WSBK – MNC Analysis of World Superbike in Italy – To win, Davies has yet to win …

Posted on by admin

MNC analysis of World Superbike in Italy

WSBK - MNC Analysis of World Superbike in Italy - To win, Davies has yet to win ...

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 Imola.

To win, Davies must win again…

Author of the first victory of the 1199 Panigale R in World Superbike a year ago at and winner of the 700th race of the World Superbike Championship a month ago – still at -, Chaz Davies took the opportunity this weekend to score the minds and history of the WSBK again.

Welsh of origin, "Daviesiozo" wore the colors of his adopted country on his helmet … and hoisted them as high as possible with each of his boxing sessions! At the head of all the test sessions contested in the dry (excluding the wet warm-up on Sunday morning), the n ° 7 Ducati notably dominated the Superpole event….

But by his own admission, Chaz does not excel in this type of exercise. When it comes to the cannon tour, his teammate Davide Giugliano is much more knowledgeable: Site readers – who, as everyone knows, have a little more living memory than the others – remember that the guy signed the when he was coming back just from …

This Saturday morning, however, the Italian was relegated to almost half a second behind the top Ducati rider. The Kawasaki factory riders were dropped a quarter of a second later … and Chaz Davies took the opportunity to erase from the Italian shelves the absolute record of Jonathan Rea, established in his Honda.

Knowing the profile of Chaz Davies, Site logically designated him as the overwhelming favorite to win the race that very afternoon. We were not wrong … and the Ducati fans who came en masse to the circuit had a blast !

While in the past, "Chazie" had never completed a single lap in the lead at Imola in the World Superbike category, he led the first round from start to finish in 2016 and recorded the fastest time in the race: 1’46.700.

A time 0.007 seconds lower than the record set by Sykes last year, and which adds to the four fastest laps set by Davies since the start of the season. The fastest driver on Sunday also, Davies totaled 6 points at the "Best Lap Awards" on Sunday evening against 3 for Rea and 1 for Giugliano.

In addition, the tempo dictated by the metronome Davies throughout the first race allowed him to largely dominate his little comrades and to win with a very comfortable margin. Too bad for him, the seconds ahead are not converted into points…

Even the couldn’t keep pace with the indomitable "Red Dragon". Pushed to the limit on Ducati lands, the n ° 1 "Green Giant" briefly went to gardening off the track, making Davies’ job even easier..

In the closed park, Akashi’s "little green man" had to recognize the supremacy of "alien" Davies (read them). Second in front of his teammate Sykes, Rea saw his championship lead reduced by 5 points..

Incidentally, Davies being the first driver to cross the finish line on Saturday, he inscribed his name in front of the 500th podium taken by a British driver in World SBK. The and thus obtained the anonymous 501 and 502nd…

The series of British podiums also continued on Sunday with the same three protagonists in the same three places. But the only one worth it is of course Davies, again – largely – better than Rea, Sykes and all the others. !

In the provisional standings, the Welshman has therefore moved a little closer to the Northern Irishman and far removed from the English: as a reminder, Rea has 221 points (out of 250 maximum!), Davies 186 and Sykes 154. And as noted Rea Sunday night, it is these three strong men – from the 2015 championship already – who will fight for the 2016 coronation.

With 106 points on the clock, their closest rival Michael Van den Mark already seems out of the race for the title … Very competitive at the start of the season (four podiums during), the young Dutchman missed out on the first meeting. Italian of the season.

Ditto for his teammate Nicky Hayden, who was a regular Top 6 since his debut in the category but only landed two "Top Ten" at Imola. The (or even) made the Honda Ten Kate team hope for better results…

Likewise, the fifth place obtained by Lorenzo Savadori on "his" Italian grid on Saturday morning had raised high hopes for his fans and those of Aprilia. Unfortunately, the lack of endurance of his RSV4 forced him to fight with drivers much slower than him at the start of the race..

"My second race was superb, full of duels", nevertheless retained the 2016 Superstock 1000 champion!"I appreciated the sporty attitude of Alex Lowes who came to apologize for the muscular overtaking, even if it was not necessary it was noble on his part".

At the controls of the third Italian machine, the MV Agusta, Leon Camier did not disappoint his supporters: from Friday morning, "Kamir" stood out by posting his F4 in second place in the first free practice session , behind the invincible Ducati by Davies and in front of the promising Aprilia by Savadori, precisely.

On Saturday, the n ° 2 of the official MV Agusta team confirmed the excellent form of his mount – and his! – by qualifying at the head of the third row and finishing a place higher a few hours later in the race. The next day, the 2009 English champion further improved his performance.

It was not the first time that Camier entered the Top 5 in the race: already, the only F4 driver had finished 4th in the second round. But he had benefited on this occasion from numerous falls at the forefront. This Sunday, except Guintoli – package, we will come back to it on the second page – all the top names were on the track…

Thanks to "Lioness", MV Agusta finished the weekend at the foot of the constructors’ podium with 21 points scored, against 50 for Ducati, 40 for Kawasaki, 22 for BMW, 15 for Yamaha and 13 for Aprilia. Overall, Ducati climbs slightly on Kawasaki (230 points to 196).

To continue to get back on Kawasaki, Ducati has no other choice but to win races! And the same naturally goes for Davies, doomed to win if he is to beat Rea – who did not fail to highlight his excellent start to the 2016 campaign in his …

Jonathan has been on the top of the podium five times out of ten (!) This season. When he didn‘t get there, he still climbed the second step four times. Only once did "Johnny" find himself in third place, in Aragon…

Davies’ mission – since he accepted it by signing again with Ducati and Gigi Dall’Igna – therefore promises to be very difficult, and Jonathan’s impressive start to the season gives him for the moment the loser … But it is not impossible for all that !

Certainly the – in front of "his"! – complicates the task of Welsh. But the 35 points behind are not insurmountable: remember that on the, the n ° 7 had scored 30 points more than the future "Number One" of the discipline…

To thwart the plans of the ruthless "JR" – to become the first rider since "King" Carl Fogarty to retain his World Superbike crown! -, Chaz will also be able to count on the indirect support of other pilots. And Tom Sykes tops the list…

The only driver to have won ahead of Rea and Davies this year (during the), the Ninja n ° 66 fights with the same weapons as Rea: he is therefore in the best position to compete with him every weekend, whatever the circuits or conditions.

By being inserted between Davies and Rea, Sykes would simplify the work of the Ducati rider. But that would not change the imperative of "Chazie": to win the championship, the n ° 7 must necessarily continue to win races. The maximum on the remaining 16 !

Related articles

Leave a Reply

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