WSBK PORTIMAO : Rea triomphe sous la pluie à Portimao / Rea wins an unpredictable race 2

Le Britannique s'est imposé devant les Ducati de Giugliano et de Davies.

Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) a décroché sa quatrième victoire de la saison en s’imposant sur une piste trempée dimanche à Portimao lors de la seconde des deux courses de la huitième manche du Championnat du Monde eni FIM Superbike 2014.

Parti de la première ligne pour une course de 18 tours, le Nord-Irlandais a pris le contrôle dès le premier tour et s’est montré suffisamment rapide pour immédiatement faire la différence et distancer ses adversaires. 

Alors que Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), poleman et vainqueur de la première course en début de journée, faisait une course extrêmement prudente, Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) et Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) sont progressivement remontés aux deuxième et troisième positions pour se lancer à la poursuite de Rea et le rattraper à cinq tours du drapeau à damier. Les deux pilotes Aprilia ont cependant chuté lorsque Guintoli a tenté de passer son coéquipier, qui abandonnait alors que le Français repartait en huitième position.

Rea se retrouvait donc à nouveau seul en tête et a conclu avec plus de six secondes d’avance sur Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team), dont le coéquipier Chaz Davies a remporté la troisième place dans une belle bagarre avec Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) et Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team).

Malgré sa chute, Guintoli a tout de même réussi à finir devant Sykes, en septième position. Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) et Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia), sorti de piste en début de course suite à un contact avec ce dernier, complétaient le Top 10 à l’arrivée tandis que Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) s’imposait en catégorie EVO avec la onzième place. 

Jérémy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) entrait une fois de plus dans les points en finissant treizième, derrière Sheridan Morais (Iron Brain Grillini Kawasaki). Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India) n’avait quant à lui pas pu prendre le départ de la seconde course.

Suite à la huitième des treize manches de la saison 2014, Sykes repart du Portugal avec 43 points d'avance sur Guintoli et 48 sur Baz tandis que Rea revient à un petit point de ce dernier.

Aprilia collision allows epic final podium fight.
The second race of the day at Portimao was held in tricky conditions as the rain which began during the Supersport race continued to fall at the Portuguese circuit.

Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) romped home after a reduced race distance of 18 laps as the winner after Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) and his team mate Marco Melandri collided at turn five in the closing stages. Guintoli was able to remount eventually finishing 7th.

Behind Rea, Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) was a lonely 2nd with Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) snatching the final podium spot from Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) after an enthralling final few laps in which 3rd position changed several times.

Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) finished sixth.

Race one winner Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) finished race two a lowly 8th after dropping back through the pack. He was passed on the penultimate lap by the recovering Guintoli who salvaged 7th at the flag.

In the EVO battle the honours in race 2 went to Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia), the Frenchman finishing 11th overall.

WSSP : Quatrième victoire de l'année pour van der Mark / Van Der Mark wins WSS fight to claim victory

Le Néerlandais conforte son statut de leader du World Supersport.

Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) a remporté la huitième manche du Championnat du Monde Supersport 2014 sur drapeau rouge à Portimao, devant Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi India Racing Team) et un excellent Jack Kennedy (CIA Insurance Honda), sur le podium pour la première fois de sa carrière.

Vainqueur à Misano, Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) était parmi les quatre prétendants à la victoire mais est parti à la faute dans le virage n°3 et a fini par rentrer aux stands pour abandonner, juste avant que la Direction de Course ne mette fin à la course dans le 13e des 18 tours prévus, pour cause de pluie.

Avec cet abandon, Cluzel laisse van der Mark s'échapper vers le titre mondial puisque le Néerlandais compte maintenant 53 points d'avance, avec encore quatre courses à effectuer.

Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) a pris la huitième place derrière Raffaele de Rosa (CIA Insurance Honda), PJ Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) et Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport Team), et conserve la troisième place du classement général, à 67 points du leader et avec dix longueurs d'avance sur Sofuoglu, qui montait sur le podium pour la troisième fois de la saison.

Valentin Debise (Com Plus SMS Racing) a de son côté marqué les points de la quatorzième place.

Portimao brings out the best in WSS.
After a titanic 18 lap race at Portimao Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) has taken the 8th round victory in this year’s World Supersport championship after overcoming immense pressure from Jack Kennedy (CIA Insurance Honda) and former champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi India Racing Team) who completed the podium.

Misano race winner Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) looked like making it a four rider fight before the Frenchman overshot at turn three before eventually retiring.

The opening half of the race gave the fans a real treat with some of the closest WSS racing of the year before championship leader Van Der Mark edged clear in the closing stages to win his 4th race of the year after a red flag because of rain stopped the race on lap 13. Today’s result means that the Dutchman has never finished lower than 2nd all season with the exception of his Phillip Island crash.

For Kennedy it was his first podium finish after moving into World Supersport, the Irishman finally showing his true potential.

Behind the top three Raffaele de Rosa rode well to bring the 2nd CIA Insurance Honda home in 4th ahead of PJ Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) and Lorenzo Zanetti. (Pata Honda World Supersport Team).

WSBK PORTIMAO ; Sykes remporte la première course en échappée au Portugal / Sykes wins his 21st WSBK race to stretch his championship lead

Le Britannique a fini avec une confortable avance sur Guintoli et Baz.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) s’est imposé pour la septième fois de l’année en dominant la première des deux courses de la huitième manche du Championnat du Monde eni FIM Superbike 2014 à l’Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.

Sous un ciel nuageux, le détenteur de la pole position a été devancé par Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) et Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) au départ mais n’a pas tardé à reprendre l’avantage et à creuser l’écart tandis que ses deux adversaires se retrouvaient dans un groupe de cinq poursuivants qui comprenait aussi Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) et Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team).

