VOL. 50 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
P75
Briefly...
Superstock 600 class will survive
as the main growth medium for aspirant World Supersport and Stock
1000 riders to graduate from. Superstock 1000 is more successful
at projecting World Superbike riders to the fore, but Superstock 600
is still the most affordable class to
start with - with competitive bikes
from at least three manufacturers in
any given season.
rological damage) and it was a
heavy day that the brilliant racing
could only go some way to brightening up.
Both races were mercifully dry,
No – burging. The famed German
track to be absent from next year's
schedule.
the oil spills that brought out two red
flags, one too slowly to stop some
top riders from hurting themselves.
if held in coolish conditions, and
were determined by the dreaded countback rule. That meant
Sykes, who had just been passed
by Melandri, was credited with
the win when the scoring went
back a lap. In race two, it was
a grandstand finish - with Sykes
and Guintoli almost able to mix it
with the top three if they slowed
each other up, but it ended with
a whimper and another red flag.
The final result of the action on
track was a change in the championship lead, with Sykes back in
front again by a single point from
Guintoli. Sykes may have won,
but he was not that happy with
his machine on race day. Guintoli
had similar feelings, that his engine had lost some of its edge.
Sykes was grateful for two toppoints scores after some up-anddown results recently, but he was
Carlos Checa had a disastrous
start to his weekend and it carried on in a tough fashion after he
crashed at the start of the first qualifying session, and lost so much
confidence in his front end that he
failed to make it into Superpole qualifying only 18th from 20 riders.
With his teammate Ayrton Badovini
making it into the top 10 in Superpole, and privateer Max Neukirchner 14th, it was a dark weekend
before race day for Checa once
again, and got only a little better for
him despite two top-10 finishes. Badovini beat him both times out.
With the Nürburgring on its way out
of the plans for the series in the
future, it looks like there will be a
round at the Sachsenring in 2014.
The home of the German MotoGP
race for some years now, it is an interesting circuit, with a long history
of racing in its previous form. World
Superbike racing has been around
the houses in Germany as much as
in any other territory in the past 15
years. There have been races at
Hockenheim, Nürburgring, Lausitzring and Oschersleben, leaving
only Sachsenring of the modern
German tracks still to tick off the
list.
continued on next page
