Category: World Superbikes

This weekend, the 2018 Superbike World Championship heads to California, and the Laguna Seca circuit, home of the famous “Corkscrew”. Negotiating turns eight and nine efficiently this weekend will be critical to achieving a good result, but the puzzle of Laguna Seca is not only limited to its most famous section. Coming over the crest of a hill at turn one on full lean angle and at around 160mph gives a breath-taking start to the lap, which leads straight into the second turn at the double-apex Andretti Hairpin. The complexity of this section means mistakes are inevitable across the weekend, so minimising having a setting to give good confidence when braking on angle is essential for this part of the track. Then the circuit flows right into turns three and four. Three is merely a kink, but it is important to take a good line to be able to make a good turn four. At the same time, in the race, the layout of this part of the track means that the fastest line also leaves you open to a pass, so finding the right compromise will be important in the early laps.

Turn five is a fairly simple, flat right hander, but the radius combined with the relative lack of camber means that it is easy to get sucked in, but the important thing here is the corner exit, because there is then a reasonably long run to turn six through the un-numbered right kink. There is a lot of camber to offer a lot of support in turn six, meaning there is potential for a pass. Turn seven is very fast, on the left side of the tyre. As Always the riders are on the limit of the track boundaries on the exit, and track boundaries in Laguna are enforced not by the Race Direction but by the run-off areas themselves, which are largely gravel – rest easy Mr. Haydon. After the run down the Corkscrew, it is the tricky Rainey Corner, where the riders push the front hard as the downhill run continues before another heavily cambered corner at the penultimate turn. Finally, the last corner is the best overtaking spot, as highlighted by Eugene Laverty in 2013, but as Casey Stoner showed in the MotoGP race back in 2008, it is also quite easy to make a race-deciding mistake at turn twelve.

Chaz Davies best mastered the Californian circuit in race one last year, which was a remarkable victory, only two weeks after he was run over by Jonathan Rea in Misano race one. This year, it is not physical issues which have the potential to hinder Davies this weekend, but rather problems with the bike. Davies has struggled since Imola, and especially in Donington and Brno. In Donington, Davies suffered his worst weekend of the season, missing the podium in both races; then, in Brno he suffered again, but with some crashes in race two he was able to make the podium. Laguna has been a good track for both Davies and the Panigale in recent seasons, and the Welshman will be hoping to make a return to the top step.

It was Jonathan Rea who took victory in the second Laguna Seca race last year, and the form he is in at the moment would suggest another double could be coming the way of the new ‘most victorious’ rider in World Superbike history. He took that record from Carl Fogarty in race one in Brno two weeks ago, but contact with his KRT teammate Tom Sykes left him as a spectator from lap three in the second race. The frustration from the incident was put to one side, though, as he put pen to paper on a new two-year deal to pilot the ZX-10RR until 2021. As for this weekend, Rea and Davies have been the two to beat around Laguna since 2015, and with the Welshman currently in a difficult moment, this weekend could well be a Johnny Rea domination.

But maybe Marco Melandri can take it to the reigning World Champion. He should have won race two in Brno but made a mistake at turn three which put him out of contention. Melandri made the podium last year in race two, and may prove to be the only rider with any hope of stopping Rea taking yet another double. However, if his instability issues reappear this weekend, Melandri could have a bigger problem in Laguna than anywhere else – few places require total confidence, especially in the front end, as the Weathertech Raceway.

What about Sykes? Well, he took two wins in Laguna – one in 2013 on his way to the championship, and the other in 2014 when he shared the winning that day with Melandri, the last time the Italian won in Laguna. He took a pair of second places in 2015 behind Chaz Davies and in front of Rea both times, before he took a third US win in 2016. A podium was followed by a crash two weeks ago, and with his record in Laguna Seca, this weekend could offer an opportunity for Sykes to expand on his solitary victory of 2018 so far.

Perhaps the biggest question for this weekend is: what can the Yamahas do? Three race wins out of the last four races, across both riders, and including a double for Michael van der Mark in Donington one month ago leave the R1s under significantly more pressure to perform and achieve big results, especially with the Ducati riders having fairly large question marks over the heads of their competitiveness, as well as Sykes. The Pata Yamaha riders could be the biggest contenders to Rea this season, ad they have to be in a good position to be able to try to challenge the championship leader.

