Motul FIM Superbike World Championship

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Monterey, California, USA

July 9, 2017

Race Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):

1. Jonathan REA, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), Total Race Time 35:03.414, Best Lap Time 1:23.275 (New Race Lap Record)

2. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -2.887 seconds, 1:23.564

3. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati Panigale R), -4.847, 1:23.457

4. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), -17.159, 1:23.831

5. Xavi FORÉS, Spain (Ducati Panigale R), -22.741, 1:23.718

6. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Aprilia RSV4 RF), -26.377, 1:24.381

7. Leandro MERCADO, Argentina (Aprilia RSV4 RF), -28.475, 1:24.505

8. Lorenzo SAVADORI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 RF), -29.718, 1:24.539

9. Alex LOWES, UK (Yamaha YZF-R1), -33.044, 1:24.619

10. Michael VAN DER MARK, Netherlands (Yamaha YZF-R1), -33.541, 1:24.807

11. Stefan BRADL, Germany (Honda CBR1000RR SP2), -36.756, 1:24.684

12. Roman RAMOS, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -43.031, 1:24.952

13. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -47.306, 1:24.829

14. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -50.488, 1:25.064

15. Jake GAGNE, USA (Honda CBR1000RR SP2), -51.093, 1:25.028

16. Jakub SMRZ, Czech Republic (Yamaha YZF-R1), -59.197, 1:25.422

17. Ondrej JEZEK, Czech Republic (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -60.571, 1:25.682

18. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -5 laps, DNF, crash, 1:25.164

19. Jordi TORRES, Spain (BMW S1000RR), -18 laps, DNF, crash, 1:24.255

20. Leon CAMIER, UK (MV Agusta F4 1000), -18 laps, DNF, mechanical, 1:24.403

21. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (BMW S1000RR), -22 laps, DNF, crash 1:25.101

World Championship Point Standings (after 16 of 26 races):

1. Rea, 341 points

2. Sykes, 282

3. Davies, 226

4. Melandri, 189

5. Lowes, 148

6. Fores, 132

7. Van Der Mark, 129

8. Camier, 99

9. Torres, 94

10. Laverty, 89

11. Ramos, 73

12. Mercado, 66

13. Bradl, 64

14. Savadori, 63

15. Krummenacher, 46

16. Nicky Hayden (RIP), 40

17. De Angelis, 32

18. De Rosa, 30

19. Leon Haslam, 20

20. Markus Reiterberger, 19

21. Badovini, 14

22. Jezek, 12

23. Riccardo Russo, 8

24. Jake Dixon, 7

25. TIE, Josh Brookes/Julian Simon, 4

27. Gagne, 2

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

Black Sunday for Althea BMW at Laguna Seca

Monterey (USA), Sunday 9 July 2017

Round eight of the 2017 Superbike World Championship has concluded at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and it proved to be a day to forget for the Althea BMW Racing Team, after both Jordi Torres and Raffaele De Rosa crashed out of race two.

Superbike – Race 2 – fourth on today’s race grid, Torres was lying fifth through the first corners. Doing all he could to stick with those ahead of him, the Spaniard was in sixth position when unfortunately, on lap seven, he suffered a crash, finding himself on the ground with no chance to continue his race.

The same outcome for De Rosa today. 14th off the line, he immediately made up a position and began to get into a rhythm. On lap four however he too fell victim to a crash that, though innocuous, prevented him from carrying on.

After eight of thirteen championship rounds, Torres lies ninth in the standings with 94 points while De Rosa has 30 points, placing 18th. The championship now takes a break with the next round scheduled to take place from 18-20 August at the Lausitzring in Germany.

Jordi Torres:

“We started well and were up there, in fourth place. Then Davies and Melandri came along and I lost a little ground. I was doing my best to defend my position and build confidence with the bike that was working better compared to yesterday, but then at turn one I went to downshift, missed the last gear and was thrown to the ground. We’re disappointed of course but will work during the holidays to be prepared for the Lausitzring.”

Raffaele De Rosa:

“There’s not much to say, also because I only did a few laps. Up until that point I was feeling better on the bike, which seemed more stable compared to yesterday. I crashed without warning, we need to understand how it happened. I’m sorry because we could have run a good race today, it was a pity not to make the most of the opportunity and I’m sorry for the team after all their hard work here.”

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

Commanding Race 2 win for Rea at Laguna

World Champion takes Sunday win at #USWorldSBK round, with Sykes and Davies also on the podium

As the GEICO US Round drew to a close on Sunday afternoon at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca it was World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) who took the victory, with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) also on the podium.

Rea came from eighth on the grid to take a dominant win over the rest of the field with the KRT man beating his nearest challenger – teammate Sykes – by 2.887s, to open up a 59-point advantage at the head of the standings going into the summer break. It is the Northern Irishman’s second win at the American venue and he dedicated the victory to the late Nicky Hayden.

