WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 27 JULY 8, 2014 P107
rider was runaway championship
leader David Salom on the Kawa-
saki who finished inside the top 10
after, several riders failed to finish,
including Red Devils Roma Aprilia's
Toni Elias. BMW Motorrad Italia's
Sylvain Barrier would win race two
in Evo, but Salom would leave with a
28-point lead.
Davies and Leon Haslam tangled
in race one and Haslam got back on
to finish 11th, with Davies remounting
GREY CITY
ROLLER
The Portimao circuit, Auto-
dromo Internacional do Algarve,
Parkalgar… call it what you want,
but the track in Portugal is about
as intense a little patch of tarmac
as it is possible to find in World
Championship circuits.
It was intensely well designed
as an aesthetically pleasing place
to spend time. It makes use of the
rolling hills that surround it to cre-
ate a rollercoaster of tarmac and
it is the Superbike track that must
surely have the riders braking, ac-
celerating, on a transient throttle
and generally moving themselves
and their bikes more than any
other track.
In two areas, maybe more, the
Superbikes are trying to lift, brake,
turn and finish accelerating all at
once.
Portimao is to tight and undulat-
ing circuits what Monza is to fast
ones – the daddy.
Just to finish off its interesting
and challenging nature, there is
a long, long, double right corner
that slingshots the riders up and
over the lip that starts the main
straight. It is not unknown for this
to create wheelies or even lift the
rear of the bike off the deck as it
bounces on the tires.
It's a weird one, but deliberately
so and most riders just love the
layout.
Held in early July, the weather
is predictably warm and sunny.
Positioned in the hills above the
beach resorts of the Algarve,
some people make it a holiday
race, as many more people did at
the previous round in Misano.
But we do mean some people.
For some reason – probably
entry price - one of the best cir-
cuits in Europe still has work to do
to get people through the gate.
Compared to some other ven-
ues, however, even the polished
grey concrete finishes that abound
in the paddock at Portimao can-
not hide the many charms of the
modernist circuit in the hills above
the Algarve. The grey skies and
rain that arrived on race-day morn-
ing were a final dive into the many
boxes of tricks this hillside circuit
contains in a small area of real
estate.
The Portimao circuit keeps
riders busier than any other
track on the schedule.