The Aprilias could also have something to say this weekend, with Eugene Laverty making good progress at Brno a couple of weeks back, taking a sixth in race one and a fourth in race two. He was backed up, too, by Lorenzo Savadori who, despite having a bonfire underneath his rear tyre for most of both races, managed to shadow his Milwaukee Aprilia teammate to take seventh in race one and fifth in race two. Coming here, Laverty was confident of being able to achieve podium results, and the progress in the last races would point towards being able to get near that. Maybe they are quite far away, still, but with some luck they might be able to get themselves on the box. Laguna has been a good circuit for Laverty in the past. He only has two podiums, but has only ever raced there once on competitive machinery, in 2013 (when both podiums came), including a stunning win in the second race that year.

There are also three Americans on the grid this weekend: the two WSBK regulars, Triple M Honda’s PJ Jacobsen and Red Bull Honda’s Jake Gagne; and the wildcard Josh Herrin on a Yamaha.

Feature image courtesy of hondanews.eu

After his domination of the first race at the Czech round of the 2018 Superbike World Championship, it was difficult to see anyone defeating Jonathan Rea, by this point the most victorious rider in World Superbike history, in the second outing in Brno.

However, Tom Sykes saw to that. On lap three of the race, after starting from ninth place thanks to the reverse grid rules, Rea tried a move on Sykes for sixth place at turn twelve, before the run up ‘Horsepower Hill’, but ran wide. Sykes, as you might expect, squared the corner off and tried to beat Rea out of the corner. Unfortunately, though, the pair made contact and Rea ended up in the gravel. That is the essence of what happened, but it did not end there.

Whilst the race was continuing, Rea stood at the side of the track and offered a sarcastic applause to his KRT teammate, obviously not impressed by what happened, and after the race he explained that he felt that Sykes ran into him on purpose, citing the 2013 World Champion’s line on the exit of the corner compared to Eugene Laverty’s in front as evidence since Sykes was out a little wider than Laverty. Rea also questioned why it always seems to be only with him that Sykes can fight and ultimately blamed his teammate for the incident. Obviously, Sykes himself had a different perspective on the incident and felt that Race Direction were correct in their verdict that it was a ‘racing incident’ and so took no action. Whatever opinion you have on this, you have to admit that there is no a clear rupture in the Kawasaki Racing Team garage, and the unsurprising continuation of Rea in Kawasaki – which was announced the following day – may also indicate that the number 66 is leaving the ZX10-RR at the end of 2018 to look for greener (bluer) grass in another garage.

Back to the race and, one lap later, Marco Melandri took the lead at turn one from Alex Lowes. Two corners after that, the Italian was in the gravel, his victory hopes gone. All of a sudden, the race was blown wide open: Rea, serial winner, was out; Melandri, the Brno specialist was out of contention and the two Yamaha riders were leading from Chaz Davies and Eugene Laverty.

Given the struggles of Davies in the Czech Republic, a round which had not shown an upturn in form for the Welshman after a tough Donington, it was hard to see him getting near the Yamahas of Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes. The Yamaha riders were the first to try the new, wider, taller Pirelli tyre and it was one of the things which helped Michael van der Mark take the double back in the UK. On the other hand, Davies had struggled since its introduction and it would not be a ludicrous assumption that missing something with this new tyre is a major factor in the number 7’s current struggles – although, it is a surprise that it is he that is struggling, not the diminutive Melandri.

So, with Davies on the limit and with no answer to either of the two Pata Yamaha R1s, it was down to the Anglo-Dutch leading pair to decide who should be the victor: would Lowes take his first World Superbike victory, his first of any kind since the first British Superbike race at Assen in 2013; or would Van der Mark take his third win in four races on his first Brno visit? Judging by race one, it should have been Magic Michael’s all day – he had better pace than Lowes, and by the midpoint of race two he was making an impression on the 2013 British Champion. But Lowes responded. He managed the gap well and with three laps to go he seemed to break Van der Mark’s spirit as the Dutchman seemed to settle in for second place behind his teammate and be content with completing Yamaha’s first World Superbike 1-2 since Portimao 2011 when Marco Melandri led Eugene Laverty home at the Portuguese circuit. And that is how it went. In the end, Michael let Alex go and the Brit took a first win that has been a very long time coming, and a well-deserved one at that, too.

