Tom Sykes take Superpole, new track record and race one win at Donington
Jonathan Rea crashes out – Chaz Davies goes down but remounts to salvage points
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) took a brilliant win in Race 1 of the PATA UK Round in a dramatic race which brought crashes for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). Wildcard Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) made it an all-British podium, as Sykes took an amazing ninth successive victory in his home race at Donington Park.
An incident-packed race saw provisional leader Davies go down in the early stages at turn 12, after he lost the front end. He picked his Ducati up to rejoin, eventually finishing eighth having crashed at the same corner as he did in last year’s Race 1 at Donington and this latest incident will be a big blow to his World title aspirations.
With 6 laps to go Sykes got through on his teammate Rea to lead and within just over a lap he had opened up a two second gap on his Northern Irish teammate. Rea then suffered a high speed accident at turn 3, crashing out of the race, but was soon back on his feet and was taken back to the pits on a scooter.
A superb ride by Haslam on his return to the series saw him take a highly creditable second place, whilst Lowes took third thanks to a late move on Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).
Dutchman Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) completed the top five, with Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) making it four Brits in the top six to further delight the home crowd.
In seventh place Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) crossed the line a couple of seconds ahead of Davies, with Spaniards Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) completing the top ten after 23 breathtaking laps around the exciting 4.023km Donington Park Circuit.
The riders and many of the fans in attendance carried stickers and flags in tribute to the late Nicky Hayden who tragically passed away earlier in the week after a cycling accident in Italy, with Sykes quick to pay his condolences to the Hayden family after the race in parc ferme. The podium finishers all wore t-shirts carrying Hayden’s famous number 69 in honour of the Kentucky Kid.
Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) and Riccardo Russo (Guandalini Racing) unfortunately suffered technical issues and ended up with DNFs
1st – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
“That was a fantastic race and I enjoyed it. It turned out to be very difficult and not necessarily what I had in the plan but that is part of racing. We had a good start but during the attempted pass on Chaz I had a full fuel load and was just a little bit on the limit, I ran wide and did again on Jonathan. I lost a lot of time there but today’s experience has been a blessing in disguise really, because I now have a better understanding of the race bike set-up while riding with the others. All weekend I have been fairly much alone on track and doing my own thing and had some great results. But today being behind other riders was hampering the lap time. Overall to win here and continue my form at Donington is fantastic. ”
2nd – Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
“Yesterdays pace, I felt comfortable to fight for the podium but today we had a bit of a problem and with the track temperatures changing it was behaving very differently. Obviously Chaz and Jonny crashed but I was just working my way through, working my own race and I’m so happy for Kawasaki Puccetti Racing.”
3rd – Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
“Leon came up the inside, I went off track and Eugene hit me, that’s expected from Leon with a wildcard, he’s one of my best mates off track. It was a fantastic base and the bike was great, we had the pace for fourth but with Marco on the last lap, you’ve gotta go for it.”
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 4th
“Today, the wind hindered our performance. During the race, the bike was moving a lot and the front kept lifting from the ground. For this reason, a gust pushed me off the track during the last lap, but I’m more disappointed for the sensations on the bike than the missed podium itself. I lacked confidence on the front and didn’t have much grip on the rear. I couldn’t replicate the times I did during practice yesterday, when we still weren’t at our 100 percent. In these cases, you need to think too much while riding, and it’s hard to push as hard as you want and make passes. We’ll start from pole position tomorrow, but first of all we need to find a better pace. We’re working on it, evaluating several ideas.”
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 8th
“I’m disappointed for the crash, because we had a really good pace at the start of the race. Yesterday we lacked stability, but the crew worked hard overnight and I was able to push hard at the front and stress our rivals a bit. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the last corner, which is quite bumpy. I let go the front brake a little too quickly and the front unloaded too fast. It’s always a fine line between winning and losing. Looking at the bright side, we got back on the bike and salvaged some valuable points for the championship. Hopefully we can show a strong pace in Race 2 as well and make it to the checkered flag.”
Jonathan Rea – DNF
“About a lap before Tom passed me I started to get a lot of vibration entering the corner off the gas. I had a lot of chatter from the front and the rear. When Tom passed me it started to get worse and worse. All I was thinking about was to finish the race and get some points. In hindsight I should have pulled over because I would have saved my bike because it was completely destroyed. The team will have to build me a new bike for tomorrow so that is frustrating for the mechanics as well. I am really disappointed, to be honest.”
WorldSBK 2017 – Donington – Superbike Race One Results
- T. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
- L. Haslam (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
- A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
- M. Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
- M. Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
- L. Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)
- L. Mercado (IODARacing)
- C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
- J. Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team)
- X. Forés (BARNI Racing Team)
- R. Ramos (Team Kawasaki GoEleven)
- L. Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia)
- E. Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia)
- R. Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
- R. De Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team)
- A. Badovini (Grillini Racing Team)
- A. De Angelis (Pedercini Racing SC-Project)
- O. Jezek (Grillini Racing Team)
RT) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)
RT) S. Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)
RT) R. Russo (Guandalini Racing)
RT) J. Dixon (Royal Air Force Reg. & Res. Kawasaki)
WorldSBK 2017 – Donington – Superbike Race One Championship Standings
- Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (235 points)
- Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki (185 points)
- Chaz Davies (GBR) Ducati (169 points)
WorldSSP: Super Sofuoglu on pole at Donington
At the PATA UK Round on Saturday afternoon it was WorldSSP World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) who secured pole position for the sixth race of the season with a 1’30.904 lap of the 4.023km Donington Park Circuit on his Kawasaki ZX-6R. Frenchmen Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) and Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) are also on the front row.
