The guys Monster Energy doing a sick edit on this three part behind the scenes of our pre season! Enjoy and thank me later!
Take a unique look at the riders, stories, motivation, staff and technology of the four-times WorldSBK Champions as they prepare for the 2019 racing season. …
Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook
No better #throwbackthursday than to look back over the race weekend in Phillip Island. A new gallery of images in now up on my website. Link below. http://jonathan-rea.com/gallery/2019-worldsbk-round-01-phillip-island
Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook
With Mark Bracks
During the week leading up to the opening round of the 2019 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship, it was noticeable on first sight of the 2013 Superbike World Champion, Tom Sykes, that there is a renewed vigour and spring in his step. A beaming smile with a “heeey-oop” heavy in a Yorkshire twang, rather than the more sullen demeanour we witnessed last season.
The last couple of years have been especially challenging for the 33-year-old, not only having to contend with a dominant team mate in his business life, but the real challenges had come in his personal life. That is now behind him and Tom has now come full circle after the break down of his marriage, with a new lease on life.
The “old” Tom Sykes has returned
Signing with the new look BMW Motorrad WSBK Team, led by the vastly experienced Shaun Muir, and complete with factory support from Germany.
The head of BMW Motorrad, Markus Schramm, stated on the weekend that BMW is in the WSBK field for the long haul, and won’t be happy until they have at least one World Championship trophy in the Bavarian locker.
2019 marks Sykes’ 11th full season in the WSBK paddock, a period that has yielded one championship (in 2013), and five top-three championship positions since 2012, including 34 race wins on the green beasts, as well as being Mr Superpole over the last six years.
Also for the first time in a number of years, the second fiddle is no long his as he is the lead in the BMW orchestra. Last year was Sykes’ worst season since 2011, with only one win (at Assen), but with consistency he still managed to wind up fourth overall, behind his teammate Jonathan Rea, Chaz Davies and Michael van der Mark.
The BMW project to join the 2019 title was only finalised back in May last year, so there is still a lot of forward progress expected and demanded by all concerned in the team.
Additionally, off-track happenings in his private life did not make for a happy person in recent seasons. The combination of the two pressures, in business and at home, had taken their toll on a guy that used to be the joker in the paddock.
Tom Sykes, will be joined by BMW faithful Markus Reiterberger, and is ecstatic with the new uniform and the S 1000 RR. Last week gave plenty of indications that the old Tom is the new Tom.
MCNews.com.au caught up with him for a chat over the weekend.
Mark Bracks: Tom Sykes, first up, sum up round one for us.
Tom Sykes: “Yea, quite good. I’m really happy with where things are progressing, the whole of the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team is working really quite flawlessly, so I’m really just enjoying riding the S 1000 RR. We’re certainly making progress. In a lot of areas, wow, working on the chassis, electronics, suspension, there’s a lot of stuff. So we’re just slowly working through it.”
Mark Bracks: Have you worked with Shaun before?
Tom Sykes: “No this is the first time.”
Mark Bracks: What’s the biggest – I know they are both in-line fours,– what’s the biggest difference between the BMW and the Kawasaki?
Tom Sykes: “Well, you know I could really go into detail, but it might give the game away, let’s just say that the engine characters are quite different, but certainly something which I’ve been looking for, and like I said it is proven. I enjoy riding the BMW, so we’ll just work around what we’ve got and keep improving.”
Mark Bracks: What stage is the engine development at? Full race pack engines?
Tom Sykes: “I’m the wrong person to answer that, I like to think there’s plenty more in the tank, and I think when you take into account, that when the green light was given on this project, the time to start doing a lot of research into the tuning aspect was obviously quite limited.
“It’s probably not the place to say too much, but what I will say on the other hand is that [considering] when the green light was given, where we are at now is absolutely incredible. Given my experience I’d probably say that no one else could have done any better, the work the guys have done to turn up here at Phillip Island with all the parts and the spares, and get on the grid and to be as competitive as we are, is a credit to all them boys involved.”
Mark Bracks: Where’s your best and worst corners here?