It was a stunning ride from Lowes. So many times we have seen him faulter in promising positions, especially back in the Suzuki days. But on Sunday the #22 showed off the revolutionised Alex Lowes; the rational, calm and consistent rider that began to emerge in the beginning of last season and who has begun to flourish in 2018 and this victory is just deserves for the change in attitude he took for 2017. In the preview for this weekend, I asked the question of whether the motivation Lowes gained from his teammate’s double victory in Donington would be enough to overcome Van der Mark this weekend should they end up in a position where they both had the opportunity to win, and he showed that it was.

Perhaps more importantly, the win showed that the Yamaha is a genuine race-winning motorcycle. For sure, Rea and Sykes (in a separate incident to the one already discussed) crashed, Davies struggled and Melandri cost himself a chance of the win, but Yamaha still had to capitalise and they did so with a stunning 1-2. From now the most important thing for Yamaha is to manage expectations: ultimately they still aren’t quite at the level of Kawasaki or Ducati, but they are getting closer, and perhaps that is the most important thing.

Behind the podium trio of Lowes, Van der Mark and Davies (a great result for Davies, by the way, after another really tough weekend), Eugene Laverty brought home his Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 in fourth place – his and the team’s best result of the season and proof of further steps forward from the SMR team, despite Aprilia’s limited interest in WSBK. Still, though, Laverty is complaining of his classic rear grip issues and whilst it is improving it is still not where he would like it. Amongst rumours of the team’s switch to Suzuki or BMW for next season, this result is quite positive in terms of the team’s chances of staying with Aprilia for 2019. What is not so positive is the signs coming from Noale, which all point towards furthering their efforts in MotoGP, highlighted by statements from Romano Albesiano after they announced the signing of Andrea Iannone to the MotoGP outfit for next year, in which he spoke of Aprilia’s increased commitment in GPs. Whilst Lorenzo Savadori backed up Laverty’s fourth place with a fifth of his own, you can’t help but feel there will be some different machinery behind the Milwaukee logos for next year.

Following the two Aprilias over the line was in sixth, again impressing on the Aruba.it Junior Team Ducati. Once more, it was tyre wear towards the end of the race that cost the Italian-Venezuelan a chance to finish further up, but his ability is shining through this year. Unfortunately for Michael, he now has a four-week break until his next race in Misano. He is only doing the European races this season so he will therefore miss the next round of the World Championship in Laguna Seca.

Leon Camier will not miss Laguna, and will hopefully be in a better physical condition than this weekend when he arrives in California for round eight of the season. Of course, Leon is still suffering with pain and discomfort from his crash in Aragon back in round three of the series, but that did not stop him taking another top ten on Sunday with seventh place, another good result on the Red Bull Honda.

Xavi Fores completed yet another frustrating weekend, although nowhere near as bad as Donington, with an eighth place on the Barni Racing Ducati. It has been some slump from the Spaniard in the last few rounds, but hopefully he can return to the form that saw him take so many podiums in the first part of the season in the races coming up.

Toprak Razgatlioglu ensured he took two top tens away from his first ever race weekend in Brno with a ninth in race two to follow on from his tenth place in race one. This was the target set for him by the Puccetti Racing Kawasaki team, so despite it not being the stunning second place of race two in Donington, the Turkish rider should be happy with his weekend.

Roman Ramos rounded out the top ten on Sunday, to take his first finish inside the first ten riders of 2018. The new engine revs regulations have hit the customer Kawasaki teams extremely hard because, unlike KRT, they do not have the resources to find ways around the harsh rev limits placed on the ZX10-RR, but it seems that Ramos and the GoEleven Kawasaki team are finding their way, and hopefully the Spaniard can have a better second half of the season.

Loris Baz finished a disappointing eleventh – you get the feeling that both he and Althea Racing cannot wait to get to the end of the season so that they both can see the back of the BMW because they just do not seem to be getting the support they need to make progress.

Twelfth place went to Jake Gagne, again a way off Camier but again at a circuit he does not know. It will be interesting to see what Gagne can do at Laguna, a track he knows well,  because he needs to prove himself. He did, at least, beat PJ Jacobsen on the Triple M Honda who finished thirteenth, ahead of Yonny Hernandez and Marco Melandri who, after his excursion early in the race, finished fifteenth albeit without his rear brake pedal.

