dimanche 10 juin 2018
WSBK BRNO : Race1: Unstoppable Rea grabs sweet sixtieth win at Brno / Race2: Phenomenal Lowes leads Yamaha one-two at Brno
Reigning champion triumphs in Czech return and opens 81-point gap in title battle
When the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship last graced the flowing hills of the Automotodrom Brno, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was a promising 25-year-old with 10 race wins to his name, no world championships, and still very much a diamond in the rough. The contrast on Saturday was startling, six years later, was startling: the KRT rider led a perfect race to take his sixth race win of the season, making him the most successful WorldSBK rider in history with 60 race wins, above the legendary Carl Fogarty.
At the longest track in the season, it was fitting for the action to be more extended than usual. Rea overtook teammate Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) at the start, but crashes by Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team) forced a red flag and race restart – twice, due to technical issues on the grid.
At the third time of asking, with the race length now down to 16 laps, Sykes defended his position at turn 1, but Rea was in front a couple of turns later, keeping Sykes behind and jetting off. The Northern Irishman was also helped by the action behind, with Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) putting Sykes under pressure. Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) also joined the fray, swapping positions several times with his teammate in a thrilling battle.
Rea went untroubled from this point forward, leading a composed ride to the finish line. He was the only rider managing laps times under two minutes, keeping a 4-5 second gap from his closest pursuers. The defending champion has now opened an 81-point gap with Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who struggled to finish the race eighth and sees his championship pursuit become even tougher.
Behind the leader, Melandri finally got the best of Sykes in lap 4, taking his best result since Round 1 with second. It’s the fifth podium for Melandri at Brno in WorldSBK, and a fantastic comeback after a disastrous Donington weekend. Sykes crossed the line in third, two seconds off the Italian.
The rostrum was finally just not close enough for the Yamaha riders, with van der Mark beating Lowes to fourth place. Both men will lead the line in Race 2, a fantastic opportunity to move their personal tussle to the front tomorrow.
A thrilling battle for sixth midway through the race saw Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) emerge triumphant and back into the top positions. He got the best of teammate Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), who still managed to beat Davies in the final laps for seventh.
Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) netted himself another top-10 finish. Still not 100%, the Brit still managed to come in ninth at the flag, ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in tenth, the first independent rider at Brno. Yonny Hernández (Team Pedercini Racing) confirmed his good form at the Czech circuit, returning to the WorldSBK paddock in eleventh after missing the UK Round.
Maiden WorldSBK win for the British rider in crazy Czech Race 2
Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) took his first-ever MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship race win at the Acerbis Czech Round, in an astonishing Race 2 which saw championship leader Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) crash out early on. The thousands of Czech fans present at the Automotodrom Brno witnessed a wild, unpredictable affair, ending in a Yamaha one-two and a sixth race winner in 2018.
The front row all kept their positions at the start, with van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) holding off his teammate through the first corners. Lowes’ would make his move into the race lead the following lap however, gaining the inside line at turn 1. Meanwhile, Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) climbed all the way from eighth on the grid to third by lap 2, and past van der Mark a few turns later.
The next couple of laps saw three dramatic, almost unbelievable twists. First, championship leader Jonathan Rea went down at turn 12, apparently after coming in contact with teammate Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). The Northern Irish rider couldn’t make it back on track, retiring for the first time this season. If yesterday his lead seemed almost unsurmountable, after Sunday there was more than a glimmer of hope.
Next, Marco Melandri, having just passed Lowes for the race lead, couldn’t control his Ducati barely a couple of turns later and rode through the gravel, immediately dropping the Italian to the back of the field and denying Melandri a return to the top of the rostrum when he was the fastest man on track. And then Sykes slipped in lap 6, leaving all of yesterday’s podium off the rostrum in Race 2. In four seasons together, never had both British KRT riders left a race empty-handed. At least Melandri managed to scrape a point in fifteenth.
A dozen laps left, the stage was thus set for a Yamaha battle to the end, as Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), in third, was unable to match the pair’s pace. But this time, unlike when he led at Donington, Lowes’ YZF-R1 did not drop off in the final third: a smart, consistent and overall flawless ride by the Brit kept him ahead of his Dutch teammate all the way to the checkered flag with two seconds to spare. The man from Lincolnshire made his debut at Brno in 2011 – seven years on, he can finally call himself a WorldSBK winner.
With van der Mark claiming another podium finish in second, the Dutchman moves into third in the championship standings, above Sykes; while Davies, an excellent third at Brno considering the issues that have plagued his weekend on the Panigale, cut Rea’s lead to 65 points.
Behind them rostrum riders, Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) took fourth, his best result of the campaign, with his teammate Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) also a season-best in fifth. More good results for the Italian manufacturer, adding their bikes to the long list of podium contenders this season.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team) had a career-best of 6th at Brno, rising from eleventh on the grid in just his tenth WorldSBK race. He finishes above Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team), in seventh. Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) returned to the top-ten in eighth, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in ninth, and Román Ramos (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) tenth.
WorldSBK is back in two weeks from Laguna Seca, a special circuit with some of the best sections of the championship. Join us there on Saturday 23rd of June, and relive the best moments from the Acerbis Czech Round thanks to the WorldSBK VideoPass.