Tom Sykes: “The main sector when you need big melons would do it pretty well, through the hayshed and through that area. I’m not shy when it comes to there, our worst area is the straights really, a couple of the guys in the box were thinking the last sector is probably not as sharp as it should be.
“I said don’t worry we’re missing a little bit down the straight, which is obviously most of the last sector, but you know I’ve got some experience behind me, and like I said to the boys, on the quiet, I really feel we’re doing our job through the corners, so the rest will come naturally as we develop the engine on the S 1000 RR.”
Mark Bracks: This really has invigorated your passion and penchant for racing, hasn’t it?
Tom Sykes: “The last few years have been difficult on and off the track, obviously I just enjoy racing motorcycles and I just want the opportunity to show my potential again. Personally, now things are getting a lot clearer after my recent private life dramas, and I’m now putting that behind me. That clarity is also influencing my on-track action, and like I said really really enjoying it all. You know the S 1000 RR is a bike which I’ve probably been looking for, for a couple of years anyway, like I said it’s so early in the development stages that to be where we are is really impressive and I’m grateful for this opportunity from SMR, and BMW.”
Mark Bracks: So your personal life and professional life is in the best spot for a while?
Tom Sykes: “For at least probably three years at least, so you know it’s now where I can hopefully start to work again and make things happen. You know what, it’s one of those ‘on the business side of things’, it is what it is. I don’t think it’s a big problem swapping the teams, but on the personal side, I really feel like I’m getting rid of a black cloud that’s been following me around, so that’s certainly going to help on the business end of the equation.
“I think what’s good is that it is a clean slate, a real clean slate and I’m just grateful that I’ve got so much experience to not get lost in the early stages of development, because it’s very easy to do. I think with my experience and the quality of the team and the manufacturer around me, we’ve been able to work together very efficiently, in this respect.”
Sykes claimed seventh in Race 1 at the 2019 opening round at Phillip Island, before taking 11th in the Sunday Superpole Sprint Race, with a strong start marred by running wide on the opening lap and losing a number of positions. The final race of the weekend saw Tom Sykes claim 13th place, with a total haul of 12 points to kick off the season.
“We’ve got to be realistic and we have probably reached our goals for the first time we have raced the BMW S 1000 RR. So we are very happy. We have had no major incidents and I think that we have proved that the bike is going to be competitive very soon. We clearly have our limitations at the moment and we will work hard on sorting them out in the break until the next races. Both riders rode very well and both have been very patient to understand that we need to work for the development parts to come through. So from my side the overall summary is that we can look forward to a very competitive bike over the course of the season. We just need to be patient and wait for that to arrive.”
Source: MCNews.com.au
ITDC, Indonesia’s largest integrated tourism developer and operator, and Dorna Sports SL have announced that the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship and the FIM MotoGP World Championship will be racing in Indonesia in 2021.
The signing of the agreement was conducted by Mr Carmelo Ezpeleta (CEO of DORNA) and Mr Abdulbar M. Mansoer (CEO of ITDC) at DORNA’s headquarter in Madrid, Spain on the 28th January 2019, in front of Senior Management team of both parties and witnessed by Indonesian’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for Spain, Drs. Hermono M.A.
The agreement confirms that Indonesia will welcome the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship and MotoGP in 2021 to the island of Lombok, more specifically within the Mandalika, which is a large-scale integrated Tourism Estate.
“We are very excited to have partnered up with DORNA and are delighted to be able to bring world-class motorsport events to Indonesia and the Mandalika in Lombok together.”
“What a unique project this will be, having an urban, world class circuit in a country where MotoGP has such a huge following. Indonesia is a key market for us with a considerable percentage of motorsport fans living here and the MotoGP atmosphere will be even stronger once the circuit is complete. Also, by including Lombok to the WorldSBK calendar makes this offer more attractive for local fans having two World Class events in the area during the year.”
Source: MCNews.com.au
Goulburn teenager Tom Toparis has had a fantastic start to season 2019. with clear and total domination of the three Australian Supersport races over the weekend.
Toparis then followed that up with a highly creditable 11th place finish in a World Supersport wildcard appearance on the Landbridge Transport Yamaha YZF-R6, scoring five World Supersport Championship points in the process.