After a weird crash at turn ten which should have high-sided him but thankfully did not (thus highlighting the lack of grip in the intense Czech summer heat) Tom Sykes finished a lowly sixteenth, no doubt to the minor amusement of his teammate, Rea, but disappointment of Kawasaki, who ended Sunday with no more points than they had at the end of Saturday. Leandro Mercado and home rider Ondrej Jezek were the last of the eighteen finishers. Apart from Rea, only Jordi Torres failed to finish the race.

Drama and intrigue surrounded this race, but the biggest talking point is still Yamaha and their resurgence, this time spearheaded by Alex Lowes. Laguna Seca is next, previously a very good circuit for Ducati, but also for Rea and even Aprilia – Laverty is eyeing a podium. Can Yamaha win again in California, or will normal service be resumed by the World Championship leader and record breaking Jonathan Rea?

Featured Image courtesy of Ducati media

World Superbike is in a very interesting situation; in fact, it is in the same situation as MotoGP was back in 2016, after Andrea Iannone took Ducati’s first win in six years at the Austrian Grand Prix,  Ducati then became a threat, a realistic option for a race win in most races. In this instance, in World Superbike, it has been Michael van der Mark who has brought Yamaha into the realm of realistic contention for race wins. Now, instead of hoping for a win, Yamaha have to expect wins.

Going into Brno, there is no reason why they cannot win. Nobody has been to Brno, apart from the test earlier this year between the Dutch and Italian rounds of the World Championship, since World Superbike last raced there in 2012, when Marco Melandri on the factory BMW took both victories. Melandri also won in 2011, when he was aboard the Yamaha, sharing the wins with Max Biaggi on the Aprilia. Of course, it would be a surprise to see a BMW on the top step in the Czech Republic this weekend, given the lack of support Loris Baz and the Althea Racing team receive from Germany, although they expect to be able to continue their good form from Donington where Loris Baz qualified second for the first race of the weekend.

But with Yamaha’s recent gains, especially in cool conditions, it would not be out of the question that we could see Yamaha challenging again this weekend and, theoretically, the nature of the circuit should lend itself to the R1, since power is not what makes or breaks a lap in this circuit and corner speed is essential. But if Yamaha do continue their winning streak this weekend, will it be Michael van der Mark or Alex Lowes who does the winning? For sure, after his teammate’s double win in Donington, Lowes will be fired up for this weekend, but will that be a match for Van der Mark’s undoubtedly heightened confidence?

For Aprilia, it would be a surprise if they were to match the victory of Biaggi in 2011, the bike just is not there yet. After Eugene Laverty’s promise in Donington was let down by a sticking throttle, he will be after redemption this weekend, whilst Lorenzo Savadori will be hoping to build on his impressive form from the UK round of the World Championship. The positive for Aprilia is that they should have the power to launch them up ‘Horsepower Hill’, but will they have the chassis and the balance to get them through the rest of the lap with decent efficiency?

Kawasaki can never be discounted, though. It was a surprise to not see them take a win in Donington, partly because Tom Sykes has been so successful there over the years, but also because the layout perfectly suits the fluid riding style of the reigning World Champion Jonathan Rea. The current championship leader has the unusual ability to be able to run both high corner speed and stop-start riding styles in the same moment, which is perfect for Donington: running high apex speed in the first half of the lap is critical, whilst in the second half of the lap, through the Melbourne Loop, braking performance and acceleration are key. Somehow, Rea and his team manage to get the bike set up for both. In Brno, he will only need one, though, the corner speed. For sure, the braking stability and acceleration are important to be able to get in and out of the big ‘ess’ bends of Brno effectively, but you can counteract that well by running well through the middle of the corner with a lot of speed to carry good momentum, and that is typically what teams look for in Brno.

