WorldSBK Fight Club in France
T
he WorldSBK Championship
raised itself from its summer-
break slumber with the outdoor
expanse of the Circuit de Nevers
Magny-Cours in France, Septem-
ber 9-11. It was to end with more
much rancor than even last year,
but this time the verbal gloves
were well and truly off after race
two on Sunday.
Rain on Friday was not unusu-
al, but it messed up everyone's
setup plans. It was an amazing
Superpole on Saturday morn-
ing, shortly after a frantic FP3 in
which a whole weekend of dry
weather setup ideas was turned
into engineering reality and setup
options by the teams.
The 1:36.124 that gave Jona-
than Rea his 39th pole position
was matched to the last measur-
able tenth by Toprak Razgatlioglu
(Pata Yamaha with Brixx). Rea
was awarded the pole posi-
tion starting spot because his
next-best lap was better than
Razgatlioglu's.
Alvaro Bautista won race one,
which was impressive given
Ducati's recent lack of major
results at Magny-Cours. He had
more engine and tire than anyone
(or at least anyone else still on
two wheels) at the end, beating
the once more fully competitive
Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad)
on better drive and certainly
better power down the back
straight.
In Assen, earlier in the year,
Rea and Razgatlioglu took each
other out early in race two, but
this time around they did it to
themselves in separate incidents
in race one.
First, Rea crashed on lap three
after his front-wheel speed sen-
sor clipped the inside of the final
chicane curbstone, and down
he went. He got going again to
IN
THE
WIND
P24
Toprak Razgatlioglu (1)
gained vital ground in the
championship with two wins
out of three in France.
