WORLD SUPERBIKE
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 10/SEPTEMBER 7, 2014
JEREZ CIRCUIT/JEREZ, SPAIN
P52
>>GOOD DAY SUNSHINE?
Andalusia is a well-known part of
Spain for the tourists of the world,
but in World Superbike terms Jerez
is a relative stranger.
MotoGP has set-up camp in
Jerez for decades, and provided
one of the best-attended and most
atmospheric events on any racing
calendar. World Superbike, by com-
parison, has been there three times
in total. This year, last year and way
back in 1990.
No surprise that the first couple
of days of competition this year
featured a low crowd but high
temperatures and some dazzlingly
close practice times, particularly on
Friday.
It took Valencia, a former World
Superbike round, years to get up
to respectable crowd figures under
Infront and maybe Jerez will be the
same for Dorna.
Behind the scenes, the people
directly charged with fixing the
series are working hard to sort out
technical, sporting and even cham-
pionship positioning of the entire
class. In a world of short attention
spans and lots of lifestyle choices
other than going to World Superbike
races (or even just watching them
on TV) they will have to work hard
and well if the lowly 2014 crowd of
13,216 on race day is anything to
go by.
Superbike racing at Jerez is a very
good thing for the championship, no
doubt about it. It is just that there is
still a lot of work to do to convince
the Spanish public to come and
watch some great competition, eight
manufacturers' best road-oriented
machines, and riders who can go
around Jerez just two seconds
slower than the genius that is Marc
Marquez can in qualifying. And a GP
rider is on a bike – and tire – pack-
age that is purpose built for the job of
racing, and only racing.
Posing as empty seats? The World Superbike Championship
has yet to bring large crowds to Jerez.
Jonathan Rea (65)
and Tom Sykes (1)
battle in race one.
Rea ended up fourth
and fifth in the two
races with Sykes
fifth and third.
We will go back to the drawing
board, make sure things are very
crystal clear for Magny-Cours
and continue with our season."
He was saved the trouble of
having to beat his teammate Baz
in the first race when the talented
young Kawasaki rider crashed
after touching Melandri, who had
just passed him. A podium posi-
tion for Baz was lost by the sim-
ple touch of his right handlebar at
