WSBK – Videos, statements and analysis of the SBK in Moscow – Analysis of the World Superbike in Moscow

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SBK Moscow Videos, Statements and Analysis

WSBK - Videos, statements and analysis of the SBK in Moscow - Analysis of the World Superbike in Moscow

The eleventh round of the World SBK 2012 took place yesterday in Moscow. To complete our live reports, here are the statements of the SBK riders, our analyzes and the video summaries of the Superbike and Supersport races..

Analysis of the World Superbike in Moscow

The World Superbike riders will long remember their first visit to Russia … Besides the crazy night from Sunday to Monday – Chaz Davies would have slept only three hours, but refuses to deliver in detail the sulphurous stories he has lived -, the aces of the WSBK had two particularly eventful races !

Let’s start by observing that within the current World Top 10, only two men have not tried the asphalt on Sunday: Marco Melandri and Tom Sykes. Their little comrades Biaggi, Checa, Rea, Haslam, Laverty, Guintoli, Fabrizio, Giugliano and even Davies (11th of the provisional) have all fallen at least once in Moscow.

We have to admit that the first race, declared "wet" but contested on a track where only the ideal trajectory was dry, could not be more tricky. In the French clan, naturally, we caught ourselves on Sunday morning dreaming about a Russian remake of !

Alas, gilded in England (read), Guintoli and Baz were not varnished in Russia. Sylvain, who started with an intermediate front tire in the first heat, erred from overconfidence from the third lap and left Loris with him who will stay on his wheels but will not be able to go back beyond 11th place.

As we can see at the start of the, Sylvain seems very sure of himself passing Loris under braking. But the Frenchie completely misses the rope, grazes Biaggi, gives a little angle and falls slowly … but surely !

Discreet action

Starting from 15th place on the grid, Guinters had no choice but to rush his Ducati into the bends in order to grab some ground and places, the Italian twin not allowing him to hang on the 4- cylinders in both straight lines…

In the second round, our international Syl ‘finished in 12th place behind Lorenzo Zanetti, his young teammate from the Ducati Pata team. But it is promised, the n ° 50 will do better! Like us, Sylvain remembers that he was on the second step of the podium in the pouring rain, while Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea) had won in the dry (read).

This weekend spent on the small ring of Nurburg had also marked a turning point in the season of the Spaniard: injured in the ankle, Max Biaggi could not defend his chances and had to let his scepter slide towards Carlos Checa , who only had to control the "rookie" Marco Melandri and his R1.

In 2012, it was the turn of the famous Toro to defend his crown. But it seems that Carlos is embarking on the same path as Max! The Ducati rider does not lack speed, however: second in the "Superpole" classification edited by Pirelli, he just signed his first pole position of the year on Saturday at the Moscow Raceway..

Unfortunately, in direct confrontation the situation is no longer the same: the deficit in top speed between Ducati and Aprilia, BMW or Kawasaki amounts to around fifteen km / h! With the Russian track leaving very little opportunity to overtake the rest of the course, it was difficult for Checa to shine in Russia….

Jostled by Haslam, Checa did not score any points in the first set. Certainly, "Karma" will avenge Carlos by torpedoing Leon’s BMW in the second round via Max Biaggi’s Aprilia … But the 2011 King could not be happy about it. He leaves the Moscow circuit with only 13 additional points in his bag and prepares to cede his throne…

Obviously, the director of the racing department of Pirelli – the sole manufacturer of the WSBK – does not already consider the Catalan out of the race. "With three more events to go (six races, Editor’s note), anything can happen and four drivers are still firmly in contention for the world title", declared Giorgio Barbier last night.

A throne for three

Mathematically, the point of view is perfectly defended. We could even include in the list of the fantastic four – Melandri, Biaggi, Sykes and Checa – the names of Rea, Haslam and Laverty who are all less than 150 points behind the Italian leader (Marco now!), The maximum sum remaining to be distributed to the last six winners this season.

But the odds of one of the three British subjects lifting the coveted trophy at the end of the final race are far too low to be considered. The 2012 title is therefore played between the three men who were on the Russian podium on Sunday noon: Melandri, Sykes and Biaggi !

A restraining imperial on the slippery asphalt, Max Biaggi was able to clinch third place in the first round by dropping a few opponents in front of him … and by overtaking his docile teammate in the home stretch (see) !

Paradoxically, it was on a perfectly dry track that the 2010 champion was trapped: out of line and too optimistic, the official Aprilia rider went to mow down poor Leon Haslam. Stretched out for a few seconds on the stomach, the "Pocket Rocket" finally got up without any injury … phew !

