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/970089
sen next weekend." "It may not look like it on TV, or on paper, but we are making progress and learning," Jacob- sen said. "For us, being a new team this year, and me not hav- ing ridden a Superbike here, it was quite difficult to jump in and get everything together. We just need to stay positive and keep working on our mapping and traction control in readiness for the next round in Assen." In terms of the much-vaunted new Concession Points bal- ancing rules, even Kawasaki reached the level where they can now instigate an engine-spec upgrade, with approved conces- sion parts, as can absolutely ev- ery manufacturer except Ducati. In the championship, Rea has 114 points, Davies 102 and Melandri 96. WorldSSP It has been something of a Yamaha festival this year in WorldSSP already, with all the leading bikes home being YZF- R6s, but you cannot fault the variety that the Tuning Fork crew are demonstrating, as this was the third different rider to win a race. Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing Yamaha) took pole on Saturday, and after some dalliances and scraps early on, the lead and race win on Sunday. It was all brilliant from him, his first win only three races into a new career path, but he had sev- eral rivals at one stage, almost all on Yamahas. "I am very happy and just want to enjoy the moment because it was the perfect weekend for the team and me," said Cortese, the 2013 Moto3 World Champion. "We had a pole position and a victory. I think you cannot do it better. It was a perfect race in the sun and I had fun racing with Cluzel and Caricasulo." Second was the "other" GRT rider Federico Caricasulo, the official Yamaha man riding hard but not overstepping his mark, and finally just 1.426 seconds down on a win. Happy French- man Jules Cluzel (GRT Yamaha) gave his new team for 2018 its first podium, but an unhappy Frenchman placed fourth, as world champion Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha) found a small lack of power, probably because of electronics. In the championship, Mahias still leads by four points over Cortese, with Randy Krumme- nacher eight points behind the lead. Gordon Ritchie WORLDSBK RACE ONE 1. Jonathan Rea (Kaw) 2. Alex Lowes (Yam) 3. Chaz Davies (Duc) 4. Tom Sykes (Kaw) 5. Marco Melandri (Duc) RACE TWO 1. Chaz Davies (Duc) 2. Jonathan Rea (Kaw) 3. Michael Melandri (Duc) 4. Alex Lowes (Yam) 5. Michael van der Mark (Yam) WORLDSSP 1. Sandro Cortese (Yam) 2. Federico Caricasulo (Yam) 3. Jules Cluzel (Yam) 4. Lucas Mahias (Yam) 5. Kyle Smith (Hon) IN THE WIND P52 PJ Jacobsen (99) is improving all the time.