VOL. 55 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 30, 2018 P43
had swapped that status over
the past few years behind Rea.
Sykes ended his tenure as a
Kawasaki rider in fourth place,
his "worst" since 2012.
In the Saturday race, all 17
laps of it, the track was in tire-de-
grading form for many of the top
riders' front rubber. Rea over-
took Sykes into turn one, forcing
Sykes wide, but it was to be a
Kawasaki racing Team 1-2 for the
first time since Magny Cours, as
Sykes scored his eighth podium
of the year. Not that he knew
it then, this would be his final
competitive ride for Kawasaki,
so signing off with a podium was
a good way to go.
Behind the top two, Alex Low-
es (Pata Yamaha) and Eugene
Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) had
a sometimes close fight for the
final podium spot, with Lowes
taking the final advantage as
Laverty ran out of room, finishing
a second behind.
With the top four covered by
just 4.723 seconds, it was a
closer race than some, but the
only spectacle was for that final
podium place.
It was not a good Ducati
weekend, as Marco Melandri
(Aruba.it Racing Ducati) took the
final iteration of the Panigale V-
twin in WorldSBK guise into fifth
place.
Fifth place could have been
Xavi Fores' and Barni Ducati's
but a bizarre end to Saturday's
action saw the last-lap board
held out one lap too early and
some, but not all of the riders,
slowed up. Fores slowed most
of all and ended up 13th in a
race with only 15 finishers.
Davies had also been caught
out, but lost "only" one place.
Loris Baz (Gulf Althea BMW)
has had a tough season at times
but sixth in race one, after being
seventh in Superpole, was a
strong result against some of-
ficial bikes.
Losail was forgettable for Mi-
chael van der Mark (Pata Yama-
ha) as his chance of gaining big
on Davies in the fight for overall
second place was lost as much
by his seventh (to Davies' eighth
as to not being able to score any
points in a non-existent second
race).
With Davies fuming, Jake
Gagne (Red Bull Honda) placed
himself right in his slipstream for
an equal best of season ninth
place.
But it was all Rea on the—pre-
mature—last race day.
"I went away in the off season,
reinvented myself, found some
new motivation, and arrived with
a great bike and team," Rea
said of his four-in-a-row cham-
pionship year. "There are a lot
of changes next year that bring
a lot of uncertainty. But that
motivates me to come better
prepared. We have a new ZX-
10RR and I am looking forward
to getting my hands on that in a
few weeks' time."
WorldSSP
For a man who did not really
know he was going to be racing
in WorldSSP in 2018 until shortly
before the first round, former
Moto3 World Champion Sandro
Cortese (Kallio Racing Yamaha)
made a championship-winning
impression.
Areas of standing water near
the trackside continued to
bleed onto the circuit during the
WorldSSP race. The biggest
wet section, at Turn 15, actually
got bigger as the race went on,
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
Lucas Mahias won the
WorldSSP final.
