Rea takes 60th WSBK win - Lowes wins Race 2 at Brno

Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) took his first ever MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship race win at the Acerbis Czech Round, in an astonishing Race two which saw championship leader Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) crash out early on.

The thousands of Czech fans present at the Automotodrom Brno witnessed a wild, unpredictable affair, ending in a Yamaha one two and a sixth race winner in 2018. The front row all kept their positions at the start, with van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) holding off his teammate through the first corners.

Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark

Lowes would make his move into the race lead the following lap however, gaining the inside line through the first corner. Meanwhile, Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) climbed all the way from eighth on the grid to third by lap two, and past van der Mark a few corners later.

The next couple of laps saw three dramatic, almost unbelievable twists. First, championship leader Jonathan Rea went down at turn 12, apparently after coming in contact with teammate Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). The Northern Irish rider couldn’t make it back on track, retiring for the first time this season. If yesterday his lead seemed almost unsurmountable, after Sunday there was more than a glimmer of hope.

Chaz Davies

Next, Marco Melandri, having just passed Lowes for the race lead, lost control of his Ducati and rode through the gravel, immediately dropping the Italian to the back of the field and denying Melandri a return to the top of the rostrum when he was the fastest man on track. And then Sykes slipped in lap 6, leaving all of yesterday’s podium men off the rostrum in Race two. In four seasons together, never had both British KRT riders left a race empty-handed. Melandri was able to salvage a point, putting him in 15th.

Marco Melandri

With a dozen laps left, the stage was thus set for a Yamaha battle to the end, as Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), in third, was unable to match the pair’s pace. But this time, unlike when he led at Donington, Lowes’ YZF-R1 did not drop off in the final third: a smart, consistent and overall flawless ride by the Brit kept him ahead of his Dutch teammate all the way to the checkered flag with two seconds to spare. The man from Lincolnshire made his debut at Brno in 2011 – seven years on, he can finally call himself a WorldSBK winner.

Alex Lowes

With van der Mark claiming another podium finish in second, the Dutchman moves into third in the championship standings, above Sykes; while for Davies, who took an excellent third at Brno considering the issues that have plagued his weekend on the Panigale, cut Rea’s lead to 65 points.

Behind the rostrum riders, Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) took fourth, his best result of the season, with his teammate Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) also a season-best in fifth. Brno welcomed more good results for the Italian manufacturer, adding their bikes to the long list of podium contenders this season.

Michael van der Mark

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team) had a career-best of sixth at Brno, rising from eleventh on the grid in just his tenth WorldSBK race. He finishes above Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team), in seventh. Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) returned to the top-ten in eighth, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in ninth, and Roman Ramos (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) tenth.

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Alex Lowes saying, “It’s amazing, I don’t want to talk too much because I’ll get upset. But honestly, its fantastic, thank you to the team and hopefully we can get a few more now!”

Michael van der Mark

Michael van der Mark saying, “I’m really happy with this result, I changed the front tyre compared to yesterday and Alex was so fast. I knew he had a really good pace so I tried to catch him and stay calm but in the end he was stronger, but anyway I am really happy with this podium, Alex’s first win is something he deserves and its a really great day for the Yamaha team.”

Chaz Davies

Chaz Davies saying, “Its been such a tough weekend, probably one of the most difficult weekends that I’ve endured as a Ducati rider in recent memory, after some harsh words last night we regrouped and came back with a bike that was able to fight for the podium. I think we got a little bit lucky today but we made a step forward and that was important and it’s fantastic. Thanks to everybody involved because it’s been a really tough weekend.”

WorldSBK Brno 2018 – Race 2 Podium

#CzechWorldSBK at Automotodrom Brno: Race 2

Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) +2.167
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +7.649

Championship Standings after Race 2, Round 7

Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (270 points)
Chaz Davies (GBR) Ducati (205 points)
Michael van der Mark (NED) Yamaha (196 points)

WorldSBK Race 1

When the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship last graced the flowing hills of the Automotodrom Brno, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was a promising 25-year-old with 10 race wins to his name, no world championships. The contrast this Saturday, six years later, was startling: the KRT rider led a perfect race to take his sixth race win of the season, winning more WorldSBK races than any other rider in history, as the big 60 put him above the legendary Carl Fogarty.

