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/135930
VOL. 50 ISSUE 23 JUNE 11, 2013 Fast qualifier Tom Sykes (66) leads Laverty (58) and crew early in race one. completely gone. It is a strange feeling because we won the first race, but we go back home now almost very angry." Yet another up-and-down rider was the man who sits second in the championship chase, Kawasaki's Tom Sykes. Third in race one and in the fight until the final two laps, the fastest qualifier (by an impossibly small margin of .001 of a second at a circuit he believes is his and his bikes' least favorite) ruined his day by running over the rumple strips in the exit of turn one and crashing out when he hit a supersize one in the formation lap for race two. He got his bike fixed, returned to the fray from pit lane, came back in for more changes to a broken sensor, and then went back out to set a new lap record on what was ironically a much better bike set-up than the one he had finished third on in race one. His new best is a 1:42.475, but he had nothing to show for it as he finished seven laps down. "Portimao is not one of my strongest circuits and still we could fight for the win," Sykes said. "In race two the fall was my fault because in turn one on my out lap I ran over the curb stone on the inside. The piece of curb stone looked quite flat but in the last moment I realized it was a big high curb and it chucked me over the front of the bike." Another up-and-down man may just be this year's definition of one – Pata Honda's Jonathan Rea. So hacked off to find a clip or June gloom at Portimao. more benign purpose. World Superbike racing may be 'lucky' to still go to some atmospheric (if also archaic) venues, but as a place to go racing in a thoroughly modern setting, Portimao is a good template to work from - a palette full of color and spice. P87 Briefly... Seca would like to keep the World Superbike round as they expect a good crowd as they had in the past before MotoGP came to town. Ivan Clementi and the HTM BMW team, who missed the Monza and Donington rounds due to financial issues, were a surprise entry when the team trucks lined up outside the garages at Portimao. They had evidently paid their bills, allowing them back into the paddock as they continue on a race-by-race basis. Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri tested at Motorland Argon for two days shortly after the Donington race, but the new engine spec they evaluated there didn't make it to Portimao. After some previous ructions about chassis mods and breaking chassis spars in big crashes for Davies, the British rider is still using the 2013 chassis with the extra gusseting on the headstock while Melandri is on a stock 2013 chassis, with no strengthening anywhere, according to the team. Both riders use the 42mm Öhlins fork. After posting a podium at the previous Donington round, the boss of the ParkinGO MV Agusta Corse team, Giuliano Rovelli, confessed to being as surprised as anyone to take a podium this soon. "Absolutely not, because this job is a very hard one. All is new in the team, the bikes, riders, and we do not have experience at all these circuits and we have to do a lot of jobs just to arrive at a good level only on continued on next page