Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 4, 2015 P79 darker. As Biaggi was exiting turn one, Pata Honda's Sylvain Guintoli entered the first cor- ner on the inside, which lifted Biaggi, which made he and the 'in-wide, out-narrow' Sykes col- lide hard enough for Biaggi to go down and Sykes to get bent parts on his machine. Biaggi would restart and then retire, Sykes got going again at full pace but eventually fell and restarted to finish 14th. He is now out of the championship race but once more entertain- ment came from the unexpect- ed places and unpredictable happens rather than by any grand plan in World Superbike. Hence Jordi Torres, lapping out of kilter to his normal pace due to extreme grip drop from his rear in race one, bounced back to take third in race two. "Between race one and race two the guys did an incredible job, changing the bike, working on the setup and the electronic adjustment, particularly on the engine brake," said Torres of his recovery from race one's despair, "This let me ride much more smoothly." He was good value for a po- dium and only five seconds from the winner. Kawasaki, Ducati and Aprilia were once again the big bosses thanks to the po- dium results, but others had a chance to shine at Sepang, on the magnificent 3.4-mile circuit near Kuala Lumpur. Although off the podium, Guintoli delivered on his front the bar to something that no one had ever done before." One of the greatest riders to pull on leathers in the modern era, he used all his guile in race one to switch off the traction control when he realized the potential rear grip issues were made real by many of his rivals, including both Aprilia regulars. In race two, the labyrinth of weirdness got deeper and Briefly... Biaggi's role with Aprilia is that of test rider, but the information he had dis- covered at the test was not passed on to Leon Haslam or Jordi Torres. It was kept in the confines of his own team, sponsored by the Sepang circuit and others—a bizarre situation on the outside, for a rider who is sup- posed to be the team's test rider. Ayrton Badovini had a heavy crash on Saturday and banged his head hard enough that he was unsure of where he was or when he was riding next. Troubled by his inability to re- member some things and not others he was taken for a CAT scan at the local hospital to make sure he only had a concussion. He was declared unfit by trackside medical staff. Leandro Mercado had a fast fall in Superpole in one of the long chi- canes, trying to hang onto his Barni Racing Ducati long enough to fall in a strange place. His bike spun off the track then back on, making for a scary near-miss for the following rider, Matteo Baiocco—who was re- ported to have made a split second decision to keep going because he was on a quick lap and judged that the spinning bike would be missed. He was only just correct. A Superbike commission meeting at Sepang discussed many items pertaining to the calendar and some items of tech ruling for 2016 and be- yond. World Supersport is also up for discussion, and the evidence of why was already there at Sepang. A worryingly small 19-rider Supersport field arrived in Malaysia, underlining the need to rejuvenate this once vibrant class. Reigning World Champion Guintoli had his best result this season with his new Pata Honda team—a pair of fourths.

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