Toparis has now picked up a ride with Benro Racing for the 2019 IDM 600 Supersport Championship alongside new team-mate and fellow 18-year-old Milan Merckelbagh on Yamaha YZF-R6 machinery.
This latest European adventure will add to the growing list of experience on the world stage for Toparis, who has previously taken part in some wildcard Moto3 rides and has Supersport 300 experience in Europe. During the European season, Toparis will stay with the family of Merckelbagh in Holland, which will allow the two 18-year-olds to train together.
Toparis will also be concentrating on the Australian Supersport Championship, as he shares his time between here and Europe. He will head to Europe at the end of April to prepare for his IDM appearances in a deal that was made possible by Dutch intermediary Rob Vennegoor.
Big weekend, tell me how did you find it?
Tom Toparis: “I’m very lucky to have done the WSBK and ASBK, I got the opportunity from Landbridge Transport Team and of course when you get offered the chance to ride World Supersport you’re never going to say no. The bike was good all weekend, I let the team down with a crash on Tuesday, which set us back, and we had to go into Melbourne and get some parts and what not and sort a few things out. The result in the World Supersport… P11 is really good I think.”
Do you think that effected your result?
Tom Toparis: “In a way yes, we pretty much lost the whole of Tuesday, so that was four hours of track time we didn’t get and it set us back for Friday morning. For sure it could have been a fraction better, but I am definitely so grateful the team did such a good job in the stop, as that’s such a big variable, if you get it wrong, even if you lose one second in a pit stop, that’s one whole second on the track, which is a lot of risk you have to take. I haven’t look at the time yet, but the minimum was 1:14 or 1:18 or something, I feel like we did a good job. I just listened to what the team said, and once they let me go I was gone, it was 8 laps or so to the end. I’m so proud of my team, getting me out there and putting it just outside the top 10.”
How are your injuries from the big off on Tuesday? (Tom wore through his leathers during a crash earlier in the week and lost a lot of skin off his bum!)
Tom Toparis: “It’s a bit annoying, itchy and awkward to ride on, it’s OK and I think I got through the weekend without it causing too much trouble. Hopefully I’ll listen to what the doctors have to say, and I might need to go get a skin graft tomorrow in Melbourne. It was a bit of a set back and it was annoying for me. But anyway apart from that we were happy to score four World Supersport championship points. It’s such a good weekend to get all the Aussies [Supersport wins] and taking pole, and getting the points in WSSP.”
And off to Europe?
Tom Toparis: “I’m very happy to announce that in 2019 I’ll be doing some racing in Europe in the IDM Supersport on a Yamaha R6 for Benro Racing. I’m very grateful to the people who have made this happen. Through RT Racing Support I was able to get in contact with Sraar van Rens. It will be a busy year, because I’m going to combine the Australian and IDM championship. This year, my family and I are fully committed to racing and I will be doing everything possible to win here in Australia. I have no expectations for the IDM as I don’t know what to expect. But I’ll be doing everything I can to learn the tracks and the bike as fast as possible, whilst enjoying the different lifestyle on the other side of the world. I’m really looking forward to meet my team-mate Milan. A big thank you to everyone involved including my sponsors here in Australia.”
Source: MCNews.com.au
“If you told me before we came to Australia, that we would make a weekend like this I can’t believe it, but we rode really well, my team worked really hard in the two days of test, and for the weekend we were ready for the fight. In the morning, in Superpole Race we had a great battle and I enjoyed it a lot. In the afternoon it was difficult, because the track condition was a bit worse than in the morning, but in any case I was able to make a good pace and at the end, I pushed a bit more harder than yesterday, yesterday it felt like I could push harder and the tyres didn’t drop off a lot. Today I tried and was watching Jonny this morning, I knew in the afternoon he will try to stay with me, so I had to try to push a bit harder at the beginning. I did it and got some advantage, so at the end I could win. It’s a fantastic weekend, thanks to Ducati and to my team and congratulations to them, as they work really hard.”
“Very happy with my weekend, it was massive damage limitation coming here, it’s not really the strongest track for me or my bike, but to come away with outright lap record and pole position, with three second places, we couldn’t ask for much more. Congratulations to Alvaro, you know it takes a big job to come here as a rookie and to win three races in a row, so big congrats to him.”