EWC ; F.C.C. TSR HONDA FRANCE VAINQUEUR À OSCHERSLEBEN ; F.C.C. TSR HONDA FRANCE WINS AT OSCHERSLEBEN
Une course folleCette course en Allemagne a été épique de bout en bout. La deuxième place s’est jouée dans les dernières secondes de course entre le Team SRC Kawasaki (Mathieu Gines, Randy de Puniet et Jérémy Guarnoni) et le GMT94 Yamaha (David Checa, Mike Di Meglio et Niccolò Canepa). Au guidon de la Kawasaki, Randy de Puniet a pris le meilleur sur Mike Di Meglio qui a chuté mais parvient à rallier l’arrivée en 3e position. Le GMT94 Yamaha avait été retardé en début de course par une pénalité « stop and go » pour ravitaillement non conforme (phares allumés).
La BMW du NRT48 s’offre à nouveau une belle place au pied du podium après avoir animé la course avec Kenny Foray, Stefan Kerschbaumer et Lucy Glöckner. Ils devancent le Maco Racing Team qui signe son meilleur résultat de la saison avec Anthony Dos Santos, Louis Bulle et Alex Plancassagne.
Des Superstock survoltésLa bagarre en catégorie Superstock s’est jouée dans le Top10. Moto Ain, 6e à l’arrivée s’impose dans cette catégorie. Roberto Rolfo, Alexis Masbou et Christoffer Bergman remporte aussi l’EWC Dunlop Independent Trophy réservé aux équipes privées chaussées en Dunlop. Moto Ain (Yamaha) devance le Junior Team Le Mans Sud Suzuki avec Hugo Clère, Alex Sarrabayrouse et Louis Rossi et le Tati Team Beaujolais Racing. Cette équipe sur Kawasaki avec Julien Pilot, Julien Enjolras et Kevin Denis décroche en Allemagne sa première Coupe du Monde FIM Superstock.
Des favoris malmenésOn trouve le Suzuki Endurance Racing Team à une inhabituelle 10e place. Vincent Philippe, Etienne Masson et Gregg Black ont pourtant tout fait pour refaire leur retard suite à une chute de Vincent Philippe en début de course et après le holeshot de Gregg Black
Cette course en Allemagne a aussi été marquée par la chute spectaculaire de Marvin Fritz au guidon de la YART Yamaha en 2e position à la mi-course et contrainte à l’abandon.
Déception aussi pour Honda Endurance Racing. Calée en 5e position, l’équipe anglaise a rétrogradé en 13e place à l’arrivée suite à la chute de Greg Leblanc en fin de course.
Prochain rendez-vous au Japon pour les Suzuka 8 Hours, Grande Finale du Championnat FIM EWC 2017-2018 le 29 juillet.
F.C.C. TSR Honda France have won the 8 Hours of Oschersleben, consolidating their lead in the 2017-2018 FIM EWC provisional standings. The Japanese team finished an epic race ahead of Team SRC Kawasaki, who pipped GMT94 Yamaha to the runner-up spot. Tati Team Beaujolais Racing held off some very fierce competition to win their first FIM Superstock World Cup.
F.C.C. TSR Honda France notched up their second win of the season and are now a serious contender for the world title with a 10-point lead over GMT94 Yamaha ahead of the grand finale: the Suzuka 8 Hours.
After F.C.C. TSR Honda France took the lead halfway through the race, riders Freddy Foray, Josh Hook and Alan Techer firmly retained command all the way to the finish. Freddy Foray and later Josh Hook were the only two riders to add their names to the roll call of the fastest race laps in Germany; Josh Hook completed a 1:27.149 lap. The Japanese team also excelled in terms of fuel strategy. They were the last to refuel, making one less pit stop than their rivals.
A crazy raceThe race in Germany was truly epic from start to finish. The battle for runner-up position played out in the final few seconds of the race between Team SRC Kawasaki (Mathieu Gines, Randy de Puniet and Jérémy Guarnoni) and GMT94 Yamaha (David Checa, Mike Di Meglio and Niccolò Canepa). Randy de Puniet in the saddle of the Kawasaki bested Mike Di Meglio, who crashed but still managed to finish in third place. GMT94 Yamaha had been delayed in the early part of the race by a stop-and-go penalty for non-compliant refuelling (lights on).
BMW-mounted NRT48 once again earned themselves a praiseworthy spot at the foot of the podium, with Kenny Foray, Stefan Kerschbaumer and Lucy Glöckner featuring among the front-runners throughout the race. They finished ahead of Maco Racing Team, who notched up their finest result this season with riders Anthony Dos Santos, Louis Bulle and Alex Plancassagne.
Superstocks in a frenzyThe Superstock battle played out in the Top 10. Moto Ain – 6th past the finish line – was the winner in this class. Roberto Rolfo, Alexis Masbou and Christoffer Bergman also won the EWC Dunlop Independent Trophy for privateer teams using Dunlop tyres. Yamaha-mounted Moto Ain finished ahead of Junior Team Le Mans Sud Suzuki (Hugo Clère, Alex Sarrabayrouse and Louis Rossi) and Tati Team Beaujolais Racing. The Kawasaki-mounted team comprising Julien Pilot, Julien Enjolras and Kevin Denis won the FIM Superstock World Cup for the very first time in Germany.
Favourites get unluckySuzuki Endurance Racing Team finished 10th, unusually for them, even though Vincent Philippe, Etienne Masson and Gregg Black did everything they could to make up for lost time after Vincent Philippe crashed out early on in the race following Gregg Black’s holeshot.
The race in Germany also saw YART Yamaha’s Marvin Fritz crash out spectacularly halfway through the race when the team were lapping in 2nd place, forcing them to withdraw.
It was a disappointing race for Honda Endurance Racing too. After lapping steadily in 5th place, the British team dropped back to 13th at the finish when Greg Leblanc crashed towards the tail end of the race.
via EWC news
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