Furthermore, the KRT pair of Rea and Sykes are two of only four current World Superbike riders who have finished on the podium in Brno, along with Marco Melandri and Loris Baz. In fact, Rea is the only rider other than Melandri on the current grid to have won in Brno, which he did back in 2010 aboard the Castrol Ten Kate Honda. With this in mind, you might consider that the field will have a tough time beating either of the factory Kawasaki riders this weekend, but that was the thought going into Donington, and look what happened there. Moreover, Brno’s emphasis on corner speed severely hinders, in theory, Sykes who prefers the stop-start style of riding, and tends to run quite low corner speed. Finally, should both KRT riders be on the podium in race one, which is always likely, they will of course be starting on row three for race two and, whilst it might be expected that Rea should make a good start, the same thing might not be applicable to Sykes, who finds it difficult to overtake, typically, and that difficulty will only be increased by the difficulty in overtaking in Brno caused by the short straights.

Overall, we should be in for an interesting weekend in Brno, and Friday’s three free practice sessions will tell us a lot about what to expect from the races on Friday and Saturday.

This weekend, the Superbike World Championship heads to Imola in Italy, for the fifth round of the 2018 championship. Tom Sykes comes into this round on the crest of a wave after his victory in Asses two weeks ago, but it is his teammate, Jonathan Rea, who leads the championship.

But Sykes’ victory in Assen showed that this season will not be as easy for Rea as the previous ones, as it was the first time Rea had been beaten at the Dutch circuit since he joined Kawasaki back at the end of 2014. And Imola is a strong circuit for the 2013 World Champion, too, and one where he has strong support from the Italian fans – who can forget Sykes’ rage-fuelled pole lap in 2014 on race tyres when his initial lap on a qualifying tyre was disallowed because he crossed the line after a red flag was thrown. In addition to that, he scored a double win in Imola back in 2013, which proved critical for the title race as his championship rival, Sylvain Guintoli, retired from the first race. If Sykes can keep hold of his tyres this weekend, a traditional weakness of the number 66 but one he seemed to be able to remedy at an unusually warm Assen, he could be difficult to beat.

But if anyone could do so, it would likely be his teammate, Jonathan Rea. The Northern Irishman won both Imola races in 2014 on the underpowered Pata Honda. However, Rea hasn’t won at the San Marinese circuit since 2015, when he also did the double. Despite a test at Brno, on the way into this weekend Rea has claimed that he is still missing something to take the maximum from the 2018 ZX10-RR. But, like when Marc Marquez said the same thing about his Honda RC213V after last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, it is difficult to take this statement from Rea as one which perhaps put him under threat. If anything, it just serves as a worry to his fellow competitors, and there is no doubt that the reigning champion will be in the fight for the victory this weekend.

However, Imola is Ducati’s home, near to their Borgo Panigale base, and they will be eager to bounce back after a difficult weekend in Assen where they scored only one podium. Chaz Davies, though, has won the last four races at Imola, doing the double in the last two years on the #7 bike, and it will be important for the Welshman to do the same this weekend to maintain his championship challenge – his fifth place in Assen race two did not help his situation.

It was the other factory Ducati rider, Marco Melandri, though, who made the big progress at the Brno test. The Italian has suffered with straight-line instability all season, and it didn’t get any better in Holland, despite the outward appearance seeming significantly improved. The Italian will be hopeful of repeating his Phillip Island performance from February this weekend at his home race, although he has not won in Imola since he won the 125cc Grand Prix there in 1999.

The Yamaha riders had contrasting fortunes in Assen. Alex Lowes took pole, but his weekend got significantly worse from there, with the wrong front tyre being fitted to the bike (his second bike) for race one, and then, after starting from tenth due to his poor race one result, he crashed out of sixth place in race two, although he remounted to take 2 points for fourteenth. The 2013 British Superbike Champion will be hoping for better luck in the races this weekend and that, combined with recent improvements on the part of the bike, could get him back on the podium this weekend.

It was an almost opposite weekend for the #60 Yamaha of Michael van der Mark. The Assen home hero had a difficult qualifying, ending up seventh, but took second in race one and third in race two, challenging Rea on both occasions. Although, van der Mark has never been on the podium in Italy. He should have won race two in Misano last year, but his tyre failed causing him to crash – he will be hoping to correct that this weekend, although in the past Imola has proven a tricky circuit for Yamaha – they haven’t scored a top five since their return in 2015.

