17
June
2017
|
08:48
Europe/Amsterdam

WorldSBK at Misano Adriatico: Tom Sykes on Kawasaki takes Race 1, the Pirelli standard SC0 soft rear solution is the most used

After a race full of upsets and crashes, the British rider from theAkashi based manufacturer is back on the top step of the podium after his winat Donington Park ahead of Alex Lowes on Yamaha and Championship leader Jonathan Rea

Tom SykesAlex Lowes

The first race of the weekend for the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship at “Marco Simoncelli” Misano World Circuit was won by Tom Sykes on Kawasaki ahead of Alex Lowes on Yamaha and defending World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team). The British rider from the Akashi based manufacturer, after taking pole position with a time of 1’33.662 for the new track record on Saturday morning, doing four tenths of a second better than the previous record from last year that he had also set, won a race full of upsets and crashes. As for the tyre choices, the DIABLO™ Superbike standard SC0 was the most used on the rear, whereas on the front rider preferences were equally divided between the standard SC2 and the V0952 SC1 development solution. As for what happened in the race to the rear tyre of Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Moto Sports Activities Director had this to say: “Just a few hours after the race, the elements we have available are obviously not enough to allow us to provide a structured and complete explanation of what happened to Michael Van Der Mark's rear tyre. On-site, the only thing we can do, and we have done it, is an analysis with the naked eye. From this analysis, which we shared with Yamaha, we found that there is a hole on the left side of the tyre. This is completely different damage from what was found on Jonathan Rea's tyre, with it being understood that these are also two different solutions. It is obviously of primary interest to us to understand what caused this damage to the tyre, so over the coming hours and days we will be conducting the appropriate in depth investigations for this case in our laboratories.”

Jonathan ReaPirelli Superpole tyre

In Race 1 of WorldSBK, Michael Van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) started well from the fifth spot on the grid, moving into the lead on the first lap ahead of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), who started from pole position, slipped back to fifth place from the other Ducati rider, Marco Melandri. Technical problems forced Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) to return to pit lane during the second lap.

WorldSBK Race 1 start


On the third lap Chaz Davies overtook Rea who, about the mid-race point, was nevertheless able to recover the lost position. Van Der Mark, Rea, Davies and Melandri made up the lead group, all within a one second gap of each other. From the fourteenth lap, Rea sought to close the gap behind the Dutch race leader, but in the end his efforts were unnecessary because during the fifteenth lap, Van Der Mark crashed out of the race, leaving the lead to the defending World Champion. In the final laps, the leading trio tightened up and Davies followed threateningly in second place until the 19th lap when Rea was no longer able to fend off his attacks and he overtook the Northern Irishman to become the new race leader. His teammate, Melandri, also took advantage of the pass, managing to move into second place right behind Davies. But Rea refused to give up and, at the start of the penultimate lap he took back second place, overtaking the Italian Ducati rider. In the finale there was one upset after another: on the last lap, Marco Melandri crashed out of the race and a few turns later Davies followed suit with Rea, following too closely to be able to avoid him, also crashing. The Northern Irishman managed to get his bike picked up and back on the track, finishing in third place, whereas it was Tom Sykes who exploited the situation to cross the line first ahead of Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)and teammate Rea.

Worldsbk Race 1 podiumWorldsbk Race 1 start

WorldSBK Race 1 standings: 1) T. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) 2) A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) 3) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) 4) J. Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) 5) X. Forés (BARNI Racing Team) 6) E. Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) 7) R. Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 8 ) R. Ramos (Team Kawasaki GoEleven) 9) L. Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) 10) R. De Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) 11) L. Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) 12) A. De Angelis (Pedercini Racing SC-Project) 13) A. Badovini (Grillini Racing Team) 14) O. Jezek (Grillini Racing Team) 15) M. Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) NC) S. Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) RT) C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) RT) M. Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) RT) R. Russo (Guandalini Racing) RT) L. Mercado (IODARacing) RT) F. Menghi (VFT Racing) The Pirelli solutions chosen by the WorldSBK riders for Race 1: In the first race of the weekend, the riders' choices were rather similar. With the asphalt temperature exceeding 50°C, for the rear all the riders obviously chose one of the two available soft solutions. Of the two, the standard SC0 (option B) was preferred by a wide margin with 16 out of the 21 riders selecting it. The only odd man out on the front row was Chaz Davies who preferred the V0602 SC0 development solution (option A) to the standard soft tyre. As for the front, the most used tyre was the V0952 SC1 development solution (option B) followed closely by the standard SC2 (option C), which was chosen by four of the first six riders on the starting grid.

Tyres selected on the starting grid of WorldSBK Race 1


Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 1: • Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team),in 1’35.297 at the 4th lap • Most used front solution: development SC1 V0952 (11 out of 21 riders) • Most used rear solution: standard SC0 (16 out of 21 riders) • Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 272.7 km/h, achieved by Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in the 10th lap • Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 5 front and 6 rear Number of tyres available for each WorldSBK rider: 68, including 35 front and 33 rear • Air temperature: 27° C • Asphalt temperature: 52° C