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Reigning world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) have split victories in Sunday’s racing at Laguna Seca for round nine of the 2019 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK).

Four-time champion Rea charged to an impressive win in the Superpole race of Davies, clearing the British ace by 2.533s while Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) locked out the top three.

The top five was completed by Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) and Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team), as former points Alvaro Bautista retired with a shoulder injury.

In race two, Davies claimed an impressive season-first triumph, and his first-ever aboard the Panigale V4 R. He defeated Rea by 3.333s, as Razgatlioglu completed the rostrum. Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK) and Sykes were fourth and fifth respectively, while Bautista was once again forced to retire with injury.

Rea now leads Bautista by 81 points in the championship rankings as the WorldSBK heads to Portimao in Portugal on 6-8 September.

Detailed results

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A pair of inspiring results in the German round of the 2019 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup will serve as a boost of confidence for Australia’s Billy Van Eerde, recording a pair of sixth-place finishes at Sachsenring.

After winning the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup Championship in his first attempt last year, 17-year-old Van Eerde has been refining his craft across the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and the Moto3 Junior World Championship.

Sachsenring saw Ven Eerde challenge amongst the leading group to claim sixth in race one: “I probably relaxed a bit too much and then I had just started to push again when the red flag came out and ended it, but at least we know that the bike is working well and we can try and do it again tomorrow.”

Sunday was the Queenslander’s best performance yet, crossing the line in a superb third position until he was penalised three positions for gaining ‘an advantage by going off track as they charged down the waterfall’.

“I think I deserved third,” he commented post-race after learning of his penalty. “I had no idea that the kerb was ending as we came down the waterfall – I didn’t see it. I was just battling the other guys… That’s tough.”

As a result of his German results, Van Eerde has climbed to 12th in the Rookies Cup standings. He will be back on the bike this weekend to gain more experience at MotorLand Aragon in round six of the Spanish-based Moto3 Junior series, in which he rides for the Dorna-backed Junior Talent Team aboard Honda machinery.

Suzuki Motorcycles Australia has revealed the 2020 Katana will arrive in dealerships across Australia on 8 August, one month ahead of what was initially anticipated.

The new Katana is set to forge a new street legend expressing, the upmost attention to detail with countless hours of testing and uncompromising quality control.

With high demand and limited supply available, Suzuki Motorcycles Australia introduced a premium buying experience for customers, by taking pre-orders exclusively online.

The 8 August will mark the official launch date for Australian customers, and as an added bonus and gesture of Suzuki’s appreciation for customer commitment and patience, all customers who pre-order their new Katana online from the first shipment will also receive a bonus exclusive Katana themed Arai QV-Pro helmet, valued at $995 with their bike delivery.

With limited units available from the first shipment, interested customers are encouraged to place their order now via www.store.suzukimotorcycles.com.au/katana.

Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista has changed his tone ahead of Laguna Seca’s ninth round of the 2019 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK), the recently demoted points leader certain the American circuit won’t play into this favour this weekend.

The Spaniard, who once held a 60-point lead following a dominant start to the series, has seen his former advantage diminish at recent rounds with an array of crashes, allowing four-time defending champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) to overcome him in the championship standings.

“Unfortunately because of my crashes we are now in second place in the standings, which might be interesting for the championship but not so much for me,” said Bautista.

“If I look at the layout of Laguna Seca, for sure I can say that it’s not one of the best tracks for us, because when we have bumps, and uphill and downhill sections, we could struggle, but like I have been saying all year I have no expectations. I prefer to go there, see what happens, start to work hard with my team and get the maximum from the weekend.”

Bautista holds down second in the standings, 24 points behind newly-appointed leader Rea.

South African Brad Binder will graduate to the premier MotoGP class in 2020 after signing a deal with Red Bull KTM Tech3, joining former teammate Miguel Oliveira for next year’s world championship.

The 23-year-old 2016 Moto3 world champion will steer the KTM RC16 next year after three seasons, three victories and eight podiums to date in the Moto2 category.

Binder made his grand prix debut in 2011 as a Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race winner and grabbed his first silverware in 2014. He claimed the 2016 world title in just his second term with Red Bull KTM Ajo, becoming South Africa’s first world champion in 36 years and just the third from his country before graduating immediately to Moto2 with the same team.

“It is incredible to have this opportunity,” said Binder. “I want to say a huge thank you to KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3, my manager and my family for helping me get to the premier class and to be able to give it a try.

