At Misano with the new Pirelli solutions it’s a double win for Kawasaki and a new track record set by Tom Sykes

Using the new Superpole tire developed by Pirelli the Englishman broke the track record set in 2010 by Troy Corser and won both the Superbike races on the new soft blend rear solution, with team mate Loris Baz and Italian Marco Melandri crossing the line behind him

Misano Adriatico (Italy), June 22, 2014 – On the Misano track where the seventh round of the eni FIM World Superbike just ended, Pirelli once again made a significant contribution to the show provided by the races as well as the performance displayed by the bikes and riders.

Reigning World Champion Tom Sykes once again stole the show astride his Kawasaki ZX-10R for Kawasaki Racing Team, first taking Superpole on Saturday with a time of 1’34.883, breaking the 1’35.001 track record set by Troy Corser in 2010 by more than 1 tenth of a second, and then winning both races on Sunday, also putting in the fastest lap in Race 1. These results certainly benefited from the contribution of the new tires developed by Pirelli and introduced for the first time this round. These included the new qualifier tire used by the riders for Saturday’s Superpole which gave Tom Sykes the new track record, as well as the new soft compound rear solution developed ad hoc for the Superbike riders which was quite popular with all the riders in the category.

As for the way the Superbike races played out, the result was the same for Race 1 and Race 2: in both cases the English Kawasaki rider finished on the top step of the podium, followed across the line by team mate Loris Baz and Aprilia rider Marco Melandri. With this double win Tom Sykes, already leader in the rider standings, widens the gap in front of Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli, taking his advantage to 39 points over the Aprilia rider and to 41 over team mate Loris Baz. Despite the excellent performance by the Aprilia Racing Team rider from Ravenna, Marco Melandri’s gap behind the leader increases to 72 points, making a comeback more difficult. In the Manufacturer championship the double one-two by the Kawasaki riders takes the brand from Akashi to 266 points in the standings with a 22 point advantage over Aprilia and 67 over Honda.

In Supersport it was the second win of the season for Jules Cluzel and his MV Agusta for the MV Agusta Reparto Corse team, followed by the current ranking leader who has won 3 races so far, Dutchman Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team), with Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) crossing the line third and also taking the fastest lap to win the Pirelli Best Lap Award.

In the Superstock 1000 class the top step of the podium went to Lorenzo Savadori (Team Pedercini), with second place going to Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing Team) and the bottom step for Fabio Massei (EAB Racing Team).

In the FIM Superstock 600 European Championship held on Saturday, victory went to Marco Faccani (San Carlo Team Italia) for his third win of the season out of 4 races held and keeping him at the top of the standings. Crossing the finish line behind him was Federico Caricasulo (Evan Bros. Racing Team) and wild card Davide Stirpe (Scuderia Maran.ga. Racing) finishing on the bottom step of the podium.

Comment from Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Moto Racing Director:

“We are truly pleased with the results achieved by Pirelli throughout the weekend. Besides the standard tires, during the season we are always designing some development solutions in order to keep our racing range up to date year after year. In this case here at Misano for Superbike we had a new Superpole tire and a new rear tire in a soft blend dedicated exclusively to the Superbike riders. We received our first satisfaction already on Saturday when Tom Sykes used the new Superpole tire which we developed to break the track record that Troy Corser had set in 2010. In the races today we received the nth confirmation. Both the Superbike and EVO riders used the rear solutions which had been custom developed for their respective categories and we perceive a very important message from this: if new solutions, never before tested by the riders, were the most popular ones and provided the riders with exemplary performance, it means that our development efforts are working well and above all it means that the riders trust us and are ready to try the new solutions that we provide for them. It may seem trite, but this is a relationship of trust that we have been able to build over the years and of which we are particularly proud. I obviously would like to compliment the entire Kawasaki team and their riders, but also Marco Melandri and Aprilia who put in an excellent performance. My congratulations also to MV Agusta and an excellent performance by Jules Cluzel. We are watching some very heated and open championships where various riders are taking turns on the podium. I think that the great thing about Superbike and the lower classes lies most of all in this fiery and consistent competitiveness between manufacturers and riders.”

The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders:

In Superbike, for the choice of tire on the front, in both races the most used solution was once again the S1699 development tire for this round, chosen by about 2/3 of the riders. Preference among the other riders more or less split between the standard SC3 and the new SC2 compound T0020 development solution.

On the rear it is worth pointing out just how popular the new solutions developed by Pirelli and never before tested were with the riders. In particular, many of the Superbike riders, especially those in the front rows, opted for the new solution dedicated to them, the T0722, whereas most of the EVO riders chose the R1368, also a custom developed tire for their class. The remainder of the riders obviously opted for the standard SC0 solution.

In the Supersport category the most used option on the front was the new S1485 development solution, chosen by 15 out of the 25 riders on the starting grid, a clear demonstration of the excellent work Pirelli has done in terms of development for the Supersport riders as well. Of the remaining riders, 6 chose the standard SC1 solution and 4 opted for the standard SC2.

