VOL. 52 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 4, 2015 P75
Briefly...
On Saturday at Sepang there was a
tribute of a minute's silence, shortly
before the pit walk, to honor the
recently deceased MotoAmerica
riders Dani Rivas and Bernat Mar-
tinez, killed at Laguna Seca, and
Hamza Sofuoglu the young son of
World Supersport rider Kenan, who
lost his fight with the after-effects
of a cerebral hemorrhage shortly
before the Sepang race weekend.
The main paddock teams and riders
gathered under the podium for a
respectful period of silence.
The Kawasaki Racing Team duo
of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes
opted not to ride at all in the second
practice session at Sepang, after
the heavy fall of rain beforehand had
made the track unpredictable. With
so much at stake for each rider it
was a decision made to prevent any
risks in the championship fight.
A brace of riders from World Super-
bike were treating Sepang as the
end of a triple-header, which started
in California for the Laguna Seca
World Superbike round, moved
to Japan for the Suzuka 8-Hour
and then remained in Asia for the
Sepang race. Alex Lowes and
two-time Suzuka 8-Hour race winner
Michael van der Mark were the
dynamic duo who have been rack-
ing up the air miles.
The chameleon-like nature of the
World Superbike and World Super-
sport rider line up had yet more
changes of colors and backgrounds
at Sepang. Injured rider Kieran
Clarke and outgoing CIA Landlords
Insurance rider Riccardo Russo
were replaced by Aiden Wagner and
ing what to expect after suffering
so badly in Thailand with humidity
and heat, and a slow motorcycle,"
said Davies. "I was really happy on
Friday to see that we were close
on speed. It was important to win
at a track like this."
A bizarre day of racing in the
top two positions, ending with
a contact in the final hairpin as
Davies nipped inside Rea under
braking, was nothing compared
to the frequent mayhem demon-
was not only his third victory in
four races (his fourth of the sea-
son and his eight of all time) but
a vindication that both he and
his bike are improving as almost
perfect World Superbike tools.
With no realistic foothold in
the climb to the title dream this
year, Davies still thinks his race
two win was important.
"I think this win is huge for
the development of the Ducati
because we came here not know-
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