FIM Superbike World Championship

Motorland Aragon

Alcaniz, Spain

April 1, 2017

Race One Results (All on Pirelli tires):

1. Jonathan Rea, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 18 laps, Total Race Time 33:24.302, Best Lap Time 1:50.597

2. Marco Melandri, Italy (Duc Panigale R), -4.058 seconds, 1:50.737

3. Tom Sykes, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), -7.512, 1:50.885

4. Alex Lowes, UK (Yam YZF-R1), -9.962, 1:51.153

5. Michael van der Mark, Netherlands (Yam YZF-R1), -12.302, 1:51.291

6. Jordi Torres, Spain (BMW S1000RR), -18.995, 1:51.692

7. Leandro Mercado, Argentina (Apr RSV4 RF), -21.545, 1:51.670

8. Eugene Laverty, Ireland (Apr RSV4 RF), -27.309, 1:51.582

9. Stefan Bradl, Germany (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), -27.488, 1:51.583

10. Nicky Hayden, USA (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), -27.663, 1:51.649

11. Leon Camier, UK (MV Agusta F4 RC),  -35.409, 1:52.252

12. Markus Reiterberger, Germany (BMW S1000RR), -41.558, 1:52.447

13. Julian Simon, Spain (Apr RSV4 RF), -44.006, 1:52.778

14. Randy Krummenacher, Switzerland (Kaw ZX-10R), -44.482, 1:52.986

15. Alex De Angelis, San Marino (Kaw ZX-10R), -45.915, 1:53.118

16. Ricardo Russo, Italy (Yam YZF-R1), -83.533, 1:53.474

17. Chaz Davies, UK (Duc Panigale R), -2 laps, 1:50.740, DNF, crash

18. Xavi Fores, Spain (Duc Panigale R), -4 laps, 1:51.002, DNF, crash

19. Roman Ramos, Spain (Kaw ZX-10R), -14 laps, 1:51.807, DNF, technical problem

20. Ayrton Badovini, Italy (Kaw ZX-10R), -18 laps, no lap time recorded, DNF, technical problem

21. Ondrej Jezek, Czech Republic (Kaw ZX-10R), DNS

More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:

Fifth Win For Rea As Sykes Also Podiums

After an often-tough fight for the lead in the opening 18-lap FIM Superbike World Championship race at Motorland Aragon Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) ended up out front on the final lap after his rival Chaz Davies fell on the last corner of the penultimate lap. This was Jonathan’s fifth win from five starts in 2017. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) put a second official Ninja ZX-10RR on the podium, in third place.

After qualifying second and third in Superpole 2 earlier in the day, Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes raced to a win and third place respectively in the first race of the Motorland weekend. Rea scored what was the 200th WorldSBK win for a British rider.

Rea’s perfect start to the season looked like it may be halted by Davies’ as they battled it out up front but when Rea’s race-long companion fell while leading, with just one lap to go, Jonathan was able to relax and take a four second margin of victory.

For Sykes the relatively strong wind was a factor in not being able to stay in contention to the end, despite his front row start. He was lapping as fast as any other riders at one point but he was forced to slow his pace near the end. He continued to look for strong points and eventually took 16 for his third place.

Rea has scored a maximum 125 points and leads the championship – now from his Sykes – by 47 points. One more 18-lap race will take place this weekend, on Sunday 2nd April. Under the new rules for 2017, Rea will now start the second race in ninth position, Sykes in seventh.

Jonathan Rea, stated: “I made the strongest race I could do. Chaz was strong in areas where I was not, and I was strong in areas where he was not, so it was a case of me learning a lot in the race. The stopping performance, direction change and grip conservation of the bike was really good today and I felt I still had a tyre to fight with at the end, but in the middle section of the track, where Chaz was just in the front, I could not maximise any time to try to go away out front. The only thing I could do in that race was ride shotgun and put as much pressure on as I could and wait for a mistake. The door opened up a few times because Chaz missed a few apexes but finally he went down in the penultimate lap. First of all I hope Chaz is OK but for me it was a perfect opportunity to win another race. It was going to be very difficult to win a last lap battle with him in that last sector where he was so strong. It is a crash-gifted win but I will take it because I felt I rode well.”

