World Super Bikes Donington
World Super Bikes Round 8
Donington Park
Championship points going into round 8.
1. ALVARO BAUTISTA 330 DUCATI
2. JONATHAN REA 314 KAWASAKI
3. MICHAEL VAN DER MARK 188 YAMAHA
4. ALEX LOWES 164 YAMAHA
5. LEON HASLAM 153 KAWASAKI
With three Brits sitting at the top five of the leader board why haven't more British motorcycle enthusiasts got involved with World Super Bikes (WSB) recently? Back in the day when the likes of Carl King of the Jungle Fogarty were racing, the buzz around WSB was massive with tens of thousands turning up blasting air horns and waving flags to watch and cheer the Brits on.
These days British Super Bikes and MotoGP are the events for most bikers to go and watch whereas WSB is lucky to get a mention down the pub. However, the BSB racer Peter Hickman had got a wild card ride on the WSB works BMW team, replacing Markus Reiterberger who has the 'flu at the British round at Donington Park.
This sparked my interest as there was also a rumour that Taz Mackenzie from BSB could get a ride as well; he didn’t in the end. So with a loads of very talented British riders doing well in WSB and a comprehensive support race package, I decided after a 20 year gap to go and see what had changed if anything and if it's an event worth photographing and watching.
Let's start with the difference between WSB and BSB and the main racers to watch out for. As a layman, the main difference for me is who is able to win on any given Sunday. In BSB all of the main manufacturers are represented and any one of the manufacturers could get on the podium. This equates to action packed close racing and excitement for the fans, and therefore a race series I want to go and watch and get behind.
In WSB the racing has been dominated by Jonathan Rea on a Kawasaki for the last four years which has made it a bit predictable. Then, at the beginning of this year Alvaro Bautista on a Panigale V4R Ducati started to dominate WSB, winning the first 11 races, with Rea on the number 1 machine chasing him in every round. After the first few races I started watching WSB on the TV again as it looked to be an interesting year for this championship.
Alvaro Bautista riding the number 19 V4R Ducati is in a rookie year of WSB, but is a very experienced racer, with over 150 races under his belt in MotoGP. Arriving in the premier class paddock in 2002, he went on to win the 125cc championships in 2006 then moving into the 250cc and finally into MotoGP in 2010.
Bautista had some good results and podiums in the MotoGP series but had a tendency to crash a lot resulting in quite a few injuries. Keeping the Panigale V4R Ducati upright in WSB and on the track has to be a priority this year if he wants to be the 2019 champion.
However, the championship is going to be decided on mental resilience as much as riding prowess and the performance of the machines. Jonathan Rea who is now leading the championship on the number 1 Kawasaki ZX-10RR after the latest Donington round had to sit behind Bautista on the faster Ducati for the first rounds.
He had to bide his time and be happy with a majority of second places. However, Bautista is up to his old tricks and has now crashed out three times in previous rounds, which has opened up the championship and let Rea back in with a chance at Donington.
As for the physical differences between WSB and BSB, I did start to read the technical manuals of the two race series. I came to the conclusion my life is way too short to be wasting it on very dull rules and regulations publications.
Very basically, WSB allows trick electronics on the bikes that means you can programme them to get the best performance out of the bikes for every corner. In BSB all the bikes are running the same electronics and are not programmed for things like traction control, so the WSB can be fired out of the corners quicker than a BSB.
As for physical differences, the most obvious is the noise regulations. WSB are allowed to be much louder than BSB, which results in very different exhaust systems especially for the Ducatis, which have much longer exhausts in BSB, incorporating a loop under the rider's seat.
What that means is a WSB will go round the track faster than an BSB. There are only two common tracks that both series race at and the latest results show at Assen it's about a second a lap difference. Last years' BSB racer Leon Haslam #91, who is now in WSB after winning the 2018 BSB championship, managed 1.36.458 during the first race. Jonathan Rea who is now Haslam's team mate in WSB did a 1.35.480 in the corresponding first WSB race, as near as damn it a second difference.
You might ask why I didn’t compare the race results from Donington as the two championships have both raced there this year. There can't be a comparison as the WSB used the Grand Prix track and BSB used the National track, which is shorter as it doesn't include the Melbourne loop. The loop is one of the best spots for capturing the action at Donington as the photos below show. However, you have to shoot through some thick safety wire.
BSB will be back at Donington later this year, so I'm looking forward to capturing our domestic race series action from this location. That is as long as the weather is good. It's not great in the wet as the riders take it very steady round this corner.
The recent good results of Jonathan Rea had closed the gap in the championship and what with Donington being sort of a home round for the Northern Irishman, it was not only my interest that had been sparked. A good sized crowd turned out for the three day event, not glory days sized, but good none the less.
Chatting to spectators on the Friday practice day the conversation was about those glory days of WSB when the grandstands were packed. Looking around there appeared to be a lot of fans out to watch, and a lot of people with some very expensive camera kit at the Melbourne loop. So to answer one of my first questions, yes this is an excellent event to photograph. I think the images speak for themselves. I did say on Facebook it was like shooting fish in a barrel at this location.
