Bautista’s perfect run continues – WorldSBK/SSP/SSP300 Misano wrap

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship

Round Five – Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”

WorldSBK Superpole Race

Reigning Champion Alvaro Bautista was one of two riders to use the SCX tyre as everyone else opted for the new SCQ at Misano and that gamble paid off after the red flags were deployed on Lap 8 of 10.

The red flag was caused by a collision between Lecuona and Petrucci which ended the race two laps early. Gardner had also clashed with Petrucci but much earlier in the race, Gardner was sent to the medical centre for a check-up while Petrucci was given a long lap penalty.

Bautista had timed an overtake perfectly on Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) to take his second victory of the weekend.  Michael Rinaldi was a distant third.

Fourth place went to Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) after he battled with Rinaldi in the early stages of the race, with Bassani passing Rinaldi on Lap 2 before Rinaldi responded immediately to deny Bassani a home podium.

Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes were next across the line while Andrea Locatelli took seventh.

WorldSBK Superpole Race Results

WorldSBK Race Two

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) got the holeshot to lead into Turn 1 before Rinaldi battled his way through on his team-mate at Turn 4 to move into second.

However, it did not take long for Bautista to head to the front of the field as he overtook his team-mate and then went through on Razgatlioglu at Turn 8 on Lap 2. From there, he was able to build a gap over the Turkish star who found himself under pressure from Rinaldi.

Rinaldi overtook the 2021 Champion heading into Turn 8 on Lap 3 and pulled away before the Turk started clawing ground back once again as the race wore on, taking that second place from the Italian on lap 15.  Rinaldi kept the pressure on, with the pair making contact at Turn 1 when Rinaldi looked to re-gain second place; Rinaldi’s race ended when he went into the gravel.

Originally a battle for fourth but turning into a podium fight after Rinaldi’s crash, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) went head to head with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). Rea got ahead in the early stages before Bassani responded on Lap 3 to move ahead of Rea to claim what turned into third place to claim his first podium on home soil and his first of the 2023 campaign as he pulled out a gap over Rea behind him.

Rea claimed fourth place after losing touch with Bassani as the race progressed, but he was able to finish more than two seconds clear of Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) in fifth place as he enjoyed a strong Emilia-Romagna Round. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) came home in sixth place after fending off Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in the closing stages of the race to take six, finishing a second behind Vierge and 0.245s clear of Petrucci in seventh after he bounced back from two incidents in the Tissot Superpole Race.

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American star Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) claimed eighth place and finished as the top BMW rider in Race 2 after along battle with Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven), with the American coming through on the final lap to take eighth place. Oettl was ninth at the end of the race, only 0.350s down on Gerloff.

Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and teammate Dominique Aegerter had a fight for 10th place; the Australian getting the better of Aegerter.

Aegerter had a nine second advantage over Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) who claimed 12th place despite having to start from the back of the grid. On the sighting lap, Baz had a technical issue with his M1000RR machine, and he was able to bring it back to the pits and, while he was able to start the race, he started from last place. Baz was at the front of a trio of BMW riders with Tom Sykes (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in 13th with the 2013 Champion finishing ahead of teammate Scott Redding in 14th.

Redding had been fighting in the top ten in the early stages of the race, but he dropped down the order as the race progressed, finishing 14-seconds behind Sykes.

WorldSBK Race Two Results

WorldSBK Rider Quotes

Alvaro Bautista

“It was a special weekend not only for Ducati but also for me. After so many years with this brand, I now feel half-Italian. Right now, my feeling with the bike is incredible, allowing me to take it to the limit on every track and in every situation. The season is still long, and the goal is to continue like this. I thank the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team for the great work done again this weekend!”

Jonathan Rea

“I felt we didn’t give in and didn’t give up today, even in Race Two when I had an issue with my brake adjuster from the start. Generally when the brakes get up to temperature you have to make some adjustment. The lever was stuck, so braking with one finger meant that the lever was stuck between my fingers. I had a lot of arm pump trying to stop the bike. While I was fighting with Axel Bassani, when I was in his slipstream the system was overheating and the brake lever was coming back too much. Out of the slipstream it was manageable. That stopped me fighting with him. When I had some space I could just maintain my lap time. In the Superpole Race in the morning I felt quite strong. Axel, in some areas, was under my feet a little bit. In some areas he was better than others but there was no area where I could pass.”

Michael Rinaldi

“The regret is great, and it is useless to deny it, but it was a very positive weekend in terms of performance. In Race 2, the feeling wasn’t what it was on Saturday, but I still managed to stay firmly in the podium zone with a big advantage over the chasers. The crash? I was sucked into Toprak’s slipstream, and he braked hard. The combination of these two factors led me to make a mistake. It’s a pity, but I come out of this round with great confidence“.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

“Not easy races! Especially Race 2 because the pace is very strong, I just tried to stay with Michael and finally I see his tyres start to drop, I pass directly – but after he is making some mistake and he crashed. I am just feeling he touched me and sorry for this, this is race. In general, I am not really happy because my plan for this weekend was winning – especially the Superpole Race, I am really close to winning, but for me is bad luck because the red flag. It’s okay, not a bad weekend because I did three podiums and I am enjoying the Superpole Race – it is very good because we have the chance to fight, if I ride alone I am not enjoying!”

