06-13 Great Britain – Donington – WorldSBK Great Britain (1): Van der Mark opens his counter! – Used YAMAHA

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WorldSBK Great Britain (1): Van der Mark opens his counter !

06-13 Great Britain - Donington - WorldSBK Great Britain (1): Van der Mark opens his counter! - Used YAMAHA

Phenomenal, Michael van der Mark had been in 2014 by largely dominating the Supersport world championship. It was again this afternoon beating Sykes and Rea at their home in Donington Park. The # 60 Yamaha rider gets his very first World Superbike victory. "VDM is a kind of Magic" !

Started in the first free practice session on a sad and wet Friday, the duel between the two official Kawasaki riders continued this morning on the "marvelous" and dry Donington Park circuit, during the final phase of Superpole . Finally, Tom "Super" Sykes won against Jonathan "Tripe Champion" Rea…

By completing the English route in 1 ‘26.663 (22 thousandths of a second off his own record!), Ninja n ° 66 only won "only" his second pole position of the season. But overall, "Major Tom" signs the 44th Superpole of his career and thus beats record holder Troy Corser. "Congratulations" Mister Sykes !

Congratulations also to our only representative, Loris Baz, who achieves an authentic feat by hoisting his BMW S1000RR n ° 76 alongside the two factory ZX-10RRs! His goal of coming back to play with the best riders in the World Superbike has been achieved … in qualifying, over one lap. What will happen over 23 laps in the race? Mystery and Pirelli Balls.

Preceded by 007 thousandths of a second by "Baz, Loris Baz", Lorenzo Savadori on his Aprilia Factory is ahead of the two factory Yamaha of Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark. Back from injury, Eugene Laverty hoists his own RSV4 in front of the two drivers drafted in SP1 this morning: Toprak Razgatlioglu and Chaz Davies.

Guests Bradley Ray on the recent Suzuki and Leon Haslam on a Kawasaki qualify ahead of experienced Marco Melandri. Luke Mossey, Haslam’s teammate in British Superbike, is in 16th position. Disappointment for Niccolo Canepa who posts the GMT94 Yamaha in 24th and penultimate place on the British grid.

Departure : Jonathan Rea got a better start than Tom Sykes and dived in front of his teammate in the first curve on the right (Redgate). The two Yamaha riders, Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes chase the Kawasaki, followed by Lorenzo Savadori, Loris Baz, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Eugene Laverty, Chaz Davies, Leon Haslam, etc..

Sykes and Rea collide in the middle of the course but the "Number One" retains the lead! Van den Mark took the opportunity to settle into the Ninja aspiration at the end of the 1st round. Lowes returns to contact during the 2nd round and separates from the outsiders: Savadori, Baz, Razgatlioglu and Laverty.

Starting from ninth place on the grid, Davies quickly separated from the rest of the peloton but brought in his wake the local of the stage: Leon Haslam, whose father runs a flight school in Donington Park! Bradley Ray, another wildcard this weekend, leads the field ahead of Leon Camier, Marco Melandri, Jordi Torres and Michael Rinaldi.

At the start of the 3rd lap, Sykes melts into the descent of Craner Curves and brakes Rea in Old Hairpin! But at the end of the course, Tom widens in the penultimate hairpin Melbourne and must return the lead of the race to Jonathan! Michael and Alex can’t take advantage of Sykes’ blunder and stay right behind the two Kawa.

Savadori clings to the top quartet, unlike Baz and Laverty who are gradually giving up a little ground to their opponents. Razgatlioglu is no longer in the rhythm: the Turkish rider – foal of retired Sofuoglu – is a second behind the Aprilia n ° 50 and a second ahead of the Kawa n ° 91 of his exceptional teammate Haslam.

A lap later, Sykes reproduces his overtaking in Old Hairpin. This time, the "Super-pole-man" made no mistake and started the 6th lap just ahead of Rea and Van den Mark. Lowes is a third of a second behind the trio. Savadori pretends to get closer…

Rea misses his turn in Melbourne Hairpin … Van der Mark immediately jumps to second place but loses it in the next Goddards hairpin. Maintained under pressure by Rea, Sykes delays his braking as much as possible at the end of the course, even if it means missing the rope. But the guy stays ahead !

