WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 23 JUNE 10, 2014 P105
weekend and it is probably in the opposite
direction from what every other guy is do-
ing with their bike," Laverty said. "Everybody
else is getting their bikes to find grip, but we
are trying to take it away."
Laverty now sees this 'reverse engineer-
ing' as the way forward to help his perfor-
mance when he has a lot of tire grip.
Off podium, Elias was better in qualifying
than in race one but fourth in race two pinged
him above Leon Haslam in the standings.
Neither Jonathan Rea nor Haslam were
happy with their Sepang race weekends, but
Rea had two respectable sixths, despite be-
ing leapfrogged by Guintoli, who is now sec-
ond in the championship - 13 points behind
Sykes.
Rea had been run off track in the race-
one mess, but recovered (albeit 31 seconds
back) to then finish just over seven seconds
from the win in race two, but again sixth.
The heat at Sepang was not, for most peo-
ple, a great talking point in terms of influenc-
ing results, but it didn't help grip, particularly
for the official Ducati World Superbike duo
of Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano. Davies
took fourth in race one despite serious lack
of side grip, but Giugliano was eighth and
then 10th, struggling all the while with even
worse grip in race two.
David Salom won one Evo race at Sepang
Briefly...
his mountain bike crash and forearm
fracture. Staring's injured arm was
not giving him too much trouble, but
his shoulder was so painful he was
all set to take a pain-killing injection
on race day for the first time in his
career.
The 2015 technical rules for Su-
perbike stood a chance of being
unveiled at the Sepang round, but
it now seems that they will definitely
be out in time for the Misano race in
late June. There will be a meeting of
the MotoGP and WSBK Commission
at the Catalunya GP next weekend,
and the final rules will be outlined at
or shortly after that point, in time for
Misano on June 22.
Local Malaysian rider Zaqhwan
Zaidi was entered on a Ten Kate-
tuned Honda CBR600RR machine
at Sepang, with Ten Kate mechanics
looking after his weekend. He had
a good run pre-race, going seventh
in qualifying, 1.1 seconds from pole
man Jules Cluzel. The team was or-
ganized to drum up local interest and
the SIC in the team name stood for
Sepang International Circuit.
of the Millennium.
Sepang helped break the fever of
the 2.5-mile disease that had afflicted
much of the previous era of modern
circuits, by stretching its length back to
a self-respecting 3.37 miles. It added
to the tarmac bill by being 52 feet wide
at its narrowest, 72 feet at its widest.
With two decent straights, lots of
gentle ups and downs and passing
places aplenty, Sepang is a textbook
lesson in how to build a modern race-
track.
This may be almost as well-known
a venue to the MotoGP paddock as
Jerez or Assen
nowadays but for
World Superbike
it was a happy first
embrace.
To flip an old
adage quoted
about another
racetrack, Sepang
felt like some kind
of green heaven,
despite the tough
conditions for the
riders, than any
kind of green hell.
Racing in the tropics at Sepang is new for
the World Superbike Championship.