For the rear 19 riders went with the standard SC0 whereas the remaining 6 riders chose the standard SC1 solution.

Pirelli Best Lap Award:

The “Pirelli Best Lap Awards” are awarded by Pirelli to the riders who set the fastest race lap in Superbike and Supersport. This prestigious recognition is presented by a Pirelli representative during the Paddock Show in a press conference which follows the podium at the end of the races, for a total of three awards each weekend.

The Superbike and Supersport riders who have earned the most “Pirelli Best Lap Award” titles at the end of the season will be elected “Best Lap Winner: fastest rider of the year” and awarded during the end of year ceremony. At the moment Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) leads the Superbike standings with 3 Best Lap Awards. In Supersport Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) is the leader with 2 Best Laps.

These are the riders who won the Pirelli Best Lap Awards at Misano Adriatico:

WSB Gara 1 – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), 1’35.629(5° giro)

WSB Gara 2 – Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team), 1’36.033 (2° giro)

WSS – Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres), 1’39.436 (5° giro)

The overall standings after six rounds are as follows:

WSB: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team): 3; Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team): 2; Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team): 2; Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team): 2; Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki): 2; Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team): 2;Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team): 1

WSS: Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team): 2; Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport): 1; Roberto Tamburini(San Carlo Puccetti Racing): 1; Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India): 1; Kev Coghlan (DMC Panavto-Yamaha): 1; Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres): 1

The 2014 Pirelli statistics for the Misano round:

• Total number of tires Pirelli brought: 4953

• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 6 front and 7 rear

• Number of tires available for each Superbike rider: 39 front and 41 rear

• Number of solutions for the Supersport class (dry, intermediate and wet): 5 front and 4 rear

• Number of tires available for each Supersport rider: 27 front and 23 rear

• Temperature in Race 1: air 29° C, asphalt 38° C

• Temperature in Race 2: air 28° C, asphalt 44° C

• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tires: 275.9 kms/h, in Race 1 by Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) at 1st lap

• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa tires in Supersport: 238.9 kms/h, Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) and Kev Coghlan (DMC Panavto-Yamaha) at 7th and 1st lap.

More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:

Round 7 Misano: EVO and Superstock Update

As well as the double SBK class win for KRT rider Tom Sykes and two Evo category wins for Kawasaki Racing Team SBK Evo rider David Salom at the Misano race weekend, there further positive showings for Ninja ZX-10R riders, including a Superstock 1000 FIM Cup race victory for Team Pedercini rider Lorenzo Savadori.

In the SBK Evo category, a class-within-a-class run alongside the full SBK machines, Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) was 16th in the combined rankings of race one and the fifth Evo rider home.

In race two new Kawasaki Team Pedercini rider Riccardo Russo was the next best Kawasaki Evo rider after the KRT entry David Salom, 14th in the combined results and fourth best rider in the Evo race. He had been 17th in race one. One place behind Russo in race two, and scoring a point for his efforts on home ground, was Andrea Andreozzi (Kawasaki Team Pedercini).

Bryan Staring (Iron Brain Kawasaki SBK Team) was the final Kawasaki Evo race finisher in race one, in 18th place, a performance he repeated in the second 21-lap contest.

In the Evo Championship standings, Salom is out ahead with 67 points, with next best Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R rider being Guarnoni, fourth on 19 points. The currently injured Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Team Pedercini) is fifth and Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India) sixth, despite two DNFs on the weekend. Sheridan Morais (Iron Brain Kawasaki SBK Team) places seventh in the Evo standings after seven rounds, while Andreozzi is in eighth place.

The next round is at Portimao in Portugal, with raceday on Sunday 6 July.

Superstock 1000 FIM Cup – Misano Round

Lorenzo Savadori (Kawasaki Team Pedercini) was the convincing winner of the shortened Misano Superstock 1000 FIM Cup race, taking an advantage of over five seconds to a group of his closest rivals after the fourth round of the year ended under a red flag finish on lap ten.

Savadori had started from pole position for the race and in the overall championship standings he left Misano in second place, only 14 points from the points leader Leandro Mercado with three rounds left to run.

South African rider David McFadden (MRS Kawasaki) continued the good form of the Kawasaki riders in this class with fifth place. From seventh to ninth place, Ninja ZX-10R riders filled the race rankings, with Romain Lanusse (Team Pedercini Kawasaki), Matthieu Lussiana (Kawasaki Team Garnier by Aspi) and Kevin Valk (MTM Racing Kawasaki) ending up in that order.

Valk is the second highest Kawasaki rider in the championship standings after Savadori, sitting in fifth place overall and already with a race win under his belt on home ground at Assen in April. Lussiana is sixth, McFadden now seventh and Lanusse eighth in the points table. Kawasaki riders therefore hold all but three of the top eight championship places with four rounds gone.

The Superstock 1000 FIM Cup riders join the other classes as usual at the next round in Portimao, with track action taking place between 4 and 6 July.