Round 6 of the 2018 WorldSBK Championship sees the paddock head for the home of Superbikes: Donington Park. The British circuit hosted the first ever round of the championship in 1988, and since then the affinity for superbike racing in the UK has only continued to grow.
The spectacular, flowing track has been the canvas for some of the most incredible moments in the history of the class, but will this weekend be remembered in the same light?
The Italian round of the WorldSBK season marks the end of the opening third of the season, but it’s hard to see how it marks the end of Chaz Davies’ dominance at the Imola circuit.
The Welshman has been a wizard around the technical circuit in recent years, and been unbeatable. Having fallen 30 points adrift of Jonathan Rea in the standings, he will know that this weekend it is crucial to chip into the Northern Irishman’s title lead.
Making predictions for races in WorldSBK 2018 can be a fool’s errand. The form book has been thrown out the window on a couple of occasions, and at the Assen TT Circuit that was certainly the case once again.
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.
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Tom Sykes had to sit out the Portimão round for World Superbike this past weekend, after the Kawasaki rider had a fiery crash during Saturday’s FP3 session.
The crash saw Sykes fracturing his little finger and ring finger on his left hand, and it required him to have surgery on Sunday, at the Clínica Mi Tres Torres in Barcelona.
Sykes’ recovery isn’t expected to take long, as the Doctors in Spain fitted a plate on his finger, and he could be back on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR race bike as early as the next round, at Magny-Cours.
The first round after the summer break is always one that fans and paddock personnel get excited about. The German round of the WorldSBK calendar though hasn’t captured the imagination, because of it’s remote setting and, for the riders, the bumpy track surface.
With Jonathan Rea easing his way towards the history books, as the first rider in history to win the championship three years in a row, there was a feeling from some quarters that it was merely time for marking cards rather than making a mark.
That being so, once the weekend got underway, it did throw up plenty of excitement in what appears to be the final race at the Lausitzring.