Jonathan Rea

Around the longest track in the season, it was fitting for the action to be more extended than usual. Rea overtook teammate Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) at the start, but crashes from Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team) forced a red flag and race restart – twice, due to technical issues on the grid.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi

At the third time of asking, with the race length now down to 16 laps, Sykes defended his position at turn 1, but Rea was in front a couple of corners later, keeping Sykes behind and jetting off. The Northern Irishman was also helped by the action behind, with Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) putting Sykes under pressure. Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) also joined the fight, swapping positions several times with his teammate in a thrilling battle.

Alex Lowes

Rea went untroubled from this point forward, leading a composed ride to the finish line. He was the only rider managing laps times under two minutes, keeping a 4-5 second gap from his closest pursuers. The defending champion has now opened an 81 point gap over Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who took a top eight today, as his championship pursuit becomes even tougher.

Behind the leader, Melandri finally got the best of Sykes in lap 4, taking his best result since Phillip Island in February with second. It’s the fifth podium for Melandri at Brno in WorldSBK, and a fantastic comeback after a difficult Donington weekend. Sykes crossed the line in third, two seconds off the Italian.

Marco Melandri

The rostrum was finally just not close enough for the Yamaha riders, with van der Mark beating Lowes to fourth place. Both men will sit at the front of the grid in Race 2, a fantastic opportunity to move their personal tussle to podium fighting positions tomorrow.

Michael van der Mark

A thrilling battle for sixth midway through the race saw Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) emerge triumphant and back into the top positions. He got the best of teammate Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), who still managed to beat Davies in the final laps for seventh.

Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) netted himself another top 10 finish. Still not 100%, the Brit has managed to come in ninth at the flag, ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in tenth, the first independent rider at Brno. Yonny Hernández (Team Pedercini Racing) confirmed his good form at the Czech circuit, returning to the WorldSBK paddock in eleventh after missing the UK Round.

Jonathan Rea

Jonathan Rea saying, “It was nice to take my 60th win in a race like that, I was so happy and my guys gave me an awesome bike. I want to say a big thanks to KRT for bringing us to the test here – that gave us a big advantage and meant this weekend was more calm, and we could understand our Pirelli tyres and base set-up. The race was perfect, they don’t come like that a lot and its incredible, 60 race wins is a huge story that I’ve had, each and every one is special and I couldn’t do it without my team.”

Marco Melandri

Marco Melandri saying, “It was a very good race, as I expected it was difficult, as the track was warm and the grip was quite low after three to four laps. We had a lot of understeer and lost the grip, so it was hard to not push too much. But I had a look and I saw Jonny was gone, so I just tried to check my gap with Tom from my pit board. and tried not to make a mistake, it was a long race but I will try to do better tomorrow.”

Tom Sykes

Tom Sykes saying, “Today is Jonathan’s day, it’s a fantastic achievement and I want to say a big congrats to him, to get 60 is some achievement! But unfortunately we didn’t have the pace to match him, and tomorrow is another day. We really struggled with understeer today, but we didn’t lost too much once the pace settled, but initially I couldn’t dig the front in. Third is the best I could do today, it’s great to have all the support in the Czech Republic, great to have the podium here and hopefully tomorroe we can have a lot to cheer about.”

WorldSBK Brno 2018 – Race 1 Podium

#CzechWorldSBK at Automotodrom Brno: Race 1

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +5.381
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +7.336

WorldSSP: Cluzel reigns at Brno after stunning battle with Cortese

Jules Cluzel (NRT) and Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) continued their sensational tussle as an intense rivalry is developing between the pair, putting on a strong show here in Brno. After a first promising tussle at Donington Park, the pair put an even more thrilling battle at the Automotodrom Brno to heat up the FIM Supersport World Championship even further, with the Frenchman managing to beat his championship rival this time around, and reducing the gap to the top of the championship to only two points.

Jules Cluzel

Cluzel struck first at the lights, taking advantage of a slow start from Cortese to move into first by the first corner. Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) also made his way into second, a position he would lose back to Cortese however by the end of lap one, with Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) also moving into third above the Swiss rider a few turns later. Meanwhile, Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) suffered his second retirement of the season, going down at Turn eight.

The two frontrunners had battled on the timesheets throughout the weekend, and that rivalry translated to the track, with a thrilling sequence at the tail end of lap four leaving an early highlight: Cortese cut ahead of Cluzel at Turn 11, but the Frenchman shot back two bends later, both riders nearly coming together in a flashback of Cortese’s winning move at Donington Park. In the midst of that action, the shadow of De Rosa’s MV Agusta crept up behind.

