WSBK: Brit riders’ aiming for World Superbike gold this weekend at Silverstone

Rome (Italy), 31st July 2012 – The eni FIM Superbike World Championship returns to the United Kingdom for its second of two appearances this coming weekend, this time right in the middle of Olympic fever, at the legendary Silverstone circuit, approximately 100 kilometres north of London, where the Games are based.

The 25th edition of the production-based championship is turning out to be one of the most competitive of all time: after nine of 14 rounds five riders from five different manufacturers are separated by just 84.5 points (with 250 still up for grabs) and all of them have their minds set on the title. Once again World Superbike is living up to its reputation of being edge-of-seat, down-to-the-wire, unpredictable stuff and more of the same is expected this weekend in the UK.

The previous round at Brno bunched up the leading group even further as Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) cut the gap to leader Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) to just 21 points. The Italian five-time world champion also lost points to Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing Team’s charger (now just 59 points down) and to Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati), the reigning champion who is 67 points behind Biaggi. The group of pretenders for the title is completed by Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team), 84.5 points off the top slot.

Silverstone will be the venue for a World Superbike round for the ninth time. The track, flat and flowing, appears to be tailor-made for Ducati, which has won here 11 times in 15 races. In last year’s edition Checa powered to a dominant double win: half-way through this season he appeared to be out of the title battle, but by repeating the same result this weekend the Spaniard has every chance of becoming a key player in the title run-in.

Checa’s hopes of a resurgence are helped by the fact that none of the three riders ahead of him in the standings have a particularly good record at Silverstone. Max Biaggi has never taken a podium at this track and his best result is a fourth place. The Aprilia RSV4 machine has suffered on bumpy tracks like Silverstone in the past and it was also for this reason that a few days ago Aprilia Racing carried out a test at Mugello in preparation for this important round.

With his double triumph at Brno Marco Melandri has now notched up five wins this year with BMW, more than any other rider. He made his Superbike debut in 2011 with Yamaha, twice finishing third, while since its debut in 2009 the German four-cylinder bike has never finished in the top 3 but things have now changed radically: in 2012 the S 1000 RR has been on the podium in every round except Assen.

Neither can Tom Sykes boast particularly brilliant results at the British circuit, and it was just one year ago that he had to abandon the race weekend following a big crash in qualifying. The Kawasaki ZX-10R’s best result here is a seventh place, with Joan Lascorz, but in recent races the Japanese machine has made sensational progress.

Jonathan Rea, the 25-year-old leader of the Honda World Superbike Team, has not won a race since Donington in May this year but he comes to Silverstone in the wake of a fantastic win in the Suzuka 8 Hours as part of the FCC TSR team, one of Honda’s top squads in this endurance racing classic.

Round 10 will also be a fundamental race for FIXI Crescent Suzuki which is yet to obtain results living up to the team’s and the riders’ expectations. American John Hopkins has been sidelined by a series of injuries and crashes, but he returns to the track where one year ago he set pole position as a wild-card and then finished the two races in fifth and seventh. Silverstone is also a ‘friendly’ circuit for Leon Camier who scored a podium place here in 2010 with the Aprilia Racing Team.

The Manufacturers’ title battle is now wide open, after BMW moved into the lead for the first time ever at Brno by two points over Aprilia but Ducati (15.5 points behind) are still in with a big chance. Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki on the other hand are some way behind.

The forecast for the weekend looks like cool weather and showers, conditions that could bring out the best in Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati), the 22-year-old rookie who has already stepped onto the podium twice this year. Niccolò Canepa will also be back on his regular Red Devils Ducati machine after missing out on Brno, while in the Pata Racing Ducati team, Lorenzo Zanetti is joined by new signing Sylvain Guintoli, winner at Assen when he was in Ducati Liberty Team Effenbert.

