This move throws into contention which of BMW's current racers - Tom Sykes or Eugene Laverty - will take the remaining spot on the Shaun Muir/BMW WSBK team, and which rider will be the senior. Sykes, with six WSBK championship podiums to his name, is more likely to remain on the team over Laverty and to remain the senior rider as well.

Van der Mark raced for Honda for two years, switching to Yamaha in 2017 and now moves on to BMW for the 2021 season. The Dutch rider is 27 years old; in 2014, he won the Supersport World Championship aboard a Honda. The highest he has finished in World Superbike is third place overall, in 2018. Van der Mark has also been part of the winning team in the Suzuka 8 Hours four times, in 2013-14 and 2017-18.

Tom Sykes, 34 years old and from West Yorkshire, England, won a World Superbike Championship in 2013 aboard a Kawasaki, and finished second in 2012, 2014 and 2016 as well as third in 2015 and 2017. He finished eighth aboard a BMW S 1000 RR in the 2019 season.

Also 34 years old but from Northern Ireland, Eugene Laverty has never won a world championship. Laverty finished second in the Supersport World Championship in 2009-10 (Honda) and second in the Superbike World Championship in 2013 aboard an Aprilia.

Photo of Van der Mark courtesy of motorsport.com.

Rebuild the forks, fresh tread, valve job, brake flush, you get the idea – but I’m lost in every corner, zero confidence. Somewhere I picked up bag full of bad habits. I looked into a rider safety class in my area but last minute it gets canceled. Blackhawk Farms Raceway is 1.5 hours south and they have a beginners’ class.

When I showed up at Black Hawk Farms Raceway for the first time I parked between an unmolested 1976 R 100 S and a newer BMW S 1000 XR. The XR owner is a MOA member from Madison; we hit it off and Mark was very helpful throughout the day. I road my 2003 RT to the track, pulled the bags and mirrors off, played hard all day and rode back home.

It’s a fast-paced day. Classroom time, return to your bike, get to the staging area, hit the track with your group of 3-4 riders and a coach, then back to the classroom. It’s like that all day. Your Coach leads you out and you need to follow his line, he’s doing it for a reason. Returning from the track session, your coach gives each person something to work on next time out. They don’t overwhelm you, they are just trying to rid you of the bad habits you brought in with you.

You don’t think you have bad habits but wait till your track coach gets a load of your riding style.

• Elbows too high
• feet wrong on the pegs
• not looking through the corner
• not leaning off the bike at all
• get that chin to the mirror!
• stop touching the rear brake

In one of the earlier sessions they want you to not shift gears. Let’s say third gear is the sweet spot you use that around the whole track. It’s a great experience going around the track trying not to touch your brakes and using only your engine for braking power. You learn to trust your front tire to do its job, which builds confidence.

By the third time out on the track your coach decides if you should continue following him or he gives you the wave to go ahead. My coach gave me the wave and I went full bore to start exploring my limits. After the session he leaned in and said I had the heaviest bike out there, so I might want to back off a little.

(By the way: Pay attention in the classroom and drink lots of water!)

That same summer I decided not to spend $3,000 on shocks for the ’03 RT and find a 2014 RT because it has everything updated. For my next trip to Blackhawk Farms, I rented a trailer and got talked into doing an open track day with my newly acquired R 1200 RT. Classroom time but no coaches - just find open track, be smooth and predictable. Things go well. I’m not so nervous trying to find the apex in every corner, but I either come in too soon or too late. After three sessions in the morning and four in the afternoon, I sat out the final session of the day. I almost got T-boned the session before and a guy flew off the track in front of where I was parked. Too many signs time to go home.

Over the winter I decided the 2014 R 1200 RT is not returning to the track, but I enjoyed the lessons gained from cornering at the track and need to continue. I located a clean 2002 Honda CBR600 4FI and will be using that instead of the RT.

Oh - and he holds two records at the Bonneville Salt Flats, too.

Rispoli has been racing in England since 2014, tearing up British Superbike's (BSB) Supersport series on the other side of the pond to the tune of seven podium finishes in the 2018 season. However, due to the super competitive nature of British Supersport, he finds himself without a spot on the track in 2019. As a way to hopefully attract some sponsors back in the good old USA, he'll be heading to Daytona in March to challenge the anticipated frontrunners for a win on the famous TT track there.

Kieran Clarke, himself a former pro racer and now a Hollywood stuntman, will be backing Rispoli's Daytona ride. Clarke said, "We are building a bike to win, and at the end of the day racing has to be all about the racer being able to fulfill their talent & potential. In the end we are aiming for the top step." With that kind of attitude, it will be exciting to see how Clarke and Rispoli fare on the ground in Daytona - it's sure to be exciting!

For more information, check out AFT's website at AmericanFlatTrack.com. Note: The New York Short Track (Weedsport, NY) previously scheduled for 6 July 2019 has been moved to 13 July. Additionally, the date for the Meadowlands Mile (East Rutherford, NJ) has been set for 28 September.

Most rule changes are minor - clarifications or subtle changes that don't matter too terribly much. Things like alterations in how many events last season qualifies a rider for a license or how eligibility is determined, that kind of thing. One change of note is that no rider licensed for Twins may compete in Singles next year, which seems a little spiteful. If somebody wants to race and has the appropriate motorcycle on which to do so, I say let 'em race!

Jared Mees after winning the 2018 Daytona TT on an Indian FTR750. Photo from MCNews.com.au.

Having said that, it's hard not to agree with Indian Motorcycle when they complain that one particular rule change for 2019 is an attack on the dominance their FTR750 race bike has shown in AFT for the last two seasons. Yes, yes, we have to admire the skills and capabilities of riders like Jared Mees and Bryan Smith (not to mention the upstart Bauman brothers). Let's look at what's going on.

Up until now we've gotten used to seeing 18 riders in the Main Event - that is, the race for the actual glory that follows the Semi-Final races. The top riders from each Semi advance to the Main, and bam! there's 18 bikes - three rows of six. The new rule for 2019 is that only 16 riders will compete in the Main - two rows of five and a row of six. This cuts two riders out of the Main - and AFT has given no explanation as of yet as to why they've made this change. It could cut down on the chaos that is the entry into Turn 1 on the first lap, but come on - they're all still going to charge down the straight and bang bars to be first out of that turn.

The new process will be sending the top 30 riders from Qualifying to the Heats. Each Heat will have 15 riders in it, with the top 12 going to the Semis. In the two Semis, those 12 riders will compete for the top eight slots to get into the Main. (This applies only when there are 26 or more entries for the Twins; under that, there's no Heat races. Over in Singles, that process is the same as Twins, unless there are more than 33 riders, in which case they add a Heat.)

One change I can't argue with is the adoption of full-face road-racing helmets for all classes. The motocross-style helmets look cool, but those protrusions on them can be dangerous in a crash at the speeds at which AFT races happen. Race-prepped full-face helmets are a great idea to enhance rider safety.

Some changes I don't understand include the new requirement that a rider check with a race official before manually - without tools - adjusting a clutch cable or brake lever. Not only must the race official approve the adjustment, but they must witness it as well. It seems petty and overly invasive to insist on a rider asking permission to adjust the clutch cable with their finger and thumb. Riders in the Production Twins class are now prohibited from using carbon fiber wheels, but they didn't change the wheel weight maximum of 40 pounds.

Another small change is the reduction of the minimum weight for a Singles bike from 235 to 230 pounds. This makes sense, as technology advances and metallurgical changes allow stronger components that weigh less. No clue why they didn't reduce the minimum for Twins down by five pounds as well.

Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. aboard a Harley-Davidson XR750 race bike. Photo from Cycle World.

Change that only affect Singles include the possible mandatory use of a Supermoto-style front fender, but the new rulebook says it is currently "being investigated," so it may or may not materialize before the season starts next March. One change that is not "being investigated" is the ban on using any kind of supplementary fuel injectors in this class. I guess that was a problem, so they needed a rule to ban it.

Now is when we get into the more significant changes. AFT has mandated a change from using Supreme 112 gas to GTX 260 Unleaded (both made by Sunoco), which has lower octane than the Supreme. Perhaps they're trying to maintain a cap on speed, because this will reduce power across the board. Still, it affects everybody equally, so no real complaint here. I'm sure the drop in power will be negligible when it comes to lap times - noticeable to the timekeeper but not to the fans.

Where we start to get into weird territory is the new engine rules. AFT will now allow engines up to 900cc - provided they come from a street-legal production model. Because it's racing, these "production" engines are allowed to be bored out to 900cc and tweaked by changing out the valves, pistons & conrods, cams and crankshafts. These changes will obviously continue to favor teams with factory support or those that have sponsors with deep pockets. It's a clear disadvantage to privateers who finance their own rides, but that's no real change over how things have been up to this point.

What it is, though, is a shot across Indian's bow. The FTR750 is not a street-legal production motorcycle, and everybody knows it. Indian built it as a race bike - you can buy one, sure, but you can't ride it on the street. For example, it allows riders on Kawasaki or Yamaha motorcycles to bore out their engines or fit larger-displacement engines into their race bikes, giving them a clear advantage over riders on Indian or Harley-Davidson 750cc motorcycles. It's not a horrible change, but it definitely singles out Indian and punishes them for dominating the podiums and season standings with a 750cc V-twin.

Jesse Janisch, AFT Singles racer, aboard his Yamaha YZ450F. Photo from American Flat Track.

(By the way, the rules have been changed to say that to qualify as a production engine, the engine must use the original crankcases or OEM replacements.)

What Indian is really complaining about, though, is a new rule allowing larger throttle bodies on - you guessed it - production engines. Anybody who can point to a street-legal bike with their engine in it can now use 40mm throttle bodies, while those who cannot are restricted to 38mm TBs. This gives a clear advantage to everybody not riding an Indian FTR750, especially at the Mile events, where those long straightaways let the riders get their bikes up to near full power.

In 2019, there are 18 races scheduled; six of them are on mile-long tracks. (There are four TT races and the remaining eight are half-mile tracks.) If the advantage is as significant as Indian is making it out to be, there's almost no point in Indian riders even bothering to show up to these six races.

What I don't like about these rule changes, especially the one that really only affects Indian, is that AFT is changing the rules to punish Indian for making a great race bike. Indian is justified to complain about it, and indeed, they sent out a press release earlier today to that effect. Race bikes are expensive, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be purpose-built. Nobody is taking a stock Yamaha to the Peoria TT, after all. Teams with factory support will always fare better than privateers simply because they have the luxury of support, parts, money etc. from the source.

Of course, anything I have to say is mere speculation about how the rule changes will affect AFT races next season. Indian has a long time to get ready for the 2019 season - the Daytona TT isn't until March. If they're as resourceful as I think they are, they'll hit the track with rule-abiding bikes (and riders) that continue to outpace and outrace the competition.

2019 provisional MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship Calendar

Beginning with the traditional season opener at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, fans will be able to see three WorldSBK races for the first time ever from 22nd – 24th February, before Round Two of the championship is held from 15th – 17th March at Chang International Circuit.

The paddock then returns to Europe on 5th – 7th April at MotorLand Aragon, welcoming back WorldSSP300 to the racing action with their all new format for the season ahead. The next stop on the 2019 tour will be one week later at TT Circuit Assen from 12th – 14th April, before a short break of racing action. Round Five takes place at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola from 10th – 12th May, before the return of the ever popular Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto from 7th – 9th June.

WorldSBK heads back to Italy from 21st – 23rd June, to the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for Round Seven, before a change of date for the UK Round at Donington Park from 5th – 7th July. After the British adventure, Round Nine is set to be announced.

Autodromo Internacional do Algarve will be the now traditional round after the summer break, as the paddock heads to Portugal from 6th – 8th September. The final European Round will be held from 27th – 29th September at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, but we won’t be saying goodbye to WorldSSP300 yet.

Circuito San Juan Villicum returns for the second season from 11th – 13th October in Argentina, before all three classes will prepare for the season finale in Qatar at Losail International Circuit. The chequered flag will be waved from 24th – 26th October in the desert, in what is set to be another adrenaline-fueled year of racing action.

On top of this, there will be two official tests in 2019: the first from 18th – 19th February at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, with a mid-season test to be announced.

• 18-19 Feb: Testing Session (Phillip Island, Australia)
• 22-24 Feb: Australia (Phillip Island)
• 15-17 Mar: Thailand (Buriram)
• 5-7 Apr: Spain (Aragon)
• 12-14 Apr: The Netherlands (Assen)
• 10-12 May: Italy (Imola)
• 7-9 Jun: Spain (Jerez)
• 21-23 Jun: Italy (Misano)
• 5-7 Jul: UK (Donington)
• 19-21 Jul: TBA
• 6-8 Sep: Portugal (Portimão)
• 27-29 Sep: France (Magny-Cours)
• 11-13 Oct: Argentina (San Juan)
• 24-26 Oct: Qatar (Losail)

MotoAmerica has announced its provisional calendar for the 2019 MotoAmerica Series with the 10-round championship set to continue its trend of building the race series through consistency of both location and dates while also tweaking a few things along the way, including the introduction of four two-day events in place of the traditional three-day events.

“We’re happy with our schedule as we enter the fifth year of the MotoAmerica Series,” said MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey. “I think having the same events return on dates that are the same or very similar to years past brings more stability to the series. Our fans can start to really plan for our events, year to year, based on the consistency of our dates and our racetracks. We are also introducing four two-day events to the schedule in an effort to tighten things up a bit and I’m looking forward to seeing how those evolve. We believe some of our racetracks might do better with a two-day program while others obviously work well for a three-day program because of the number of our fans who go to those events to camp. We only just finished year four and we’re already looking forward to getting to Road Atlanta in April.”

As previously announced, the MotoAmerica Series, which features the Motul Superbike Championship as its headline class, will begin again at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, April 5-7, before heading to Austin, Texas, and the Circuit of The Americas for round two, April 12-14. As has been the case since the series made its debut in 2015, the COTA round will be held in conjunction with the Grand Prix of The Americas. The COTA round is also a Motul Superbike-only round.

From Texas the series will head east to VIRginia International Raceway, May 4-5, for the Championship of Virginia and the first of four two-day events on the schedule. Road America will play host to round four on its traditional date of the first weekend in June, May 31-June 2, followed a few weeks later by the two-day Utah Motorsports Campus round on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, June 15-16. The big change for the UMC round is that MotoAmerica will use the shorter East Course (2.2 miles) rather than the Outer Course (3.048 miles) the series has used in previous years.

“We believe the shorter East Course will provide better viewing for spectators at the Club House and in the paddock area because you can see the entire track,” MotoAmerica Partner Chuck Aksland said. “This will definitely enhance the spectator experience.”

MotoAmerica will venture to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, July 12-14, for what promises to be a weekend to remember with the Monterey Motorcycle Festival featuring MotoAmerica. For the first time in its five-year history of racing on the Monterey Peninsula, MotoAmerica will be a standalone event at the historic racetrack with the weekend to include racing legends, celebrities, vintage racing exhibitions, and a classic motorcycle auction.

“We are pleased to be heading to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for a fifth year,” said Rainey. “Since I make my home here, it’s obviously one of my favorites but it is also one of the most popular events on the calendar. We have big plans to make this year’s event a memorable one with a weekend chock-full of activities for our fans.”

The series then takes a one-month summer break before setting up camp at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California, for a two-day event, August 10-11.

The premier motorcycle road racing championship in the country then heads back east for the final three rounds, beginning at Pittsburgh International Raceway Complex, August 23-25, followed by the two-day New Jersey Motorsports Park round, September 7-8.

The series finale, meanwhile, will again take place at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, September 20-22.