Davies did his best to pursue Sykes for second place over the final laps but just could not catch the Yorkshireman and had to settle for third, following his comeback win in Race 1.

Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) completed the top five in the hot conditions at the spectacular Californian track.

Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) bounced back immediately from his Race 1 DNF for a good sixth place finish, with another Aprilia equipped rider Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) in seventh.

Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) was just behind Laverty and Mercado on the Aprilia RSV4 RF in eighth place, with the top ten completed by Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team colleagues Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark.

Raffaele de Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team), Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Ayrton Badovini (Grillini Racing Team) all suffered crashes, whilst there was an early retirement for Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse).

After the summer break the 2017 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship riders will return to action at the Prosecco DOC German Round over the 18th-20th August weekend.

P1 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)

“The team gave me an incredible bike today and we made a brave change in the setting which worked amazing, to have this result and to go into the summer break is a really nice way to do that, its a long flight home but a massive thanks for my team for building a good bike. I see the Hayden family here this weekend and its impossible not to be here and think of him and I want to dedicate this to him and his family.”

P2 – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)

“Yeah you’ve got to be happy, today I tried my hardest, today we missed that little bit more the lap times stayed consistent and we were much faster than yesterday, we were missing some traction and every corner it added up. We tried to make the most of it but it wasn’t to be and now we will try to get to the bottom of our problem.”

P3 – Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Team)

“Like some other races this year, Kawasaki are able to make a really good start, and there was little I could do. At one point Tom was on the radar, I thought that I would be able to catch him but I ran out of laps. I’m very happy with this weekend and after Misano, this is exactly what we needed and now we can look forward to the summer break.”

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

 10 July 2017

WorldSBK 2017

Bradl and Gagne battle hard at Laguna in race two

USA Round

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, United States

The US Round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship has come to a close today at the Laguna Seca Raceway, with Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team’s Stefan Bradl and Jake Gagne finishing in 11th and 14th place respectively, at the end of the second 25-lap WorldSBK encounter of the weekend.

Bradl had an exciting first third of the race: from 17th place on the grid, the 27-year-old German managed to make his way up to 10th after only eight laps. He was then involved in a three-way battle for ninth with Lowes and van der Mark and eventually rode a lonely last part of the race in 11th position all the way up to the chequered flag.

Jake Gagne rode in the top-15 for the majority of the race and well defended his 14th place – despite some rear-grip issues – until two laps to go, when he was passed by Krummenacher. The 23-year-old completed his first World Superbike round with yet another 15th place and one more point in the standings.

World Superbike will now enjoy a five-weekend break before the next round, which takes place at the Lausitzring in Germany on August 18-20.

Stefan Bradl 6

11th

For me it was a good race and surely better than yesterday’s. Obviously another 11th place is not what I was looking for, but riding-wise we did improve. The weekend in itself has been challenging because of the changes we had to make, which made it a bit more difficult to find the feeling with the bike. Surely, 17th position on the grid was a bit of a handicap because it didn’t allow me to try and stay with the front guys, but at the beginning I was able to push hard on the front tyre because we made some steps forward in that department. I made a little mistake halfway through the race when I was fighting with Lowes and van der Mark which cost me some tenths and, after some more warnings, I had to settle down a little and ride the bike home in 11th. We seem to have found a direction now so I hope things will improve some more at Lausitzring. I will now go to Japan for the Suzuka 8 Hours and it’ll be interesting to try that Fireblade, so I’m looking forward to this new experience!

Jake Gagne 45

15th

At the beginning I was a little disappointed with the result as obviously I would have loved to stay closer to the guys ahead of me, but I learned so much this weekend. The team is amazing, they’re such great and smart guys! I struggled a little bit compared to yesterday’s race, especially with the rear end and that caused some vibration which caused me some problems. I had a couple of big moments and almost crashed, so I’m happy to have brought the bike back to the pit-box in one piece. In any case it’s been a wonderful experience and the fans were absolutely unreal.

Pieter Breddels

Stefan was quite aggressive at the beginning and was able to make some interesting moves early on and stayed with Lowes and van der Mark for a while. He made a tiny mistake but he was pushing very hard and had to let them go. His gap to the winner improved a little compared to yesterday, but we know we have still some work to do. While he will be racing at the 8 Hour, we will work hard and make sure to improve the package before his home race at Lausitzring. We will be rooting for him! Jake had a reasonable start but he soon started to experience some grip issues with the rear which caused some vibration and gave him a hard time. He couldn’t hold on to 14th place but nevertheless he did another great job today. We loved working with him and to get his feedback about the bike. I want to thank him for riding our bike and doing what he did with so many new things coming his way.

More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:

 Rea Wins As KRT Riders Lead The Field

KRT riders Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes finished 1-2 in the second Laguna Seca FIM Superbike World Championship race, with Rea taking his ninth win of the season today. Rea and Sykes are still 1-2 in the championship fight, with Rea extending his championship lead to 59 points.