Sykes comptait déjà deux secondes d’avance à la mi-course, suite à laquelle Guintoli est parvenu à remonter en deuxième position. Le Français n’a pas pu revenir sur le Britannique mais s’est aisément assuré la seconde place devant Baz, Melandri et Rea tandis que Davies était tombé dans le douzième tour suite à contact avec Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team). Le Gallois avait pu repartir mais a plus tard été contraint à rentrer aux stands tandis que Haslam a terminé en onzième position après avoir redémarré à la seizième place.

Les quelques gouttes de pluie à l’origine du drapeau blanc dans le onzième tour n’ont au final pas eu de conséquence sur la course. Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) a fini par prendre le dessus sur Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) et Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) pour prendre la sixième place.

Neuvième, David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) a battu Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) sur le fil, de 0.014s, alors que le Français avait mené la bataille pour la victoire en catégorie EVO durant toute la course. Jérémy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) a pris les points de la douzième place devant Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing). Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India) a quant à lui été contraint à l’abandon, tout comme Toni Elías (Red Devils Roma Aprilia), tombé en début de course.

Spots of rain can’t stop the reigning champion from winning again.
 

An enthralling 20 lap race 1 saw Tom Sykes emerge victorious at a cloudy and overcast Portimao.

At the start it was Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea that took the holeshot, leading for the opening three laps before Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) overtook him into turn one at the start of lap four.

By half distance the constant swapping of positions had allowed reigning champion Sykes to stretch his lead to 3 seconds, before seconds later the white flag was waved to indicate that rain was beginning to fall.

Behind the leader five riders that included Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team), and Sylvain Guintoli, Leon Haslam on the second of the Pata Honda’s slowly began to close the gap, giving the fans a six rider group battling for the podium places.

Leon Haslam took out Chaz Davies after losing the front end of his Pata Honda, both riders able to remount with Davies later retiring. Haslam eventually finished 11th.

At the front Sylvain Guintoli had elevated himself to 2nd and began to quickly reduce the gap to Sykes before he responded to retain a lead of 2 seconds until the flag.

Guintoli made his return to the podium in 2nd ahead of compatriot Baz with Marco Melandri 4th.

Jonathan Rea faded to a lonely 5th ahead of Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) who passed Ducati’s Davide Giugliano and his team mate Eugene Laverty on the final lap to finish 6th.

Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) and David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) were never more than 0.1s apart for the entire race with Salom eventually coming out on top by 0.014s on the line to claim the EVO honours.

Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) crashed out after improving from his lowly grid position whilst Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki), Geoff May (Team Hero EBR), both Grillini Kawasaki riders Bryan Staring and Sheridan Morais, Peter Sebestyen (Team Toth BMW) and Chaz Davies all retired.

HELLE’S XS250 “CRÈME DIAMOND”

We need more women building motorcycles. As we lust over the continuous stream of gorgeous custom bikes that grace these pages there is no denying one major common denominator, they are pretty much all built by men. As I showed my wife around the BSMC 3 show I was fascinated by the features she spotted, pulled apart, appreciated or hated on the bikes, stuff I had not even considered. It would be awesome to see more bikes built by a female creative eye.

Hopefully the work of Helle from Copenhagen might just encourage one or two more women into their sheds and to start getting some grease under their fingernails.

This is not the first creation to emerge from Helle’s shed and appear on these pages, in 2013 she showed her Suzuki GN 250, which sold earlier this year through the Bike Shed classified section. Next on her build list had been a Kawasaki Kz400 but when she came across this little Yamaha Xs250 in great condition the opportunity was too good to pass up. Back in her shed Helle found plenty of things about the Yamaha that did not meet her approval, “too thin tires, boring black handlebars, big old-fashioned instruments, way too much chrome; big chrome fenders, chrome chainguard and shiny rims. So I got rid of all the things I did not like.”

One thing Helle did find to her liking was the engine, “I like when a bike shines, but the motor was glossy enough in itself. Very clean and shiny, like a diamond.” With this in mind the theme for the build was born, Diamonds. After all, as Helle points out, “Diamonds are a girls best friend”.

A pair of fat diamond Coker tyres on black painted rims kickstarted the theme and instantly changed the feel of the bike, “it got this Beefy look that I like so much.” The pattern of the tread recurs in the choice of the plush brown grips. Next up Helle’s attention inevitably turned to the seat.

“Of course the theme should also be reflected there. I ripped my old couch for leather and made this nice natural brown seat with diamond pattern in beige stitches”.  That is dedication to a cause! Imagine what your significant other might say if you tore up the sofa for a motorcycle seat? I guess if the result looked this good you may just get away with it.

Helle encountered her first problem with the battery, she had initially fitted a tiny lithium unit hidden under the seat but it would not hold charge even over a short ride so she swapped it out for a larger version. The sewing machine came back out and with a few remnants of the old couch she fashioned a leather battery box and strap to suspend it in the space under the seat. “I found out I’m pretty good at sewing in leather, so I have now invested in an old industrial Pfaff sewing machine so I can make my own seats in the future.”

As the bike came together Helle stood back and admired her work, “I thought it was crème for my eyes. The bike was so nice and clean you could lick it. So of course the colour of the tank should be like vanilla ice crème,” The name of her steed was chosen, the Crème Diamond. The yellow tint headlight adds a little extra sparkle to the palette.

We don’t go for gratuitous pictures of beautiful women gracing motorbikes here at the Bike Shed, we prefer to see images of bike and triumphant builder together. Just like these.

Helle and her boyfriend Jesper apparently have a collection of motorcycles building up in their shed awaiting creative attention, we look forward to seeing the results of their next build. In the meantime might we suggest getting this lady a diamond in a different setting Jesper?

via THE BIKE SHED