Anthony West

By lap 10, Cluzel was facing mind blowing pressure in the lead, with Cortese not even a tenth of a second behind. But two, three, four laps went by, and the championship leader, with better pace, couldn’t find his moment to attack – or chose not to. His moment came in the final lap: turn three saw the German move in front, but a wide line allowed Cluzel to push in around the outside of turn four. Again the pair clashed, with Cluzel managing to just squeeze out in front, and hold his lead until the checkered flag. A third win of the season for Cluzel, who emerges from the Czech round as the clear contender to Cortese’s championship lead.

With De Rosa drifting behind in the final laps, and managing his fourth consecutive podium, there was more action at the back. With Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) claiming fourth place over Krummenacher at the end, as well as the fastest lap of the race.

Anthony West

Thomas Gradinger (NRT) completed an excellent Sunday for the NRT team with his best result of the campaign in sixth. Another frantic battle in the middle of the pack between Anthony West (EAB antwest Racing) and Kyle Smith (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda), with the veteran Australian edging ahead of the new CIA Landlord rider for seventh place. Behind, Eerneli Lahti (Sterkman Motorsport by HRP) took his first top-10 finish of the campaign in ninth, scoring vital points for the FIM Europe Supersport Cup.

Can the championship battle get any closer? There’s four weeks until the WorldSSP riders go back on track at Misano, and it’s set to be electrifying.

Jules Cluzel saying, “It was really hot! I think everybody enjoyed, but me not so much because I expected him to make the pass. But I give everything until the last lap, it was a close fight and this time I was struggling with the rear grip, I am not sure if Cortese also was. I just tried to do my best on the last lap, and I tried to close the door. I have a big mark on my leathers from when we touched, but it was funny and I think everybody enjoyed it.”

WorldSBK Brno 2018 – Supersport Podium

#CzechWorldSBK WorldSSP at Autodromo Brno – Race

Jules Cluzel (NRT)
Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) +0.148
Rafaelle de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) +3.368

WorldSSP Championship Standings after Round 7

Sandro Cortese (GER) Yamaha (122 points)
Jules Cluzel (FRA) Yamaha (120 points)
Randy Krummencher (GER) Yamaha (105 points)

WorldSSP300: Hendra Pratama completes dream weekend with Brno win

Galang Hendra Pratama (BIBLION YAMAHA MOTOXRACING) was phenomenal for a third day in a row at the Automotodrom Brno, flying away from pole at the start and securing his second race win in the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship, after winning at Jerez last season. Walid Khan (Nutec- Benjan – Kawasaki) took his first WorldSSP300 podium in second with Borja Sánchez (ETG Racing) in third, in a race that ended early due to a red flag.

Galang Hendra Pratama

The Indonesian lost his pole lead momentarily to Ana Carrasco (DS Junior Team) at turn one, but two corners later the 19 year old was back out in front, quickly making space between himself and the near 40 riders behind. With Hendra Pratama running away at the front, the fight for second turned into a vintage WorldSSP300 scuffle to the line, with Carrasco defending her place from attacks by Scott Deroue (Motoport Kawasaki) and the surprising Maria Herrera (BCD Yamaha MS Racing), up from 17th on the grid.

A mistake by Carrasco put her at the back of a ten rider strong group of riders, with several more incredibly close behind. And with the riders gearing up for a thrilling race finish, it was suddenly all over: a crash in the back group forced a red flag, and with seven laps out of 10 having been completed (over two thirds of the full race distance) the race end was declared.

Ana Carrasco

As things stood, Khan and Sanchez completed the podium, with Koen Meuffels (KTM Fortron Junior Team) in fourth, Glenn van Straalen (KTM Fortron Racing Team) in fifth and the returning Nick Kalinin (GP Project Team) in sixth. The red flag came at the worst moment possible for Carrasco, back in eleventh and out of the top 10 for the first time this year; she remains the championship leader, however, with Sanchez now second 20 points behind, and Luca Grunwald (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team), tenth at Brno, falling to third one point below the ETG Racing rider.

Galang Hendra Pratama saying, “I am very very happy, it’s an incredible race, I can’t say anymore! I want to say thank you to my team, to Yamaha and all my sponsors and friends. Finally I got the first position, so thank you very much.”