WorldSBK 2022

[S griffin]

We are already enjoying a great season. Yes Bautista, Rea and Toprak are in another league and it has made for some great battles so far. Don't rule out Redding yet and there are some other riders who have shown promise. Looking like it will be an exciting season

Lowes is good on his day, but can't do it all the time, same with Rinaldi. But there's no shame considering who their team mates are. And yes it's time for better run off, so we have less track limit penalties

[gomick]

Riders head to Estoril this weekend for Round 3...

Riders Standings

Alvaro Bautista 109
Jonathan Rea 91
Toprak Razgatlioglu 64
Andrea Locatelli 55
Iker Lecuona 50
Michael Rinaldi 43
Axel Bassani 30
Xavi Vierge 30
Loris Baz 28
Alex Lowes 28
Garrett Gerloff 25
Scott Redding 19
Philipp Ottl 15
Lucas Mahias 14
Michael van der Mark 11

[justracing]

Originally Posted by gomick

Riders head to Estoril this weekend for Round 3...

What a scrap in race 1! Incredible result for Ducati.

[S griffin]

Sounds like an exciting race. Can't wait to see the highlights

[Dani Filth]

spoiler .. no win for Toprak . yet
don't think we had a bad race all season .. race 3 was inline with that

[S griffin]

OK, now I am looking even more forward to watching the highlights. Certainly the races I have seen have been action packed.

[gomick]

https://www.eurosport.com/superbikes...31/video.shtml

Worth a watch that last lap...

[S griffin]

I'll wait for ITV4 highlights tonight. Look forward to it

[justracing]

Fantastic racing at Estoril, all we need now is BMW to join the front runners.

[Dani Filth]

well .. Honda too .. it's not there

[S griffin]

That was classic action, especially on the last laps. Shades of Rossi/Elias all over again

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by S griffin

That was classic action, especially on the last laps. Shades of Rossi/Elias all over again

Dare I say it, we may be in a golden age of superbike racing. Yes, it's currently just three riders at the sharp end (and arguably there isn't the depth of talent like there was in the 2000s) but those three are putting on a hell of a show!

Probably the only series where BoP works? Everywhere else using BoP are forever tinkering while professing their methods are sound.

[S griffin]

I didn’t even realise they are using BoP. That probably means, yes, it does work better than most other series

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I didn’t even realise they are using BoP. That probably means, yes, it does work better than most other series

In my view, the differing rev limits are effectively BoP. They may not call it that but it's practically BoP.

[justracing]

Originally Posted by Dani Filth

well .. Honda too .. it's not there

They are gaining ground very rapidly, Leon Camier sounding very positive. Meanwhile the top guys continue to dominate, the Ducatis are becoming increasingly difficult to catch even though Toprak gave it his all and more in Misano. Rea starting to look more than a bit dejected and Redding still way off the pace of the front runners. If Ducati chose to bring Petrucci back in to the fold they will be invincible although Rinaldi is still desperately trying to hang on to his seat.

[gomick]

Rinaldi has been disappointing, need the team-mates of the top 3 to get on the pace!

Alvaro Bautista 220
Jonathan Rea 184
Toprak Razgatlioglu 141
Andrea Locatelli 108
Iker Lecuona 99
Michael Rinaldi 92
Alex Lowes 75
Axel Bassani 68
Xavi Vierge 63
Scott Redding 48
Loris Baz 45
Garrett Gerloff 34

How about the domination by Aegerter in Supersport, 7 out of 8 race wins this season.... The wins put him 3rd on the Supersport All-time Wins List already!

Dominique Aegerter 195
Lorenzo Baldassarri 141
Nicolo Bulega 104
Can Oncu 80
Glenn van Straalen 63
Yari Montella 62
Stefano Manzi 51
Federico Caricasulo 44

[Schummy]

Now the SBK championship is between Bautista and Rea, Toprak is already too far for 16 normal races and 8 superpole races (he would need luck against Alvaro and also against Jonathan, only with pace he will not do it).

And Rea will need not to lose even a few points in Donington otherwise he will begin to be in a complicated situation.

But of course we know what happened at exactly this time of the season in 2019, with Rea slightly further behind in points... Actually, that season was rather exceptional, it could be repeated, but it is not probable!

[gomick]

Originally Posted by gomick

Rinaldi has been disappointing

Apart from the podiums at Misano

[S griffin]

Bautista has really raised his game this year. Hopefully he can keep it up. I still remember him dominating the early part of 2019, then dropping his form just like that

Rea is still giving it his all, but he is finding it tougher with the opposition he's had the past few years. Toprak has been a bit unlucky so far. But I'm surprised with Redding, he seems to lost the form he had the past two years

[Schummy]

Ducati fits Bautista's riding a lot better than (SBK) Honda. However, during his MotoGP career he suffered a trend to crash a bit too much. Some drivers are that way, they seem to not have the ultimate feeling on the limit of (mainly) front tyre.

Other are very reliable, for example Razgat is very aggressive and spectacular but he is so safe within the adhesion limit; it is like a miracle he doesn't throw the bike to the scenery more often!

Rea is one of the best competitors I have seen in any form of racing. I admire him a lot. Every rider/driver has their peak years, IDK if Rea is not as 100% sharp as years ago, it would be natural, but give him a *slightly* better weapon and we will see!

Lecuona (and Vierge too) is doing a great job for Honda. In some races they were scratching the back of the top three brands, specially if we take out the top three riders, who are somewhat in a different level.

Sadly, we cannot have van der Mark to have a comparable measure in BMW. Maybe Scott is not adapting well to BMW's type of riding , maybe he is suffering a lack of motivation for being in lower positions than the last seasons, maybe this season's BMW is not a good bike,... If we had van der Mark beside Reading...

Last but not least: from my point of view, WSBK is being the best bike competition , pound by pound, in the last seasons!

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by Schummy

...from my point of view, WSBK is being the best bike competition , pound by pound, in the last seasons!

Amen! Do we think the Bautista Ducati combination as it stands now is a little too much for Rea and Toprak? Toprak was riding the wheels of his Yahama in the last round and still couldn't hang on to Alvaro. Likewise, Jonny. Fascinating to watch though.

[justracing]

All change, Toprak's triple at Donington soundly seeing off Rea's challenge puts him back in the championship battle, the next round at Most in the Czech republic should be really interesting for the title fight.

[Dani Filth]

it was helped by Bautista's mistake in Race 1
great racing in WSBK .. again
Rea tried soooo hard to pass in Race 2, always losing it braking into Melbourne

[gomick]

Enjoyed the Donington round, Supersport wasnt too bad either.
Rea really did try hard in race 2, how good was Toprak on the brakes...

[S griffin]

Brilliant dominance by Toprak. Looking odds on for another title. Bautista threw away a big opportunity with that mistake. Could this be 2019 all over again?