Tom takes advantage of the winding portions to move away slightly from his teammate. But in the more "Stop and go" portions, we see that Rea is still able to attack the leader. What he is careful not to do: there are still 14 laps to go. It is still too early to deliver the decisive blow ?

Kawasaki and Yamaha are therefore driving in close formation. Aprilia n ° 32 remains stuck at one second, n ° 50 is still a second further. Baz’s lap times are slightly better, but the "Frenchie" has a better pace than Razgatlioglu, who also follows him at one second. Hope it lasts !

Haslam occupies a lonely ninth place, three seconds ahead of a Davies unable to reproduce his traditional and extraordinary lifts! The n ° 7 Ducati is chased by his teammate Melandri on his own Panigale n ° 33, Camier on the Honda n ° 2 and Torres on the MV Agusta n ° 81.

Glued to the rear wheel of Jonathan Rea, Michael van der Mark takes advantage of a new small "drop of water" from Rea in Melbourne Hairpin to grab second place! The Dutchman keeps his new position in the next hairpin and starts the 13th lap in the wake of Sykes.

Fourth, Alex Lowes is almost two seconds from a podium now promised to Sykes, VDM and Rea … Savadori and Laverty "quietly" complete the Top 6 while Baz sees his seventh place coveted by Razgatlioglu. Loris does indeed drop his tempo slightly, while Toprak keeps his…

Van der Mark takes the reins of Melbourne’s braking race! The # 60 Yamaha plunges his helmet under the bubble of his R1 and fights a one-second lead in one lap! Unable to retaliate, Sykes fights like a lion to keep Rea behind him. But "Johnny" forces the passage in the descent of Craner Curves … He adjusts Michael in his viewfinder.

13 seconds away, Marco Melandri fell and offered his eleventh place to Leon Camier. Xavi Fores does not fall but must in turn withdraw from the race a few moments later. Chaz Davies is the last Ducati rider in the race and is in a disappointing tenth place. On average, No.7 turned a second slower than his enemy No.1.

Jonathan Rea, in fact, has his own concerns: he has to whip his ZX-10RR in order to grab a few hundredths of a second from the R1 that precedes him. In the 20th loop, Rea does not take anything back from his former Honda teammate … Van der Mark sees his first WorldSBK victory looming. We know him well: he will fight to the end !

The panelist of n ° 60 advises his pilot to play it "smooth", relaxed. Easy to say write when observing the race from the edge of the track, very difficult to do when you start to hear the bike of the only triple champion in a row yelling behind you !

Still third, Sykes can no longer play for the win: the poleman is more than a second from the two "racemen"! The last lap is launched … "Magic Michael" brakes extremely late on the edge of the first curve but manages – as if by magic! – join the rope and go back to coal…

Van der Mark completed a final clear lap that Rea "Himself" could not beat, nor even match! Ridden in World Superbike four years ago in the wake of his memorable World Supersport coronation, Michael thus won his very first race in the "queen" category. He also opens the counter of his "Netherlands" and gives the "new" R1 his first success. !

Second in this first British round, Jonathan performed the best operation in the championship. The official Kawasaki colossally increases his lead over his runner-up and 2017 runner-up, Chaz Davies, who went unnoticed and missed his race. Rea totals 229, Davies 170. And Sykes 153…

Deprived of a tenth consecutive victory at Donington Park last year by Rea, Sykes is again beaten this year by two drivers! But Tom did not go far from falling in the Esses de Fogarty fighting against Jonathan, and must already be satisfied to climb on the last step of the podium..

Magnificent in qualifying, Loris Baz was exemplary in the race … and a little lucky, since an attack by Davies on Haslam and Razgatlioglu, already a little "disastrous" in the penultimate corner of the race, led to the fall of the Turkish pilot. Our adored n ° 76 took the opportunity to win not one, but two places in the provisional: he is eighth with 61 points. "Well done", Loris !

Result of the 1st WSBK 2018 race at Donington Park

06-13 Great Britain - Donington - WorldSBK Great Britain (1): Van der Mark opens his counter! - Used YAMAHA

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