Honda have a difficult situation. Whilst Jake Gagne is fit for the whole weekend after missing days two and three of Assen, Leon Camier has only been given clearance for FP1 on Friday morning. It is good to have the pair of them back after there were no Ten Kate Hondas on the grid at their home race, but Camier will only decide if he will ride after the first session once it is completed. If Camier should decide to not continue with the weekend, BSB’s Jason O’Halloran, who took the Honda Racing CBR1000RR SP2 Fireblade to second place at Oulton Park last weekend in the British championship, is ready to take over for the weekend.

Eugene Laverty is back too, after he missed Aragon and Assen due to the injuries he sustained in Thailand when he was hit by Jordi Torres’ MV Agusta after he crashed the Milwaukee Yamaha. The Northern Irishman is back one round ahead of his plan, so it will be interesting to see his competitiveness – hopefully he will be okay to make the weekend with a good pace, and maybe he can make two good results in the races on Saturday and Sunday.

Leon Haslam is back in World Superbike, too, after his three successive wins in BSB, including a double win last weekend at Oulton Park which fired him to the top of the general standings. Haslam will be riding a retro Elf livery on the Puccetti Kawasaki, one similar to that his dad, Ron, used to ride, albeit on a Honda. Haslam, of course, took a podium in race one at Donington last year when he finished second, behind Tom Sykes who won thanks to Jonathan Rea’s tyre failure. Whether Haslam can replicate that result this weekend, on a track which he has not ridden since 2015, when he struggled a bit on the Aprilia, remains to be seen. And, of course, the Kawasaki in World Superbike is significantly different both to the one he rides in BSB, and that which he rode last year at Donington – most notably the maximum rev drop that Kawasaki has been suffering with so far this season will be a factor in Imola.

Tom Sykes finished fourth in the first race of the Dutch World Superbike round, and as such started the second race from pole position on the #66 Kawasaki and alongside Xavi Fores on the Barni Racing Ducati and the factory 1199 Panigale of Marco Melandri. Row two had Loris Baz in fourth, Leandro Mercado in fifth and Jordi Torres lining up sixth. The third row was of course the podium finishers from Saturday’s race in reverse order, with Chaz Davies going off seventh, Michael van der Mark from eighth and Jonathan Rea starting ninth.

Sykes made a great start from pole, but still had to out-brake the Barni Ducati of Fores around the outside at turn one. He did so successfully, and after being fastest by 0.6 seconds in warm-up on Sunday morning it was an ominous sign for the opposition.

Both Van der Mark and Rea made it past Marco Melandri at the final chicane at the end of the first lap, with the Italian on the outside of the three, and having little choice but to cut the second part of the chicane. He importantly did not gain time, though, and actually lost two further positions to Mercado and Alex Lowes down the pit straight.

Melandri then proceeded to run wide at turn one at the beginning of lap two, which allowed Baz, Torres and then Davies through, and that finalised what had been an awful two minutes for the Italian, who had dropped from third on the grid to tenth in one lap. Meanwhile, Sykes was steaming away at the front, and had already extended his gap to over one second from Fores.

The first lap had not been so good for Davies, who ran wide at the first turn which dropped him quite far back, and his progress only started midway through lap two when he passed Torres for eighth at the Ruskenhoek, and then Baz at Stekenvaal. Perhaps having a bad first lap does not sound so bad, but when the two others who started from row three are third and fourth, and the leader already has about five seconds on you, it can ruin your race, and it took him until the end of the third lap for the Welshman to move past Mercado into sixth.

By lap four the race was starting to take shape, and Xavi Fores’ stay in second position looked severely more limited once he left De Strubben, as Rea had moved past Van der Mark. Sykes was still steaming away at the front, but there was still a question mark about the duration of Sykes’ rear tyre, but we could only find out the importance of the rear tyre in the fortunes of Sykes until the end.

With 16 laps to go, Rea and Van der Mark had caught Fores, and with fifteen to go they had passed Fores – Rea’s move was a stunner, around the outside of Hoge Heide. Now we would see whether they had the pace to catch Sykes for the lead. In the first laps, there were no gains from the Kawasaki-Yamaha pair in second and third, and the gap remained at around 3.5 seconds, and by lap nine it had started to extend, out to almost four seconds.

Furthermore, it looked like Rea was trying a reasonable amount more than Sykes to make the lap time – it looked much more difficult for the Northern Irishman than for his teammate – and he was still losing time to Sykes.