Points (after 9 of 14 rounds): 1. Biaggi 271.5; 2. Melandri 250.5; 3. Sykes 212.5; 4. Checa 204.5; 5. Rea 187; 6. Haslam 160; 7. Laverty 148; 8. Guintoli 110; etc. Manufacturers: 1. BMW 292; 2. Aprilia 290; 3. Ducati 276.5; 4. Kawasaki 218.5; 5. Honda 193; 6. Suzuki 72.5.

Quotes from the UK Riders

Tom Sykes (aged 26; born in Huddersfield): having made the podium in both races at the last round, Sykes heads to Silverstone third overall and is the highest placed Brit in the championship. Looking ahead to his home race, the Kawasaki Racing Team rider said: “For me it is great to be coming back to race at Silverstone, even more so as it is less than 40 miles from my house and there is a good coffee shop en-route. It also helps that we are coming here off the back of a solid weekend in Brno where we seemed to find some benefits in our setting on the ZX10-R. Of course we have achieved this with a lot of hard work from myself, Kawasaki, all of the team and also extra help from Provec, Motocard and LeoVince. Hopefully we can carry this momentum forward for the rest of the season and especially here in front of my home crowd at Silverstone. In this case I will be even more satisfied.”

Jonathan Rea (aged 25; born in Larne, N. Ireland): Rea, who missed out on his home race last year due to injury, already has two wins under his belt this season and will be looking for a podium finish at Silverstone. The Honda World Superbike Team rider said: “There’s something extra special about racing in front of your home crowd, so I’m really looking forward to riding at Silverstone. I was honoured to be invited to the opening of The Wing last year and spent some time with some of the greatest names in the history of motor sport, which was a really humbling experience. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to race at Silverstone later in the season because of injury and, although I was there to support the team, it was a frustrating weekend for me. There’s still a lot to fight for in this year’s championship and the Honda CBR is a much better package than the one we had last year. I’ve had some good success at Silverstone in the past – it’s a fast and flowing circuit, which suits me and the bike, and we took a couple of podiums in 2010 so I can’t wait for the weekend.”

Leon Haslam (aged 29; born in Smalley): Haslam is currently sixth in the championship, having ridden his way to five podium finishes. His results, combined with those of fellow BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider Marco Malandri, have propelled BMW to pole position in the manufacturer standings. The S 1000 RR rider said: “I’m really looking forward to Silverstone; it’s always special to race in front of your home crowd. We’ve had a few issues, a couple of poor weekends and I’ve been racing at circuits that I haven’t been that good at in the past; so I’m glad that’s all behind me and we’re going into Silverstone, my home race. Hopefully we’ll get back to winning ways. I really enjoy Silverstone as a track. My dad has a race school there and, for me, it’s a great venue to have a good, close race.”

Chaz Davies (aged 25; born in Knighton): Davies has made a promising debut in World Superbikes with his ParkinGO MTC Racing team, clinching a podium finish in Aragon. Speaking ahead of the weekend, he said: “I’m looking forward to Silverstone. I feel that the race is well timed in the calendar for me, because I’m just starting to grasp Superbike racing. We’ve come a long way in the last four races in terms of experience in WSBK, so I hope to use everything I’ve learnt to best effect at Silverstone and put on a show for the home crowd. I have a lot of friends and family coming which is always good for a few tenths of a second!”

Leon Camier (aged 25; born in Ashford): now in his fourth year of World Superbikes, Camier is looking forward to his third year of racing on Silverstone’s world famous Grand Prix circuit. The Fixi Crescent Suzuki rider said: “It’s always great fun to compete at your home race, but I don’t feel any extra pressure at Silverstone. I want to do well at all races, so racing at home is no different in that sense. John qualified the Suzuki on pole position last year, so we know the bike goes well there and it would be good to be on the front row – like I was last year. I can hear the fans on the warm-up and cooling down laps, but once the race is on, I am so concentrated that I don’t hear a thing. I’m hoping for some good weather, a good crowd and some good results.”