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/1533905
seems this year will be a great fight in what may shape up to be an alternating Ducati Cup and BMW Cup, with supremacy swapping weekend to weekend, depending on conditions and the track in question. WorldSSP A small bit of history was made with the impressive first Su- perpole qualifying "win" for a Yamaha R9 rider when Can Oncu (Yamaha bLU cRU Evan Bros Racing) was almost six-tenths up on the next best rider, Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha). Oncu then simply dominated race one, winning by just under a second, already celebrating and slowing up. The rise and rise of the new three-cylinder Yamaha in the Next Generation WorldSSP class is clearly underway because Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) was second and the upwardly progressing Bo Bend - sneyder (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) finished third. Mahias? He looked podium- bound until Bendsneyder found a better late-race pace. The Dutchman found race- winning levels of speed for the first time in WorldSSP in race two, as big Bo was the one to benefit most strongly from a sud - den crash by leader Oncu, who was possibly applying too much escape velocity. A significant win for MV Agusta, which makes for three winning manufacturers in only four races so far: Yamaha, Tri - umph and MV. Manzi was finally second in race two, and he left with the championship lead as a result, while PI race-two winner Tom Booth-Amos (PTR Triumph Fac - tory Racing) made a determined ride from fifth on lap one to third, heading up a bunch of four closely matched and podium- capable bikes. As an example, the now 636cc Kawasaki Ninja took Jeremy Al - coba (Kawasaki WorldSSP team) to fourth in Superpole and then sixth in race two. The WorldSSP class has not just been revived by the many and various brands that compete in the current "Next Generation" land - scape, but it appears at least as competitive and open as the sup- posed golden age WorldSSP "600" class of 20 years or more ago. Almost bizarrely, the top- ranked Ducati (the dominant bike for the past two years) belongs to Marcel Schroetter and his new WRP Racing squad. Marcel po - diumed in Australia but is "only" sixth in the current champion - ship points standings, and on the same points as seventh-placed Alcoba's Kawasaki. In the overall points, Manzi has 85 (which is what a win and three second places does for a rider), Booth-Amos has 72, Bend - sneyder 70, Mahias 43 and the eventually luckless Oncu 36. Gordon Ritchie WorldSBK Race 1 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW) 20 Laps 2. Nicolo Bulega (Duc) 0.067 3. Andrea Locatelli (Yam) 7.8555 4. Danilo Petrucci (Duc) 8.991 5. Xavier Vierge (Hon) 15.475 Superpole 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW) 6 Laps 2. Nicolo Bulega (Duc) 0.245 3. Danilo Petrucci (Duc) 0.402 4. Andrea Locatelli (Yam) 0.528 5. Alex Lowes (Hon) 0.581 Race 2 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW) 11 Laps 2. Nicolo Bulega (Duc) 0.195 3. Alvaro Bautista (Duc) 3.512 4. Andrea Locatelli (Yam) 6.617 5. Michael Van Der Mark (BMW) 7.478 Can Oncu gave the Yamaha YZF-R9 a win in the Supersport class. WIND IN THE P40