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Main. The Pata Yamaha squad celebrates as Alex Lowes crosses the line over two seconds clear of his
teammate 1. A sans-green WorldSBK podium is a rare and refreshing sight 2. Despite a relatively lacklustre
last couple of rounds, Ducati’s Chaz Davies (7) hangs on to second overall 3. A pissed-off Rea clapping his
teammate from the corner where they had their controversial coming together, turned into a glad one, when
Sykes (65) also crashed three laps later 4. With both Kawasaki’s out of the way, Davies could chase the
Yamaha duo for a much-needed podium
Children of
the revolution
ANOTHER WEEKEND ANOTHER
regulatory intervention. Or so it
feels like most of the time, in these
days of concession points and
balancing rules.
After another block of three
races ended at Donington last
time out, the magic Dorna/
FIM algorithm did its stuff and
three of the seven competing
manufacturers in WorldSBK got
an extra 250rpm to play with,
from Brno onwards.
The lucky trio are Honda, MV
Agusta and BMW. Lucky in their
freedom to be able to rev 250rpm
more than now, but there are
some real-world forces at work
that make this news a little bit
less then overwhelming. This
weekend at least.
Honda did take the shackles
off their upper rev limit but Leon
Camier said he felt no difference.
His team only hearing about
their extra revs on Thursday,
like everyone else, does not
help that much at Brno. With all
manufacturers bar Ducati also
allowed concession parts, the
important work will be done
from now on, as the mix of a
higher upper rev limit and new
internal parts will bring benefits
compared to what they have now.
BMW may well use its limits
soon, but with just one bike in
the field, the imperative may not
be as pressing. MV Agusta, such
is its relatively cash-strapped
development programme, which
means it wasn’t able to hit itsprevious maximum rev limit.
Many have asked why it was
not possible to reduce the upper
rev limit of Ducati, Kawasaki,
ApriliaandYamaha,ratherthan
forceotherteamstoundertake
mid-season performance
missions, but in the case of
some that would mean their
overall performance could
become marginal.
Thebalancingrulesare
complicated, mumbo-jumbo
say some, but they are here to
stay, it seems.Talking techbriefs③④
Stock 1000
Markus Reiterberger
(alpha Racing Van Zon BMW)
saw his normal dominance
beaten by rain and three other
riders, as he finished fourth,
behind winner Maximilian
Scheib (Aprilia Racing Team),
Alessandro Delbianco (Gulf
Althea BMW) and Florian Marino
(URBIS Yamaha Motoxracing).
Reiterberger now has a nine-
point advantage over Scheib, 99
to 90, with Roberto Tamburini
(only eighth) on 84.WorldSSP300
Just for once, no Ana Carrasco
(DS Junior Team) win but she
still leads the championship,
now by 20 points from
Borja Sanchez (ETG Racing
Kawasaki). Sanchez was third,
but the race was won by the
ever-improving Yamaha, and
Galang Hendra Pratama (Biblion
Yamaha MotoxRacing). Second
was Walid Khan, from the
Netherlands.300 rule change
As well as a rule change of
the Superbike balancing rules,
the Supersport 300 class also
featured some significant
changes, with new combined
rider and machine weights
brought to bear from Brno
on. The new rule reads, “The
minimum Combined Weight
for each bike will be as follows:
205kg for Yamaha, 208kg for
KTM, and 215kg for Honda and
Kawasaki.”Rea to stay
After supposed flirtations
with the MotoGP world, and
even other manufacturers,
Jonathan Rea will remain with
his successful squad and has
signed for two more years, which
will see him through to the end
of 2020 season. The British rider
said he was “more than happy”
to be staying put.①②