The Turk notched his 32nd pole in the category and his second of 2017 so far as he showed his rivals he means business this weekend.
The rider in Sofuoglu’s sights at the top of the championship standings – Mahias – qualified in second place on the grid on his Yamaha YZF R6, just +0.067s off pole.
Making it three different manufacturers on the front row was Mahias’ compatriot Cluzel who qualified third, half a second behind the front two on the Honda CBR600RR.
SP1 leader Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing) put another manufacturer towards the front of the grid in fourth on the Triumph Daytona 675, as the top British qualifier for his home race.
Just behind Stapleford on the second row is Irishman Jack Kennedy in fifth, also on the Profile Racing Triumph, with Friday’s fastest rider American PJ Jacobsen (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) in sixth.
On the third row are three more Britons, HALSALL Racing Team wild card Joe Francis in seventh, GEMAR Team Lorini’s Kyle Smith in eighth and Team Kawasaki Go Eleven man Gino Rea in ninth place on the grid for Sunday’s sixth race of the year.
Row four will feature Sheridan Morais (Kallio Racing), Christian Gamarino (BARDAHL EVAN BROS. Honda Racing) and Hikari Okubo (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) – who qualified 10th, 11th and 12th respectively.
Anthony West qualified 16th while countrymen Lachlan Epis and Giuseppe Scarcella will start from 27th and 32nd respectively.
Pole Position – Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
“It was a difficult day because this morning was wet and this afternoon was windy but anyway we make a good lap and got pole position. We have to be fighting tomorrow. Yesterday I make a very good pace for the race, and the same pace as today. I am very confident for the race. I cant say I did enough but that’s good.”
WorldSSP Tissot-Superpole 2
- Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Kawasaki 1.30.904
- Lucas Mahias (FRA) Yamaha 1.30.971 (+0.067)
- Jules Cluzel (FRA) Honda 1.31.485 (+0.581)
FIM STK1000 Rinaldi shows pace for third pole of the year
At the Donington Park Circuit on Saturday afternoon Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team) took pole in the Superstock 1000 European Championship with a 1’29.587 lap, putting him ahead of Roberto Tamburini (PATA Yamaha Official STK 1000 Team) and Florian Marino (Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team) on the front row.
Championship leader Rinaldi will look for his third win of the season and his fourth podium of 2017 in the fourth race of the championship on Sunday, having secured his third pole of the campaign by +0.267s from his compatriot Tamburini in the STK1000 QP session.
Behind the pair of leading Italians at the head of the grid, Frenchman Marino will start from third place. In turn sitting to the rear of Marino on the second row will be Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Federico Sandi (Berclaz Racing Team) and Maximillian Schieb (Nuova M2 Racing).
Row three is set to feature Marco Faccani (Althea BMW Racing Team), Jeremy Guarnoni (Pedercini Racing) and Sebastien Suchet (Berclaz Racing Team). Luca Vitali (Nuova M2 Racing) completed the top ten to head row four.
Kevin Calia (RSV Phoenix Suzuki) had a high-speed crash at turn 3 towards the end of the session but walked away apparently unharmed and he qualified in 13th place.
Mike Jones qualified 17th just head of countryman Glenn Scott.
WorldSSP300: Coppola fourth different rider to take on pole position
Alfonso Coppola (SK Racing) secured pole position at the Pata UK Round, in a hard fought session, and is the fourth different rider to take pole position in the new series.
Italian team-mates Paolo Grassia (3750 Made in CIV) made it through to Superpole Two narrowly ahead of Manuel Bastinanelli (3750 Made in CIV), heading for the fight for pole position at Donington Park. On board Kawasaki machines, their pace made it easy for them to narrowly sail through into SP2.
Borja Sanchez (Halcourier Racing) will line up in second position on the grid, ahead of Mika Perez (WILSport Racedays) at a circuit he is very familiar with. In a home debut, Chris Taylor (MTM HS Kawasaki) heads the front row, just under half a second off pole position. Dorren Loureiro (DS Junior Team) lines up in fifth position at a windy Donington Park, ahead of one event rider Marc Garcia (Halcourier Racing).
Pole Position – Alfonso Coppola (SK Racing)
“I am very happy to have taken my first pole position, it was a strong qualifying but very hard and I couldn’t follow another rider, it was only me and tough to get a good lap. I was pushing in every sector and overall my lap was the best one, I pushed at the finish and overall I am very happy.”
WorldSSP300 Tissot-Superpole 2
- Alfonso Coppola (ITA) Yamaha 1.46.150
- Borja Sanchez (ESP) Yamaha 1.46.442 (+0.292)
- Mika Perez (ESP) Yamaha 1.46.553 (+0.403)