“Today I was expecting s bit more. In the Superpole race I had a few mistakes at the beginning and lost a lot of positions. I tried to come back but it was a really short race. In Race 2 I got a good start and had good pace in the beginning. Once I caught the two Kawasakis I decided to wait a bit because for the tyre it’s a very difficult race, but when Johnny passed Leon for the first time I tried to push into the middle, but the rear tyre left me there and I had to slow down my pace and just try to finish the race. Unfortunately van der Mark and Lowes passed me back, but I still think that for us it’s been a very good weekend. It’s been a difficult winter but the races are different, so I’m feeling good and I think the next races can be even better.”
“I lost quite a lot of time at the start behind Eugene Laverty; the Ducati is so fast in a straight line that I couldn’t pass him cleanly, then I didn’t want to panic and try and go too fast, as it’s easy to wear out the tyres, as we saw in the sprint race. I just stayed calm and almost timed it right at the end. It’s a bit frustrating because I felt that, looking at the times, I probably had the pace to challenge the Kawasakis for a podium but when you’re three seconds behind at the end of the second lap then, round here, it’s hard to make that time up. It’s a shame, but I’ll take fifth place and see if we can have a stronger round next time out in Thailand.”
“I got a really good start and my pace was fast, but I was a little worried about using the tyre too quickly. I didn’t want to slow down, as I wanted to stay with the two Kawasakis, but when Marco came past me I felt like I was having to push the tyre just a little bit too much to stay with him. I just decided to do my own rhythm, which was not as quick as I’d have liked, but I knew it was the only way to ride the race. Towards the end the Kawasakis were slowing and so was Marco, which allowed me to catch and pass him on the last lap. I’m happy enough with fourth place after struggling all weekend with the durability of the tyres. We had some problems but we still picked up a lot of points here in Phillip Island.”
“It was good to get on two podiums today. In the ten-lap sprint race I was a little cautious and I got caught behind the Yamahas, so I settled. I thought I had a little bit in hand to catch Jonathan in the final race. I tried to make my own rhythm for the first four laps. After this I tried to save the tyre and which then created a group of five riders. It was a nice easy rhythm and I was feeling good with my pace. Johnny and I had some good passes; good battles. My plan was to go away with two laps to go, then he passed me into turn one and I ran a little wide. At the same time he went 0.4 of a second faster. I went with him and caught him up on the last lap but I felt like I had been caught out a little bit. To battle with Jonathan in my first race weekend of the year, with his record in this class, I am happy. ”
“Overall it’s been a really good weekend for me, with eighth place in both races and also seventh in the sprint race. For my very first WorldSBK weekend I think It’s been positive, even if we had some issues with the tyres during the weekend and a small technical issue in race two, which meant I was happy to finish in eighth place. Top ten was the goal and we managed that in both races, I learned a lot over the weekend and it was much better than during testing and now I can’t wait for Thailand.”
“We managed to make some progress in race 2 and I felt a bit better with the V4 R, which is the most important thing. After yesterday’s result, we had nothing to lose so the guys in the team made some major changes that allowed me to slightly improve my race pace. I’m still a bit disappointed because we didn’t expect this result, but we picked up a lot of useful data to understand what I need for the next race. My congratulations to Álvaro, because he was really impressive all throughout the weekend.”
“It has been a challenging day but I have to say that our results do not reflect where we really are. It is just unfortunate that at the moment the bike still has some limitations in the straight line performance but it’s still very early days and on the positive side we have a very good chassis set-up. During the race we were able to make some good passes but then lost it again on the easy part of the track. We have shown we are capable of running in the top 5 during all tests and practices and when we are riding alone, so we know which area we have to work on the bike. We have some race mileage under our belt and I know that now the entire BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team will work hard to keep progressing like we did in the winter.”
“In the sprint race I did not start well and my front tire started to slide almost immediately. I could still finish in ninth place, but unfortunately on the last lap another driver bumped me and made me fall. I got back in the saddle but I could not do better than fifteenth. In race 2 I had a good start. When I was joined by Davies I followed him and I went up to the seventh place. Unfortunately, my rear tire started to deteriorate. The rubber and a small technical problem forced me to retire. A real shame because I could have won a good result. I will try to get back to Thailand in the next round.”