From there, not much changed. Sykes continued to extend the lead over Rea behind, but the order between the front runners remained unchanged in the final twelve laps, apart from Van der Mark passing Rea when the reigning World Champion made a mistake at the chicane with ten laps to go, and a crash for the second Pata Yamaha at the final chicane with nine to go. The British rider got back on to finish fourteenth, but it was not a pair of results that he would have hoped for after starting race one from pole. Rea then passed Van der Mark back at De Strubben and, although he could not drop the Dutchman, he was able keep the home rider at bay until the flag.

The victory of Sykes was remarkable, a return to his World Championship year for the 2013 World Superbike Champion. He got to turn one first, and that was the last anyone saw of him. This performance and result was just what Sykes needed after such a disappointing opening few races, in which he had failed to make the podium on all but one occasion – the first race of the season at Phillip Island. Imola is next up, a good circuit for the Briton, and one where he has a lot of support, typically – a pair of performances akin to the one he put in for Assen race two could throw him back into championship contention.

The win for Sykes also ended Rea’s 100% record at the Dutch circuit since he moved to Kawasaki. The Northern Irishman’s second place, though, was enough to extend his gap in the World Championship to over one race win for the first time in 2018, which could be crucial with Imola next up – Ducati’s back garden and, as mentioned, a good circuit for Sykes.

Michael van der Mark was not particularly content with his third place, saying he simply did not have the grip from the Pirelli tyres to go after Rea and Sykes. Still, his second podium of his home WorldSBK round and third of the 2018 season represents a positive weekend for the Dutch rider and, combined with the potential shown by Alex Lowes, shows the progress made in recent races by Pata Yamaha.

Xavi Fores was the first of the Ducati riders over the line on a difficult day for the Italian marque. It was a decent ride from Fores but he will be disappointed as Assen is the first round of the season at which he has not managed to take a podium.

The second Ducati was Chaz Davies in fifth place. There were changes to the bike made in warm-up, but they cost him side grip in the beginning of the race, and a “strange vibration on the rear” that they still need to determine the cause of. Without the vibration he may have been able to fight for the podium, but dropping eighteen points across the two races was presumably not what the number seven had in mind for this weekend, and he will be hoping to bounce back in Imola, where he did the double back in 2016.

Jordi Torres took yet another good result for MV with sixth place, and ahead of Marco Melandri, who suffered yet again with the Panigale this weekend. Whilst he knows the pace in the bike is there, and that is also evidenced by the results of Fores and Davies, Melandri admits that he, the team and Ducati are still working to resolve the instability issues which have been plaguing the Italian since the start of the season. He is looking forward to a private test at Brno, saying it will be “very important” and that “the solution is within reach” as he hopes to be able to make better results in Imola.

Loris Baz took eighth place on the Althea BMW, ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Lorenzo Savadori who rounded out the top ten.

Eleventh place went to Davide Giugliano (replacing Eugene Laverty) on the second Aprilia, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi who “thought [he] could do better” but a problem at the start limited him to twelfth place. PJ Jacobsen on the sole Honda was thirteenth, ahead of Alex Lowes in fourteenth after his crash, and Ondrej Jezek who was the final points scorer.

Yonny Hernandez was the final rider over the line in sixteenth, whilst Leandro Mercado and Roman Ramos were the only retirements.

From here, the 2018 Superbike World Championship heads to Imola for round five. It is the true home round of Ducati, so they will be particularly focussed to recover from their subpar performances in Holland, and close down the gap to Jonathan Rea in the championship. But, for now, the man of the moment is Tom Sykes, who barely put a foot wrong in Assen race two, and looked back to his title-winning self.

The first race of round four for the 2018 Superbike World Championship at Assen was set to be a fierce one, with the pace of the front runners looking quite close, and after Alex Lowes set his first WSBK pole position.

However, it did not quite turn out that way. Jonathan Rea took the lead early on and, despite being passed by Michael van der Mark replacing him at the front for a couple of laps, the win for Rea never looked in doubt. He may not have been able to break away from the pack, but he always looked like he would have the extra 2% to be able to fight back should someone have come past – honestly it looked like he was riding at 90% for most of the race to conserve the tyre. The win for Rea extended his lead in the championship to twenty points, put him level with Carl Fogarty’s record of 12 wins at Assen and closer to the four-time World Champion’s total win record.