2019 MotoAmerica Series (Provisional)

• April 5-7 – Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia
• April 12-14 – Circuit of The Americas, Austin, Texas
• May 4-5 – VIRginia International Raceway, Alton, Virginia
• May 31-June 2 – Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
• June 15-16 – Utah Motosports Campus, Grantsville, Utah
• July 12-14 – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, California
• August 10-11 – Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, California
• August 23-25 – Pittsburgh International Race Complex, Wampum, Pennsylvania
• September 7-8 – New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville, New Jersey
• September 20-22 – Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama

About MotoAmerica
MotoAmerica is the North American road racing series created in 2014 that is home to the AMA Superbike Championship. MotoAmerica is an affiliate of KRAVE Group LLC, a partnership that includes three-time 500cc World Champion, two-time AMA Superbike Champion, and AMA Hall of Famer Wayne Rainey, ex-racer and former manager of Team Roberts Chuck Aksland, motorsports marketing executive Terry Karges, and businessman Richard Varner. For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com. Also make sure to follow MotoAmerica on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

What you may not know is that the power behind Milwaukee Aprilia is Shaun Muir Racing, and it's OK if you've never heard of them. SMR is big in the UK, and they're expanding their footprint in World SBK for the 2019 season by bringing BMW into the mix.

FROM A BMW MOTORRAD PRESS RELEASE:
"BMW Motorrad Motorsport will be entering the new BMW S 1000 RR in the FIM World Superbike Championship (WorldSBK) as of the upcoming 2019 season. The new BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team will enter the contest in collaboration with Shaun Muir Racing and with a well-known rider pairing: 2013 Superbike World Championship winner Tom Sykes (GBR) together with reigning Superstock 1000 European champion and three-times IDM champion Markus Reiterberger (GER).

With the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team and the cooperation with Shaun Muir Racing, BMW Motorrad is significantly expanding its engagement in the WorldSBK. At the same time, BMW Motorrad will continue its successful customer racing program in numerous other national and international racing series.

Cooperation with BMW Group Motorsport is also being intensified so as to tap into additional synergies between automobile and motorcycle racing, especially in terms of trade and logistics."

Well now! Isn't THAT interesting!?

BMW has been conspicuously absent from World Superbike for a number of years. Althea Racing has been alone in flying the BMW flag. Back in the 2017 WSBK season, they had Jordi Torres (ESP #81) and Markus Reiterberger (GER #28) racing for them; in April and citing a nagging injury, Reiterberger took himself off the team and joined a different (less stressful ... less competitive?) circuit, where he comported himself just fine as he continued to recover.

Markus Reiterberger in action. (courtesy Althea Racing)

Reiterberger comported himself so well that he won the European Superstock 1000 championship for the 2018 season.

Markus Reiterberger not in action. (courtesy Althea Racing)

There isn't a lot of detailed information right now, but the shocking thing about all of this is the news that Tom Sykes left his factory Kawasaki team, where he has been chafing at being in teammate (and 4x champ) Jonathan Rea's ever-lengthening shadow. Sykes simply couldn't catch a break during this long period of REAZILLA dominance. Perhaps he thinks a change of backing and bike will be what does the trick to return him to the top spot on the championship podium.

Tom Sykes in action. (By Dunnybrusher - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56621965)

It is certainly great news for race fans that ride BMWs that there will be not one, but two world-class riders piloting RRs round WSBK tracks in 2019 - and one of them a former circuit champion to boot! No slight on Reiterberger - he is obviously a top-notch rider and, now returned to full health, he's likely to be a force to be reckoned with in WSBK - but enticing Sykes onto a BMW is a massive coup for the marque.  If anybody can put an S 1000 RR on the podium, it's Tom Sykes. We'll be watching in 2019, that's for sure!!

Tom Sykes smiling. (By Jared Earle: Jearle - Silverstone World Superbikes, 2012, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21225392)

Fans can connect with both riders on Twitter (@TheRealTomSykes, @Reiti21) and Instagram (@tom66sykes, @markusreiterberger28). 

(Sources: Superbike Planet, Motorbike Planet, Crash.net)

When Marquez forced Aleix Espargaro off the track in Lap 9, he should have been black flagged immediately. Even for a rider of his skill, there was little chance of a successful pass given the track conditions. Marquez hit Espargaro, plain and simple, and it was entirely due to Marquez being overly aggressive - which has become his thing in the last year.

That contact cost him a position, but what kind of penalty is that for Marquez? Marquez can make up a position in his sleep. He should have been disqualified for causing danger to the life of another racer.

Marquez crashing another racer named Espargaro, in this case Pol, in Moto2 in 2012. (unattributed photo)

What Marquez did to Valentino Rossi in Lap 20 mirrors what he did to Espargaro. Same turn. Same ill-advised attempt to pass. Only this time, he wasn't satisfied with the contact and forced Rossi off the track completely, causing the nine-time-champ to crash in the grass.

When Marquez wasn't black-flagged following that incident, I knew at that moment that MotoGP officials are too weak to do anything about Marquez. The problem is that they may not do anything at all until Marquez puts somebody in the hospital, or worse, kills another rider with his irresponsible behavior on the track.

Penalties are not enough. Marquez should be barred from winning the championship this season. Repsol Honda certainly isn't going to step up and discipline their rider, so MotoGP should take the measure of punishing Marquez.

They won't, though. The four-time reigning champ? They'll do nothing. The penalties inflicted on him on Sunday were barely even slaps on the wrist, costing him points for one race.

Marquez claims he hit a wet patch and locked his front brakes to avoid crashing. That may indeed be the case - the track *was* wet for part of the day, after all. However, Marquez's behavior up to that point was already established as dangerous, if not reckless, and he knew what he was doing when he dived in to go under Rossi. The wet patch is nothing but an excuse.

Marquez's irresponsibility and poor choices on the track are going to get somebody seriously hurt or killed if he's not reined in.

Having said all that, Rossi needs to quit crying about it and remember that he has won MotoGP championships NINE TIMES. He is a world class rider, even if he is past his prime this season. He has been antagonizing Marquez for three years (ever since Rossi bested him by finishing 2nd to Marquez's 3rd in the 2015 season), so it's no surprise that Marquez lashed out like he did. That doesn't excuse Marquez, and I'm not blaming the victim here, but come on, Rossi - man up and complain not to the press, but to MotoGP officials.

I can understand why Rossi refused Marquez's apology after the race, though. I wouldn't have accepted it, either. Marquez has been behaving poorly for more than just this race, and Rossi seems to be the target of his aggression on a number of occasions.

Rossi has already threatened to quit this season if "things don't go well." I never thought I'd hear him say something like that, but he will be 41 years old when his freshly-signed contract extension expires in two years. Maybe he's too old for MotoGP now.

The immediate aftermath of Marquez's behavior in Argentina. (photo by MotoGP)

Both Marquez and Rossi are posing for the cameras now. Maybe their long games are more about legacy and less about racing. It must suck to be Rossi and know that you'll probably never win another championship. It must also suck to be Marquez and know that even with four championships in place, racers like Rossi still don't respect you.

Marquez hasn't been DQ'd since Australia in 2013, when he missed his pit window. As a matter of fact, only two riders have since been DQ'd: Hector Barbera, who earned a DQ in Austria in 2016 and Germany in 2017 for screwing up ride-through penalties, and Alex Rins, who got his DQ in Malaysia in 2017 for not entering pit lane properly after a crash.

Note that these disqualifications - black flags - are all for procedural errors. Until MotoGP starts black flagging riders for overly aggressive and outright dangerous riding, racers like Marquez will continue to escalate, eventually seriously injuring or killing somebody.

Maybe Marquez is simply too young to remember the on-track death of Marco Simoncelli in 2011. Simoncelli was an aggressive rider like Marquez, so maybe Marquez remembers Simoncelli quite well and is hell-bent on emulating every aspect of Simoncelli's career - except for the winning four championships part, at any rate. Simoncelli only ran the top level of MotoGP for two years, but they were controversial years.

To wrap up: Marquez needs to be black flagged until he gets himself under control, and Rossi needs to quit crying and speak to Marquez in the only language he seems to understand - by handing him defeats on the track.

BMW Motorrad USA has expanded its Race Contingency Program for 2018 by offering current and prospective BMW racers incentives to compete on more models and race series than ever before. In addition to offering race rewards for riders competing on the bestselling BMW S 1000 RR superbike in the MotoAmerica Series, BMW Motorrad USA is enhancing its contingency program to support riders competing on the HP4 Race, R nine T Heritage family and the G 310 R in a broader range of road racing series and events throughout the year.

"BMW is pleased to offer over $1.6 million in contingency money to racers piloting a 2015 -2018 model year BMW S 1000 RR, HP4 Race, R nine T and G 310 R in several 2018 national and international race series," commented Michael Peyton, Vice President, BMW Motorrad North America.

"We are also reinforcing our commitment to privateer BMW S 1000 RR motorcycle racers by offering professional trackside support from certified BMW HP Race Engineer Steve Weir and Professional Racer Nate Kern, who will serve as BMW Motorsports advisors at races and at bike set-up events at our retailers," added Peyton.

BMW Motorrad’s Contingency Program is managed online via XTRM Performance Network, which provides real time distribution and management of contingency money payouts, results tracking and social media marketing. Racers piloting a qualifying S 1000 RR, HP4 Race, R nineT or G 310 R can enroll by logging into xtrm.com/contingency/bmw to cash in on their performance.

BMW Motorrad also offers MotoAmerica racers the opportunity to shine on an international level with the international BMW Motorrad Race Trophy. The Race Trophy provides a platform for racers piloting an S 1000 RR, HP4 or a sidecar with BMW engine, to compete at venues around the world. The BMW Motorrad Race Trophy 2018 is comprised of 27 championships that stage over 290 races in 26 countries on six continents. The overall winner is awarded 15,000 euro, the top 30 riders collect bonuses of 100,000 euro in total. All winners of the several defined categories receive a trophy and additional bonus for their achievements. For more information about the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy, visit bmw-motorrad-motorsport.com.

The Althea BMW Racing team and its new rider Loris Baz have concluded a two-day test session with positive results. On track at Jerez both today and yesterday, the Italian team made the most of this first opportunity to prepare for the 2018 Superbike world championship.

In dry conditions, Baz rode the BMW S 1000 RR for the first time, building some initial feeling after several seasons spent riding a MotoGP. As this was the Frenchman’s first outing with his new bike, work focusing on his “acclimatisation”, both in the saddle and in the garage, with his new team.

While the technicians worked to adapt the BMW to Loris’ riding style, Baz, in turn, completed 75 laps on day one and 94 today, well aware that the best way to get to grips with his new bike is to clock up the miles. He made good progress over the two days, improving his feeling and confidence and gradually lowering his times lap after lap. His best time set today, a 1.40.468, put him second on the timesheets, a very positive start.

Team Althea BMW is very pleased with the work it has completed this week and will return to Spain for further testing on 4-5 December, at the Cartagena track.

“We've had a very positive test. It was strange at first of course, with a lot of things to get used to, but we’ve worked hard and done a good job I think. I completed many laps, necessary in order to find the right feeling. I really like the bike, particularly the front and the front tyre, while I have more difficulty with the electronics. I am still struggling with the brand new tyre, but we will continue to work on this in future tests. In a race simulation this morning we were pretty fast, in line with the pace seen during the latest Jerez race. So I’m really happy overall and can’t wait for the next sessions.”

“I think these first two days of testing at Jerez have been very positive for our rider, who returns to Superbike after three years in MotoGP, no small challenge. Step by step, Loris has been able to ‘make friends’ with his new bike. He surprised me with regard to his speed and ability to interpret everything we have given him. The team too has worked really well and so I’m pleased. Having such an experienced rider, despite his young age, allows us to work with precision and provide him with the right support. The Kawasakis are still in front, and tomorrow Ducati and Yamaha will be here, so we have to wait and see how things are overall, but I can say that I’m extremely satisfied with this first test.”

Race 1 at Misano last weekend was moderately interesting. For the most part, the most interesting part about it was that neither Jonathan Rea nor Chaz Davies were in the lead! Michael van der Mark led nearly every lap for the majority of the race and looked to be on his way to victory - until he crashed out of the race in Turn 13 with just seven laps to go.

In racing, you can go from hero to zero just like that. Van der Mark has finished fourth or fifth in seven races so far this season. He seemed poised to break his streak as a bridesmaid, but the crash took care of that for him.

Van der Mark's crash set the stage for what we've become used to as our podium finishers - Rea, Davies and either Tom Sykes or another of the top four or five riders. Althea BMW rider Jordi Torres made a strong showing in Race 1, but couldn't quite break through to the lead pack, unfortunately.

The race winner, however, ended up being Sykes, with Alex Lowes in second and Rea in third. That Rea finished in third is a bit of a miracle in and of itself, as near the end of the last lap of the race, Davies - in the lead by a narrow margin - lost his front end and crashed. It might not have been so dramatic except that Rea ran right over Davies, rolling over his head and neck and dropping his bike in the process.

As Rea slid to a stop and got to his feet, he looked back quickly at his chief rival. Davies raised his hand in a brief wave, as if to say "Sorry about that" or even "Carry on, mate!" Whatever the message, Rea ran to his motorcycle, righted it and managed to finish on the podium.

Torres, boosted by van der Mark's crash, suddenly found himself in fourth position with the championship's points leader engaged in a footrace to get back on his bike. The lead group had such a large gap, however, that Rea was still able to take third place. Torres' teammate, Raffaele de Rosa, benefitted from the high-profile crashes and finished in 10th position, his best finish this season since he moved up to WSBK to take over the slot given up by Markus Reiterberger, who suffered an injury last season that continues to affect his performance this year.

This fan-shot video from the stands offers one of the best views of the Davies-Rea crash. You see Rea get back on his bike and start riding again just as Torres comes into view on the right side of the frame.

Davies was injured, but not critically, in the crash and sat out Race 2. From a cold, analytical standpoint, the weekend at Misano has more or less ended Davies' chance at the outright championship. By missing out on a possible 50 points (had he won both races) and instead drawing zero points for the entire weekend, he's been relegated to third place in the standings and could easily be caught by Marco Melandri (down just 22 points from Davies) or even Lowes (down 44 points from Davies).

Due to his fourth place finish in Race 1, Torres found himself on the pole position for Race 2. Because he's had a number of strong finishes, he's run Race 2 from the second row a number of times, but this was his first time on pole for the season.

I couldn't help but think that the world would finally get to see what the S 1000 RR could truly do when it wasn't hampered by a mid-pack start and having Torres forced to climb rung by rung into the pack trailing the leaders.

Torres took the BMW flag and flew it high in Race 2, staying in the lead pack and running in first place for eight laps. While Rea, Sykes, Melandri, van der Mark and Eugene Laverty kept the pressure on Torres, it looked as if the Spaniard was destined for a podium finish, if not the outright win.

Again, you can go from hero to zero - just. like. that.

With three laps to go, a tire problem forced Torres out of the race. Done. His frustration was apparent as he guided his ailing bike to the side of the track.

Instead, Melandri won the race in fine fashion, achieving something of a landmark win in his career. Not only was Race 2 the 100th WSBK win for an Italian rider, but Melandri won the race on home turf, riding an Italian bike (Ducati) and using Italian tires (Pirelli) to boot! Is quadfecta a word? If it is, this was an Italian quadfecta.

Rea took second place, with Sykes rounding out the podium. De Rosa finished in seventh.

Torres understated his disappointment towards his tech withdrawal, saying "We were convinced we could do well today. I started strong, making the most of being on pole. Having no-one up ahead helped, I could take my lines, get into a rhythm. I ran my race, pushing to the limit, giving 100% all the way. I ran with Melandri for several laps and continued to push but then four laps from the end, I felt some vibration and the rear was sliding around, I realized it was the same issue we had at Assen in race 1. I thank my Althea guys, who came up with a significant chassis solution that we'd never tried before, that allowed me to find the right level of confidence and fully express myself. I’m so sorry I was unable to finish the race, but we have to take today’s performance and carry it to Laguna."