Starting from seventh and eighth places on the grid respectively Sykes and Rea both made strong starts but Sykes was into a clear lead after just a handful of corners, despite being on row three at the green light.

Rea also soon passed the other podium contenders, at record pace with a 1’23.275 set on lap two, and he went past his team-mate Sykes on lap three, easing out a gap as the race progressed.

Both riders were to consolidate their leading positions throughout the 25-lap contest with Sykes able to keep Saturday race winner Chaz Davies behind to record second place and his 13th podium finish in 16 races.

In the championship points Rea leads with 341, Sykes is second with 282 and Davies is third, on 226. In the Manufacturers’ Championship standings Kawasaki leads by 66 points, with five rounds and ten individual races still to go.

The main summer break in competitive action begins now, with the next race weekend not taking place until 18-20 August, at the Lausitzring in Germany. Before then the KRT team will join some rival teams for a two day test at the same venue.

Jonathan Rea, stated: “It was awesome to win today and we did it by putting 25 good laps together. Right from the first lap Tom got away and I found it hard coming through at that stage. But when I got clear I put my head down and I knew it was game on. As soon as the opportunity presented itself and went through into the lead, and set my rhythm. We made a real step with the set-up overnight. On yesterday’s pace I felt good but I felt it was a difficult opening race. I left the changes for today to Pere my crew chief and did not go into too much detail. He came up with a good plan in warm-up and it seemed to work. Everything seemed to be coming easier and during the race I did not change anything, just played a little bit electronically with the engine braking settings. I want to thank all my team for giving me a great package and this is a good way to go into the summer break.”

Tom Sykes, stated: “I was in a bit of a hurry to get to the front in race two and I was hoping to be going there alone. I came out of the last turn, looked at the big screen and saw my team-mate there. I wanted the riders behind to battle for a while but it wasn’t the case. The bike was very consistent and we stayed in the high 1’23s to low 1’24s all race. I made a couple of mistakes on one lap trying to adjust the rear brake and engine mapping, just to try something different. We have to be happy with second because yesterday and today I gave it everything on track. Credit to the boys in the garage as today’s pace was faster, the race was faster and had a lot safer feeling. I am a little disappointed to lose some points in the championship but there is still a long way to go.”

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

Third place for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team in Race 2 at Laguna Seca with Chaz Davies, Marco Melandri is fourth

After taking an extraordinary victory in Race 1, the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team stepped back on the podium in Race 2 at Laguna Seca (U.S.A.) with Chaz Davies. Starting from ninth position on the grid, the Welshman fought hard in the early laps to make his way through traffic and take third position. Davies then mounted a comeback on Sykes, progressively reducing the gap up to one second before being cut short by the checkered flag.

Marco Melandri, after showing significant progress during WUP in the morning, couldn’t make the most of a start from pole position, losing positions in the early phases of the race due to grip issues. Climbing back up from ninth position after briefly running off track, the Italian showed his grit to secure another fourth place finish.

After eight rounds, Davies (226 points) and Melandri (189 points) are respectively third and fourth in the championship. WorldSBK will now take a break ahead of the ninth round, scheduled for August 18-20 at EuroSpeedway Lausitz (Germany). The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will prepare the round with a two-day test on the German track on July 25-26.

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 3rd

“It was a mostly lonely but still difficult race. Our start wasn’t bad, but our rivals’ was better. It will be something to work on during the summer break. The bike was making a lot of noise today, so we’ll look into that, but I’m not sure it affected our performance. Our rivals rode a great race nonetheless. I was struggling with grip on the first touch of gas, at high lean angles. I tried my best to take second place, but we would have needed more laps. Now we’ll take a break, which will be important to resume training and get back to 100 percent, even though my physical conditions were decent here. Then, we’ll go test at Lausitzring, which will be very important for the second part of the season.”

Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 4th

“For sure we expected a better result after practice. Yesterday’s race was a bit strange, while after WUP today we thought we found the right direction to take at least the podium, but once again we struggled during the race. It seems that our base setup is really competitive but doesn’t work as well in hot conditions, where we struggle with grip. We need to understand why. Anyway, it’s been a positive first half of the season. I gradually adjusted to the bike and I feel progressively more comfortable. Of course we wanted to do better here after winning at Misano. The tests at Lausitzring will be very useful. We’ll get better, my team is working really hard and I’m optimistic for the future.”

Ernesto Marinelli, Superbike Project Director

“Today’s race was a bit complicated. We didn’t get off to a strong start, even though our pace improved compared with yesterday. Chaz tried hard to take second place, scoring another important podium. Marco had bigger issues with grip, but still managed to collect valuable points. We’ll work hard as always to be better prepared for the second part of the season.”