WORLD SUPERBIKE
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 6/JUNE 8, 2014
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT/SEPANG, MALAYSIA
P104
able, six-round-long consistency
at the sharp end, Eugene Laverty
took his turn to find a result from
potentially nowhere for the mer-
curial Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
team.
His race-one third was in many
ways inherited after the instantly
infamous first race turn two me-
lee, but it was a result with a value
more than a nice trophy.
"We made changes over the
DEAR GREEN
PLACE
Mother nature owns every square
mile of Malaysia that is not tilled or
concreted over by mankind. It seems
that she reclaims it steadily enough
as well, even at a circuit as busy as
both a race and test venue as Sepang
International Circuit.
On the first-ever visit for World
Superbike to Sepang it was interesting
to see just how much a circuit in the
tropics, built in 1998, had weathered in
the 10 years or so since yours truly had
last been to the place.
In some ways not well, as the ef-
fects of all that heat and humidity had
worn down the shiny newness of the
otherwise leading edge track.
Nothing can take away from the in-
herent rightness of the execution of the
track itself and attendant buildings. Its
extravagant plant-derived grandstand
roof designs are now iconic, the team
'common rooms' behind the garages
should be compulsory at all tracks.
The big, fast, wide and generally
safe track layout is as expansive in
ambition as it was back before the turn
Sykes (1) leads
Melandri (33), Baz (76)
and Davide Guigliano.
