Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1176510
IN THE WIND P24 Controversy Engulfs Argentina WorldSBK A lthough the second WorldS- BK event to be held at the mostly magnificent Villicum circuit in North Western Argentina, Oc- tober 12-13, ended up providing some great racing, it nearly never held any on Saturday. After problems with the asphalt on the circuit breaking up last year, and a plan to resurface al- most all the track in place to greet the WorldSBK riders this year, they should have arrived ready to go. However, teams arrived at a dirty, dusty and often slippery asphalt surface that was plainly below par. After two difficult and slow sessions on Friday, with the nar- rowest of racing lines through the stuck-on sandy surface, things ended up with a six-strong rider strike on Saturday, after Chaz Davies, Leon Camier, Eugene Laverty, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Sandro Cortese and Marco Melandri decided not to ride. Some oth- ers said they wouldn't ride and then were made to. Some had championship positions to fight for. Some were simply okay with riding. Some had been asked to ride by their teams and some were allegedly forced to by their teams. Strangely, nobody admit- ted to that last one. The race on Saturday, with some elbow bashing from the top four at least, went off without incident but with little in the way of overtakes. Off-line the surface was treacherous; however, many rental cars there were to clean it all up once the weekend got underway. Race one featured only 12 riders, but they all scored points and finished, even Michael Ru- ben Rinaldi who was three laps down after pitting for repairs on his Barni Ducati. Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) won that race ahead of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) and Toprak Razgatlio- glu (Kawasaki) after some great early fights and attempted passes on the sketchy off-line areas. Michael van der Mark (Ya- maha), a top-three fighter like Razgatlioglu, was in the early top four, but finished way down in fourth, although importantly ahead of his own Pata Yamaha teammate Alex Lowes and Kawa- saki's Leon Haslam in sixth. The heat on day one and two, with temperatures over 86°F, gave way to a Sunday that was much cooler, and some 50-60°F cooler on the track surface. That and more track work over- night made a wider racing line, still slippery off it, but the second day of racing was far less sketchy than the first. The Superpole race on Sunday morning was a triumph for Rea, as he piled on the coals early to break the pres- sure from behind. He beat Bautista by 2.140 seconds, with Razgatlioglu third again, but 3.6832 behind. Rea set a new lap record on the nearly clean racing line, and on the new asphalt for 2019, of 1:37.426. That is over 1.5 seconds faster than last year's pole time. So the new FIM-approved asphalt surface seems in fine fettle, if it were laid earlier and not covered in stubborn dust and grit. Race-one protester Davies was fourth, with Lowes and Van der Mark fifth and sixth, respectively. The last race saw Bautista in some tire troubles, but he still led two of the 21 laps, between lap six and lap seven, before Rea moved forward and Davies flew through from sixth to second. Davies' pace was electric, his mood aggressive, and he passed his own teammate at half race distance and never looked back. He looked enviously forward, but Rea was just too far ahead, and second place was Davies' The racing was good, but the real action proved to be the goings on off the track in Argentina.