MAGNY-COURS, France – World Superbike series leader Jonathon Rea may have lost the battle at this odd track in central France (a strange combination of fast sweepers and stop-and-go chicanes and hairpins), but the war looks like his for the winning.
After a fourth and a second, he’s a healthy 48 points ahead of his Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes, and 81 ahead of third-place Ducati rider Chaz Davies. With 100 points still up for grabs, Sykes and Davies have a mathematical chance of winning, but it’s a pretty slim hope given Rea’s metronomic consistency and speed.
The weekend battles both went to Davies and his factory Panigale, the Welshman carding his 16th WSBK win and fifth double victory in totally different circumstances. Saturday`s race was run on a soaking wet track after an overnight downpour; despite the sun being out most of the field started on full wets, figuring they`d have to pit for a change to slicks at some point. Davies and his team rolled the dice and decided to start on intermediates hoping they’d last the race and save the 45 seconds or so required to swap tires.
It was a brave gamble; the inters are almost like grooved slicks, with a compound much harder than the wets most of the field started on. “The first laps were a battle of survival just trying to stay upright,” said Davies. “If I didn’t crash in the first laps I was expecting to get taken out because I was so slow.” But he stayed up and as the track dried he began to close up on the leaders, and when many of the faster riders came in to swap tires he grabbed the lead and held on to the end.
Sykes and Rea both fell well back at their tire swaps but managed to claw their way back up to third and fourth, while Ten Kate Honda’s Michael van der Mark timed his stop perfectly and ended up second. The top five was completed by Lorenzo Savadori on the IODA Aprilia, the first of the riders to have run the entire race on wets.
Sunday’s race couldn’t have been more different; dry but quite cold, with the two Kawasakis haring off from the start, Sykes ahead of Rea, and Davies following but unable to match their pace. At about the half-way mark Rea started scrapping with Sykes, and they slowed each other down enough that Davies was able to close back up. “It wasn’t easy at all … I was finding it hard to pass the Kawasakis, as I couldn’t see where to do it unless I took a big risk, so I had to let the race come to me a little bit,” the Welshman said.
His chance came when Rea dive-bombed Sykes, went a bit wide letting Sykes back through, and with a gleeful “thanks, chaps!” Davies made a spectacular move to scoot past both of them and set out to put some space between him and the two Green Meanies, eventually grabbing the win with a two-second margin. Davies said, “It’s been one of the most important weekends of my career, because we won in very different conditions, reaping the fruits of a lot of hard work with the whole team.”
Behind the three series leaders in fourth came Leon Camier on the MV Agusta. Camier’s riding was really one of the highlights of the weekend, as he led a third of the first race in the wet conditions and nearly managed to hang on for MV’s first podium, getting demoted back to seventh only in the closing laps. In Sunday’s dry race the lanky Brit was equally impressive, scrapping with Michael van der Mark for top spot behind the three leaders, and eventually pulling away from the Honda ace, the two finishing fourth and fifth.
Camier said, “I am really happy with this result. I didn’t expect to be so fast in dry conditions but today I found a good feeling with the bike and I was able to always stay with the front riders … I want to thank my team for the great job on my bike: every race we become stronger and stronger and we are now constantly fighting for the podium.”
World Supersport
The 600 cc class provided even more drama than the Superbike races, with championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu suffering a rare unforced crash with his Pucetti Kawasaki while leading, postponing his almost-certain crowning as world champion until the next race at Jerez.
Only Sofuoglu’s team-mate Randy Krummenacher has a mathematical chance of stopping him, but with a 42-point lead and only 50 points left to play with Sofuoglu looks safe.
Sofuoglu’s crash was only one of many in the race, the next two highest profile being American P.J. Jacobsen, fourth in the series, who crashed out on the first lap after getting seriously pushed around after the start, and Brit Gino Rea who had a nasty high-side while moving toward the front.
Home-town boy Jules Cluzel grabbed only his second win of the year on the factory MV via a heart-stopping last-lap pass to delight the fans at the French circuit. The pass was put on amazing new guy Niki Tulli, the Finnish youngster confidently backing up his spectacular race in Germany two weeks ago. The team has found funding to finish the season, so no joy to the series regulars, for sure, but another great threat up front for the spectators.
Third went to an aggressive Ayrton Baddovini, who badly mugged European Supersport leader Axel Bassani for the spot (ESS uses the same spec bikes and runs in the WSS races, but only in the European rounds). Bassani looks good for the 2016 title after nearest rival Alessandro Zaccone crashed out.
Calgary’s Braeden Ortt carded a 28th overall, and seventh in the ESS category.
European Junior Cup
Montreal’s Stacey Nesbitt collected a 19th overall and second in the women’s division of this Honda CBR650F spec series. Avalon Biddle of New Zealand is comfortably leading that division, while Nesbitt has usually followed her home other than one DNF and one third.
World Superbike Standings after 11 of 13 events (22 of 26 races)
- Jonathon Rea, U.K., Kawasaki Racing, 426 points
- Tom Sykes, U.K., Kawasaki Racing, 378
- Chaz Davies, U.K., Aruba Ducati, 345
- Michael van der Mark, Netherlands, Ten Kate Honda, 234
- Nicky Hayden, U.S.A., Ten Kate Honda, 202
- Davide Giugliano, Italy, Aruba Ducati, 194
- Jordi Torres, Spain, Althea BMW, 179
- Leon Camier, U.K., MV Agusta, 156
- Xavier Fores, Spain, Barni Racing Ducati, 133
- Lorenzo Savadori, IODA Racing Aprilia, 131
Next race, Jerez, Spain, October 15-16.
Good to see that WSBK has a ‘no change bikes’ rule – MotoGP should adopt the same ASAP.
Avalon Biddle of New Zealand has, I believe, clinched the Women’s Championship ?
Agreed on the tires, and Avalon has won the women’s class in every race, Stacey’s been the next best with mostly seconds, but also a DNF and a third, so yeah, Avalon should havet that title sewed up.