Tom Sykes, stated: “Sometimes you get gifted things in racing but we were working hard. The start of my day was very bad because I woke up about 04.00 this morning with some kind of sickness and suffered in the race. I could not fuel the body for today, I could not eat and was almost not be able to drink anything. But in the race you always find a way around these physical things. In the wind I just suffered a little bit with the turning of the bike, so the rear traction was critical. Because the bike would not turn I was overstressing the rear tyre. From that point of view, tomorrow we will have another go. Hopefully my physical condition will be much stronger and the plan right now is to improve the set-up of the bike some more.”

More, from a press release issued by Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team:

Bradl and Hayden round out top-10 in opening race at Aragon

Spanish Round

MotorLand Aragón, Spain

The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team has contested the opening race of the weekend at the MotorLand Aragón circuit in north-eastern Spain, with Stefan Bradl and Nicky Hayden crossing the line in ninth and tenth positions, respectively, at the end of the 18-lap encounter.

The two Honda WorldSBK combatants got a good start from tenth and eleventh on the grid on board their Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 machines and gained one position each during the opening lap. Bradl spent most of the race ahead of his teammate as he swapped positions several times with Eugene Laverty. However, on the last lap, Hayden successfully overtook Bradl for ninth place, but the German retook the place before the chequered flag.

The starting grid for race two (13:00 GMT +2) will see Stefan Bradl lining up on row two in sixth slot, while Nicky Hayden will launch himself from twelfth place on the fourth row.

Stefan Bradl 6

9th

It was not an easy Saturday for us. For the first time this year I found myself battling out on track and I did have some fun with Laverty, but I was suffering a bit on the back straight as we had to use an old engine after a problem in Superpole 2. The setup still needs to be improved and there were several minor issues rather than one big one, but we can still work on them ahead of race two. The key areas are rear grip but we also need to find some more stability at the front. Starting from sixth place will be interesting for me as it’ll be a little bit closer to the front, with an opportunity to learn some more from the guys ahead.

Nicky Hayden 69

10th

We made a good change for Superpole 1 and I immediately felt much happier with the bike. A 50.9s lap-time with race tyres was definitely not bad but unfortunately I wasn’t able to lap much faster with the qualifier. I got a good start in the race but I found myself baulked entering turn one, so I lost some positions. The bike was working OK in some areas but I was struggling a little with turning. I caught up there with Eugene and Stefan and I thought I could have won that battle, so that I could start closer to the front tomorrow. I went back and forth with the Stefan on the last lap: I did get in front of him, then I thought I had a chance at Eugene but Stefan passed me again on the back straight. Obviously, we’re not too happy with tenth place but we’ll keep working and see what we can do tomorrow.

Pieter Breddels

We couldn’t make the most of free practice 3 today as the temperatures were too low to do some important work needed. It did get warmer for Superpole 1 which helped the bike find its sweet spot and we set some competitive lap-times, especially with race tyres. In the race, Stefan struggled a bit more on the straight as he was using an old engine, while after a few laps Nicky was already experiencing some issues in getting the bike to turn the way he wanted. Both riders did a great job, though, and now we have some more time to have a look at the data for race 2.

More, form a press release issued by Althea Racing BMW:

 Solid sixth for Torres and Althea BMW in SBK race 1 at Aragón

Alcaniz (Spain), Saturday 1 April 2017

A very busy day for the Althea BMW Racing team today at Motorland Aragón, in which the squad finished the first SBK race of the weekend in sixth place with Torres and in 12th position with Reiterberger. Faccano has qualified third for tomorrow’s STK1000 race.

Superpole 1: Reiterberger completed a couple of laps with the race tyre before going back out with the qualifier. Unfortunately, a crash two minutes from the session’s end prevented him from completing a fast lap, meaning that he closed third, which translated into thirteenth place on the race grid.

Superpole 2: Torres positioned fifth with the race tyre before returning to the track with the qualifying session. Thanks to a best time of 1’50.397, the Spaniard earned himself a sixth place start on the grid for today’s race.

SBK – Race 1: Torres lost some positions off the line and was lying 11th after one lap. Getting past Hayden on lap seven, and then Laverty, the Spaniard was up to eighth by mid-race. Able to make up a further two place in the later stages, Jordi crossed the line sixth.

Reiti, forced to start from the back of the grid following last minute bike repairs after the Superpole crash, he soon moved up to thirteenth place, a position he held until the penultimate lap where he advanced one more place to finish twelfth.

