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.
Going forward, the MotoGP Championship will begin testing its riders for alcohol consumption, adding a breathalyzer test to its random drug screening process.
While alcohol use has been banned in MotoGP since 2004, today’s news comes as the FIM has added the testing protocol to its 2017 medical code.
Like its current process regarding the screening for drug use, the FIM will pick three random riders before several rounds during the season, and make them take a mandatory breathalyzer test.
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.
It is tough luck for Markus Reiterberger, as the German rider will be sitting out the remainder of the 2017 World Superbike season, after not being able to recover fully from a crash he suffered last season at the Misano Circuit.
Reiterberger fractured two vertebrae (T10 & T12) in the crash, and has since struggled to get back to fitness and back to the pace for the 2017 season. Accordingly, the Althea BMW Racing rider has come to the decision to sit out the rest of the WorldSBK season.
This shuffle in the Althea team will take affect immediately, with a still unnamed rider set to replace Reiterberger at the upcoming round at the TT Circuit Assen.
Along with a thrilling weekend of racing, several interesting items of news emerged in Argentina. Brad Binder and Remy Gardner were injured, and face surgery.
Also, discussions were held in the Safety Commission regarding who progresses to Q1 and Q2. And at a press conference, Dorna announced that the WorldSBK championship will be racing in Argentina in 2018, at a new circuit in the west of the country.
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.
After the Grand Prix Commission abolished penalty points at their meeting at Qatar, it was inevitable that they would meet the same fate in World Superbikes.
At the latest meeting of the Superbike Commission, the rule-making body for the WorldSBK series, the penalty point system was abolished in the World Superbike Championship, just as it has been in MotoGP.
Sometimes you can’t see the forest from the trees, and Aragon’s Race 2 was a good example of that in World Superbike. The championship standings have been dominated by Jonathan Rea all season, but this was the fourth time that the reigning world champion was pushed to the limit on race day this season.
With Rea having started the day with a 100% winning record in 2017, the pressure was on the rest of the field to break his stranglehold on the series. Ultimately, it came down to Jonathan Rea versus Chaz Davies, as had been expected, with the duo renewing their intense rivalry from 24-hours earlier.
Five wins from five for Johnathan Rea, and his championship lead extended to 47 points meant that Race 1 at Aragon was mission accomplished for the reigning world champion.
A penultimate lap crash for Chaz Davies robbed the Spanish crowd of a last lap shootout, but in the preceding 17 laps, the crowd was treated to a fantastic scrap.
Davies, the favorite at the start of the weekend, converted his pole position into an early lead, but with Rea biting at his heels the Kawasaki rider was able to take the lead on numerous occasions.
Ultimately Davies rebuffed all overtaking moves from Rea by immediately retaking the build, but the die was cast for what would happen at the end of the race.