WSBK – Statements and analysis of the Superbike in Laguna Seca – Analysis of the World Superbike in Laguna Seca

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Statements and analysis of the Superbike at Laguna Seca

WSBK - Statements and analysis of the Superbike in Laguna Seca - Analysis of the World Superbike in Laguna Seca

The twelfth round of the World SBK 2013 took place this weekend in Laguna Seca, USA. To complete our live reports, here are the statements of the Superbike riders as well as the Site analysis of the two American races.

Analysis of the World Superbike at Lagune Seca

After having received the World Superbike for ten seasons, the Mazda Raceway of Laguna Seca exchanged in 2005 its WSBK event for that, more prestigious, of MotoGP which then made its big comeback on American soil (read).

Surveyed the last time by Superbikes in 2004 therefore, the Laguna Seca circuit had crowned the Australian Chris Vermeulen, author of a masterful double at the controls of his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade. FYI, the young and promising driver Ten Kate had set the fastest time in the race: 1 ‘26.798.

In 2013, the fabulous Californian track had the supreme honor of appearing on the calendar of the two motorcycle speed world championships … A doubling that will jump from next year however, the Intercontinental Circus preferring to the Monterey track those Austin and Indianapolis.

The readers of Site – who, as everyone knows, are a little more fortunate than others – remember that this year in Grand Prix, the rookie Marc Marquez had the best time in the race, covering the 3,602 meters of ‘asphalt in 1’ 21,539.

Back to Laguna Seca !

In World Superbike, the fastest man in the race this weekend was Davide Giugliano! In the second round, the 2011 Superstock 1000 champion completed a lap of the American "Roller Coaster" in 1 ‘23.707, a tenth better than Tom Sykes the day before (1’ 23.802).

Giugliano’s performance is all the more remarkable as the Italian driver has a "private" RSV4, prepared by his team Althea. Gulf for some, tiny gap for others: the 2.2 seconds given to the Honda prototype and its extraordinary Spanish driver will be able to fuel the discussions at the counter !

Pirelli for its part, draws a more direct comparison between times posted by the same American Superbike riders – Roger Lee Hayden and Danny Eslick of the Suzuki Michael Jordan Motorsports team – on their usual tires (Dunlop in AMA SBK) and on Diablos….

"Using the same motorcycle, specify the Italians, "from Friday and without ever having used the Pirelli Diablo Superbike, they improved their time significantly, until signing a 1 ‘23.730 for Eslick in Superpole 1 when his best time on this track in AMA was 1’ 24.5 in July".

After verification, Site can even claim that Pirelli is below the truth! Indeed, the stopwatch achieved this summer at Laguna Seca (1 ‘24.503 exactly) on the sidelines of the Grand Prix was the work of champion Josh Hayes on Yamaha R1.

At the controls of his Gex, Danny Eslick had not gone below 1 ‘25.5 over the whole weekend … Nicky Hayden’s brother, meanwhile, was running with the Dunlops in 1’ 24.884 during the AMA event, against 1 ‘24.245 during the second WSBK round on Sunday (evening for the French).

"Coming here and riding against some of the best riders in the world without making a single change to our bike was amazing", rejoiced Roger Lee Hayden."Finishing eighth on the GSX-R 1000 which we use in AMA shows how good this bike is, and it is also good for our discipline.".

At the same time, Giorgio Barbier, director of the racing department at Pirelli Moto observes that "the performance of Guintoli but also those of Laverty, Sykes, Canepa and Davies are also remarkable since they broke the absolute record of AMA Superbike signed in 2007 by Ben Spies in 1 ‘23,104, Guintoli falling well below this mark with an astonishing 1 ‘22,683".

In doing so, Sylvain became the first Frenchman to shine on this track and in this category. Author of the, "Guinters" had to do it again a few hours later by becoming the first French rider to win a Superbike race at Laguna Seca, alas…

"Damn red flags"

The two interruptions to the race due to the falls of the two drivers of the Jordan team (sic) unfortunately cut the No. 50 Aprilia in its tracks. During the first two starts of the first round, Sylvain was imperial – like Biaggi yes! – and controlled his opponents from a distance.

Less well after the third (!) Extinction of the lights, our official Aprilia failed to dominate his opponents in hand-to-hand combat. By his own admission, Sylvain has "piloted like a girl", finishing in a disappointing fifth place.

Expected at the turn by his opponents, the Frenchie did not do better in the second round, securing a new fifth place, an exasperating second from the podium. In the end, instead of gaining points on his enemy n ° 66, Guintoli lost some … 16 !

Even more infuriating, Sylvain was overtaken in the championship by his teammate Eugene Laverty, double winner in Istanbul and again victorious on Sunday evening in the second American round. The first Irishman to win at Laguna Seca, the n ° 58 has a small point more than Guintoli, and 23 less than Sykes…

In terms of wins this season, however, Laverty and Sykes are tied, seven across. Sometimes less fortunate (breakage) but above all more generous (fall!) Than our national "Guinters", "Youdjine" demonstrates that in competition, combativeness is often rewarded !

"It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you really want something !", remarked Laverty on Twitter Sunday evening."I didn’t have the right pace today but I did everything to win", tweeted the pilot, very impressive at the two ends of the race this weekend.

First Briton to win at Laguna Seca in the WSBK – until then this circuit had been popular with Americans and Australians! -, Tom Sykes leaves the United States a bit disappointed not to be on the podium in the second round, which would have allowed him to further increase his lead in the championship !

Sykes puts an option on the 2013 title

Missing out on the 2012 world title by half a point, Sykes does not look very favorably on Laverty’s comebacks (on the track as in the standings). Plagued by glaring grip problems on his Kawasaki, the championship leader hopes it was just a passing fad…

Fortunately, his victory in the "der des ders" at and his very good pace throughout are there to restore his confidence! And paradoxically, the good health of the private Aprilia of Davide Giugliano and Toni Elias – which has yet to be done in the Superpole format – could work in his favor…

Indeed, we saw it on Sunday during the second American round: an RSV4 pilot can hide others! While many – French fans – were waiting for the n ° 50 on the top of the podium, it was finally the official n ° 58 and the n ° 34 of the Althea team who fought for the victory, far ahead of Melandri, Sykes … and Guintoli Himself !

All three looking for a handlebars for next year, Laverty, Giugliano and Elias will be keen to shine at the end of the season. The same goes for Niccolo Canepa, flamboyant at Laguna Seca at the controls of Carlos Checa’s 1199 Panigale !

Fourth in the Superpole, the Ducati rider occupied the same place before falling on Sunday. "Unfortunately, Melandri forced me to widen a bit in the second turn and, not wanting to lose ground, I attacked too hard and fell", explained the n ° 59 after the race.

"Luckily the bike was OK and I was able to get back on the track and finish the race despite the broken selector"… Bologna officials can say ‘Grazie’ to Niccolo because, Badovini out of the race and Neukirchner absent, Ducati risked not registering a point, !

The big bosses of Suzuki and the motorcycle sport fans in France can warmly congratulate Jules Cluzel on his sixth place in the second round. on a track "not quite" wet, the "Coq Supersportif" signs at Laguna Seca its best result in the dry! A good omen for Magny-Cours…

Congratulations finally to Jonathan Rea – who remains with the Honda Pata team alongside Haslam in WSBK 2014 -, John Hopkins and Marco Bertolatti – track engineer of Eugene Laverty, to whom his driver dedicated his victory on Sunday – None of his three men were not on the track this weekend, but all became dads! Winter breaks are good, no ?!

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