While the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is on its off-season following 12 intense rounds of thrilling and non-stop action, it’s time to look back and analyse some of the data that came from the season. This time, we take a look at the 2023 Falls Report and see which rider crashed the most, which corner was the trickiest in terms of the number of falls and much more.
OVERALL NUMBERS: fewer crashes in WorldSBK and WorldSSP300, more in WorldSSP
In total, there were 523 crashes across WorldSBK, WorldSSP and WorldSSP300. These can be broken down by 172 in WorldSBK, 220 in WorldSSP and 131 in WorldSSP300. In World Superbike, the number was down from 217 last year, an average of 14 per event, while in WorldSSP it increased from 120 last year. In WorldSSP300, the number decreased from 131 to average 11 per event in the eight rounds the Championship was at.
THE RIDERS WITH THE MOST CRASHES: Lowes leads the way, Razgatlioglu with the fewest
In WorldSBK, two factory riders lead the way in terms of crashes. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) went down 15 times this season, while Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was only two behind. Third on the list went to Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) with the Italian crashing 11 times, one ahead of Champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) with ten. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) recorded nine, while Championship runner-up Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) only went down twice. These were crashes in Australia, when he was caught up in a crash by Lowes, and Most, when a tyre failure forced him out of contention for a stunning victory.
In WorldSSP, Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) recorded the most crashes with 15, closely followed by Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) with 14. Tom Edwards (Yart-Yamaha WorldSSP Team), Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) and Jorge Navarro (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) had 11 each. Ruben Bijman (Arco Motor University Team) led the way in WorldSSP300 with 12, with rookie Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) on ten. Four riders finished with six falls each: Samuel Di Sora (ProDina Kawasaki Racing), teammate Mattia Martella, Fenton Seabright (Kawasaki GP Project) and Juan Pablo Uriostegui (Sublime Racing by MS Racing).
CRASHES BY TRACK: Most the most challenging followed by Imola
Two circuits recorded more than 60 crashes each in 2023. The Autodrom Most was top of the list with 65. WorldSBK and WorldSSP300 both recorded 23 of these, while WorldSSP made up the other 19. It was closely followed by the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola with 63. This time, they weren’t split as evenly. WorldSSP had 33 tumbles at the iconic circuit, with WorldSBK on 16 and WorldSSP300 on 14. The Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” had 58 tumbles across all three classes, split fairly evenly: 21 in WorldSSP300, 20 in WorldSSP and 17 in WorldSBK.
THE HARDEST CORNERS: first and last turns at different circuits
With Most and Imola making up two of the top three circuits for crashes, it’s no surprise to see corners from these tracks feature here too. The second part of the Variante Bassa, Turn 22, at Imola had the most crashes, 17, closely followed by the right-hand hairpin of Turn 5 at Magny-Cours with 16. Two corners had 14 crashes each. These were Turn 1 at Most, the first part of the opening chicane, and Turn 10 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
As always, we would like to send our thanks and gratitude to every single Marshal whose invaluable support throughout 2023 helped to keep our races, and our racers, as safe as possible. Without them, we would not be able to enjoy the sport we all love.
Total crashes for WorldSBK riders in 2023 (wildcards and replacement riders not included)
15 – Alex Lowes
13 – Iker Lecuona
11 – Lorenzo Baldassarri
10 – Alvaro Bautista
9 – Loris Baz, Garrett Gerloff, Jonathan Rea, Michael van der Mark
8 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi
7 – Dominique Aegerter, Eric Granado, Xavi Vierge
6 – Axel Bassani, Remy Gardner, Oliver Konig
5 – Philipp Oettl, Scott Redding, Tom Sykes
4 – Andrea Locatelli, Tito Rabat, Bradley Ray
3 – Danilo Petrucci
2 – Toprak Razgatlioglu, Isaac Vinales
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Source: WorldSBK.com