Rea remains atop the championship standings with 296 points, followed by Sykes (250), Davies (185), Melandri (163) and Lowes (141). Torres is in ninth place with 85 points, and de Rosa's 27 points put him in 17th. It remains bittersweet to see Nicky Hayden's name in the standings week after week; it's possible his 40 points will keep him in the top 20 for the rest of the season. Kawasaki continues to enjoy commanding leads in both the manufacturer and team standings.

Details of the collision haven't been released by Italian authorities yet, but what is known is that Hayden - known as the Kentucky Kid - was struck by a car. After five days in critical condition, he died at just 35 years old.

His 2006 MotoGP championship was the crowning achievement of Hayden's racing career, but American fans remember him from his teenage racing days with the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA). Hayden won the AMA Supersport championship as a privateer in 1999 and became the youngest ever AMA Superbike champion in 2002. He made the jump to MotoGP for the 2003 season and remained in the international motorcycle racing spotlight for the remainder of his career.

This year's World SBK season was largely plagued by technical and handling issues with his Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR, resulting in a string of low-point finishes. His most successful race was in the opening round at Thailand, when he finished 7th in the field in Race 2.

About 2,000 motorcycles showed up to lead Hayden's funeral procession in his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, on 29 May 2017.

Coverage of Race 1 at Donington opened with video of Hayden; he said, "Racing motorcycles is a way of life for me. It’s what I know, it’s what I’ve always done." Fans have been sharing their stories of their encounters with Hayden and condolences for his family using #RideOnKentuckyKid on social media.

Race 1

Donington Park in the UK sports a 2.5-mile track with seven right and five left turns, including the Turn 11-12 "Melbourne Loop" that trips up a lot of riders. Weather conditions were cool overall, but heavy winds threatened to upset riders who failed to manage their exits from Turn 8 and the Melbourne Loop. Analysts expected the winds to be more of a factor in the race than the recently resurfaced track, which was still a little bumpy.

Jonathan Rea came into Donington weekend with a solid lead and 235 points in the overall championship standings. Thomas Sykes earned pole position for the race on what is essentially his home track; before Race 1, Sykes held the record for the most WSBK wins (8) at the track that saw the inaugural WSBK race 30 years ago. Racing legend Carl Fogerty only won six times at Donington.

Stefan Bradl - Nicky Hayden's Red Bull teammate - seemed to be holding up well all things considered, but he faced a tough weekend of racing, as did Marco Melandri, who hit the MotoGP track as a rookie in 2003, the same year as Hayden. Many of the racers shared memories and milestones with Hayden, making this weekend's races bittersweet.

The grid featured Sykes, Rea and Chaz Davies in the front row, backed up by Alex Lowes, Melandri and Eugene Laverty. Xavi Forés, Leon Haslam (in his first race back this season) and Leandro Mercado made up the third row. Althea BMW racers Jordi Torres (#81) and Raffaele de Rosa (#35) gridded 13th and 18th, respectively.

It was Davies, Sykes and Rea at the front of the pack through the first turn, with Torres jumping up to 12th and de Rosa to 15th. Big mistakes from Lowes and Melandri in Lap 1 drove them well back in the pack.

Davies rode strong until Lap 7, when he apparently failed to compensate after running onto the overlap and crashed. He recovered and got back onto the track in 15th position, but Rea - who watched his chief rival slide off the track - took full advantage and surged into the lead.

Rea easily held onto his lead into Lap 18, when he began to slow down, running a lap time in the 1.30 range when everybody else was running 1.28 or even 1.27. Next came a wild crash featuring a big slide and his motorcycle destroying itself in a series of spectacular end-over-end flips. Before walking away uninjured, Rea checked the rear tire of his bike, leading to speculation that he may have had some kind of catastrophic tire failure.

With Rea on the sideline, Sykes had no trouble closing the race, winning his unprecedented ninth race at Donington Park by a full 11 seconds. A second place finish for Haslam marked his triumphant return to WSBK, and Lowes rounded out the podium finishers. Melandri and Michael van der Mark came in fourth and fifth; Davies finished eighth with Torres right behind him. De Rosa finished 15th, the highest position that receives points.

Torres summed up this race by saying, "In race one, I had a quite consistent pace, which allowed me to pass a couple of riders. Considering the vibration issues we suffered it was not bad to finish the race in ninth."

As Sykes celebrated his win with a smoky burnout, the championship standings looked to see an upheaval if Race 2 didn't go well for Rea and Davies. Rea received no points for Race 1 due to his crash, which essentially gave Sykes a 50-point jump (Rea not getting 25 for winning, Sykes getting those points instead).

Adding insult to the injury of losing Hayden, Red Bull Honda's Bradl retired from the race with technical problems, ending Honda's 52-race streak of finishing in the points.

Race 2

Thanks to Race 1's results vis-a-vis Rea, Davies and Haslam, Race 2 saw heightened expectations from just about everybody. Rea needed to finish Race 2 in the points, as Sykes only being 50 points back after Race 1 constituted a direct threat to Rea winning the season outright. The uncatchable Rea suddenly seemed catchable, after all.

Torres' top-10 finish highlighted that he is poised for a top-5 finish at any time, especially if he can grid well and continue gaining seven or more positions in each race.

Race 2's grid featured Melandri, van der Mark and Leon Camier on Row 1, followed by Mercado, Davies and Torres in Row 2. Lowes, Haslam and Sykes made up the next row, with Rea, Laverty and Forés behind them. De Rosa again gridded in 18th position.

Where Race 1 was a technical masterpiece from the majority of racers, Race 2 came across more like a track day filled with overcompensating street riders struggling vainly to control motorcycles that were clearly beyond their skill sets.

Randy Krummenacher crashed out in Turn 1 of Lap 1. In the ensuing confusion on the track, Rea zipped through to lead, gaining nine positions in a matter of seconds. Haslam crashed out in Lap 2, followed by Alex de Angelis less than a minute later. Laverty crashed out in Lap 9, followed by Torres, who crashed out in Turn 10.

As if those four racers crashing out in the first half of the race wasn't enough, they were followed in the last quarter of the race by Melandri, Mercado and Lorenzo Savadori. While the SEVEN crashed out riders didn't affect the podium much - though certainly Haslam's crash disappointed fans of his second-place finish in Race 1 - the middle of the pack was greatly affected.

Rea rode to an easy win, earning Kawasaki's 100th WSBK victory. Sykes took second, Davies third and van der Mark fourth. Lowes and Camier followed him, and de Rosa finished 10th, his best finish since taking over for Markus Reiterberger. He said, "Race one was not easy, particularly with the strong wind. I managed to finish the race but the tyre was pretty much destroyed. On Sunday, conditions were different; it was hotter. I tried to improve my pace and while there was a certain degree of improvement I had hoped to do more to be honest. I hope we can make another step forward at Misano."

Championship standings have Rea in the lead with 260 points, followed by Sykes (205), Davies (185), Melandri (137) and Lowes (121). Torres is in ninth with 72 points. The team championship standings have Kawasaki Racing Team in a comfortable lead with 465 points, followed by Aruba.it Racing (Ducati) with 322, Pata Yamaha (223) and Althea BMW (103). The manufacturer's standings are similarly dominated by Kawasaki (285), Ducati (232), Yamaha (135) and BMW (86).

The next World SBK round is at Misano, again in Italy, from 16-18 June.

Photos courtesy of BMW Motorrad, Althea BMW Racing and Red Bull Honda.

Our thoughts are with Hayden's friends and family as well as the entire racing world as we all mourn his loss.

Reference: ESPN story.

UPDATE, 19 MAY 17: Contrary to a news article making its way through social media, Hayden has not died. According to a statement from Earl Hayden, Nicky's father, the WSBK racer has not had surgery and is not in a medically induced coma, though he remains in critical condition. His mother Rose and brother Tommy are at his side in hospital.

American World Superbike racer Nicky Hayden has been critically injured in a bicycle-car collision in San Marino, Italy.

Photo courtesy of beIN Sports.

Reports are coming in fast, but not all of them are fleshed out. Some have said he's in a medically induced coma, others have not mentioned that. What is apparent is that he suffered severe head and chest injuries during a training ride when he collided with a Peugeot. He is currently (17 May 17, 3 pm Eastern time) in hospital in Cesena and may undergo surgery soon. Cycle World reports Hayden was transferred from Rimini to Cesena by helicopter.

Hayden, 35 years old, races for Honda and you can follow their Twitter feed (@HondaWSBK) for breaking news.

Both races this weekend were delayed due to safety issues; Race 2 actually started and was quickly red-flagged before a lengthy delay led to a restart.

Chaz Davies came into Imola a heavy favorite on a track that favors the power curve of his Ducati. He also debuted his new X-Lite helmet paint job, a sharp-looking tribute to the Italian national flag.

Photo courtesy of Cycle News.

Italians in this weekend's race include Rafaelle de Rosa (BMW S 1000 RR), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia RSV4), Marco Melandri (Ducati Panigale R), Ayrton Badovini (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), and Riccardi Russo (Yamaha YZF-1). There wasn't an empty seat in sight, and the crowd was vocal throughout the races.

BMW rider for Team Althea Jordi Torres missed Superpole 2 due to illness and didn't race on Saturday. His teammate Raffaele De Rosa crashed twice in practice & Superpole sessions, and is thus relegated to 16th on the grid for Race 1. The usual names are at the front of the grid: Davies, Sykes, Rea in Row 1; Camier, Melandri, Laverty right behind them. Pretty much all the riders have an SE0 soft rear tire; Davies used a softer front tire than the majority of the field.

Jordi Torres, #81

Rea has won five times at Imola, and has won 7 of 8 races so far this season. Sykes came into Imola 64 points behind Rea, Davies 20 points behind him.

Race 1 started off with Davies taking the hole shot, with Melandri right behind. Sykes pulled a big wheelie off start and found himself in fourth position. De Rosa came through the first few turns in 18th position.

Raffaele de Rosa, #35

Davies making early gap of 1 second; Melandri holding Rea off but Rea challenging hard. All the riders had difficulty with the vicious double 90-degree chicane right before start/finish straight, but De Rosa rose to 16th going into Lap 2. Rea has shown his willingness to play the long game, so his early third position in the field was likely no worry for him. Melandri was full second behind Davies, but half a second ahead of Rea, who stumbled a bit through the final chicane. Rea's teammate Sykes right on his tail, making the field Ducati-Ducati-Kawasaki-Kawasaki.

On the same lap that Davies set new track record w/ 1.46.393 lap - 0.4 sec. faster than previous lap record, De Rosa dropped back to 17th on lap 3. Then Mercado (#36) crashed in Turn 7, dropping out. In Lap 4, Rea closed the gap on Melandri, but Davies continued pulling away. Rea put tremendous pressure on Melandri, who worked hard to stay ahead of the points leader. A quick wobble from Melandri allowed Rea to take advantage, pass and immediately start pulling away to try to close on Davies' 1.5-second lead.

Hayden dropped out in Lap 5, indicating trouble with the front end of the bike. Xavi Forés pulled into 5th place, showing one of his strongest efforts to date, with Laverty and Camier battling for 6th place. By then, Davies had a 4.5-second lead. Sykes pushed Melandri, trying to take over 4th place. Rea was solidly in second, not closing the gap on Davies and perhaps waiting for Davies to make a mistake or crash. By Lap 8, Davies increased his lead to 5.25 seconds.

With 7 laps to go, Davies had 7.5-second lead, but he didn't relax, keeping his lap times in the mid-to-high 1.46 range. He only ran three laps in the low 1.47 range.

With no warning, Eugene Laverty had a spectacular crash coming out of Turn 17. The replay showed contact between Lowes' rear tire and Laverty's front end, resulting in Laverty's front fender breaking off. It appeared to get bound up in the front wheel or the front brake, and rocketed straight through the gravel into the wall. Laverty ejected, and the bike dramatically exploded when it hit the wall. Laverty was taken for a medical checkup - he was OK, just a little beat up - and officials determined there was no fault/malice in contact that caused the crash. An understandable red flag stopped the race.

The Race Marshals declared the race complete with six laps to go due to the red flag. Davies took the win, finishing 6.6 seconds ahead of second-place Rea. Melandri took third, then Sykes, Forés, Camier, van der Mark and Lowes. De Rosa finished 14th, 43.5 seconds behind Davies. Davies' top speed was 282.3 kmh (175.4 mph).

Due to his fourth-place finish, Tom Sykes got pole position for Race 2; he usually shows strongly when he starts from front row. Rea was remarkably sanguine about finishing second, congratulating Davies and saying he looked forward to better finishes at future tracks. It was odd to see Rea basically conceding the second race to Davies, but in nine of the last 13 rounds, the winner of Race 1 has also won Race 2.

The mayor of Imola came out to award the trophies. Davies and Rea appeared cordial with each other, perhaps showing that they've moved past the animosity between them on display for the last couple of rounds. Claudio Domenicali, the CEO of Ducati, attended the weekend's festivities and accepted the team win trophy, getting soaked with Prosecco by Davies in the process.

RACE 2

Race 2 was slated for the same 19 laps around Imola's 4.936 km (3.067 miles) track of nine right and 13 left turns, including two 90-degree chicanes, but it was quite a different race. Other than a little early excitement, it was a more sedate race than Saturday's affair, perhaps because nobody's motorcycle exploded. Conditions on the track were hot, with the temperature approaching 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit).

With the front of the grid looking pretty normal for this season's Race 2 events (Sykes, Forés, Camier in Row 1; van der Mark, Lowes, Ramos in Row 2; Melandri, Rea, Davies in Row 3), Laverty gridded 10th for Race 2 after his fiery crash in Race 1 caused him - obviously - to drop out. Team Milwaukee's Aprilias gridded 10-11-12 (Laverty, Mercado, Savadori). Team Althea's De Rosa gridded 16th after 15th place finish in Race 1. De Rosa's senior teammate Jordi Torres gridded 21st after failing to get a time in Superpole or participate in Race 1 due to gastrointestinal distress. Confidentially, the word on the street was that his sluices were open at both ends, but clearly he's gotten that under control for Race 2.

If Sykes managed to get the hole shot and if he could hold on to the lead for a few laps, popular wisdom was that he could finish on the podium. He did indeed get the hole shot and managed to hold the lead through about the first half of Lap 1. Torres rose two positions by Turn 5.

Rea was in fourth and Davies in ninth going into Lap 2, a rough start for the Race 1 winner. However, the engine on Ayrton Badovini's Team Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R gave out in Turn 16, spreading smoke in the air and oil on the track. The red flag came out again, and Race Marshalls decided to restart the race with original grid positions, not race positions at the time of the flag. They shaved one lap off the length of the race, waited for track workers to use cement dust to absorb the fluids on the track, brooms to spread it, and then a tractor with a giant directional fan to blow most of the cement dust off the track. Forty hot minutes after the red flag, Race 2 restarted.

Sykes got the hole shot again, but critically, Davies got a much better start and went into Turn 3 in sixth position. Rea moved into 3rd position before half the initial lap was over. Lingering loose cement dust on the track from Badovini's grenaded engine gave the riders - including Camier and Davies - some trouble. Rea ran wide in a chicane due to carrying too much speed into the second half of the chicane; he gave way and dropped to sixth position behind Forés. Melandri had trouble with a chicane as well.

Torres rose to 14th position in Lap 2, with De Rosa not far behind in 16th. Sykes continued to lead, with Camier, Davies and Melandri close on his rear tire and Rea in 5th. Rea seemed impatient, perhaps concerned that Davies was statistically likely to win the race and there hasn't been a round yet in which Rea failed to earn at least one first-place finish. Sykes was able to maintain a two-second lead through Laps 3 and 4.

Camier crashed in Turn 12, out of the race after running in 2nd place for the whole of the first three laps. Davies rose to 2nd, with Rea behind him in 3rd. De Angelis followed Camier in the same lap, crashing out in Turn 19. Torres rose to 12th, De Rosa to 13th, both of them trying to catch Mercado and American Nicky Hayden, who continued to fight his Honda for dominance on the track.

Davies pulled in fastest lap with 1.46.720, started chipping away at Sykes' two-second lead. By Lap 7, Sykes' lead was just 0.3 of a second - about a bike length. Davies made his move in the first chicane of Lap 8, passing Sykes and quickly opening up a half-second gap. Rea remained in 3rd, but with a 1.5-second gap to make up to catch Sykes. In mid-Lap 9, De Rosa dropped back to 14th thanks to a nice pass by Savadori; at the same time, Torres rose one position to 11th and started to put pressure on Hayden.

Rea mercilessly gained on his teammate Sykes, steadily closing the gap to 0.2 of a second in Lap 10. Sykes pushed his bike hard, sliding through turns and putting up puffs of smoke from that abused rear tire. Sykes' defensive riding eventually gave way to Rea's expertise, but it was an incredible effort on the part of Sykes. Davies extended his comfort gap out front to three seconds as Rea started putting distance between himself (in 2nd) and his teammate Sykes.

Finishing in second or third would mean different things for Sykes; if he finished in third and Davies won the race, then they would switch places in the overall point standings, with Davies taking over second place. A second place finish in Race 2 by Sykes would keep him second in the points behind Rea.

Hayden stumbled in Lap 13, allowing Torres and Mercado to get past him. De Rosa dropped back another spot to 15th, while Torres set his sights on Ramos in ninth place ahead of him. Torres made his move to collect Ramos in mid-Lap 15, easily making the pass as he continued to make up about a full second a lap. Catching van der Mark looked like a piece of work - difficult, but not impossible - given the short amount of time left in the race.

Going into the last lap, it looked as if the final standing would be Davies, Rea and Sykes on the podium, with Torres in 9th and De Rosa in 15th. Then Krummenacher passed De Rosa, bumping him back to 16th and robbing him of the one point assigned for finishing in 15th.

Davies indeed won the race handily, taking his first double win of the season since nobody was able to catch him once he took the lead. Rea followed, then Sykes, Forés, Melandri, Lowes, Laverty and - surprise! Torres in 8th after he managed to pick off van der Mark at the last second.

Torres had the most impressive performance of the race, using the power and technology available to him with the S 1000 RR to make up an astonishing 13 places over his grid start. "We had a good race today," Torres said, continuing, "Fortunately I’ve recovered after yesterday’s illness and that didn’t affect me at all during the race. Starting last on the grid, it wasn’t easy of course, but I was able to quickly get into a good rhythm. I hoped to be able to do a little more actually but in these conditions with the tyre that we use it was the best I could do. I thank the team, the result is good considering we lost the whole day yesterday and then I want to thank the Clinica Mobile, because without their help I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did today."

De Rosa added, "It was a difficult race, with two red flags. The third start turned out to be the worst for me, I was having trouble stopping the bike, and particularly defending myself from the other riders. With the pace I had, I think fifth was about all we could do today, conditions weren’t easy. I thank the whole team for their great work this weekend, we’ve scored some points and I hope we do more at Donington."

The championship points standings have Rea still in first place with 235 points. Davies is 74 points back, with Sykes one point behind him. Torres has 65 points and is in eighth place. The manufacturer's standings still see Kawasaki in first place with 235 points, Ducati in 2nd (-32), Yamaha in 3rd (-129) and BMW in 4th (-162).

Last weekend, BMW Motorsports Advisor, test rider and Boxer Cup Champion Nate Kern defied all odds by winning third place in the WERA Superbike Class in Round One of the WERA Triple Crown at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. His ride? A completely stock BMW S 1000 RR, that had been in storage and awaiting pickup by a friend. Read on as BMW HP Race Engineer Steve Weir shares the backstory.

"I knew of two BMW racers coming to Road Atlanta, but little did I know a third would crawl from the darkness and propose the unthinkable,” says Weir. “Nate approached me after Sylvain Barrier completed qualifying practice 2 in 6th position at a track he had never been to. Kern had that look in his eye, one that only a racer knows. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Dude… I wanna race the WERA Superbike class but I’m gonna need your help.’ I didn’t laugh or blink an eye because I knew he was serious, so I asked the obvious, ‘Uhhh okay, what are you going to ride?'

"This is the point where things got weird. He told me about his friend Alan who bought his bike but hadn’t picked it up. The kind of stories we have all heard before. He would go on to tell me the bike was in storage, wasn’t race prepped was completely stock with DOT tires, kickstand, horn and license plate to boot. I went over the typical check list in my head of race prepping a bike and the time it would take to get it done. I also balanced the fact that Friday’s WERA practice was long gone and all that was left was Saturday's qualifying round, which meant he would be jumping right into the fire, putting his head down and making something happen, on a completely stock bike. My first thought was good luck with that, but it’s Kern, fully capable of stomping the competition on an R nineT with no electronics, crazy torque and cylinder heads that scrape the ground when you turn. I told him I was in.

"Kern started blowing up phones enlisting the help of BMW Motorcycles of Atlanta Service Manager Bill Walls. Walls liked the idea of racing a stock BMW S 1000 RR so much he put a team together to undertake the tedious task of drilling and safety wiring the bike. Next up, James Bock and Oscar Solis of Pirellis Tires liked the idea so much they told Kern they would provide him tires to race on.

"We picked the bike up Friday at about 9:30 pm parked behind BMW Motorcycles of Atlanta complete with clear tape for the headlights, taillight and the big number 8 for N8 (Nate). This was my first look at the bike. I noticed a full Akrapovic Exhaust. I asked Kern about it and he said the bike had an HP Power Kit. The kit is purchased through BMW HP and comes with full exhaust and an ECU enabling code that changes the parameters of the air fuel ratio, ignition timing and traction control for better race prowess. Bonus!

"I asked if the Race Calibration Kit 3 was installed, which would allow me to balance the traction control for the track, tires and conditions to which a disappointing 'No' came from Kern. I was still comfortable with the plan as the parameters within the HP Power Kit are expanded from stock and work extremely well.

"Saturday morning came quickly and we were back at the track with a near complete race-prepped bike. All that was left was to remove the head and taillight plugs, cover them with clear plastic and put a big #8 on the front and rear of the bike. DOT tires were replaced with Pirelli slicks. Last, but not least, the kickstand was safely wired into place.

"As luck would have it I always keep a spare HP 2D Race Datalogger with me in case a customer's bike doesn’t have one, as this allows me to log rider data and bike output – 32 data channels total – covering throttle position, suspension position, lean angle, traction control interventions and a multitude of other parameters. The HP 2D Race Datalogger allows me to make changes to the bike without all the guess work.

"I started Kern off with a base set up on the bike utilizing the DDC (Dynamic Damping Control), which easily adjusts at the flip of a switch on the handlebar. I also set preload on both the front and rear springs. Kern went out for a couple of sighting laps, came in for a quick change in spring preload then went out and completed a 1:32.5. This helped grid Kern 5th for the race…something with which we could definitely work.

"With my expectations happily exceeded, I read the data from the HP 2D Datalogger and spoke with Kern about the current bike set up. With Kern's feedback and the information gathered from the datalogger, we decided on a geometry change that would help Kern flick the bike from side to side and corner with better front end feedback. We also found that Kern was getting a vibration in the front end of the bike that turned out to be a bent rotor, possibly from sitting in the overfilled storage unit. Between the bent rotor and brake pads with over 3,000 miles on them that were glazed over, we were bound to have problems in the race and safety was a huge factor. I told Kern we were in dire need of a set of rotors and pads. Kern said he had a spare set of wheels in storage but was concerned they were not the BMW HP wheels he was currently running on the bike. On our way home, we drove by the storage unit and picked up the front wheel. The wheel was not a BMW HP wheel. It was the standard BMW wheel with Galfer rotors. Kern stated he wanted to run the bike in complete stock trim but after some conversation, safety outweighed desire.

"Sunday was upon us before we knew it and we still didn’t have a set of stock brake pads. Kern spoke with SBS Brand Manager Chris Jensen about getting a set of brake pads that were the same as the stock BMW pads. Jensen provided us with a set of SBS 870DS Dual Sinter pads that he said were similar to the BMW HP pads.

"Kern was lucky to get a warm up practice and a chance to test the changes made to the bike. He went out for a couple of sighting laps to get a feel for the changes, returning to hot pit for additional preload on the front forks. Kern told me the changes allowed him to put the bike where he wanted it and was happy with the direction we took. The morning was cool and damp with high humidity and, on his first hot lap, he matched the previous day’s qualifying time with less effort and better feel. Kern came back in and said, 'I can definitely race this…The bike is really good.'

Leading up to the race, weather and track conditions changed several times. At one point it started to rain, but eventually it cleared and the track dried out for the race. Kern went out for the sighting lap and lined up on the grid in 5th position. Utilizing the launch control, he got off to a beautiful start into turn 1 where he was in 4th place. Several battles took place, but the race would settle into Kern in 4th place and Brad Burns in 5th. Burns made several attempts to pass Kern but none would stick. Tim Bemisderfer had a mechanical issue, leaving Kern and Burns to battle it out for the 3rd place podium finish.

The battle would come down to the last turn where Burns attempted to pass Kern under heavy braking but he failed to make the turn, leaving Kern with a clean run to the finish and a hard-earned 3rd place finish. "After the race, Kern's pit was filled with BMW enthusiasts and fellow racers who came to get a good look at the bike after hearing it was being raced in stock trim. It was poked, prodded and questioned with total disbelief. Now, the question still remains… Do we continue forward with this project and go for a championship?"

Photo nabbed from Nate Kern's Facebook page.

What used to be friendship between them seems to be turning into a bitter rivalry. After leaving the previous track lap record in the dust during qualification, Rae should have been on pole for the first race, but due to the two racers yelling and gesturing at each other during Superpole 2 - initiated when Davies reached out and grabbed Rea’s arm. FIM officials decided to penalize Rea to fourth position for the start, saying he precipitated the event with irresponsible riding.

WSBK commentator Steve English interviewed Chaz Davies about the incident. Davies accused Rea of staying in the middle of the track and blocking him from achieving his best qualifying lap speed, an accusation backed up by FIM’s decision to drop Rea back a row for the start of Race 1. Rea didn’t comment on the incident, instead choosing to discuss track conditions with English.

Jordi Torres, #81, from Spain. Torres is 29 years old and won the Spanish Moto2 championship twice; he also won the German Grand Prix Moto2 in 2013. He has been racing in WorldSBK since 2015.

Raffaele de Rosa, #35, from Italy. De Rosa is 30 years old and won the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup in 2016. He was Rookie of the Year for Moto2 in 2009.

All in all, it’s not much of a penalty, seeing as how Rea won three consecutive Race 2s from the ninth spot of the grid; he was 50 points ahead of Davies in the overall standings going into Race 1 as well. Thomas Sykes moved from second to pole, and the other riders on row one moved up as well.

The grid for Race 1 looked much like previous races, but with minor exceptions. Markus Reiterberger is out for the season, replaced on the Althea BMW Racing Team by Italian rider Raffaele de Rosa (#35). De Rosa has a good history with Althea, winning last season’s Superstock championship for them. Lorenzo Savadori was back on the grid, having missed the first three rounds of the season due to lingering issues from an injury.

RACE 1

The grid started with Sykes, Davies and Savadori; then Rea, Melandri and Laverty. Torres gridded 9th, De Rosa 18th in the next-to-last row. Savadori had a problem with his bike as the other riders took off on the sighting lap. It looked as if he was having trouble getting his bike into first gear; whatever the problem was, they got it figured out and Savadori started the race as expected.

Davies took the holeshot with Melandri right behind him. Hometown hero van der Mark ran wide on Turn 1, costing him precious positions (replay footage showed clear contact with another rider being the reason he ran wide). A quarter of the way through Lap 1, Rea was already in third place, right behind Sykes in second. Before the end of Lap 1, Rea overtook his teammate to take second position. Davies stood to benefit as Sykes and Rea swapped spots, and he even built a small gap os the riders turned Lap 1 into Lap 2.

Torres was in 10th through Lap 1, with de Rosa in 13th; de Rosa soon dropped to 16th, though. Van der Mark crashed out of Race 1 in Turn 5, snapping his handlebar off in the fall and no doubt disappointing the sellout crowd in the Netherlands. By Lap 3, Rea was securely in second place and Davies’ attempt to build a lead had failed. Trailing Rea in the front group of four were Sykes and Melandri. Torres remained in 10th, with de Rosa rising one slot to 15th. Xavi Forés, whose bike spectacularly caught on fire at Aragon, led the second pack into Lap 6.

By Lap 8, Melandri drifted to three seconds behind the front group, but he remained well ahead of the following pack, holding on to fourth position with little difficulty. Torres made a move in Lap 9, passing Bradl to take over ninth position and move up in the second pack. Bradl took his spot back in the following lap.

Rea maintained the pressure on Davies as the lap count grew, and clear differences in their riding styles became obvious. Davies throws his right leg out before many of the right turns, ostensibly to stabilize his Ducati. Rea took tighter lines through most turns, and broke out of Davies’ slipstream on the longer straights. Rea simply never let up, pressuring Davies at every point.

Lowes crashed out in Turn 10 of Lap 14, spraying pieces of his Yamaha super bike across the gravel trap. Torres, meanwhile, clawed his way up to 7th position, staying ahead of Bradl but having to work hard to do so. De Rosa continued to move between 15th and 16th positions. Irishman Eugene Laverty found himself being chased by Torres, who created a gap ahead of Stefan Bradl and pushed his BMW S 1000 RR to catch Laverty. Bradl’s Honda seemed to have a loose rear end; it’s possible his choice of tire failed him slightly in the last few laps of the race.

Torres caught and passed Laverty with just five laps to go, but faced a four-second gap to catch Forés. Rea finally made his move at the end of Lap 18, briefly passing Davies but giving up first place in the next turn. It looked more like a shot across Davies’ bow, letting the Ducati rider know that the guy on the Kawasaki was ready to challenge for the top of the podium.

At the end of the following lap, Davies bobbled a turn briefly, allowing Rea to slide past, but again, Davies retrieved his lead. With two laps to go, the two riders continued swapping first and second. Going into Turns 6 and 7, Rea commandingly took the lead and began to ride defensively to keep Davies behind him. Davies had a problem with his bike and dropped out of the race. Rea won easily after spending the vast majority of the race in second place.

Torres suffered a flat tire, dropping out of the race just before the last lap. De Rosa finished in 13th place, earning points in his seventh career WSBK race. Sykes finished second, Melandri third, and Forés fourth - which secured him the pole position for Race 2.

Torres (pictured above) said after the race, "We were very unlucky in the race. In the Superpole we set a good time, though we're still quite a way from the leaders, and our race pace seemed good through the practices. In the race, I made a good start but, not entirely sure about the tire, I held back a little to conserve it. Despite this I made good progress and was lying sixth, but then a few laps from the end the rear tire started to vibrate too much. The problem got worse and I realized I had a puncture, so I had to stop. A pity, because I had been lapping well and could have scored a good result today. We'll see whether to use a different tire for tomorrow's race."

De Rosa added, "Considering that this was my first race in several months, I started with the intention of completing as many miles as possible, or rather crossing the finish line. I'm pleased because I was a little more constant than I was in the practices. We've scored a few points, which is OK for my first race. The positive thing is that I've improved my feeling and my level of confidence in preparation for tomorrow's race. Step by step I hope to improve, starting from the very next race."

RACE 2

De Rosa (pictured above) gridded 18th again, with Torres getting the 12th spot despite dropping out at the end of Race 1. Forés gridded in the pole position, followed by Savadori, Bradl, Ramos, Laverty, Mercado and finally Rea, Sykes and Melandri. Davies gridded in 10th spot at the top of Row 4. Sunday’s race at Assen was Rea’s 200th WSBK race, quite an achievement; he reached the podium in 95 of his first 199 races and won 44 of them.

Sunday turned out to be warmer than Saturday, so the majority of the riders went with soft compound tires, a decision that bit a few of them during Race 1, which saw track temps several degrees cooler the day before. No such trouble expected during Race 2, but tire management is always a concern, especially in the last third of the race.

Forés took the hole shot with Laverty right behind him. It was the first time this season seeing the two Aprilias running in second and third, with Sykes gunning through in Turn 1. The first lap is almost always a scrum, but by the time the riders were halfway through it, Sykes and Rea were running third and fourth; Torres was in 14th and de Rosa in 17th.

Laverty went round Forés to take first, but the two Kawasakis stayed close in third and fourth. Davies was in fifth, right behind Rea, followed by Savadori, Melandri and American Nicky Hayden. Rea took over third from his teammate and started putting pressure on Forés, who was himself right behind Laverty. Rea overtook Forés before the end of Lap 2, which opened the window for Sykes to do the same, pushing Forés back to fourth. Rea quickly passed Laverty, and as Lap 3 started, Rea got on to building his customary gap ahead of everybody else.

Davies jumped up to fourth, pushing Forés further back. Laverty had his work cut out for him to stay ahead of Davies and his charging Ducati in Lap 5. De Rosa dropped to 18th. In Lap 6, Davies pushed passed Laverty and found himself facing a wide gap behind second place rider, Sykes. Rea held a comfortable (but not insurmountable) gap ahead of Sykes.

Van der Mark, possibly trying to redeem himself for the early crash in Race 1, gave his home country fans a lot to cheer over in Lap 8, passing Forés and Laverty to take over fourth place. Marco Melandri crashed out in Turn 5 of Lap 9. His bike wobbled briefly before a low side ended his day. It would be the first time this season he finished a race with no points.

Torres moved up to 12th and de Rosa to 16th. Van der Mark continued running faster laps than Davies, but Davies remained stubbornly ahead of him as they fought for third place. Van der Mark had a massive wobble in Lap 11, but kept his cool and recovered from the giant tank slapper. Not long after that, Torres passed Ramos to take up 11th position, subsequently passing Forés to get into 10th. Forés continued dropping back in Lap 12. Savadori crashed out in that lap, a disappointing finish to his first weekend back in WSBK after his neck injury.

Torres put immense pressure on Hayden, trying to take over eighth place from the American, but he looked as if he was constantly fighting to keep the front wheel of the S 1000 RR on the ground. He made a comment to reporters at the beginning of the day about feeling like he had to fight the bike more than the other riders; the numerous wheelies throughout the race would seem to bear that statement out.

With five laps left in the race, Rea found himself fending off his teammate Sykes, but both riders held a comfortable lead over third-place Davies. Lap times between the two Kawasaki riders varied from a tenth of a second to a hundredth of a second, making it clear that neither rider was willing to back off. This sensibility no doubt helped create the 3.7-second lead over Davies.

Going into the second-to-last lap, Rea maintained the lead but was closely followed by Sykes. Davies held third, van der Mark fourth, and Torres moved up to 8th. De Rosa was in 17th, ahead of just one rider. Sykes made an attempt to capture the lead coming out of the final turn of the race, but he didn’t quite have enough time to do it; Rea won his 7th race of this year’s championship. Torres took seventh place away from Laverty, and de Rosa finished in 17th place - out of the points.

Commenting on Race 2, Torres said, "I struggled at the start with the fresh tire, but after four or five laps I started to gain in confidence, managing to pass several riders and make a fairly good recovery. With quite strong pace right until the end, I was also able to edge past Laverty just before the line to finish seventh. Not bad, but I hope to be able to do more at Imola, the first of the team's 'home' tracks."

De Rosa spoke to his disappointing finish, saying, "I tried to start strong and push right away and I was feeling quite good with my BMW until about half way through the race. Once the wind picked up though, I had some difficulty managing the bike and I was just trying to get to the finish line. I'm not pleased with the result of course but we know we have the potential to do better."

Wrapping up the weekend's action, Torres said, "On Saturday, we really had bad luck. We could have finished fifth or sixth if we hadn’t had the flat rear tire. It is always disappointing for the entire team when something like that happens. Sunday’s race was a lot better. We didn’t have the best grid position but we tried to give our best during the race. With the fuel tank getting emptier - and with less grip on the tires - we were able to go a good pace and I overtook a lot of riders."

STANDINGS

With the fourth round of WSBK over, Jonathan Rea remains authoritatively in first place in the standings, holding 195 points and a 64-point lead over second-place Thomas Sykes. Despite not finishing Race 1, Chaz Davies rose one slot in the standings; his 111 points put him in third over Marco Melandri’s 97 points. Alex Lowes rounds out the top five with 76 points. Jordi Torres is in eighth place with 57 points. Even though he’s unlikely to return before the end of the season, Torres’ Althea teammate Markus Reiterberger holds on to 17th place with 19 points.

In the team standings, it’s no surprise that the Kawasaki Racing Team holds first place with 326 points. Davies’ team, Aruba.it Racing, is in second with 208, followed by Pata Yamaha with 138 and Althea BMW with 79. The manufacturer’s standings play out in the same order, with Kawasaki at the top with 195 points, Ducati with 153, Yamaha with 87 and BMW with 63. Honda languishes in last place in the manufacturer’s standings with just 50 points, behind April (55) and MV Agusta (54).

The next round of World SBK action takes place 12-14 May at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, outside Bologna, Italy.

Raffaele de Rosa. Photo from his website.

Reiterberger took himself out of the running, saying he hasn't yet fully recovered from a crash last year. In that crash at Misano he fractured his T10 and T12 vertebrae. (see map of spine)

Reiterberger had this to say: "After serious consideration, I have decided to step away from participating in WorldSBK. We made a strong start last season but then couldn't keep up the good results. I have therefore opted to refocus on making a complete recovery and on my racing career. I am very thankful for the experience in WorldSBK with Althea BMW Racing Team and I am now very much looking forward to new challenges. I feel the need to thank my sponsors for having allowed me to take part in the world championship, BMW Motorrad for their trust and passion, and my appreciation also goes out to the whole Althea BMW Racing Team crew for their work. I was very much encouraged by the positive reception from my friends, family and fans – I am very thankful for that. It was always my dream to participate in WorldSBK and with the experience I’ve gained, I will work very hard to return to the championship."

Markus Reiterberger (GER), #21

Althea BMW Racing General Manager Genesio Bevilacqua said, "I am of course very sad to have to make this announcement, as I consider Markus to be a strong athlete and a considerable talent, who could have been a good match for the Superbike category. Unfortunately, the accident he suffered at Misano complicated things, as he was unable to fully regain that confidence that he had shown during the earlier part of the 2016 season. I think that this decision leaves us all sad, me personally, the entire Althea team and BMW too, but I believe it’s normal that he wants to find that peace of mind. Markus is still only 23 and so has all the time he needs to recover and bounce back. I can only thank him for the commitment he showed throughout his stay with the Althea team, and we all wish him lots of luck, in the hope that we soon see him back, stronger than ever and whatever the bike. He can no doubt still find the physical conditions he needs to shape his future."

TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands is the fourth round of this year's WorldSBK Championship, and it has hosted motorcycle races for nearly 100 years. The 2.8-mile track features six left and 11 right turns, including a couple of serious hairpin curves.

Althea BMW rider Jordi Torres (#81) finished in fifth place in last year's round at Assen. "I always enjoy racing at Assen," Torres said. "Last year I was able to achieve a solid fifth place finish in race 2 and this year I hope to do even better. The only unknown is the weather, as from the forecast it looks like it will be cold. The tests at Aragon went well and were useful, which leaves me feeling confident not just for Assen but for the rest of the championship."

Jordi Torres (ESP), #81

De Rosa added, "I'm really pleased to finally start my season. Originally the idea was to only do a few wildcard entries but now that I have the chance to race for the rest of the season I'm feeling extremely motivated. Last year I won my first Stock race at Assen. We need to look out for the weather, which is always unstable in Holland but my aim is to stay focused and do my best. I can’t wait to get started.

Jonathan Rea extended his early-season domination to a fifth straight win, but Chaz Davies finally broke through to end the streak by winning the second WSBK race in Aragón, Spain, on 2 April 2017. Rea leads the championship standings with 145 points; Davies is in second by a wide margin with 90.

The first two rounds in Australia and Thailand were brutally hot on the track, with temperatures high enough to tax both riders and machines. Aragón gave the riders a respite from that trend, with temps on the track under 80 degrees Fahrenheit on both Saturday and Sunday.

Everybody expected to see a battle royale on the track between Rea (Kawasaki) and Davies (Ducati), but nobody could have predicted the dramatic finale of Race 1.

Davies secured the pole position for the Race 1 grid, and clocked the fastest lap time from all the practice and superpole sessions with an impressive 1:49.319 trip around the 17-turn, 3.1-mile track at MotorLand. The grid shaped up much like previous Race 1s - Davies, Rea and Sykes in Row 1 and Melandri, Forés and BMW rider Jordi Torres in Row 2. The race commentators made much of the native Spaniards Forés and Torres gridding next to each other, and indeed they spent a good portion of each race trying to get round each other as well.

The Race 1 participation of Torres' Althea BMW teammate, Markus Reiterberger, was suspect right until the lights went out. He crashed during Superpole 1, slightly damaging his S 1000 RR, and after the sighting lap for Race 1, his crew wheeled his bike off the track. Fortunately they were able to solve whatever technical glitch was present, and Reiterberger made it to the grid in time to start the race from the back row of the grid.

Most racers went with the conservative choice for rear tires, given the "low" track temperatures. Torres bucked the trend by going with the softest tire he could for Race 1, with most other riders using medium or medium-hard rear tires.

Lorenzo Savadori sat out the round at Aragón, still sore from a neck injury suffered during a spectacular high side crash in Thailand a couple of weeks ago.

Davies took the hole shot through Turn 1, hounded immediately by Rea and Marco Melandri. Reiterberger moved from 20th to 15th in the first three turns, but Torres had a rough start, dropping from 6th at the start to 11th through Lap 3, when he finally was able to start picking up positions. Badovini dropped out early in Lap 1 with a technical problem.

Markus Reiterberger (GER), #21

Rea and Davies traded the lead a few times in the early laps, but Davies took advantage of slightly wide lines through the turns to keep Rea behind him - as close as 0.6 second for much of the race. Meanwhile, Torres overtook Nicky Hayden to climb to 10th place in Lap 7, about the same time as Rea took the lead position from Davies. Davies retook the lead in the next lap, with Melandri in 3rd and Sykes hot behind in 4th.

Xavi Forés took a spill in Lap 5, but was able to get his bike back up and running. He languished in last place for a few laps, then started clawing his way through the pack until forced to retire in Lap 16 when his motorcycle CAUGHT ON FIRE. He rode it out, perhaps hoping the fire would put itself out, but he finally had to jump off before he suffered significant injury.

While the race leaders were putting down lap times of 1:50, Torres continued climbing through the pack, reaching 8th in Lap 12. Reiterberger made some progress as well, rising to 13th in the pack. Late in Lap 12, Torres was able to close what was previously a gap of a full second and overtake Mercado to secure 7th position.

Up front, Rea denied Davies any opportunity to relax, staying on the leader's tail and taking every opportunity to show him the front wheel. Davies maintained his tenuous lead by braking late in nearly every turn and taking lines that successfully boxed Rea out. Rea gained the lead in Lap 15, but Davies took it right back, heightening the tension as the race approached its 18-lap limit.

Jordi Torres (ESP), #81

The pressure Rea kept on Davies paid off late in Lap 17, when Davies' front tire slipped out from underneath him. The bike flipped, trapping Davies' left leg underneath as they both slid through the gravel. After obsessively watching the replay, it looks like Davies is simply running too hot in the turn and the front tire loses its grip for a split second - which at those speeds and turn angles is enough to dump anybody on the ground.

With Davies out, Rea was able to take first place easily, followed by Melandri, Sykes, Lowes, van der Mark and Torres in 6th. Reiterberger finished Race 1 in 12th place - disappointing to be sure, but still in the points, which is a good race for a rookie.

Torres said about the weekend's racing, "We finish this weekend with a good feeling because this is a very difficult track. For me it was a special weekend as we returned to Europe and it was my home round. We all gave our best and also the support of the BMW Motorrad Motorsport engineers was very helpful. Unfortunately the start in both races was not the best and we were not too competitive in the first laps. But lap by lap we found our rhythm and I was able to overtake a lot of riders and to catch up again. That was good and important. The whole team worked very well and we did not have any problems with our BMW S 1000 RR, so it was good."

Sunday's weather for Race 2 was much like Saturday's for Race 1. A 20-kph wind blew across the track, but the temperatures were bearable for all. Due to the new gridding rules that put the 4th place finisher from Race 1 in the pole position, the Race 2 grid had Lowes, van der Mark and Torres in Row 1, backed up by Mercado, Laverty and Bradl. Race 1's podium finishers (Sykes, Melandri and Rea) gridded in Row 3, with Davies, Forés and Hayden behind them. Reiterberger again gridded 13th.

Sykes took the hole shot with Laverty tight on his tail. Torres had an even more disappointing start than Race 1, dropping back to 13th place in the first half of Lap 1, with Reiterberger falling to 15th.

Rea rose to 2nd position just before entering the downhill Turn 8-9 corkscrew on Lap 2, and by Lap 3, Melandri was behind him, while Davies struggled a bit to stay in the front group. At one point early in the race, with just under two seconds separating Rea in first position and Mercado in seventh. Melandri took 3rd position in dramatic fashion, forcing van der Mark wide in Turn 16 on Lap 3.

Melandri kept the pressure on race leader Rea while his aruba.it teammate Davies forced his way forward into 4th, then 3rd place. Meanwhile, Torres battled Hayden for 10th place and Reiterberger had difficulty climbing out of 15th at the back of the pack. Hayden seemed to suffer some problem, as he soon dropped back to 18th position and later dropped out of the race completely.

Torres got past Ramos to reach 9th position in Lap 7, and not long after, Davies passed Lowes and gained 3rd position in Lap 8. Davies saw his fastest lap time of the day - which he would later top with a 1:50.976 time - in Lap 8. Torres continued gaining positions, passing Laverty with a dramatic inside move to take the lead slot in the second group.

Forés pressured Torres for position, but Torres instead put slight distance between them as he focused on catching Mercado. Though Lowes ran off the track in Turn 13 on Lap 10, he was able to get right back into the race in 13th position, enabling Torres to advance to 7th. Reiterberger was still in 15th position.

Melandri continued running hard, but his teammate Davies passed him, at which point Melandri's focus shifted from catching Rea and winning the race himself to providing support for his fellow Ducati rider. Davies advanced mercilessly on Rea and Melandri rode gallantly, holding off van der Mark's attempts to get into 3rd position and put pressure on Davies.

Both Melandri and Davies had softer tires on their Ducatis, and the acceleration of their bikes proved to be an advantage Rea had trouble dealing with, especially in the kilometer-long back straightaway that leads into the final two turns (16 and 17) of the track. Melandri runs with a slightly shorter swing arm than Davies does, and watching the slow-motion replays allows the viewer to see some slight differences in performance and handling between the two motorcycles.

Davies used his Ducati's advantages to overtake Rea in Lap 12; he quickly built a 0.4-second gap ahead of Rea, who now had to deal with Melandri nipping at his heels. Melandri made a big move in Turn 17, reaching a stunning speed of 202 mph to take 2nd position - briefly - from Rea. Rea took back 2nd, closing Davies' lead to just 0.439 second as they approached the final turns of Lap 15.

The two race leaders slowly built a one-second gap over Melandri in 3rd position over the next two laps. It looked every bit the repeat of the end of Race 1, with Rea pushing hard to swallow Davies. Even though Rea was able to continue closing the gap, he was unable to exert the same pressure he had shown Davies in Race 1, rarely coming alongside to force Davies to brake ever-more-deeply into the turns.

With the gap between Davies in 1st and Rea in 2nd closed to just a quarter of a second, Davies turned in a Lap 17 time of 1:50.954. Despite a quick wobble of the Ducati's rear and a fast move by Rea, Davies barely held on to his lead. Rea briefly passed him coming out of the chicane at Turn 15, but Davies got the lead position back and held onto it into Turn 16, winning Race 2 in dramatic fashion.

Rea found himself relegated to 2nd place for the first time this season, followed by Melandri, Sykes, van der Mark, Forés and Torres in 7th. Reiterberger finished Race 2 in 16th place.

This was Davies' 21st World Superbike win. Rea still leads the standings with 145 points; Davies trails by 50 points. Torres has 48 points and Reiterberger is in 13 place in the overall standings.

Reiterberger said, "“The weekend was a bit difficult for me. We started pretty well on Friday, were competitive and made good steps in the right direction. Especially on Saturday morning, my BMW S 1000 RR felt good. In Superpole 1, I was lying in third for most of the time and went out for another fast lap to further improve my time. In any case I would have had the pace for Superpole 2 but unfortunately I fell - probably because of a cold front tire. During the outlap, several riders had tried to stay at my rear wheel in order to achieve a decent lap time. I had to get rid of them all and also to wait for a clear track. The other riders who also waited crashed in the same corner as well. It was a pity that this prevented me from qualifying for Superpole 2 as I am convinced that a position in the top 10 on the grid would have been possible. Starting from the very back, I still managed to improve to 12th in Saturday’s race, which was okay. Sunday’s race was a bit more difficult. The wind was much stronger and we opted for a different rear tire. That turned out to be the better choice for the opening laps but as the race went on, I started to struggle a bit, could not turn the bike properly and develop a feeling for the bike. Now we will do some testing and I hope that we will find the way into the right direction."

Torres takes a moment to celebrate his race performance with fans.

Althea BMW followed up the round at Aragón with a full day of testing in which they worked on different improvements. Torres worked on tire durability and grip, issues he cited during the weekend's races. Reiterberger worked on getting more in tune with his S 1000 RR after what is clearly a disappointing start to the 2017 season. Both riders tested new components - including different swing arms - that may be incorporated full time onto the bikes in the future.

The next round of WSBK is at Assen in the Netherlands, starting on 28 April.

Rea (UK, Kawasaki Racing Team), Tom Sykes (UK, Kawasaki Racing Team) and Marco Melandri (ITA, Aruba.it Racing) gridded 1-2-3 for Race 1, with Althea BMW Racing Team's riders Jordi Torres (ESP) and Markus Reiterberger (GER) gridded 10th and 12th, respectively.

Markus Reiterberger works to keep his position.

Rea took the hole shot into the 90-degree right-hand Turn 1 and led the entire race, building the gap over the second-place rider to 6.2 seconds in his third straight WSBK win. He not only set a new track lap record of 1.33.436 seconds, but the majority of his laps were faster than the OLD track record of 1.33.8! Chaz Davies (UK, Aruba.it Racing), Melandri and Sykes rounded out the front running pack for the whole race, with the most excitement coming in the last turn of the last lap, when Sykes made his move on Melandri and nudged the Italian off the podium in an ending that visibly agitated the Ducati rider.

Torres spent most of Race 1 behind Eugene Laverty (IRL, Milwaukee Aprilia) and in front of Nicky Hayden (USA, Red Bull Honda), ranging from 10th to 8th place. He finished the race in 7th place (26 seconds behind Rea) after Laverty exited with a technical problem forcing him - upright - to the gravel run-off in Turn 5 on the last lap. Reiterberger was boxed out going into Turn 1 on the first lap, then relegated to the back quarter of the pack. Unfortunately he wasn't able to capitalize on anything, using his skills to rise to 14th place by the end of the race, 40.1 seconds off the lead bike.

There was a small measure of excitement when Ayrton Badovini (ITA, Grillini Racing Team) crashed in Turn 5 on Lap 7, but other than that, the only edge-of-the-seat moments of the race came from the last seconds of the last lap as Sykes got around Melandri to rob him of a podium finish.

Jordi Torres, #81

Markus Reiterberger, #21

Race 2, however, was a completely different story, with excitement from the first lap to the last.

Because of the new Race 2 gridding rules, the fourth through ninth place finishers from Race 1 grid in positions one through six, with the Race 1 winners gridding behind them. This put Melandri, Michael van der Mark (NEL, Pata Yamaha) and Alex Lowes (UK, Pata Yamaha) on Row 1, with Torres, Leon Camier (UK, MV Augusta Reparto Corse) and Hayden behind them. Reiterberger gridded 13th for Race 2.

Track conditions for both races were hot, but track temperatures in Race 2 started at 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). Every rider had a handy supply of wet (and I assume cool) towels and water bottles available before the sighting lap. There was a solid amount of discussion going between the race announcers on over the choice between using the Pirelli Diablo SC1 (softest) or the SC2 (slightly less soft) for the 20-lap, 90-kilometer (56-mile) races. Most riders chose the SC1 front.

Technicians fuss over Reiterberger's BMW S 1000 RR race bike.

Melandri nailed the hole shot as Race 2 kicked off, with Rea stuck in the rear of the front group. Torres was in 8th and Reiterberger in 13th as the first lap rounded into the second. Rea got around Davies in Lap 2 to get into second place, and he stayed in Melandri's draft, waiting patiently to attack for the lead position.

Davies low-sided in the middle of Turn 3 in Lap 2, but got his bike back up and back on the track, languishing in catch-up mode in 20th place. Torres took advantage of the timely crash to rise to 7th. At that point, Rea was just 0.719 of a second behind Melandri, but Davies was a full 30 seconds behind the race leader. Rea made his move going into Turn 12, forcing Melandri to the outside of the track in a classic passing maneuver, then used the flat-out power of his ZX-10 to create a tiny gap down the Start/Finish straightaway. Right behind Melandri were Lowes and Sykes, when...

Photo of Savadori's crash in Race 2, Round 2. From Eurosport.com.

MASSIVE CRASH GOING INTO TURN 12! Lorenzo Savadori (ITA, Milwaukee Aprilia) had smoke coming from his RSV4. It looked like his rear wheel locked up briefly, and suddenly the bike high-sided and Savadori was flipped off the bike. He landed on his head/neck/upper back, slid into the gravel and popped right up on his feet, uninjured. Torres avoided the crash, rising to 5th place, but the race was red-flagged. Track workers used cement dust, brooms and paper towels to clean up whatever fluids Savadori's Aprilia left on the track and the race restarted with the Lap 4 positions - Torres in 7th.

The restart greatly benefitted Davies, who suddenly no longer had to make up the huge gap between where he was in 19th place and the front of the pack. Davies rose to 10th place in Turn 1 off the restart, while Rea and Melandri retained their 1-2 positions.

Stefan Bradl (GER, Red Bull Honda) low-sided and slid off the track in Turn 12 with 11 laps left to go in the race, while Torres rose to 6th and Reiterberger to 13th place. Torres was constantly hounded by Davies and rode hard in his effort to catch and pass Laverty. While Rea expanded his lead to 1.3 seconds over Melandri, Laverty crashed in Turn 5, giving Torres the slot.

Torres, with Camier, Davies and Hayden trailing.

Not long after Torres started closing the gap on Camier, the Brit's MV Agusta 1000 F4 started giving off smoke. The smoke was intermittent at first, but it was clear that Camier's bike was losing power. More smoke and Camier found himself under the dreaded black flag - ordered into the pits! Reiterberger found himself in 11th place, and Laverty's seemed intent on earning at least one point, keeping his crippled bike on the track in last place.

Torres desperately held off Davies during the last three laps, and was finally able to expand a small gap ahead of the Ducati rider by holding tighter lines through the turns. His gap of just a quarter of a second was enough to keep Davies behind him, and Torres finished the race in 5th place, 14.7 seconds off the winning time turned in by Rea (who won his fourth straight WSBK race).

Torres celebrates his 5th place finish in Race 2 in Thailand.

Beyond the crashes, red flag, restart and black flag of Race 2, Turn 12 in the last lap again provided the emotional climax, as for the second time in two races, Sykes out-braked Melandri going into the last turn and used his bike's power to steal a position from the now-even-grumpier Italian rider. At least in Race 2 Melandri finished on the podium. Even though Davies never managed to get around Torres, he went from 19th at the restart to 6th at the finish, a monster comeback on any track, let alone one as fast as Chang. It was truly World Superbike racing at its finest.

Rea now leads the series with 100 points, with Davies (70), Sykes (62), Lowes (49) and Melandri (45) rounding out the top five. Torres is in 7th place with 29 points, and Reiterberger is tied with Laverty in 11th place with 15 points - had Laverty not stubbornly stayed in Race 2 after his crash, he wouldn't have finished in 15th place and earned one point, which would have given Reiterberger that 11th-place spot all to himself.

Kawasaki Racing Team leads the team standings with 162 points, followed by Aruba.it Racing with 115, Pata Yamaha with 76 and Althea BMW with 44. Kawasaki leads the manufacturer standings with 100 points, followed by Ducati (76), Yamaha (50), BMW (32), MV Agusta (27), Honda (22) and Aprilia (19).

The next round of World Superbike racing takes place at MotorLand Arágon in Spain from 31 March through 2 April.

Jordi Torres (ESP, Althea BMW Racing) is in 7th place in the WSBK standings after two rounds with 29 points, trailing series leader Jonathan Rea (UK, Kawasaki Racing Team) by 71 points.

Both races were nail-bitingly exciting, with #1 plate holder Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) trading the lead with Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing/Ducati), Marco Melandri (Aruba.it/Ducati), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) and even rookie Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) but ultimately winning both races. Rea leads the championship after its inaugural event with 50 points, but Davies isn’t far behind with 40 points earned from his dual second-place finishes.

The Althea BMW Racing Team had a respectable, but ultimately disappointing outing. Spaniard Jordi Torres (#81) finished Race 1 in 7th place, 8.7 seconds behind Rea. Torres fell back quickly from his starting position in Row 3, but fought ahead to within striking distance of the lead pack and benefitted from Lorenzo Savadori and Marco Melandri crashing out of Race 1.

He managed to stay well ahead of Irishman Eugene Laverty in the last laps of the race, but couldn’t quite catch fellow Spaniard Xavi Forés, who brought up the rear of the lead pack. Torres had the fastest speed of the entire grid during Race 1, reaching 198.5 mph and due to new gridding rules, his seventh-place finish in Race 1 put him in the fourth slot on the grid for Race 2, at the head of Row 2.

Markus Reiterberger (#21) spent much of Race 1 clashing with American Nicky Hayden’s teammate, rookie Stefan Bradl, ultimately finishing in 12th place, over 21 seconds behind the winner but just two seconds behind Hayden, who seemed to struggle with his Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2. “I was happy with the test early in the week,” Reiterberger said, praising the setup on his S 1000 RR.

Race 2 was a disappointment for Torres, who had acceleration problems with his motorcycle during the warm-up lap and was forced to drop out of the race altogether. “It was a weekend of ups and downs for us,” he said. “Overall the weekend went well and we know that we have the pace to be consistently within the front group.”

All the teams had to deal with scorching track temperatures of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which made tire management not only difficult, but critical to success. Most laps saw times above 1 minute, 32 seconds, while many qualifying times were well over a full second faster.

Reiterberger started Race 2 well, getting as high as ninth place before spending most of the race in 11th. Unfortunately, he dropped two positions in the final drag race out of Turn 12, crossing the finish line in 13th, nearly 26 seconds behind Rea.

Torres sits at nine points in the overall standings, with Reiterberger close behind at seven. BMW has 12 points in the Manufacturer’s Standings, trailing Aprilia (15) but leading Honda (6). Both men earned points in the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy, which covers 20 racing series around the world.

As happens with many WSBK race weekends, the host nation’s Superbike Championship runs the same weekend, and Phillip Island was no exception. There are two S 1000 RR riders campaigning in the Australian Superbike Championship, Troy Guenther (#56, NextGen Motorsports) and Samuel Lambert (#54, Cyclone Motorcycles).

While WSBK has an overall grid of 22 riders – Italian Leandro Mercado from the IodaRacing team sat out due to injury – ASBK has a field of 35 racers, and even more at some events. They also run three races every weekend compared to WSBK’s two.

Guenther tacked down 11th and 13th place finishes in Races 1 and 2, respectively, but was solidly mid-pack at 17th after Race 3 was red-flagged and restarted due to a serious crash. Lambert earned finishes in 16th, 20th and 14th places for the three races.

“It was a big learning curve this weekend for myself and the NextGen Motorsports team,” Guenther said. “We tried many different settings on the BMW S 1000 RR, and came away with a good direction of what does and doesn’t work – along with a haul of points to start the year.”

The next WSBK races will be from 10-12 March at the Chang International Circuit in Buri Ram, Thailand. ASBK’s next races will be from 17-19 March at Wakefield Park Raceway in Goulburn, New South Wales.

Superbike racing in the USA kicks off 21-23 April in a combined MotoGP-MotoAmerica event at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. BMW S 1000 RR racers Steve Rapp and Jeremy Cook are expected to race for MotoAmerica at COTA.

Now, last year's WSBK team Milwaukee BMW have changed marques from the BMW S1000RR to the Aprilia RSV4. Able Irish fast guy Eugene Laverty was selected to ride the Aprilia and did so with great success recently at Jerez at the pre season test, despite a bad crash when he was hit by another rider. This guy grew up racing on the streets, which is where they race over there for the most part: Isle of Man, and the rest of the highly dangerous road courses they have lived with in the British Isles since gas was twisted via throttle. Laverty is fearless. Milwaukee selected Aprilia. Former BMW heros Melandri and Davies are on the Aprilia.

So far, that leaves Althea BMW Race Team for 2017, race fans. Stay tuned as the 'silly season' unfolds. Lastly, we're unsure whom we miss more, Marco Melandri or his stunning consort, Italian supermodel, Manuela Raffaetta!

Photos copyright Will Guyan.

After a crash at the Jerez test left him with a shoulder blade fracture, Jordi Torres was unable to participate, so his team-mate Markus Reiterberger was joined by Raffaele De Rosa, winner of the Super Stock1000 (SSK) championship with Althea in 2016. Both riders worked hard, providing the technicians with a significant data for the continuing development of the BMW S1000RR bikes. Rider Marco Faccani was also injured in a crash at Jerez. His progress has been encouraging, though he was limited to a certain extent by shoulder pain.

Rider Julien Puffe is continuing to practice with his new BMW, and participated in the test with the newly formed Althea MF84 team, making good progress throughout the two day test. The Althea BMW Racing will be on track at Phillip Island on 20-21 February before the 2017 championship gets underway, with Round One taking place just a few days later (24-26 February) at the same Australian track. Mark your calendar!

Markus Reiterberger: “The testing has been tough, but we got a lot done, testing geometry, the Pirelli tires, many things. I’m still struggling in terms of my feeling with the BMW but I hope to improve on this. I need to work even harder to see the results of the great work that the team is doing. I thank the team for their continuing hard work and hope we can obtain the desired results this season.”

Raffaele De Rosa: “Coming here was a little unexpected but I’m very pleased to have chance to get back on the bike. The track was a difficult one but we tried to carry out as many tests as possible. Unfortunately I had a small crash and that cut into our time a little, but I had fun and hope I’ve been able to provide the team with useful feedback.”

BMW Motorrad USA is offering current and prospective racers even greater incentives to compete on its bestselling BMW S 1000 RR superbike this year. Over $1 million in contingency money is offered for racers piloting a 2015, 2016 or 2017 model year S 1000 RR in several 2017 national and international race series.

“We are excited to roll out an enhanced contingency program that will cover more race series to reinforce our commitment to supporting privateer BMW motorcycle racers,” commented Sarah Schilke, National Marketing Manager, BMW Motorrad USA.

Authorized HP Race Support Engineer Steve Weir on the starting grid with MotoAmerica S 1000 RR race rider Steve Rapp.

In addition to the improved contingency program, BMW is again offering the racer support purchase incentive on the S 1000 RR. Racers licensed in any of the BMW supported contingency program series can apply for the support program through their authorized BMW Motorrad dealer. The program is limited to 20 racers for 2017.

"BMW Motorrad is providing riders with all the tools they need to succeed on the racetrack – a class leading liter bike at a substantial savings, with the added incentive of HP Race Parts!" observed Professional Racer Nate Kern, who will serve as a BMW Motorrad Motorsports Advisor at MotoAmerica and regional series races this year. “New for 2017, certified BMW HP Race Engineer, Steve Weir, has been brought on board to further enhance our supported racers’ success."

BMW Motorrad’s Contingency Program is managed online via XTRM Performance Network, which provides real time distribution and management of contingency money payouts, results tracking and social media marketing. Racers piloting a 2015, 2016 or 2017 S 1000 RR can enroll by logging into www.xtrm.com/contingency/bmw to cash in on their performance.

For racers who want to get on board an S 1000 RR this year, BMW Motorrad is offering a limited Racer Support Program offering substantial savings on a 2016 BMW S 1000 RR with Race Package and HP Race Power Kit, as well as a monetary rider incentive. Racers holding current licenses for race series included in the contingency program and who have earned top finishes in those series are eligible to apply for the program at their local authorized BMW Motorrad USA dealer.

BMW Motorrad also offers MotoAmerica racers the opportunity to shine on an international level with the international BMW Motorrad Race Trophy. The Race Trophy provides a platform for racers piloting an S 1000 RR, HP4 or a sidecar with BMW engine, to compete at venues around the world. The BMW Motorrad Race Trophy 2017 is comprised of 20 championships that stage around 280 races in 25 countries on six continents. The overall winner is awarded 15,000 euro, the top 30 riders collect bonuses of 100,000 euro in total. All Winners of the several defined categories receive a trophy and additional bonus for their achievements. For more information about the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy, visit https://www.bmw-motorrad-motorsport.com.

The S 1000 RR supersport bike, featured in the 2015 film Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation, was BMW’s best-selling model last year. This year, the S 1000 RR appears to be wooing riders all over again, with sales in January outpacing sales in January 2016 by 42%.

After a bizarre and dangerous crash during the warm up lap of race 1 on Saturday, the rest of the race went without much drama. Rea tried to put up a good challenge to the new dominant power of Chaz Davies on the Ducati. However the Northern Irish rider could not continue to battle with the Welshman, as his tires wore down later in the race and he did well to hold off his teammate, Tom Sykes, to hang on to second place.

Jordi Torres qualified 6th on his Althea S1000RR BMW and showed great pace throughout to finish 4th. I hope that soon he may challenge for a podium, without the need for rain or a dnf from the typical trio. It's really great to watch him as he gains comfort race by race on the bike. It may not be perfectly suited for him. Torres is almost 6' and he appears to climb around the frame while putting the bike deftly through the turns.

In comparison, his teammate Markus Reiterberger is far more elegant on his RR but he just can't maintain the same pace. Reiterberger qualified 8th and still managed good points with a 13th place finish. Reiterberger is of similar size but is far more elegant as he carves turn after turn in a smooth clean fashion that's lovely to behold. However, perhaps it's better to be a bit ugly if it's got more pace.

Race 2 on Sunday had similar results on the podium, while the Torres and Reiterberger finished 7th and 12th respectively. Worth noting was the pace of Leon Camier, alone on his MV Agusta team. The company is challenged but a new engine has brought much more speed for Leon and he finshed 6th and 5th between the two races. If MV cannot improve, his name could be mentioned for bigger rides, but he does turn 30 this year.

Two big moments worth viewing. A major save for Johnny Rea shows that you should never give up on that throttle!

And also a great demonstration of form from Chaz Davies, as he positions himself for an upcoming left hander, while still over and completing a right hander. It's not easy to fight your body over that way.

Rossi won the pole on Saturday, although there was some mild controversy as Lorenzo complained that Vale gained support from his future teammate Vinales, for a good draft to the top time. Lorenzo and Rossi have never been much of a team beyond sharing the same garage. I guess it won't be much worse for Dovi, whose teammate has taken him down twice this year. We'll see how he gets along with Jorge when he moves to Ducati.

On Sunday, Vinales got off to a terrible start and was swallowed by the pack by turn one. Meanwhile, Lorenzo stormed into the lead, albeit with Rossi close on his back tire. A few attempts were made to pass into turn one, after the long home stretch created the drafting opportunity, but late braking always sent Vale wide. Lorenzo is the metronome of the riders, rarely missing a line or a turning point, and always was able to grab back that front spot. 

The excitement for Rossi and his fans on his home track soon ended though, as his Yamaha gave up the ghost in a fashion similar to Ben Spies on his Yamaha at Indianapolis in 2012 (which I conveniently have a photo of).

After Rossi's demise, the action continued, as Marquez stepped in to challenge Lorenzo. 

He struggled with similar frustrating attempts as Rossi's until the final lap, where Marquez was able to be a bit more aggressive and make a pass stick. The two swapped positions four times on the final lap, with Marquez owning the front around the final turn, but Lorenzo's Yamaha had enough grunt to pass Marquez in a sprint for the finish line, and to beat him by a wheel. 

This has allowed others to overtake him when the lights go out in previous years, and it's more evident this season, when clutch rules were changed to make the initial launch more challenging, a rule modification I believe was intended on reeling in the dominant Hamilton.

Yesterday at the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton's slight hesitation cost him again. After taking the pole, Lewis was initially overtaken by his teammate and rival Nico Rosberg. However, Rosberg slipped into the wrong engine mode and Hamilton was ready to charge to the front after turn 3. Hamilton dove to the right to pass as turn 4 approached and Nico, perhaps full of Hubris, pushed far right to close the door on Hamilton. While Nico did have position at that point, the race line was to the far left and this move was only to block his one true rival. 

Hamilton was forced onto the grass inside the track, lost the car and spun back into Rosberg's Merc, which had begun to slow to make turn 4 from the inside. 

This amazing spectacle led to a very enjoyable race, where the Ferraris and Red Bulls sparred for the rest of the days. Max Verstappen because the youngest driver ever to win a F1 race, while Ferrari took the rest of the podium. What's more amazing is that Verstappen had been elevated to the Red Bull seat just this previous week, while the dubious Kyvat had been demoted to the Toro Rosso team. 

After a bizarre and dangerous crash during the warm up lap of race 1 on Saturday, the rest of the race went without much drama. Rea tried to put up a good challenge to the new dominant power of Chaz Davies on the Ducati. However the Northern Irish rider could not continue to battle with the Welshman, as his tires wore down later in the race and he did well to hold off his teammate, Tom Sykes, to hang on to second place.

Jordi Torres qualified 6th on his Althea S1000RR BMW and showed great pace throughout to finish 4th. I hope that soon he may challenge for a podium, without the need for rain or a dnf from the typical trio. It's really great to watch him as he gains comfort race by race on the bike. It may not be perfectly suited for him. Torres is almost 6' and he appears to climb around the frame while putting the bike deftly through the turns. In comparison, his teammate Markus Reiterberger is far more elegant on his RR but he just can't maintain the same pace. Reiterberger qualified 8th and still managed good points with a 13th place finish. 

Reiterberger is of similar size but is far more elegant as he carves turn after turn in a smooth clean fashion that's lovely to behold. However, perhaps it's better to be a bit ugly if it's got more pace.

Race 2 on Sunday had similar results on the podium, while the Torres and Reiterberger finished 7th and 12th respectively. Worth noting was the pace of Leon Camier, alone on his MV Agusta team. The company is challenged but a new engine has brought much more speed for Leon and he finshed 6th and 5th between the two races. If MV cannot improve, his name could be mentioned for bigger rides, but he does turn 30 this year.

Two big moments worth viewing.

A major save for Johnny Rea shows that you should never give up on that throttle!

And also a great demonstration of form from Chaz Davies, as he positions himself for an upcoming left hander, while still over and completing a right hander. It's not easy to fight your body over that way.

This past weekend in Sochi Russia, the Ferrari driver got rear ended by Kvyat entering turn 2 of the race and for good measure, it appears that he lined him up and finished him off with another rear ender before turn 3. It's certainly not clear that there was intention, but the consecutive hits against a driver who he's already at odd with raises the specter that he might be that reckless. 

Kyvat was given a 10 second stop and go penalty, while Vettel was unable to return. The incident kept both cars from the points. 

I may be saying this because I'm one of the millions that support Valentino Rossi, but also because at least in the initial laps, Jerez showed some awesome racing and challenges from the major parties, all which looked initially to be closely matched. 

Lorenzo took a few good stabs at Rossi, who led from the start at pole position. Marquez kept regular pressure on Lorenzo, who has a turn at Jerez dedicated to his name. Maverick Viñales lurked behind the lead group on his Suzuki, looking forward to his premier ride in 2017 where he'll be in the mix for the championship, and Dani Pedrosa lingered nearby, ready to pick up any pieces if the leaders faltered.

 However, Lorenzo soon faded. He had gambled on a softer tire compound, which should have given him superior pace early on but it deteriorated as the race wore on. He did hang in for a frustrated 2nd, almost 5 seconds ahead of Marquez who also left his best in the 1st half of the race.

 What's notable is that Rossi took the pole then ultimately went on to a dominating victory, after making the switch this week to a bike that included the winglets on the front end. Some of this decision may have come from the search for stability after crashing in a previous contest or just a better feel after trying both options earlier in the week in practice. Most impressive this week was the lack of trouble in the pack from front end slippage. Word had been that troubles with the Michelin tires would be reduced once the competition moved onto the European tracks and so far it looked good in Spain at Jerez. 

The big news to note, although it was the worst kept secret and about a week old at this point, is that Jorge Lorenzo has officially signed to ride with Ducati in 2017. While this information isn't fresh, the impact on other riders remains to be seen, as we start silly season unusually early this year. I'm looking for Maverick Vinales to join Rossi at Yamaha and finish no worse than third next year. 

Another impressive sight at Jerez was the attendance. This scenic area of Southern Spain brought in over 100,000 fans on Sunday and the image of the motorcycle parking lot was stunning.

This coming weekend has MotoAmerica and World Superbike on BeinTV, and a great way to have breakfast before a ride, F1 live from Russia on CNBC at 7:30am

His team has taken the penalty after opting to change out his gear box, which may have been damaged in an incident in turn 1 of the last race, in Bahrain.

That incident, in which Bottas in his Williams ride caught the inside of Hamilton's car, as Hamilton tried to close his line and the door on Bottas, caused Bottas a drive through penalty at the time. I thought it would have most likely been ruled a simple racing incident or that they would have applied fault to Hamilton

This week, F1 returns to the old rules for qualifying, THANK GOD.

A more subtle rule change that has received less attention is a tweak to the clutch applications at the start. While Hamilton may very well be the most talented driver out there, he has a history of being a bit stunted at the start line. This rule has directly impacted him and perhaps targeted him. He's been slower off the starts, seeing Ferrari (Vettel) blow past him in race one, and then Bottas trying the same from behind in Bahrain. 

Now will Hamilton starting no better than 6th with this penalty, he'll certainly have his work cut out for him on Sunday if he wants to keep pace with teammate Niko Rosberg, who has the lead in this year's championship points. 

Lorenzo lost his front end in practice. I couldn't confirm if he was forced onto the backup ride for the race, but his pace suggested that he was. 

Rossi lost his front end in an unremarkable corner and was forced to retire.

Most terribly, Dani Pedrossa lost control of his Honda and it careened into the side of Andrea Dovizioso just at the apex of a turn. Dovi seems to have escaped without serious injury in what could have been a terrible incident. 

These incidents, along with others this weekend, make me question if the Circuit of the Americas has a fit surface for racing at this level. Kevin Schwantz was a driving force in the creation of COTA as a track with motorcycles in mind, but it didn't offer much grip or lead to much action this weekend.

Marc Marquez got off to an early lead and wasn't challenged through the day, continuing to build on his gap through the end.

The event itself appears to be successful, bringing in over 130k attendees over the weekend. It may have received some boost from the cancellation of annual MotoGP event in Indianapolis. The IndyGP brought in about 75k for raceday on their last event. Meanwhile Dorna, the organization behind both MotoGP and WSBK, continue to host 4 races in Spain, some which bring in fewer than 30k in attendance. Dorna is bent on supporting Spanish events and Spanish riders. They see Europe as their focus today, and Asia as the future. North America is clearly an afterthought. 

First, there was a combination of changing weather conditions and a track that may have been unsafe for these bikes on typical tire compounds. Redding experienced catastrophic tire failure in practice but managed to keep the bike up.  This led Michelin to withdraw both softer compounds as options for the race and replace with a stiffer tire. Additionally, a series of contingencies were put in place, depending on the weather conditions, but race direction also imposed a mandatory pit stop midway through a shortened race, whereby the riders were required to change to their alternate bikes, which would have fresh rubber. 

This set the stage for the TALE OF TWO RACES.

Off the initial start, there was lots of bumping and riders led wide, which allowed initially the factory Ducatis to led a group that included also Valentino Rossi on the Yamaha M1, future champion Maverick Viñales on his Suzuki, Marc Marquez on Honda, followed closely by Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrossa, et al. 

While the Ducatis continued to show good pace, for the first 10 or so laps, Rossi and Marquez rose to clear lead, battling back and forth, while meanwhile reigning world champion Lorenzo lost the bike and crashed into a DNF.

Marquez narrowly led Rossi into the pits for the mandatory swap, which occurred without much drama. However, once back out on the track, Marquez had a clear advantage and built a commanding lead for the rest of the race. Rossi swapped onto his "B" bike which didn't have the pace of his primary ride and he struggled to keep in position for a podium. 

He fought hard with the Ducatis, after Vinales left contention in his own crash, and it appeared that Rossi would have to settle for 4th place until this happened:

On one of the final corners, Ianonne pushed for 2nd place, cutting underneath his teammate Andrea Dovizioso, but lost the bike in the process, taking them both onto their sides and into the gravel. Incredibly, Dovi was able to pick up and push his bike over the finish line for 13th place and a few important points. Ianonne would later be handed a grid penalty for the next race for his actions.

With the Ducatis removed, Rossi was able to claim 2nd place, while Dani Pedrossa came from way back off the lead to claim the final podium spot in third.

 There's not much time to relax for the MotoGP crews, as they travel now to the USA for the next race this coming Sunday in Austin TX! Follow me on Twitter for more thoughts and breaking news @BMWRennmotorrad 

This weekend is the trifecta. World Superbike in the medieval Spanish city of Aragon, F1 heads to Bahrain, and MotoGP heads to Argentina. That's 4 races in all if you're keeping count, as WSBK races twice. All competition has been good so far, with no forgone conclusions to be drawn. However, this week it's MotoGP for me that holds the most anticipation. Argentina was the location of the first of many clashes between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez in 2015. Marquez lost that battle, by crashing out after making contact with Rossi. The rivalry has only gained steam and  vitriol since then. 

I'll post some updates later in the week as the races approach. For now, I need to catch up on TWD, watch the frost reports, and hopefully grab at least one of the Mets starting pitchers. 

Hard to find time to ride myself, notice I haven't mentioned that. Riding to the auction may be as good as it gets for now. 

This is a very tough question to answer directly, but one expensive component was on display this weekend for MotoGP’s first race of 2016, under the lights in Qatar.

While the most sophisticated of the consumer bikes, for example the HP4, now feature technologies that alter dampening 10 times per second, the prototypes of MotoGP are where boundaries are challenged and technological development is pursued without any logical barrier of capital cost. MotoGP is where those technologies that eventually find their way to the World Superbike Championship and ultimately our own consumer garages are tried and tested. It was actually the failure of one of these bits that illustrate the rule. While we sometimes hear anecdotal excuses from a rider to explain their shortcomings in a race, blaming a breaking system or some other component, this weekend’s failure on Cal Crutchlow’s Honda ultimately has been blamed for his crash.

These prototype bikes are now carrying engine management technology that alters the bike’s engine output to the customized preferences of the rider, on each corner! What failed on the Honda though was the bike’s understanding of which corner is was entering. The simplest bit of this system would be to tack on a GPS reader, but that’s prohibited by rule. Instead, the bike’s CPU must keep track of its tire revolutions to guess at its current location, and thereby base its engine output for that particular curve. Apparently this failed Crutchlow and he fought inappropriate engine power for a series of laps before the bike finally crashed.

Really what this reinforces for me is that these are a couple dozen of the most skilled riders in motorcycling. They are all out there on the very edge of their abilities and the capabilities of their bikes. It can be a very subtle line between the perfect turn and low siding into a gravel trap.

Such nuance is perhaps what led reigning champion, Jorge Lorenzo to victory this weekend. His Yamaha has the installed winglets up front, to increase downforce, while Valentino Rossi’s does not. The choice to use these spoilers was their own. Also, they ran on different tires. Jorge says he gambled with the choice of the softer compound and since the tire held up, he maintained the quicker pace to victory.

I focus here on this technology aspect of racing, with little regard for the race itself because I think it illustrates the point of how close the competition is. Ultimately Rossi finished 4th, but only 2.387 seconds behind first after all those laps.

It wasn’t a race without excitement. The top three, Dovizioso (Ducati) in 2nd and Marquez (Honda) in 3rd, were pushing and challenging each other throughout. The second Ducati, ridden by Andrea Iannone may have had the best pace of them all, but he crashed out when crossing that fine line midway through the race, going beyond the edge of a perfect turn.

Those three factory teams should all be able to make legitimate stabs at first all season long, and we may even see a real challenge from Maverick Vinales if his Suzuki is up to the task. I believe Vinales will either challenge on that bike or find another ride in the next 2 years, as his talent is sufficient to be a world champion.

Lastly, Bradley Smith told reporters on Friday that this would surely be his last year on the Yamaha Tech 3 satellite team. At the age of 25, it’s thought that he’s aging out of a spot reserved to develop young riders. Well, late on Sunday Smith updated his story with the announcement that he’s signed to be on the new KTM for 2017. A bit early for silly season, no?

The MotoGP circus next appears on April 3rd, in Argentina. I’m pleased to have it broadcast in the USA on beinTV sports, which doesn’t seem interested in interrupting race coverage for a NASCAR press conference, as FOX Sports was known to do.

However, how we got there was not so simple. After a disappointing application of new qualifying rules left us with less excitement and anticipation on Saturday, Sunday's race started off with a brilliant start that shuffled the deck before turn one.

In addition to the (soon to be scrapped) new qualifying rules, F1 has also implemented new single clutch launch requirements to start the race. I believe this is a direct attempt to reel in Lewis Hamilton a bit, as his one known weakness is starting, and that's what the result bore out. Vettel launched to a very quick start off the line, passing both Mercs, and by turn one Rosberg went a bit wide, further holding up teammate Hamilton, which allowed Raikkonen to come through to second in his own Ferrari.

Hamilton was swamped by the competition and got caught towards the back of the top ten, requiring him to fight his way forward, allowing Rosberg chasing the two Ferraris, led by Vettel who developed a huge margin over any other car.

Then deus ex machina took hold.

First, this spectacular crash, as Alonzo ran his McLaren into the back wheel of Gutierrez's Haas car, sending the McLaren flying into a horrific pile and leading to a red flag, which temporarily halted the race.

This allowed Hamilton to take advantage of a tire swap without the cost of a normal pit. This was followed later under green flag with Vettel making a full stop that cost an additional three seconds due to a very atypical error by the crew.

Vettel was able to push in the end to challenge Hamilton for that 2nd spot, but his tires had clearly lost this full grip at that point, he fought to keep the car on the track, and he settled for third.

What we seemed to learn this weekend was that Mercedes is still very dominant, Ferraris may be a close second and could challenge this season, and the new American endeavor Haas F1 is not your typical rookie team. Gutierrez was doing well before the accident, and the Frenchman, Romain Grosjean, brought the #1 Haas car in for 6th place and 8 points. Points in F1 equal dollars for the next season, and to score in their first race out was a huge victory for Haas.

Rd 2 of the F1 season is April 3rd from Bahrain.

 Under the old system, anyone on the track for a session when the checkered flag waved could finish that lap. If their previous best time had them on the bubble for elimination, there would be great excitement to see if that very last lap would be enough to keep them alive.

The new system is a disaster for fans and a disappointment for drivers. To simply explain what's happened, each session starts eliminating drivers, one at a time in 90 second intervals. However, if you're at the back and put onto that 90 second clock, you better already be on a flying lap. If the clock expires before you reach start/finish then your lap will not count.

 For the first application, at this weekend's race in Australia, many cars were eliminated while idled in the garage, their teams knowing they couldn't position in time for one last go at it. The anticipation and excitement lost. Fir many cars that had seemed capable of moving up the ranks, qualifying ended without that chance. 

 F1 has found a way to lose Saturday.

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The best slide deck presentation ever. 

One last distraction before it gets real in here: http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.com/god-gave-us-ireland-so-we-could-have-irish-road-racing-1765484113

Why isn't Irish Road Racing broadcast in the US? Love it! MAVtv actually shows some, but 6 months after the races are run, so it's lost some luster

More detals on Crash.net and the IOMTT's own site.

Long live the king. Not just a sign acknowledging the beloved Thai monarch which looms over the Chang racetrack but also a message reflecting the results of race 1 in this weekend’s World Superbike Championship. Jonathan Rea was able to pass and hold off further threats from teammate Tom Sykes to take the checked flag, defending his championship title and claiming the first three races of the year.

Both races this past weekend occurred with air temperatures over 90 degrees and track temps over 100. Still, the Championship’s first visit to Chang we well attended and continued to show that the 2016 season will be competitive, if not clearly led by the Kawasaki team.

As expected, Sykes was able to put his customary struggles in Australia behind him and both Kawasakis had the best pace.

Michael van der Mark filled out the podium in third aboard his factory Honda, while his teammate, American Nicky Hayden retired due to technical issues.

BMWs showed the ability to keep gathering points, if not yet truly ready to compete in the front group. They were led this weekend by Markus Reiterberger. Reiterberger finished 5^th in race one, well ahead of his teammate Jordi Torres, who finished 8^th.

Josh Brookes nibbled a single point in race one, finishing 15^th after struggling with brake issues. Meanwhile. Brookes’ teammate, Karel Abraham was carrying enough pace for a top 10 finish, until he crashed out on the final lap!

Race 2 was a gem of a race. An ongoing battle between both Kawasakis, frequently swapping 1^st and 2^nd, allowed Chaz Davies to stay close on his Ducati. While the green bikes from Japan continue to show they’re the strongest machines at the moment, Davies often ran flawless laps and the sparring at the front cut back on their pace enough to keep him in true contention for the win.

Ultimately, it was Tom Sykes who held on for the win. Many of the passing attempts by Rea were thrilling, but they would carry too much speed into the ensuing apex to complete the turns and hold the spot, allowing Sykes to reclaim the lead.

Davies did fill out the podium in third, finishing only 0.314 seconds behind Tom Sykes.

Nicky Hayden overcame Saturday’s technical flaws to claim 5^th, but he still seemed troubled by some of the bikes mechanics. Perhaps that’s a sign that he has more to give later in the season.

For BMW, again it was Reiterberger coming out on top in 7^th place, ahead of his teammate Torres, who was 0.023 seconds behind in 8^th. Karel Abraham did still afloat this time, grabbing a single point in 15^th place, while his teammate atop the Milwaukee BMW failed to score in 16^th place.

World Superbike and the 4 BMWs go back at it on April 2^nd in the picturesque medieval town of Aragon, Spain. Meanwhile, the premier leagues for both Auto and Motorcycle racing kick off this coming weekend with the boys of F1 racing in Melbourne Australia and we reignite the nasty rivalry between the master Valentino Rossi and the young champion Marc Marquez, this Sunday when MotoGP kicks of their 2016 season under the lights in Qatar.

Why isn't this show available in the USA?

https://motorlands.eu/2016/03/11/f1-season-starts-one-off-programme-guy-martin-coulthard/

I look forward to the results, however I expect the Red Bull to beat the S1000RR on every measure except perhaps personality. Anytime you get the opportunity to see Guy Martin interviewed, take advantage. It's a special treat!

Last year was the Championship's first visit to the circuit and Jonathan Rea finished the weekend with two wins. I'd expect that's a likely repeat this year on the Kawasaki. Chaz Davies will seek to challenge again of course, but his Ducati may not perform as well here as it did in Australia as the heat can be a problem for the Italian bike and the circuit doesn't seem to suit the Welsh rider. Tom Sykes may provide the best challenge on his own Kawa. Historically Sykes doesn't show well in Australia but then his true colors show in the following matches. 

Last year's races also had strong showings from the now defunct Aprilia team. Leon Haslam took 2nd in both races but he's competing in British Superbike this year. His teammate the Spanish Elvis Jordi Torres took 4th in both races, and he may show some real life this weekend. A top 5 finish in either race would be a great sign that BMW can truly compete in the 2016 season. 

While US tv coverage is still TBD at this point and not listed on http://tvracer.com/, I would expect that beIN Sports will again show both races live. Note that for the Australian races, beIN had race 1 listed on the guide as too be announced but showed the Sunday listing for race 2 accurately.

Baring an major developments before then, I'll recap these race's results on Monday and then we can look forward to the double extravaganza next weekend, the start of both MotoGP and F1!

There has been some progress, and 2016 will introduce the new Haas racing F1 team I expect Haas will be a legitimate force, if not actual contenders for the podium. Backed by deep corporate pockets, seeking to expand their own brand globally, and with solid racing knowhow from their domestic efforts as well as a Ferrari engine, Haas should have a steep learning curve. However, they elected to go with known quantities in the driver’s seats and not an American behind the wheel.

In a sport where the highest team budgets can go beyond $500 million annually, staying solvent is always part of the equation in F1. Some teams have failed recently, and left their staffs unpaid and gear sent to auction. In this age, it’s sometimes not the best choice for winning that is selected, but that which will keep you afloat. It can be more practical for a team to develop a car than can secure points but not truly compete for the front, giving them a decent piece of the financial purse. A realistic effort and budget can gather lucrative points in the middle of the pack, making a team profitable, rather than overspending with the hopes of an occasional podium, where the results wouldn’t cover the financial costs. It can also be better to select a driver who brings along cash, rather than one who may be faster but needs to get paid.

Recently this played out on the newly badged Renault team, when they decided to release tenured driver, the Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado from his contract. Maldonado had been a bit wild in recent seasons, with some spectacular wrecks and many dnfs (hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com) but he had always brought along millions from the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA. Likely due to the massive drop in oil prices, PDVSA had been recently slow in delivering their pledged payments and Renault cut Maldonado loose.

These types of motivators have had an impact on the lack of American presence on the grid. Manor is the lowest budgeted F1 team and emerged with new principal ownership from bankruptcy just a year ago. Last season they granted American and paddock favorite Alexander Rossi 5 starts behind the wheel. Rossi did well and outperformed his senior teammate on the track. However, once again finances prioritized decisions and when it had been hoped that the Californian would have a regular seat for the Manor team this year; they opted instead to bring in the first ever Indonesian driver in F1, Rio Haryanto. Indonesia is a large and important growing market for motorsports, and it’s understood that with Haryanto, Manor was securing $20 million in additional funding from the state owned natural gas company, and additional Indonesian sponsors are expected. Alexander has been hired in the Indy racing series for 2016 by the Andretti racing team.

Rio Haryanto of Manor Racing

So, while I remain passionate about the drama and action of Formula 1, it’s hard to make the case for Americans to come along at this point. We have one race currently scheduled in the USA, in Austin, along with additional races held in Montreal and Mexico City. While Montreal is considered a fan and driver favorite, the race in Austin is struggling for its life. Attendance started strong a few years ago but has trailed off, and state funding has been withdrawn, threatening the future of the event.

Welcome to RennMotorrad (@BMWRennmotorrad), a blog where I’ll discuss BMW Motorrad racing, primarily in World Superbike, while also using license to discuss events in MotoGP, F1, and other areas of the racing world.

While still not getting full support on any factory team, the BMW S1000RR is positioned for better results in 2016, with 2 notable albeit non-factory teams switching from other brands to the BMW platform and bringing along larger budgets and more prominent riders.

The Milwaukee Tools sponsored team will receive some factory support from BMW and carries aboard legitimate firepower in Josh Brookes, who previously won the championship in British Superbikes, as well as Karel Abraham. Abraham is a rider from the Czech Republic who has raced the past 5 years in MotoGP. His family owns the circuit in Brno, but unfortunately that’s not on the calendar for 2016.

Althea is not only a Grateful Dead song but our other team representing BMW in the Championship. They too will receive some factory support to their base in Rome. While their riders may be lesser known, it’s notable that they have Jordi Torres, aka the Spanish Elvis, on board. Jordi showed great progress last season on the now defunct Aprilia factory team and I think he’ll be the one of the four BMWs to challenge for some podiums this year.

A quick mention of a change in WSBK this season. WSBK has always run two races per event. However this season they’ve moved race 1 to Saturday afternoon, after riders finish qualifying in the morning. Happily, both races are shown live in the USA on beIN sports. The station is focused on international sports. While it may not have as many subscribers, their style of coverage is far superior to Fox Sports, who frequently stumbles in their coverage of MotoGP. While Fox may interrupt a MotoGP live race in favor of a NASCAR post-race press conference, beIN shows the full race with limited interruptions. Hopefully MotoGP will move over to beIN or join F1 at NBC Sports after this contract.

The season began this past weekend at Phillip Island, a popular tourist destination for Australians, which is about 2 hours south of Melbourne.

By David Pettit - Wikipedia:Contact us/Photo submission, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5127072

Worth watching this year is Nicky Hayden (!) who comes to WSBK after a long successful career in MotoGP racing. Nicky is back aboard a familiar and competitive Honda, which he managed to a 9th place finish race 1. The American fought near the front for much of the race, but rear tire degradation late in the match saw him drop a few spots.

Also worth watching this year is British rider and fellow bulldog owner, Leon Camier. Camier is alone representing a much improved MV Augusta team, and I have possibly unrealistic hopes that this brand can return to form. It had been a premier racing badge in much of the 20th century.

Torres was the best performing BMW in race 1, finishing 8th. He was followed by Brookes in 10th,  Abraham 13th, and Torres’ teammate Reiterberger out of the points in 20th. To the uninitiated this may seem uninspired, but for three of the four to finish in the points is actually a fine achievement. It speaks to the stock performance of the bike and the grit of the riders. They’re aboard a bike which is not very different from the S1000RRs we’re seeing at dealerships. To compete successfully with the big budget factory modified teams is no easy task.

Race 2 on Sunday was not dissimilar. Ultimately Rea held off a strong challenge from Hayden’s teammate on the Honda, Michael van der Mark and took the flag for the double. Nicky came close to his first podium but was ultimately passed on the final lap by the Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli aboard his Yamaha R1.

Torres finished 7th, essentially leading the second pack of riders. He was closely followed by his own teammate, Markus Reiterberger in 8th. Brookes took 9^th, while Abraham bookended Chaz Davies by taking 11th. Davies had been in close contention with Rea, swapping 1st place at times, but late in the race he lost the back end and slid off the track. He managed to pick up his Ducati and scramble to stay in the top 10.

Next race weekend is March 13th, when the WSBK Championship moves on to Thailand. The following weekend is a highlight of my year, when both MotoGP and Formula 1 kick off their seasons, in Qatar under the lights and Melbourne Australia respectively.

A fantastic resource to easily discover when these and other race circuits are locally broadcast, can be found at tvracer.com.

I will be also tweeting and sharing related materials on Twitter. Please follow along @BMWRennmotorrad.