“The overall opinion on the weekend is positive, we have always been growing until the race this morning where I managed to go strong. In race 2, despite a good start, I immediately realized that something was wrong. I tried to stay on track, but a few laps from the end I had to stop at the pit. I wanted to come back to finish the race and try to understand if we could solve the problem, but at that point the result was compromised. Now we will try to understand well what happened so that the inconvenience does not occur again.”
“Things unexpectedly turned out more complicated today, but this was our first race and we still have a few bits and pieces to adapt. There is still some important work to do on the bike and we need to keep pushing to get the results we want. Rivals are strong, but I am certain that we will be back stronger in Thailand”.
“Today was much better than yesterday. I really enjoyed the race. Even though I missed my goal, the top 10, I could at least see that it was possible. I would have had the necessary pace if I had not started so far back after difficulties in qualifying and if I had done a better start. In the race itself I had a better feeling from the beginning on and above all more self-confidence. Although the grip level was even worse at today’s high temperatures than yesterday, we did a good job and took another step in the right direction. I was able to out-brake some opponents and gain a lot in the corners – that’s what our BMW S 1000 RR is really phenomenal in. Unfortunately overtaking is still difficult for us because we lose at the corner exit and on the straight. I take the positives: the top 10 were possible, the feeling is better and the direction is right. I would like to thank the entire team that works tirelessly to make this progress possible. We are competing in the world championship, that’s not a walk in the park. We are a very young project and the potential is definitely there. Now I can’t wait until we are heading to the next races.”
“Yesterday I felt really good and felt we had the potential to be pushing with Melandri and Cortese, but in this morning’s race I didn’t have the same feeling and struggled to do what I wanted on track. This afternoon I felt better on the bike, but I lost some time early on and that did not help of course. There are still a few areas where we are losing in fact. We have definitely made some progress over the weekend, some really good progress. But we have still work to do to get to where we want be. It will be a step by step process of improving.”
“It was important to finish all the races over the weekend and to gain as much data and experience as possible. This morning we improved our position compared to yesterday, and it was good to be able to do so over a shorter distance, even if I didn’t score any points. We made another little step in the afternoon and reached the points zone, but of course we need and want to do better than this.”
“Our first race weekend hasn’t gone as we’d hoped of course. Unfortunately, I made a mistake this morning that didn’t allow us to finish the sprint race and then, in race 2, a crash in the initial stages prevented me from reaching the line. Luck was not on our side here, but it’s all experience that we will take with us to the next rounds.”
“It was virtually a perfect weekend for Álvaro, he dominated almost every session and showed he had the margin to manage every situation. We have got off to the best possible start, but we must remain with our feet firmly on the ground and continue to work hard to achieve the maximum results possible on the other tracks with both of our riders.”
“Overall we can be happy with the performance we have shown in Australia; a very consistent performance by all four riders who were in the top eight in three races here. This shows the maturity of both and the operation at the racetrack. We were also able to confirm the performance of the bike that we saw during winter testing at a racetrack where we’ve struggled a little in the past. It was also gratifying to see that our YZF-R1 was competitive in the hands of Michael and Alex, who have a lot of experience with the bike, and also with Marco and Sandro, who were racing the bike for the first time here in Australia. While this weekend was a good start to the season, it is also clear where we have to improve, so we leave here satisfied but also motivated to close the gap further to our competitors. Seeing our four bikes fighting together on the track is a clear sign that our project is going in the right direction and for that I’d like to thank the riders, the teams and all the Yamaha staff for their hard work and dedication.”
“We’ve got to be realistic and we have probably reached our goals for the first time we have raced the BMW S 1000 RR. So we are very happy. We have had no major incidents and I think that we have proved that the bike is going to be competitive very soon. We clearly have our limitations at the moment and we will work hard on sorting them out in the break until the next races. Both riders rode very well and both have been very patient to understand that we need to work for the development parts to come through. So from my side the overall summary is that we can look forward to a very competitive bike over the course of the season. We just need to be patient and wait for that to arrive.”