On the side of Mad Max, if the fall is also not serious from a physical point of view, it is no less from a mathematical point of view. Because the calculation is simple: 290 points (at the end of the first race) plus zero points for the second … that’s still 290 !

However, while Max was picking up his pieces of fairings at the end of the straight line, his two rivals exchanged their places on the first two steps of the podium! In addition to being valuable, the points lost by Max in the second round were big…

Imperturbable is the adjective that best defined Melandri this Sunday. Neither the wasp sting in the first round (!), Nor the fall of his enemy n ° 3, not more than the insolent form of the one in n ° 66 did not divert Marco from his objective: to go up and even to pass Biaggi in the championship !

Author of two formidable races, the "Tsar" of Superbike is placed at the head of the provisional classification of pilots and simultaneously raises BMW to the first rank of the manufacturers classification! Two firsts for this terribly efficient duo that we naturally hope to see re-form next year within the official BMW Italia "semi" team (read)…

2013 targets

What has already been achieved, however, is the renewal of Sykes’ contract at Kawasaki. And seeing him tumble alone in the lead on Sunday noon, the Greens must have said to themselves that they had done well to keep this phenomenal English driver in their ranks..

Always so expressive and spectacular on his bike, Tom has gleaned the same number of points as Melandri (45 out of the 50 maximum) and remains in contact with the two Italians in the championship: the Ninja of Huddersfield is 22.5 lengths behind Biaggi and 41 by Melandri…

The mission promises to be difficult, but not impossible! As for that of 2013, it is perfectly clear: "my goal is to become World Superbike champion ", insisted Tom at the time of his signature (one year contract with option on a second),"and i feel i can reach it sooner or later".

For Sykes, this will be his third consecutive year at Kawasaki, where he will find the same ZX-10R (or almost): a year ahead of the regulations, his Ninja already sports the lights in trompe l’oeil, but we will have to wait until next year to see it adopt – like its rivals – the "real" 17-inch rims, the size you find on production motorcycles. !

This evolution in the WSBK regulations, it could be that one of the big names of this championship does not know it: Jonathan Rea! Indeed, called by the HRC to replace Casey Stoner during the tests of Brno and those of Misano (read), the n ° 65 resumes dreaming of MotoGP !

Already in December 2010, "JR" had put his butt on the RCV in Sepang, but these tests had not led to much. This time, Johnny could have to compete in two Grand Prix (Misano and Aragon) in case of prolonged unavailability of Stoner.

Even if managing the end of the Superbike season and his MotoGP freelance head-on will be a colossal task, the Honda rider – since 2005 and his debut in British SBK! – will be keen to make a good impression, like a month ago in for example … Quite the opposite of this weekend when he fell twice, the first being really his fault.

Like the Melandri and Sykes couple, Laverty and Checa on the one hand and Biaggi and Davies on the other had a "similar" weekend: 4th place and fall for the first, 3rd place and fall for the second . This is to say if the first round was tough for everyone, favorites like "outsiders" !

Congrats !

In passing, we congratulate the famous party animal Chaz Davies. Admittedly, the n ° 19 and his private Aprilia owe their second podium of the season largely to Rea and Laverty: falling in front of them on the last lap, the two Irishmen (from the North and the South) blocked Checa then placed in front of Davies..

But we have to admit that for a rookie – who has ridden in AMA Superbike and in Grand Prix – the Welshman is doing like a chef. riding Crutchlow’s R6 – -, Chaz had some setbacks at the start of the season.

Comparable in size to the little Yam ‘he piloted in 2011, his new RSV4 requires an even stronger grip to get the most out of it. But since the arrival of summer, Davies shows more and more the end of its fairing to the leaders of the discipline. The show is all the more beautiful !

Finally, let us underline the performance of Leon Camier who, despite an 18th place on the grid, managed to climb up to 5th place in the second round. The Englishman really has to find a way to better qualify as his lap times in the middle of the race are identical to those of the leaders !

Despite the preparation of the prestigious Yoshimura, it appears that the Suzuki 4-cylinder is too far behind the other 4-legs of the competition. Timed at 307 km / h, the two Suzuki of Leon and John (Hopkins) give around ten km / h to Aprilia of Laverty and Biaggi, and almost as much to BMW of Melandri and Haslam.

At this level of competition, every detail, no matter how small, counts! Davies – again him – made the sad observation in Superpole when, wanting to keep his qualifying tire for the following session, the Welshman found himself stuck for a mere thousandth of a second! Very tight the WSBK? Yes, and that’s how we love it !

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