Michael van der Mark took second. It looked like he just ran out of tyre at the end, but his position is positive, and a good result at his home race. He had a stretch leading the race, but was never able to make an impact. It can be said, though, for sure, that the Yamaha had incredible high speed stability, as all of both Lowes’ and van der Mark’s lap time came in sectors three and four – the run back to the chicane. Van der Mark made the most of that to achieve what he did, but the amount he was lacking in the first half of the lap absolutely cost him the race, because by the end of the race he was losing too much time to be able to be close enough into the chicane – he had too much time to make up when he arrived at the section where he had the advantage – so he could never make a move for the win. Perhaps the #60 side of the Pata Yamaha garage can make a change for tomorrow to be able to fight more for the victory – but the signs from the R1 are positive, it is coming.

The final spot on the podium was taken by Chaz Davies. There was a point in the race where it looked like Chaz could win – he was hounding Jonathan Rea at almost every corner, but ultimately he was not fast enough in the right areas, notably the final sector – with all the fast stuff – which is ultimately what cost him the position to van der Mark at the end and also what cost him the chance to have a go at Rea, because he couldn’t get close enough in the final chicane or turn one. There was a bit of a scare for Davies at the end as Tom Sykes was closing him down, but the second Kawasaki was not close enough in the final chicane for a move. Third is a decent result for Chaz, considering points to Rea is probably a little bit more than what he might have expected yesterday. But, for sure, Chaz needs to win tomorrow, and starting from the same row of the grid as Rea tomorrow (for race one, Chaz was only on row three) will certainly help.

Fourth place for Tom Sykes is the result of his best race since Phillip Island race one. It still looks like Tom is struggling to get on with the ZX10-RR of this season, with the new regulations implemented, but for nonce, today Sykes came back at the end of the race, rather than dropping further back. Sykes spent a lot of time on one tyre on Friday to prepare in the best way the race, and it definitely worked, as he came past Marco Melandri and Xavi Fores and nearly Davies too. Pole position tomorrow could be just what the Brit needs to take his first win – but he has to make the start.

Fifth place went to Xavi Fores, who looked like he ran out of tyres by the end of the race, but it was enough either way to beat Marco Melandri who, as expected, looked to be struggling over race distance with the stability of his bike. Maybe it is just me, or maybe it is just that Melandri is a physically smaller rider, but it looks like the Italian is running a larger fairing this weekend perhaps to combat the instability. If he is running one, and it is for that purpose, it doesn’t seem to be working much. Phillip Island showed that Melandri has the pace to win races, but until this high-speed headshaking issue is sorted out, Marco’s season is somewhat on hold.

Loris Baz was the ‘best of the rest’ in seventh place on the Althea BMW. The Frenchman’s dog died in the night, and so it was a nice result for him to be able to say goodbye with – even if it is not what he would really want, it is pretty much all he can get right now with the package he has.

Eighth place went to Leandro Mercado on the Orelac Kawasaki, his best ride of the season, ahead of Jordi Torres on the MV and the Puccetti Kawasaki of Toprak Razgatlioglu who rounded out the top ten. Roman Ramos was just outside of the top ten in eleventh, ahead of Alex Lowes who had some issues from about the mid-point of the race, but still managed to beat Davide Giugliano, PJ Jacobsen and Lorenzo Savadori who completed the points finishers. Sava actually crashed just after passing Baz for seventh place at De Strubben, which itself came after a disastrous start which dropped him way down the order from his grid position of fourth. Still, the pace shown by the Italian is positive after a difficult start to the season.

The final two finishers were Yonny Hernandez in sixteenth and Odrej Jezek in seventeenth. The only retirement was Rinaldi, who also had a grid penalty for irresponsible riding which occurred in an incident with Tom Sykes in qualifying. Both the Red Bull Hondas missed the race too, as Leon Camier is suffering with his injury from Aragon, and Jake Gagne is out for the weekend after he sustained injuries in his practice crash in the first of the fast right handers in FP2 – a bit of a miserable weekend for the Red Bull Honda team, in their home race, none of their bikes can race.

There is a lot of work to do for many of the riders tomorrow if they want to beat Jonathan Rea, and if they can’t it will be a historic day for the triple World Champion.

Featured image courtesy of Assen Circuit