Round 6 of the 2018 Superbike World Championship saw Michael van der Mark make history, and Toprak Razgatl?oglu claim a first career podium.
It was the shot in the arm the series needed, and after great racing across all four classes, there is a renewed optimism within the paddock.
Six races into a new era of WorldSBK, and it seems as though we have seen a lot has changed, without anything changing.
Ducati and Kawasaki are still doing the winning, with Yamaha the only manufacturer to upset the podium homogeneity enjoyed by the leading manufacturers.
The opening WorldSBK round of the year showed that the regulations have helped to shake up the order but the real test will be in the coming rounds.
Buriram, host of the Thai Round of WorldSBK, has been a Kawasaki stomping ground in recent years, and while the green machines will be favorites once again, the effect of the changes could see their wings clipped.
For the 2018 WorldSBK season, we are changing up our coverage format a little bit from last year, in order to provide more useful content for our racing fans.
First up, we are pleased to have Steve English providing coverage from the World Superbike paddock. Regular Asphalt & Rubber readers will recognize Steve’s name from a number of stories here on A&R, and he is also a regular host of our Paddock Pass Podcast.
With his day job being the voice of WorldSBK on the commentary feed, Steve’s expert insight will provide for us a preview of each WorldSBK round, as well as a debrief at the end of each race weekend, which will highlight the major takeaways from the racing action.
Additionally for our A&R Pro readers, Steve will be providing us with added racing analysis, as well as interviews with the WorldSBK riders, team members, and paddock fixtures, which you won’t want to miss. -JB
With that out of the way, let’s get to the opening round of the 2018 WorldSBK season, which is now in the books and certainly provided us with plenty of excitement and plenty to talk about.
For the 2018 World Superbike season, Ducati will once again campaign its v-twin platform: the venerable Panigale R superbike. This will be the final season for the two-cylinder Panigale R, before the Italian firm replaces it with its V4 package (likely too to be named the Panigale R).
This makes the upcoming season a hallmark occasion for Ducatisti, as they watch Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri compete with the Superquadro engine for a final time.
The zenith of v-twin engine design, Ducati’s Superquadro motor is an impressive power plant, but the race team in Borgo Panigale (the bike’s namesake) have reached the limits of their development with it – at least within the constraints of World Superbike regulations.
Looking closely at Ducati’s launch photos for its WorldSBK, we can spot some of those developments.
With the holiday season receding into the rear view mirror, that means that we are getting closer to seeing bikes on tracks.
Testing starts this week for both the MotoGP and WorldSBK paddocks, and before testing, the Movistar Yamaha team will present their 2018 livery later on this week as well.
The action starts on Tuesday in Jerez, where virtually the entire WorldSBK paddock is gathered for a two-day test.
The Andalusian track will see the first real test of the 2018 WorldSBK machines, with the teams all having had the winter break to develop their bikes under the new technical regulations – new rev limits, and better access to cheaper parts.
All eyes will once again be on triple and reigning WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea, the man who dominated at Jerez in November.
Episode 64 of the Paddock Pass Podcast sees Steve English, and David Emmett on the mics in Spain, as they were in attendance at the Jerez test for WorldSBK and MotoGP.
While there, the boys got a chance to recap the 2017 World Superbike Championship season, where they talked about the big trends that we saw in production superbike racing this year.
Of course Jonathan Rea’s dominance is a major topic of discussion, but attention is also given on the show to the progress made by Pata Yamaha, the superior performance put in by Leon Camier and MV Agusta, and the championship battle that Ducati waged with Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri.
The episode is a quick show, and we will have more WorldSBK content for you in the off-season. Until then, keep an eye out for next week too, as we’ll have an in-depth MotoGP recap show for you.
As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!