STK1000 Qualifying: having concluded this morning’s practice in sixth (a wet track prevented almost all rider from improving on times set yesterday), Faccani was ready for qualifying. Unfortunately though, a technical issue kept him in the garage for most of the session, before the young Italian made the last five minutes count, setting a 1’52.626 that projected him into final third place, meaning a front row start for tomorrow’s race.

Jordi Torres:

“All in all, we finished the race well. After a less than impressive start, due to the electronics, I was left with a lot of work to do. I pushed from the start to make up some positions and was gradually able to move forward. It was a great race for us, considering how it began. Having said that, I really want to do better tomorrow, something that is very possible if I can just make a better start than I did today!”

Markus Reiterberger:

“We started the day positively in FP3 and I also had good feeling in SP1, until the highside put paid to my plans – I’m sure I could have entered SP2 and started the race top ten if it hadn’t been for that. As for the race, we were forced to start from last place as the bike wasn’t quite fixed in time. Thanks to the team’s hard work, I was actually able to race though – thankfully. I finished twelfth, which wasn’t bad from last place but I hope we can do more tomorrow of course, if we can get the bike back to how it was in SP1.”

More, from a press release issued by MV Agusta:

SOLID PERFOMANCE FOR PJ JACOBSEN GETTING HIS 2ND POLE POSITION IN WORLDSSP 

Leon Camier ended up 11th inWorldSBK Race 1 and – with the 5 points obtained – the Brit remains 9th in overall standing. In WorldSSP PJ Jacobsen got the second seasonal pole position in three rounds, after setting the best lap time in Tissot-Superpole2.

WorldSBK – FP3, Race1

The first race of this MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship – round 3 was staged this morning, Saturday, April 1, on the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain.

Leon Camier kicked off Race 1 from the 15th position on grid, due to some technical problems that slowed him down in the early stages of the weekend. When the lights went out on the straight, Camier passed several riders in the first corner fighting in 14th position. Thanks to his constant race pace the Brit rider ended up 11th, gaining 5 points on the overall standing.

WorldSSP – FP3, SP2

After setting the fastest time in Friday’s combined timesheet, today PJ Jacobsen was back on track at the Motorland Aragon race track. Thanks to this results the 23-years old American rider was able to enter the Tissot-Superpole2 this afternoon, where he set the fastest time (1’54.948), getting his 2nd pole position after only 3 races.

PJ’s teammate Alessandro Zaccone set the 11th time (1st in ESS) after his first Tissot-Superpole with Team MV Agusta Reparto Corse.

Leon Camier #2 WorldSBK –Today we struggled a little bit more than usual and honestly I don’t know what was wrong with the bike, I think it was an electronic problem, maybe a broken sensor, but my team is working hard on my bike in order to fix it as soon as they can. Despite this, considering I wasn’t able to fight for the top positions in Race1 I just tried to push as hard as I could and get some points for the championship.

Patrick PJ Jacobsen #99 WorldSSP – I am absolutely happy with this second pole position. All the MV Agusta team did a very good job today and I can’t thank them enough. The only little problems today were the wind, too strong, and the tyres, but in the end I had a very positive feeling on by bike and I was able to close in pole position. The main target for tomorrow is win the race or at least get the podium, so I can bridge the gap with the top riders and get back in the fight for the championship.

Alessandro Zaccone #61 ESS – All in all I am happy with this result. Yesterday we did a good job and I managed to get into the Tissot-Superpole2 at my first race weekend with Team MV Agusta Reparto Corse. Surely, I still have too few km with this bike and we will have to work hard to make the most of each session on track. Tomorrow I hope we can make another step forward ahead of the race.

More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:

Ups and downs for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati in Race 1 at Aragon: Melandri is 2nd, determined Davies crashes out while leading

The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team took its sixth podium of the year in Race 1 of the 2017 WorldSBK Championship at Aragon (Spain) thanks to Marco Melandri’s second-place finish. The Italian, twice third in the first two rounds, thus sealed his best result of the season so far. Chaz Davies, on the other hand, crashed out in turn 16 while he was leading the race, in the final stages of a spectacular fight with Rea.

Starting from fourth position, Melandri suffered some difficulties early on with fresh tyres but eventually found his rhythm, posting similar lap times to those of the leading duo and maintaining third position quite effortlessly. Davies, who secured pole position with the new track record in 1:49.319, took the lead at the start and quickly pulled away with Rea. The Welshman showed his determination once again, fiercely responding to his fellow countryman’s attacks, but eventually crashed out at the end of lap 16 without sustaining injuries.

