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/891001
VOL. 54 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 24, 2017 P45 was in better early condition for the most part, winning only his second career Superpole, and then leading race one after a masterful showing. He had kept even Rea at bay by a consistent second and looked ready to win, until five laps from the end when his bike stopped mid-corner and he had to retire, his misfortune and Rea's sudden opportunity. The KRT man won the first race, ahead of Davies by 1.137 seconds and Tom Sykes (Kawa- saki) by 1.599 seconds. He was the leader on lap one of the restarted race two, and ripped out a new lap record from his repertoire, a 1:40.640 that was almost 0.3 seconds faster than the previous new record (on new asphalt) that Melandri had set in race one. Melandri was to get a podium finish—second place behind Rea, to the tune of 2.732 seconds. Both races had been stopped and red flagged, then run over 19 laps, not 20, the second stopped for a clash and crash between Eugene Laverty's Aprilia and Davies' Ducati. Davies restarted and got back up to enough pace for third. Added to his second pace in race one, this was an important result for his push to second in the title chase. Fourth place in both race one and race two put Alex Lowes a little further ahead in his fight for a top-five overall finish with his MotoGP-stand-in-bound Pata Yamaha teammate Michael van der Mark. Behind Lowes in race two, Tom Sykes was disconsolate to finish fifth, over six seconds from Rea. Not the kind of rear traction he was expecting meant he had to work hard, and adjust his bike a little on the move to be able to set decent laps times. He could not challenge Davies in either race, and ended his weekend on the same points as Davies, having had the advan- tage coming in. Sylvain Guintoli (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) has ridden a variety of machines in 2017, but his return to WorldSBK for the final two rounds started well in race one. He was only 11th in Super pole—surprised by how fast everyone was going, he said—but he was the one show- ing speed to the others in race one. He worked his way forward and started to close on the big six, and it became a big sixth for Guintoli, himself, after Melandri was forced out of the opener. Eighth in race two, it was still a tremendous showing for Guintoli who may come back to WorldSBK with the Puccetti team if a deal can be worked out for 2018. Van der Mark was on sched- ule for a top finish in race two, behind Rea, but he got tangled with the onrushing Melandri, and then ran wide to let Lowes and Sykes past. The last round in Qatar will be something to savor, but the new champion Rea even brought up the possibility of running a lower rpm limit at that round, to meet the new-for-2018 regs that will appear soon, now that all the heavy trophy lifting has been done by Kawasaki already. In the championship stand- ings, Rea burst into the 500-point bracket in Spain, with 506, Davies and Sykes have 363 and it is a fight for second between them only as Melandri has 301. Lowes is on 226 and van der Mark on 210. WorldSSP Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP) found himself in the position of being almost certain to be the new world champion, after finishing fifth at Jerez in a 19-lap race that was won by his teammate Federico Caricasulo. The Frenchman's only remain- ing rival in the championship, after Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance) finished second, is Kenan Sofuoglu, 20 points be- hind, but back at home in Turkey with a broken pelvis. Unless Sofuoglu affects a miracle cure he will not be able to ride to win or place second in the final round in Qatar, as he must to stop Mahias from being champion. Hence the lack of champion- ship celebrations or notifications in a series that otherwise looks to have been wrapped up already. Mahias just wanted to get it done and was fast before bad