ROAD RACE
MOTUL FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 8 / JUNE 22-24, 2018
WEATHERTECH RACEWAY / MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
P94
body. The bike does not over-
take the rivals, that is clear."
The top three pre-race in
Superpole were Davies, Tom
Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
and Rea, but Sykes had a
disaster of a weekend at a track
he loves and has won at three
times before. Only seventh in
race one, he blamed an issue
with his front tire, not helped by
hot track conditions.
finally, his first podium since
2014. And the first-ever podium
for the Milwaukee Aprilia team
that now has strong backing and
a good setup.
Said Laverty of his race-two
podium: "For me this is a mon-
key off my back. We improved
the front end a little bit for warm
up, but the key was really to
start from pole position, and we
did not have to overtake any-
Over 12 seconds behind Rea,
he was still two seconds ahead
of Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee
Aprilia) who recently found a
better rear solution for his tire
life.
Laverty really made that pay
off in race two, as he took the
lead from his pole position start
(fourth in race one's finishing
order, makes you pole for race
two nowadays). He was third,
Rea leads two-timer Josh
Herrin, who competed
in both WorldSBK and
MotoAmerica—on the
same bike. He put up a
good fight in both.
