WSBK – MNC analysis of World Superbike in Malaysia – Important confirmations in the first round

Posted on by admin

MNC Analysis of World Superbike Malaysia

WSBK - MNC analysis of World Superbike in Malaysia - Important confirmations in the first round

Beyond the points distributed, each race weekend brings its share of remarkable feats and poor performances, good and bad surprises. In its analysis, Site reviews the highlights of the WSBK in Sepang.

Important confirmations in the first round

Race weekends follow one another in World Superbike, and are not the same … although! Like an ultra domineering Chaz Davies two weeks ago at his Ducati house, Tom Sykes was uncompromising to … as long as the track remained dry.

This Malay event is still young: the WSBK only went there this weekend for the third time in its history, although it has made 26 visits to. Compared to the statistics recorded on the Australian circuit, those of Sepang naturally lack substance.

It should be noted, however, that during the first two editions of WorldSBK in Sepang, the "polemen" – and – had not succeeded in transforming their tests into a race. This year, "Super Sykes" managed to ward off bad luck, in a masterly way.

Passed by the repechage in the qualifications (SP1) then author of a record time during the SP2, the English Ninja remained of attack for which, let us recall it to the attention of our rare stunned readers, now takes place two hours After the …

Picked up on the first braking by Alex Lowes – second on the grid on the handlebars of his Yamaha n ° 22 – Tom overtook his compatriot in the last corner of the first lap and did not let go of the lead thereafter. Better, he hoisted his Kawasaki n ° 66 out of reach of his rivals: never seen before at Sepang in WSBK !

Back at his best, "Major Tom" was able to use his method, similar to those of Doohan, Pedrosa or Lorenzo in Moto GP: start very hard from the start, widen a good gap on his pursuers and control their possible return to the race. the last laps. Simple – really? – and efficient – really !

In doing so, Sykes also set the fastest time in the race, his first this season (the 29th of his career). The demonstration was therefore convincing: he and his KRT team had finally managed to tune the new ZX-10R. The was back !

This first round was not devoid of all suspense, however: entirely resurfaced this winter, the Malaysian circuit appeared very abrasive during the test sessions. Many observers – and pilots! – therefore expected to see the vice-world champion drop copiously at the end of the course…

Already last year, Tom Sykes suffered a sudden and unexpected loss of rear grip when he largely dominated his opponents at the start of the race. In 2016, his Pirelli went the distance perfectly. Too bad for the pursuers of Sykes, Rea and Davies like last year !

Tom has indeed shared the podium with his compatriots Jonathan and Chaz for the fifth time this season, and for the second time in that exact order. On Saturday, the English, Northern Irish and Welsh confirmed they were the – very – strong men of the 2016 championship. Again, as in 2015 !

Only one of the gang to be on the podium at the end of each race in 2016 – including Sunday in the wet -, "Johnny has the fixed idea": to keep his crown, a feat that no World Superbike champion in the XXIst century has failed to do…

But the "Number One" of the discipline is on track to double the stake! Fortunately for the public and the promoter of the championship, "JR" is a little less ruthless than last year: Sunday evening, his counter posted 257 points, against 280 points after the sixth round of the 2015 calendar contested in .

More importantly, his lead over the second in the provisional is so far "only" 42 points, while it already exceeded 100 points (four wins!) Last year. Another factor that happily complicates Mister Rea’s task: exiled in BSB, Haslam is no longer there to steal points from Davies and Sykes…

Second in the general classification precisely, Chaz Davies did not succeed in reproducing at Sepang his prowess of and, namely beating the two factory Kawasaki and garnering the maximum number of points. Of the 50 made available – seized by Tom! -, "Chazie" only collected 29.

Saturday in the dry, the n ° 7 was unable to fully exploit his Pirelli. At this level of competition, the 5% of the unexploited tire potential is fatally reflected in the result: Davies’ best race time was a second slower than that of the extraordinary Sykes..

Unlike last year, the Ducati official could not even go and titillate the leader of the championship, whether in the dry or the wet. On Sunday especially, Davies had the opportunity to grab many points from Rea by inserting between them the underdogs Hayden and Giugliano…

In the second round, the American and the Italian have largely eclipsed the three British. But Davies and Sykes them, noted that even down on the third step of the podium, Rea continued to gain … ground in the provisional classification and remained the boss of the category..

On Saturday, however, the best Superbike rider was Tom Sykes. His superiority was such that WSBK fans – who have just passed the million mark on Facebook, ten times less than MotoGP – could legitimately fear a lack of suspense the next day in the second round. It was counting without the monsoon…

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *