Cycle News

WORLD SUPERBIKE WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 10/SEPTEMBER 7, 2014 JEREZ CIRCUIT/JEREZ, SPAIN P50 down a lot. With [Loris] Baz, I did not see him or feel him." Even the change from cooler to warmer track conditions in race two did not hold Melandri back, it just made for two differ- ent race wins for him. "We had the chance to test in the cold conditions on Satur- day morning so we knew what to expect in race one," Melandri said. "It was even colder than we thought it may be, but it was the same for all. I knew the lap times would be faster than race two, but it was difficult to manage the tires in the colder conditions ear- lier on." Often criticized by some for his seemingly casual riding style, HD TV evidence showed him sliding the tires around Jerez, albeit still just a little too slowly to threaten Melandri. He put it all out there to try and get points back on Sykes and was clearly disappointed at the lack of understanding in his team that he should be the one to make maxi- mum ground on Sykes. No team orders were given, but if the championship ends up a close thing by a few points, >>NEW DUTCH MASTER The Ten Kate team, officially the Pata Honda World Supersport Team due to sponsorship, is no stranger to winning World Supersport titles, but they no longer do it with such regular- ity that it becomes boring. This year, for the first time, they had a Dutch rider who looked capable of taking the title - Michael van der Mark. After round one, when he crashed in a sprint race in Australia, it looked like all the promise from 2013 and his rookie year was going to not go as planned. The 2012 Superstock 600 European Champion had other ideas. He dug into his talent, plucked out a first win at his home round of Assen, and then proceeded to dominate the championship, finishing either first or second in all but one of the nine races so far. Winning the title two rounds early was a distinct possibility after the pre- vious round at Portimao, but his rivals knew this as well. Enter a brilliantly combative World Supersport race in Spain, with more passes than a soccer game and more drama than several national theaters. A terrible first corner for pole man van der Mark saw him drop places and end lap one in seventh. After being penalized for having to take another engine when he joined his new San Carlo Puccetti Kawasaki squad, Kenan Sofuoglu started from pit lane and 10 seconds after the green light, so he wouldn't be a part of the big game, but he still set the fast- est lap of the race - a 1:44.849 - on lap two. Not a lap record, as his bike had too much chatter for that and the front bunch were messing each other up too regularly to do faster laps. A gigantic amount of passes in the early laps saw Lorenzo Zanetti up to second then down to fourth, as he was trying to stand on the podium with his teammate and expected new champion van der Mark. The main protagonists, from a lead- ing group of up to 10 at the beginning, were van der Mark, eventual second- place rider PJ Jacobsen and eventual third-placed Florian Marino - plus Zanetti and eventual fourth place man Jack Kennedy on the CIA Insurance Honda. Cluzel, 53 points behind on day one, had gearshift issues all race long and could be seen banging his gears up and down to shift. Determined to win the race if he could, but stay out of trouble from other riders, van der Mark passed all his rivals with seeming ease but as soon as he got ahead, a lunging brak- ing maneuver from one of them would haul him back. On lap 12 van der Mark was even on the grass, so hard were the passes and so close the riding. In the end it did all get a bit too much and with a lap and a bit to go Cluzel tried to spear two big fish with one inside hook, as he tried to pass inside at the final hairpin. He fell by losing the rear at the apex on the 18th lap, on full lean and on hard brakes, and his sliding bike caused long-time race leader Marino to take evasive action and run wide. Inside went van der Mark and Jacobsen to take the win and second place, respectively, while Marino got going again fast enough to head off the closely following Jack Kennedy. The top four crossed the line within a second, with van der Mark wheely- ing over the line. He stopped to pick up his champion's helmet, T-shirt and video camera, which was mounted on the helmet. Winning the championship by win- ning a race again - it was the way all champions would like to do it. "I still cannot believe it," van der Mark said afterwards. "The first corner I think it was my first ever holeshot and I braked too late and too hard and went wide. From then on I had to be a bit patient. I knew I had the pace and went forward and tried to get away. The other boys were faster than they had been all weekend. I took a lot of risks because I wanted to win. I also made a lot of mistakes because of the nerves a bit, but to win the champion- ship is amazing. Thanks to my father, team, family and all my sponsors, even my trainer. He is 80 years old, but all

• Cover