The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will resume action tomorrow at 09:30 (CET) for WUP. Race 2 is scheduled to start at 13:00. Due to the new grid regulations for Race 2, Melandri and Davies will start in 8th and 10th position respectively.

Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 2nd

“It was a tough race, for sure. We expected warmer temperatures, which would have allowed us to use the softer rear tyre, but the grip level was much lower today and we all had to adapt, both with the electronics and riding style. Personally, I struggled with the front. I opted for the new development SC1 solution because I really liked it during practice, but I expected it to drop in a different way. I lacked grip at maximum lean angle, and early on it was really difficult for me to close the line in the fast corners. Still, a second place is a good result for us today. Of course, we’ll try to improve tomorrow as each race is a different story.”

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – DNF

“After having missed FP1, we knew we were a bit behind in figuring things out so today I just wanted to do my race. I was trying to keep Rea at bay, passing him each time I had the opportunity to do so, but with five laps to go I started to feel that the bike was a bit more nervous and harder to manage in corner entry, and the weight was coming on and off the front. That’s what happened in the last corner, it locked without much warning and I lost the front. I was lucky to escape without injuries. Tomorrow we’ll try to get a good start and see if we can make our way to the front again. We want to win races”.

Ernesto Marinelli, Superbike Project Director

“After such a close, thrilling race, certainly we didn’t get the result we were hoping for. It’s a pity that Chaz crashed, it leaves a bitter taste in our mouths after such a generous performance on his behalf. On the other hand, we’re happy with Marco’s race, which confirms the positive trend. If it weren’t from some small front-end issues, we’re sure he could have fought for the win as well. We’re not giving up for sure, and we’ll work hard to score the best possible results with both our riders in Race 2.”

More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:

MotorLand Aragon Day Two

Five from five for brilliant Rea at Aragon

Rea wins Saturday race after duel with Davies who crashed out late, as Melandri and Sykes complete the podium

Following a brilliant 18 lap contest at the Pirelli Aragón Round Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) maintained his 100% record so far in 2017, taking full advantage of a late crash for Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), whilst Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) completed the podium.

Rea made it five wins from five this year after putting pressure on provisional race leader Davies for most of the race, with Ducati’s Welsh rider crashing out at the penultimate turn of the penultimate lap. The victory puts Rea 47 points clear of Sykes at the head of the championship.

Melandri was another beneficiary of Davies’ unfortunate crash as he crossed the line in second, the Italian outpacing Sykes as the pair battled for prominence. Sykes’ third place in the race moves him up to second in the general standings.

Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) secured an excellent fourth place finish, ahead of Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) who completed the top five.

Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) was the best Spanish finisher in sixth, with Leandro Mercado (IODARacing), Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia), Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) and Nicky Hayden (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) all in the top ten. Bradl did well for ninth after technical problems earlier in Tissot Superpole 2.

Ayrton Badovini (Grillini Racing Team) retired early in the race due to a technical problem with his Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) was forced to stop in the final stages due to a technical problem which caused his Ducati Panigale R to catch fire. It was an disappointing end to Fores’ race after he had remounted and battled on having crashed early on when fighting for fourth with Sykes at turn 1.

Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was 11th and Markus Reiterberger (Althea BMW Racing Team) did well for 12th after starting from pit lane due to an issue before the race.

Sunday’s WorldSBK Race 2 at the Pirelli Aragón Round will commence at 1pm local time (GMT +2).

1st – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) “I rode the strongest race I could; Chaz was strong in areas where I was not, and I was strong in areas where he was not, so it was a case of me learning a lot in the race. The only thing I could do in that race was ride shotgun and put as much pressure on as I could and wait for a mistake. The door opened up a few times because Chaz missed a few apexes but finally he went down in the penultimate lap. I hope Chaz is OK but for me it was a perfect opportunity to win another race”

2nd – Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) “I was a very tough race because everyone expected to have warmer temperatures to use the softer rear tyre but this was impossible, everyone’s bike were completely different to the practice and for me it was not easy. I couldn’t have the speed that I would like to have and to be second is a big result for me.”

3rd – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) “Sometimes you get gifted things in racing but we were working hard. The start of my day was very bad because I woke up about 04.00 this morning with some kind of sickness and suffered in the race. In the wind I just suffered a little bit with the turning of the bike, so the rear traction was critical. Because the bike would not turn I was over-stressing the rear tyre. From that point of view, tomorrow we will have another go.”