Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/680400
IN THE WIND P42 on him and the positive effect only a former MotoGP World Champion from a giant country like America could bring to the top of the very wet podium. His victory is a vindication for Honda for not only signing him as more than a star rider, but for the entire Superbike class in general. It has always offered riders, young and old, opportu- nities and according to Hayden that was the only thing missing in his past few years in MotoGP. Even on a supposedly old Honda, even in the wet, this was top class, and only an unexpected drop in his tire and a strange feel from his bike in race one stopped him fighting for a podium. Fourth on the grid after Superpole, quick in morning warm up, Hayden is moving forward, even if circum- stances have dragged him back- wards at times. In the overall championship Rea's two podiums make sure he extends his lead to 42 over Da- vies; Sykes is third some 70 points behind and a strangely muted Mi- chael van der Mark (Honda World Superbike Team) left Sepang in fourth place overall, a whopping 132 points off the lead. Hayden? Up to sixth and three points from Giugliano's fifth place overall. WorldSSP The plot of the Sepang WorldSSP race was too fantastical for Holly- wood, in terms of tension and an eventually shocking outcome. Even if the main championship protagonists, Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and his teammate Randy Krum- menacher both finished, they finished in sixth and eighth posi- tions, on a wet track that neither was prepared to risk their all on. Not on a day when the other top riders who are breathing down their championship necks also had a strange day. Ayrton Badovini (GEMAR Balloons – Team Lorini Honda) blew his own mind with a win that looked unlikely for a time, as he had been stuck in pit lane behind a red flag before the first aborted start had played out. Second place rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) blew the crowd's mind with second place by only 0.050 seconds, after a great battle with Badovini. The final place on the podium was taken by Gino Rea (GRT Racing Team MV Agusta), under a second from the win, and just a couple of tenths ahead of PJ Jacobsen (Honda World Supers- port Team). Just before the WSS race was supposed to take place at 14.20 it started to rain; cue frantic tire changes and bike resetting. Badovini had not been al- lowed to make the start with his peers after making a tire change in pit lane, but he got going again in the complete restart, over all 14 laps, that had to take place after the second WorldS- BK race. Badovini, a former official Ducati WorldSBK podium finisher, but currently without a permanent ride, said, "It is really incredible for me because two races ago I was at home, now I am on the podium in first place. Every time I go behind the bike I understand something new and in this race for sure a Superbike style helped me to 'cut' the line and be fast." Gordon Richie Ayrton Badovini took a surprise win in WorldSSP.