Bike India – August 2019

W

henaskedwhowasmostlikelytobe
successfulovertheweekend,the 2009 worldchampion,
benspies,saidheexpectedJonathanRea(kawasakiRacing
teamworldsbk) tobethefastest.thelegendwasrightbecausejustasthe
misanoworldCircuitmarcosimoncellidriedout,Reaclinchedpole
positionwitha timeof1’34.596.Joininghimonthefrontrowweresandro
Cortese(GRtyamahaworldsbk) andtomsykes(bmwmotorrad
worldsbkteam).surprisingly,thedominantalvarobautista(aRUba.it
Racing–ducati)wasunabletofindhisrhythmandqualifiedinfifthplace.

RaceOne

theracewasdelayedby 20 minutesduetoinclementweatherandofficials
hadtored-flagtheraceafterjusta coupleoflaps.alexlowes(Patayamaha
worldsbkteam)wasinthelead,justaheadofRea,sykes,andbautista.
theracewasthenshortenedto 18 lapsandonceagainReagotofftoa good
start,leadingtheraceaheadoflowesandsykes.as theraceprogressed,
lowesputhimselfinthebestpositiontochallengeReabutcrashedoutat
turn12.
whileReaenjoyedhistimeat thefront,a fewridersbehindhimcrashed
outat differentcorners.thesemistakesallowedbautistatoclimbuptothird
place.meanwhile,Reacruisedtoa rathersentimentalvictorybecauseit
cameexactly 10 yearsanda dayafterhisfirstwsbkcareerwin,alsoat the
sametrack.sykespoweredhisbmwtosecondplacewhilebautista
salvaged third position to round off the podium.

A weekendotherwisemarredbyinclementweatherandmisfortuneforsomeofthe top

riders nevertheless gave rise to a lot of action and some very interesting results

Report: Joshua Varghese

Rea Wins Two Out of Three

SuperpoleRace

aftera wetraceone,theweatherclearedupforthesuperpoleraceand

bautistawasbackinthegame.he ranawaytohis14thwinoftheseasonin

a racethatsawa lotofdramaduringthefinalthreelaps.Reawashead-to-

headwithbautistaforsometimebutcrashedouttowardstheend.the

podiumwascompletedbylowesandleonhaslam(kawasaki Racing

teamworldsbk) in second and third places respectively.

RaceTwo

hotonhisfreshlyfoundmomentum,bautistaledracetwofora lapbefore

crashingoutat thebeginningofthesecondlap;blowingthechampionship

wideopenandcripplingthespaniard’scommandinglead.haslamtook

overastheleaderandwaschasedbyRea,toprakRazgatlioglu(turkish

PuccettiRacing),marcomelandri(GRtyamahaworldsbk), andlowes

(Patayamahaworldsbkteam).

theactioncontinueduntiltheendof theraceandtherewasnoclear

winner.it boileddownto thefinallapwhereRazgatliogluandReawere

continuouslyswappingplacesuntila mistakebytheyounggunsawReatake

homethewin;his75thcareervictoryinwsbk.he alsobecamethehighest

point-scorerof alltime.haslamcompletedthepodiuminthirdplace.

headingtosilverstone,bautistacontinuestoleadthechampionship with

330 points,aheadofReaandmichaelvandermark(Patayamaha

worldsbkteam) who have 314 and 188 points respectively.

126 Bike India August 2019 http://www.bikeindia.in

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