There are a number of good places to capture the action at Donington. The Melbourne loop and the Redgate corner complex are the easiest to shoot from. A detailed study of taking photos at Donington can be found in our circuit guide area if you are looking for new places to shoot.
Both Melbourne and Redgate are recommended during the morning race periods as the sun is in the best place. Later on (depending on the time of the year) the sun will be in your face, washing out your images. I would recommend moving in field so the sun is at your back in the afternoon, down from Redgate and on to McLeans are good locations.
The only problem is that the owners of Donington have now moved the safety fencing further away from the track, so to get a good shot you will need a very long focal length lens to get anything good.
However, all is not lost if you don’t have that long lens. When the Melbourne loop is being used the racers will come round the Foggy Esses which you can access from the infield via a tunnel. You can get a good view of the bikes from the low wooden fence on the outside of the track and with a long lens, the raised banking which enables you to shoot over the wire, as the photos below show.
We had three shooters out for this event. Myself and Keith Adcock only did the Friday practice which turned out to be the best day in regards to the weather and light as it was bright and sunny. However, heat haze can be a problem and something to consider if you are a long range sniper.
Michael from MH Photography toughed it out for the full three days, braving the inclement weather during Saturday's Super Pole, Sprint, Race One and the final race. The Super pole was taken by Tom Sykes on the BMW, putting him in the number 1 position for the first race. The surprise was the BSB wild card rider Peter Hickman on another BMW taking P4, an excellent result for the Lincolnshire racer who was learning the idiosyncrecies of the WSB as he raced.
In the first race the wet weather was to play an important role in the championship. Hickman had a terrible start. The bike reared up and he wheeled away from the start, dropping back to 8th place from 4th. This surprised me, wouldn’t the clever electronics have prevented this?
Rea was to take the lead early and held it together during the downpours to take the win in a very wet race. Bautista was to crash out leaving a Brit 1,2,3 with Tom Sykes in second and Leon Haslam in third.
The next race up was the sprint race of only 10 laps. It was to end in dynamic fashion with wild card rider Peter Hickman's BMW engine dumping its fluids over the track at Melbourne, taking four riders out. This resulted in a red flag and the riders' positions at the flag stood - a win for Rea.
However, the drama had not finished. As the riders were under red flags they came around the Melbourne loop on the way back to the garages. Rea hit the oil and slid, just holding the bike upright with a foot down. Sykes was not so lucky. He lost the front and his bike went down, cartwheeling into the air just missing a Marshall who was clearing up the previous carnage.
Because Sykes didn’t remount and return to the pits within five minutes he was not to be classified; this is a WSB rule apparently. It makes little sense in a short sprint race as this rule is for longer races where they will look to restart the race when it's safe to do so, as they need the riders back in the pits quickly. He was only to find out as he was celebrating in Parc fermé, he must have been gutted. This also had a knock on effect to his weekend as the finishing places in the sprint race determine your grid start for race 2.
The final race was a dry race and a much closer affair than the first race. The lead was contested by Rea and the Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu who had taken second place in the sprint race. But it was to be Rea who was to go on to make it three wins from three starts at Donington. Bautista came in third to claw some points back from a not so good weekend for him.
Rea started the weekend 16 points behind Bautista, but with the results going his way he is now 24 points ahead in the championship. What with the drama of the sprint race, the close exciting racing in race two, I will look forward to watching the next race from Laguna Seca, California from the comfort of my arm chair.
As for the support races the SuperSport was to be number 16 Jules Cluzel on the GMT94 Yamaha YZF R6 who would come out on top.
Second was Federico Caricasulo on the number 64 bike, the Bardah Evan Bros WorldSSP Team Yamaha YZF R6.
Lucas Mahias number 44 on the Kawasaki ZX-6R took the final podium place.
Jack Kennedy riding the number 14 machine had a wide card entry from the British SuperSport race series and acquitted himself well ending up 7th after starting in 13th position.
In the World SuperSport 300 it was Kevin Sabatucci seen here during free practice at the Melbourne loop who would go onto take the win. This is Sabatucci first ever win in WorldSSP300 so he is going to remember Donington for some time.
Thanks to Michael from MH Photography helping out on this report. He will be covering BSB and other race series this year for various publications. To see more of MH Photography look out for his pictures in our previous BSB reports or you can visit Michael's Facebook page, where he has some stunning motorcycle photography.
Also thanks to our roving photographer, Keith Adcock for his high quality images. To see more of Keith's work take a look in the photographers' area and our BSB reports on this site.
Results after Donington
1. JONATHAN REA 376 KAWASAKI
2. ALVARO BAUTISTA 352 DUCATI
3. MICHAEL VAN DER MARK 206 YAMAHA
4. ALEX LOWES 192 YAMAHA
5. LEON HASLAM 187 KAWASAKI
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