Andrea Locatelli

“I am still a bit sad about this weekend, because I would have liked to do something more. But it was not easy, especially yesterday in Race 1 – I don’t know what happened but it was a big problem with the feeling on the rear tyre. So, in the end P6 in Race 2 I am not so happy but not so far from the podium and it’s a big improvement so we now need to look forward. I am happy about the fight today, because we did 21 laps without a mistake with Petrucci behind – if I even made a little mistake I would lose the position, but I tried also to fight to close the gap to Xavi Vierge but maybe with a little bit more we could have also fought for the podium. We have another opportunity at the end of this month at Donington, it is a good track to understand if we can improve a bit. The big problem here was on the braking points, so in the UK it will be good to understand if it is the same or we can work on this part – then we will see. I want to say always thanks to Yamaha, because we are working so hard and pushing for more.”

Alex Lowes

“I felt great on the bike today and really sad about the crash. I had a good Superpole Race so we didn’t change the bike for Race Two. I felt good again as I sat in behind Jonathan, and to be honest I was trying to just settle into the race as the pace felt OK. Then, the next thing I know is that I crashed suddenly at Turn Four. It didn’t give me much warning and went early so I couldn’t react. It’s such a shame because I believe the crew and I did a really good job this weekend, but we don’t have the results to show for it.”

Xavi Vierge

“I’m really happy with our performance today. Yesterday we had a very unlucky qualifying, coming up against one yellow and one red flag on my two fast laps. Starting from sixteenth on the grid makes life quite difficult on the strong WorldSBK grid and especially here, where overtaking is tough. Yesterday I gave it my all anyway, and we reached the top ten. We then made a small change to the bike set up that gave me that little extra that I needed to run a very good Superpole race. We earned a third row start and a good opportunity for Race 2. We made the most of it and scored a positive top five. We are really happy with this result and with the work we have done this weekend, and that we doing in general. It’s true that Ducati is quite far ahead and finishing race 2 more than 20 seconds from the winner is still too much, but we are now closer to Kawasaki and Yamaha and were not far from the podium, just three seconds in fact. So we must keep up the good work. Lastly, I’m sorry for Iker who had really bad luck today in the sprint race but, on the other hand, it seems that he’s not badly hurt fortunately. I wish him a speedy recovery.”

Remy Gardner

“What happened in the Tissot Superpole Race was a pity, we had a good start and I felt good with the SCQ tyre and reckoned we could have done a good race to gain a better position on the grid. Unfortunately, we didn’t get past turn two and personally I didn’t feel 100% physically after the crash. Anyway, we tried our best and we saved some points, let’s focus on Donington ahead.”

Dominique Aegerter

“The Tissot Superpole Race was a shame, we actually had a great getaway, but I got hit after just two corners which led me to crash. Unfortunately, Remy was involved too, which is a real shame for the team. Then we struggled a bit in Race 2; starting from further back didn’t help at all and we lost a bit of confidence after the incident. In my opinion we didn’t express our full potential, but we still proved we’re quick, so let’s move to Donington and try to achieve a good result.”

Iker Lecuona

“We had a big crash in the Superpole race and it was not even my fault as I was hit from behind by another rider. I had to go to the medical centre and was declared unfit for race 2. I’m not feeling great but not too bad either. The good thing is that I’ve nothing broken, and this is the most important thing. On the other hand, I have this contusion to a muscle in my leg and a few hematomas here and there, so it’s best I don’t walk for two or three days and rest completely. But this is racing in the end. The positive of the weekend is that we have been improving throughout – I’ve continued to find feeling with the bike again and we were fighting when I crashed. Now we focus on recovering in time for Donington. Depending on my feeling in few days, we will see if I can start with some light training, on the bicycle or in the gym, or need to wait longer. But I’m confident I can be fully fit for Donington.”

Garrett Gerloff

“Today was a better day than yesterday, that’s a positive. I am happy with the work the team did last night. I got on the bike this morning and felt a lot better than yesterday. So, I was feeling confident going into the Superpole race and we had a little bit of good luck, but bad luck for Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecouna who crashed. But it put us into ninth place which we needed to start in that position for race two. We were having a few issues with the start; I don’t think I am doing it 100% right and there eems to be a strange feeling with the clutch. But I’m not making any excuses, I had a bad start, and I did my best to work my way back through. I am reasonably happy with the eighth place we got today but I know that we can do more. I am really motivated for the next races at Donington. It’s a couple of weeks until then, but I will be ready for sure.”