“It is an amazing feeling right now and a dream come true. When you are growing up then this is what you aim for – to be in the MotoGP class with the best riders in the world with the best bikes – so it is a crazy feeling right now.”

KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer added: “To be able to sign Brad Binder for our MotoGP project is an exciting moment because he has been with us for five years already and is one of our world champions. We have a strong story and connection and we’re really happy that it continues.

“It is clear we all have a big challenge in front of us and we also feel responsible for him to be able to maintain this good path we have together. We also like the fact that Brad has this distinctive riding style that allows him to push a bike and project to the maximum.

“We feel that he ‘fits’ to us, and we cannot wait to see how he handles and attacks a MotoGP bike. I’m sure he can add some extra and special things because he has done that with every motorcycle he has raced so far and it will be a highlight not only for us but for all MotoGP fans.”

Binder will join Red Bull KTM Tech3 for what will be the team’s second season in orange and the early stages of a young project for both the squad and the brand. His signing indicates Hafizh Syahrin will depart the squad at the conclusion of the year.

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Australian Jack Miller has expressed a sense of positivity as he leads the Independent Team rider rankings in the 2019 MotoGP World Championship, indicating he’s on-track in his target of taking out top honours.

The Pramac Racing ace put in a spirited effort at the Sachsenring last weekend, engaging in a three-rider battle with Ducati counterparts Andrea Dovizisio (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati), ultimately finishing in P6.

“Now we’re back at the top of the Independent championship,” said Miller. “That’s the main goal for this season and it’s nice to go into the summer break leading that, even if it is only by three points over Crutchlow and Fabio.

“Consistency is going to be the key to that I think and three DNFs in the first half of the season is not the way I would have liked to have started the year, but it’s nice to end on a positive note like this. The last couple of grands prix haven’t been the easiest for us so to come away with a sixth, when only one guy crashed out ahead, I’ll take it.

“This is not particularly a track that the Ducati works well around and we all finished within half a second, we were bumper-to-bumper over the line – so I think we all did the maximum we could.”

Miller is ranked seventh in the overall championships standings as MotoGP heads into an extended European summer break, returning on 4 August at Brno in the Czech Republic.

Image: Russell Colvin.

Kawasaki-mounted privateer Matt Walters will look into a ‘strange’ arm-pump issue he encountered at the weekend’s fourth round of the Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), which only affected him in the one arm.

Walters expressed dissatisfaction in his 8-9 scorecard for eighth overall after considerable testing at Morgan Park, although he’s content to take home strong points and is confident of achieving his target of a top five finish in the coming three rounds.

“I’ll have to look into some arm-pump issues that I hadn’t had for a few years,” Walters commented. “It was a bit strange, because it was just in one arm and I didn’t have it in testing – it only came during the races. I’ll be looking into that.

“I was probably hoping for a little bit more in terms of the result. Since we had done a fair bit of testing at Morgan Park, I was confident we could get a better finish, but it didn’t come this weekend. We managed to get some good points though and stayed in the hunt, so I was able to make up some positions in the championship and that was good for us.

“I’m definitely happy with the way it all went here though and I’m still going into the final few rounds full of confidence. We’ve been around eighth and ninth for a while now, so it would be nice to try and move up because my goal is to get into the top five. I feel that’s where we should be, so I will training really hard over the next few months.”

The New South Welshman is currently ranked seventh in the championship standings as the ASBK heads to Winton in Victoria on 6-8 September.

Image: Russell Colvin.

Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday has expressed the importance of capitalising on opportunities in the next three rounds of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) after finishing just off the podium at Morgan Park’s fourth stop on Sunday.

The 2018 Supersport champion rode strongly all weekend long, completing qualifying in second position before going onto lodge a 3-5 scorecard for fourth overall.

“Overall, it was a reasonable weekend although my goal for every round is to finish on the podium and I wasn’t able to do that this weekend, so I’m a little disappointed in that,” Halliday explained.

“But, the positives to take from it are that we are right in the hunt for the championship and the next couple of tracks coming up are to my liking. The team has the bike in great shape and I feel confident on every track we go to but there always that bit extra belief on tracks where I have had success before.

“With the points being so tight at the top, I need to make the most of these coming rounds. Take the race wins when they present themselves and keep racking up the top three results when a win is out of reach. It is the race strategy that has worked for me this year, so I will keep working away at it as there are still plenty of laps left on this championship.”

Despite finishing shy of the box, Halliday maintains second in the championship rankings, still one point behind the leader, although this time it’s Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati) who controls the standings.