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Imola WorldSBK Debrief – Sunday

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Chaz Davies etched his name into Ducati lore by once again dominating the Italian manufacturer’s home round at Imola.

With hundreds of guests on site to see it, Davies picked his way through the pack in Race 2 from ninth on the grid, to take the lead at half-distance from Tom Sykes, and ease his way to what would become a comfortable victory.

The Welshman was in relaxed form all weekend, and afterwards said that “this was a weekend that our bike was the best bike out there, and it was up to us to use that to its full potential.”

Davies certainly did that as he wrapped up his third win of the 2017 campaign and moved back to second in the standings.

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Imola WorldSBK Debrief – Saturday

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Chaz Davies continued to dominate the Imola WorldSBK meeting by claiming victory in the opening race of the weekend.

The Welsh rider had earlier taken the fifth Superpole of his career, but the rate at which he was able to ease away from the field certainly laid a marker to his rivals for what to expect in tomorrow’s race.

The Ducati star has won the last three races at the Italian venue from pole position, but with the Race 2 grid reshuffle he’ll have to battle through the pack from ninth position on Sunday.

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WSBK

Hayden: “It’s Clear That There Is A Problem”

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Assen had been earmarked as a key round for Honda in its search for competitiveness in WorldSBK. It passed with more confirmation that the team’s struggles will continue.

Nine points were all that Nicky Hayden had to show for himself at the end of a trying weekend at the TT Circuit of Assen. The Honda rider was able to show some signs of improved competitiveness at times during the weekend, but overall the same flaws of the Honda Fireblade have been exposed once again.

Reliability and inability to bring competitive upgrades to the table cost Hayden dearly at Assen. The week before the Dutch round, the team tested a new engine specification in Portimao and the American came away disappointed with a lack of progress.

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Assen WorldSBK Debrief – Sunday

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Race 2 at Assen didn’t have the fireworks of Saturday, but rather than the pressure-cooker environment of a championship battle flaring up, it was a slowly boiled intra-team scrap that was settled on Sunday.

In three years at Kawasaki Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes have had their differences and tension, but overall their relationship has been mostly positive. There was the potential for fall-out in The Netherlands however, when Sykes closed dramatically on Rea in the second-half of the race.

The 2013 world champion has battled illness in recent weeks, a bacterial infection had forced him to into hospital and laid him up since Thailand, but in the thick of battle he sensed a weakened rival.

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Assen WorldSBK Debrief – Saturday

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The tension that has been building between Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies finally spilled over at Assen. Three years of competing with one another for race wins and championships has strained their relationship, and on Saturday at Assen it reached its breaking point.

On the final laps of Superpole, Davies was on a flying lap and came across Rea through Turn 7. Being forced to sit up and avoid the touring Kawasaki, emotions got the better of Davies, and at the end of the session he hit out at Rea in parc ferme.

“You stayed on three quarters of the track,” stated Davies after qualifying third. “I don’t know how tight a line you can pull out of that left, but I’m three-quarters of the track out there.”

“You were in the way mid-way through the corner, and then on the exit I had to pick it up because you were three-quarters across the track, if I didn’t I’d have cleaned you out! Next time I’ll smash you from the inside and we’ll see what happens.”

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Racing

How MotoAmerica Is Trying to Nurture Talent

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With increased factory involvement and a competitive field the first shoots of a resurgence for motorcycle racing in United States are starting to grow.

The United States has been a consistent breeding ground for world-class racers over the last four decades, but the decline of domestic racing has hit that talent pipeline hard in recent years.

Honda’s WorldSBK star Nicky Hayden is the country’s sole representative on the Superbike grid, and with no American riders racing in MotoGP, it’s clear just how far the country has fallen from the map.

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WSBK

The WorldSBK Season So Far: Yamaha & Honda

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While it has hardly been surprising to see Ducati and Kawasaki maintain their position as the dominant forces at play in WorldSBK, the battle for best-of-the-rest has been an interesting subplot for 2017.

Over the course of the opening three rounds of the campaign, the form of Honda and Yamaha has been marked by their stark contrast in fortunes.

Last year, Honda had been a podium and front-row regular as the season moved into the European swing, and Yamaha looked to be clutching at straws and looking for any positives they could find on their return to the series.

This year has seen their roles have reversed, with Yamaha consistently the best-of-the-rest and in position to fight for a rostrum finish. Honda on the other hand have had a disastrous start to the campaign with an all-new Fireblade.

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The WorldSBK Season So Far, Part 1 – Rea vs. Davies

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Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies went toe-to-toe and bar-to-bar in both races at Aragon, and while they shared the spoils with a win apiece, it was clear that Aragon could be a defining moment in the 2017 World Superbike season.

Over the course of two 18-lap races, there was nothing to separate both riders. Even so, at the end of an eventful weekend of racing, Rea had still extended his championship lead by a further 20 points over Davies.

Saturday’s Race 1 crash came at the conclusion of a thrilling back and forth between the two riders, who have defined WorldSBK in recent years.

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