Scott Redding

“The weekend was quite difficult in general. We didn’t have the pace again, but we tried to make the best of it. We were always two or three tenths slower than the second group in the race and just tried to get a good start and be there as long as possible, but it was difficult even in the first few laps. Then as the weekend went on, I just struggled more. Everyone went faster and I went slower. I struggled with the engine brake, we’ve checked the data, and there is some inconsistency with it, which doesn’t help me getting into the corner and prepare the exit, it is just pushing the bike all the time. So, again we have more work to do to find out how we can improve the situation. It has not been the weekend we wanted; it is quite difficult for us at the moment, but we will keep working to find a solution.”

Loris Baz

“It was a strange day today. At the beginning, it was frustrating because during yesterday’s race, I felt that the bike was getting slower and slower, but we couldn’t find out why. It was the same in the Superpole race. I was riding fast and had a good pace and think I could have been not too far away from Garrett. But then something was wrong with the bike. It was pretty slow on the straight line, and I also had some issues with going into false neutral in a couple of places which cost me a lot of time. I was disappointed after the Superpole race as it was the first time since my injury that I felt I was having a good run. We decided to start race two with the second bike because we were not able to repair the damage until the start of the second race. Unfortunately, on the sighting lap I saw smoke coming out of the bike but didn’t feel that the engine was broken. I went back to the pits and the team did an amazing job fixing it in time for the race start. I think it was just a sensor that wasn’t in the right place. I had to start from the back of the grid which wasn’t ideal, but I had a good start and was soon where I would have been if I had started from my normal position. I was able to run a good pace so a big thank you to all the mechanics because without them I would have been out before the race started. Hopefully our bad luck is finally over.”

Tom Sykes

“Obviously, I was disappointed with the starting position which really affected our race performance. I felt that I had a good start in the last race today but unfortunately somebody hit me again and moved the position of my brake lever, so I lost some positions and honestly couldn’t do much on the track. I really need to find a setting where I can set a better lap time. The consistency is not a problem, but we are missing pace in some areas and can’t set a good lap time for the first part of the race. It has been a very good weekend in terms of gathering information though. Of course, it is always difficult to come and try and find a base setting for myself during a race weekend, but the guys have worked hard so thanks to the whole team. Certainly now, there is a lot more information to help us move forward.”

World Superbike Championship Points

WorldSSP Race Two

The second FIM Supersport World Championship race was a dramatic affair after a last lap pass by Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) saw him claim his first win of the 2023 season and claim Ten Kate Racing’s 100th WorldSSP victory. It was a race-long with between Manzi and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) which was decided on the final lap to deny Bulega a double home victory.

Caricasulo had a dramatic race as he got ahead of Bulega at the start but, as he was fighting for the podium places, ran wide at Turn 10 which dropped him down the order. He was also then given a Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding but he was able to fight his way back to fourth place, four seconds down on Schroetter, but almost three clear of Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) in fifth, with the Spaniard taking his best result of the season and in WorldSSP.

Wildcard Simone Corsi (Altogo Racing Team) concluded his home round with sixth place as he enjoyed a strong weekend as a wildcard in Italy.

Turkish star Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) continued his fine form with seventh place, although he did lose places in the final stages of the lap after running as high as fourth at one point. He was almost side-by-side with Nicholas Spinelli (VFT Racing WEBIKE Yamaha) across the line with just 0.071s separating the pair at the end of the race.

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) took ninth place as he continues to substitute for the injured Can Oncu, while Niki Tuuli (Dynavolt Triumph) rounded out the top ten.

Oli Bayliss (D34G Racing) was 11th for his team’s home round, finishing two-seconds down on Tuuli in the top ten, while Tom Booth-Amos (Motozoo ME AIR Racing) finished in 12th place. He was the highest-placed WorldSSP Challenge rider in the field, finishing directly ahead of his competitor, Tom Edwards (Yart-Yamaha WorldSSP Team) in 13th place. Tom’s countryman Luke Power took the chequered flag in 23rd position.

WorldSSP Race Two Results

World Supersport Championship Points

WorldSSP300 Race Two

There was action everywhere you looked in Race 2 for the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship on Sunday as wildcard Bruno Ieraci (ProDina Kawasaki Racing) doubled up on victories as a wildcard. After his Race 1 success on Saturday, the Italian rider was able to make his move to claim victory on Sunday on the last lap of 15 in what was an unpredictable contest.

WorldSSP300 Race Two Results

World Supersport 300 Championship Points

2023 FIM Superbike World Championship Calendar
Date	Circuit	WSBK	WSSP600	WSSP300
24-26 Feb	Phillip Island	X	X
3-5 Mar	Mandalika	X	X
21-23 Apr	Assen	X	X	X
5-7 May	Catalunya	X	X	X
2-4 Jun	Misano	X	X	X
30 Jun-02 Jul	Donington Park	X	X
14-16 Jul	Imola	X	X	X
28-30 Jul	Autodrom Most	X	X	X
8-10 Sep	Magny-Cours	X	X	X
22-24 Sep	Aragón	X	X	X
29-Sep-01 Oct	Algarve	X	X	X
13-15 Oct	San Juan Villicum	X	X