Post-Race 1 Reflections, Rider Quotes and Pukka Pics from FIM World Superbikes at Donington Park

Well now that we have had a few days to absorb all of the events that happened over the course of both races here is my look back at Race 1.

Unfortunately the weather had gone from the sunburn of Friday to “thermals required” on race day, this coupled with no data available from last year made supplying the correct tyre for Pirelli a little more of a challenge.   They successfully stepped up to the plate supplying a tyre specifically developed for this round which produced a record setting qualifying lap of 1.28.099 for Carlos Checa putting the Spanish rider on Pole Position for the race.

 With a track temperature of only 6C the majority of the riders on the grid chose to select the SC1 which is a soft front and the new mid-soft compound rear. This included the race 1 winner Marco Melandri who made gallantly made his way through the pack from his lowly grid position of 9^th place. He showed fantastic grit and determination to catch and pass Jacob Smrz on the very last lap to take his maiden superbike win.  Marco said "I had a great win in race one, I was just behind a very aggressive bunch of riders so I had to work hard to keep my rhythm and push through. I managed to close in on Smrz with five laps to go and take my first win."

 Jacob Smrz had surprisingly chose to run a SC1 soft rear even in those low temperatures which seemed to serve the man from the Czech republic well as he lead for 15 laps. Jacob said after the race “Of course I am disappointed to not win the race but it was really nice and I am back on the podium, which is important. The feeling all race was very good and the bike was perfect, but in the end my rear tyre was gone and I could not push any more. Marco passed me and I did not want to risk anything in the end.”

 Carlos Checa didn’t make the start off the line that he had hoped for and soon found himself in 11^thplace.  Undeterred he fought his way back through the pack to pass Leon Haslam on the last lap and make the podium in 3^rd place.  After the race Carlos said "In Race 1 I was struggling at the start, I didn't have feeling with the rear tyre and as a result I lost a lot of positions. But I have to say it was one of the most exciting races of my career, so many riders touching, crashing, everything! After the first laps I was able to build up a good rhythm and start moving up through the pack one rider at a time. It wasn't easy but I pushed hard and then two laps from the end I realised that I could maybe get past Haslam too for third. I'm really happy because I didn't think I'd get from 11th on lap one to the podium. We made the decision to use the hard tyre solution for the race and even thought we paid for this at the start it turned out to be the right decision in the end."

 Local hero Leon Haslam made a great start on race 1 and lead for 6 laps before being passed by Jacob Smrz on lap 7. He was eventually piped to the post for the last podium position when on the very last lap he was passed by Carlos Checa .  Leon later said “It’s not the sort of day I wanted but I’ll certainly take the points,” said Leon. “After qualifying in second place I really felt that we were in with a chance of winning but it’s very early days for me and BMW and my expectations are maybe a little high at present. In the end I simply didn’t have the pace to win but the consistency is certainly starting to show now”

 The drama of race 1 was not just confined to the fight for the top 4 places.  Eugene Laverty was fighting his way through the pack from his starting place of 13^th on the grid and was just beginning to make progress when, on lap four he suffered a massive crash.  He was taken immediately to the medical centre where he was examined and later released deemed fit enough to ride for race 2.  Eugene said “The race one crash was bizarre. I almost crashed in the corner before and lost a little bit of confidence afterwards, and I think this was what sparked it.”

 The most dramatic and unusual crash happened to Maxime Berger,  as he was turning onto the start finish straight to complete his 6^th lap, the back wheel came away from his Supersonic Racing Team Ducati leaving him pirouetting on the track, bewildered as to what went wrong.  Thankfully the incident, caused by a defective rim happened at a slower part of the track or this could have resulted in a more serious outcome.  Maxime said after the race “I'm disappointed and incredulous.  The rim broke and I was lucky because it broke in a slow corner. I found myself on the ground without knowing what happened.”

 Picture thanks to @McWill99

Lap 14 saw Michel Fabrizio retire after already pulling into the pits after a near crash at coppice that resulted in him ending up in the gravel trap. Luckily he managed to save the bike from falling and returned to the pits to change his rear tyre from a hard to a medium compound.  Hoping this would help, he returned to the race but only for 3 laps where he was forced to retire due to lack of grip.  Michel said "It's just a shame about the first race. I'm not exactly sure what happened. All I know was that suddenly I had no rear grip at all going into Coppice. I went into the gravel, but managed not to crash. I thought there was something wrong with the rear tyre, so I pitted and changed the rear to a medium. My first lap was in the 1:30s and the second was pretty good also, but the third was way off the pace. From then, it got worse. I was dead last with no chance of catching anybody and, because I didn't feel safe carrying on, I pulled into the pits. When we looked at the rear tyre, it was completely destroyed.”

  Also in the wars was Tom Sykes after such a strong SuperPole and starting from the front of the grid the Englishman couldn’t help but be disappointed when with only 5 laps remaining he crashed out at the Esses whilst in 4^th place.  Tom said “Not what I was expecting going into the day after a front row start,” he said. “I was quietly confident of coming away with top three or top four results. Race one was going to plan but I had a bit of an issue and it was mainly my mistake that I had a crash at the Esses while lying fourth on lap 18.”

 Race 1 result were: 

      1.  Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 34'33.189
2. Jakub Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 34'35.644
3. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 34'39.028
4. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 34'39.365
5. Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 34'42.228
6. Noriyuki Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34'42.404
7. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34'43.149
8. Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34'48.049
9. Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 34'48.066
10. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34'49.371
11. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 34'59.009
12. Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 35'01.567
13. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) BMW S1000 RR 35'05.058
14. Roberto Rolfo (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35'13.204
15. Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35'33.317
RT. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) Kawasaki ZX-10R 25'35.167
RT. Michel Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare) Suzuki GSX-R1000 24'17.861
RT. Maxime Berger (Supersonic Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 7'43.215
RT. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 4'37.934

Race 2 reflections coming up next.

Jen