on Sunday to claim a fine fifth place.
Glen Richards: “I would have loved to have finished on the podium today but the front guys were just that little bit quicker and I couldn’t have tried any harder, there was nothing left in the tank at the end! Fifth in a World Championship race is still very pleasing though especially as we had to run a slightly different set up to what we do in the British rounds. It took me a while to get used to it whilst it also meant I was losing a bit of time at Goddards. I was losing a bit of drive out of the corner and so was a bit slower down the straight but we’ve learnt an awful lot this weekend. You can’t not learn when you’re racing with World Championship riders and the team have done a great job. To have all three bikes in the points is a fantastic effort so we can all look forward to the next round of the British Championship.”
Billy McConnell: “I enjoyed the race and although it would have been nice to be closer to Glen I’ve got to be happy with ninth given the fact I was in hospital on Wednesday and Thursday having tests for an old injury! I’ve been suffering with some internal bleeding but we don’t know what from so whether or not it’s a bit of a delayed reaction to an old crash we’re not sure but I made it through in one piece so it’s a good result. With no traction control or air bleed, the bike’s been different to ride but all the track time has been invaluable so I can’t wait for the next British round now and am very much looking forward to getting back to winning ways.”
Luke Mossey: “I’m really happy with how the weekend finished and to get a point in my first World Championship race is superb. I struggled a bit in practice on Friday and was around two seconds off the pace but I tried Glen’s settings on Saturday and they worked really well so that allowed me to be a lot higher up. It was a really good, fun race and all the track time we’ve had this weekend should stand me in good stead for the next British Championship round. Glen and Billy have already taken wins so I need to get one next and get the monkey off my back!”
Johnny Blackshaw: “The crash in practice could have ruined my weekend and it certainly dented my confidence so to end with a fifth place is very rewarding. I was pretty battered and bruised after the crash but Saturday’s race was going reasonably well until I ran into brake trouble. The brake was coming back to the bar and that’s what caused me to run on at the Esses. I came back strong for Sunday’s race though and although fifth isn’t where I want to finish, it’s a good haul of points and gives me plenty to build on at the next round.”
Alan Smith (Team owner): “It’s been a great weekend for us and we’ve proved that we can be competitive at this level despite having to make some alterations to the normal set up of our bikes. I’m especially pleased for the team who have worked really hard to put us in this position and so this is especially rewarding. I’m not sure if we’re doing any more of the World Championship events as our focus is on the British Championship but, hopefully, Triumph have noted what we have done for them here at Donington Park.”
source: cartersport.com