“Not bad, we had a lot of fun and today we had a good chance to score a P8-P9 in WorldSBK with Jordi, displaying a good race pace and competitiveness. The second race has also been a bit unlucky, but we managed to put in great lap times especially in the second part, which makes us positive for Thailand. Badovini finally had the chance to ride a competitive bike in WorldSSP and this means that the whole team worked in the right direction”.
Source: MCNews.com.au
Alvaro Bautista again sprinted away from the field when the lights went out at 1500 on Sunday afternoon for the third and final World Superbike race of the opening round of the championship staged at Phillip Island over the last weekend in February.
KRT duo Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea gave chase, but a consistent string of 1m30s from Bautista across the opening laps proved too much for them to contend with.
Behind the Kawasaki Racing Team pair it was a battle for supremacy amongst the Yamaha riders. Melandri and Van Der Mark proving too quick for Lowes in this one as they tussled over fourth position.
Melandri won the battle for Yamaha supremacy, breaking away from Van Der Mark and as the race approached the halfway marker Melandri was starting to attack the KRT double-act. Up front Bautista was leading by eight-seconds, and in a different race…
Rea had followed Haslam for the first 15 laps before finally making his way past his team-mate, Haslam was having none of it though and pushed back through at turn four. That little tussle had allowed Melandri to really start nipping at their heels. Early on the next lap though Haslam ran in way too deep at turn one allowing Rea back through, it was a great recovery though and Haslam was back with him by the exit of Southern Loop. Bautista was halfway to the airport by this time…
The battle for the other spots on the rostrum though was really warming up. With four laps remaining nothing separated Rea, Haslam and Melandri while Michael Van der Mark has also joined that party.
Haslam and Rea responded to the Yamaha challenge though by pulling their finger out and gapping Melandri and Van der Mark.
As Rea and Haslam got the last lap board Bautista was boarding his plane home… In reality he led by almost 20-seconds, despite backing the pace right off in the closing laps, and rolling out of the throttle to cruise to the line and take the chequered flag still with a buffer of 12-seconds over the KRT duo.
Source: MCNews.com.au
WorldSBK organisers and Pirelli had made a ruling that forced World Supersport riders to pit during the 16-lap race in order to change rear tyres. This mandate was made in the aim of safety off the back of the Supersport tyres failing to be able to withstand the rigours of Phillip Island.
Jules Cluzel was the early leader before being oversome by Randy Krummenacher and Federico Caricasulo. Raffaele De Rosa set a new fastest lap of the race before a vicous high-side out of turn 11.
As the race wore on team-mates Krummenacher and Caricasulo traded places regularly. While the Italian was running the A option Pirelli front and rear the Swiss rider was on the B option. It was Krummenacher that chose to pit first, on lap eight. Caricasulo came in on the next lap which left Thomas Gradinger in the lead from Okubo. Caricasulo’s exit from the pits was delayed when the rear stand got caught up on the YZF-R6 and dragged down pit-lane, forcing him to stop near the pit exit and wait for his mechanics to run up the pit-lane and remove the stand before he could rejoin the race.
After all the riders had stopped it was Randy Krummenacher in the lead from Cluzel and Mahias while Caricasulo had been shuffled back to fourth place.
Caricasulo got back past Mahias to secure himself a spot on the podium but his quest for a win was gone as race leader Krummenacher was nine-seconds in front of him.
Pit stop rules mandated a minimum period of time to be spent in the pits, to stop crews rushing and perhaps sending their riders back out on a machine without a properly secured wheel. Officials decreed that Cluzel, Van Straalen and Mahias had all stopped for less than the mandated time and would have time penalties added to their total race time at the end of the race.
Randy Krummenacher went on to win the race from Cluzel and Caricasulo.
Wildcard entrant Tom Toparis finished a highly creditable 11th place and earned five World Supersport Championship points.
Source: MCNews.com.au
#AUSWorldSBK 🏁 Philip Island
🗓 Sunday 24 February 📋 Race 2
⌚ 15.00 (04.00 UK)
📺 Live Eurosport UK 2
☀26*C
🏍 22 laps
Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook
