World Superbike

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) won Race 2 at Jerez in a similar fashion to his victory on Saturday, while also taking out the overall Pirelli Best Lap Award. The Welshman won his fourth double of the season in southern Spain with almost six seconds separating him from fellow podium finishers and Kawasaki Racing Team duo Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes.

Davies had an incredible start storming straight through to fourth by the first corner, but it was Sykes who led with Rea close behind in second. By the end of the first lap, the Ducati rider had already shot to the front and began to build his lead.

The Kawasakis then battled it out for the remainder of the race together, with Rea trying to hunt down his second World Title. The lead swapped and changed between the Championship contenders but the reigning World Champion couldn’t shake off Sykes to take the crown, which he stll leads by 48 points.

By the end of the race, fourth-placed Nicky Hayden (Honda World Superbike Team) had caught up to the KRT duo to fight it out for the podium, but he narrowly missed out as Sykes took third behind his teammate Rea in second. As a result, the 2016 Championship could not be won at the Gaerne Spanish Round and the Northern Irishman will need to wait until the last round at Qatar to be crowned Champion.

Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) had a solid ride in Race 2, improving from Saturday to come home in fifth ahead of Honda World Superbike Team’s Michael van der Mark in sixth, who celebrated his 50th WorldSBK race start.

Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) finished in seventh ahead of Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) who was the first Spaniard home in eighth. Torres battled with fellow Spaniard Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) earlier on in the race to break into the top ten. Unfortunately for Fores, his race ended early after technical issues forced him to retire.

Anthony West (Pedercini Racing) ended Sunday in ninth while Lorenzo Savadori (Ioda Racing Team) rounded out the top ten. Roman Ramos (Team GOELEVEN) came home in P11 with Josh Brookes (Milwaukee BMW) crossing the line in P12. Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) finished in P13, which was a solid effort considering he struggled with his recovering shoulder throughout the weekend. Althea BMW Racing Team’s Markus Reiterberger finished in P14 with Gianluca Vizziello (Grillini Racing Team) picking up a point in P15.

The 2016 MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship will now be decided in the final round of the season at Qatar on the 28th to the 30th of October and it’s Jonathan Rea who leads the way.

 

World Supersport

Kenan Sofuoglu won the race at Jerez and was crowned the 2016 FIM Supersport World Champion just five laps in on Sunday at Jerez, after his Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Teammate Randy Krummenacher crashed out of contention for the title. Incredibly it is the first time a WorldSSP rider has won back-to-back titles since Sébastien Charpentier did it in 2005 and 2006. Sofuoglu is also now the only rider in history to win the WorldSSP Championship five times.

The Turkish rider defended the tough challenge by Kallio Racing Team’s Niki Tuuli and CIA Landlord Insurance Honda’s Kyle Smith, who tried everything they could to beat the Kawasaki Rider at his own game. But experience won out and they weren’t able to match his incredible pace. Tuuli finished second, Smith came home in third and Honda World Supersport Racing Team’s PJ Jacobsen finished in fourth after catching the podium finishers in the final laps.

Sofuoglu had the holeshot and led from the first corner, focussed only on winning his fifth title. Krummenacher who was running in second, attacked at every opportunity to get in front of Sofuoglu. The first few laps saw the lead switch between the two Kawasakis before Krummenacher became undone at turn 1 and slid out on lap five. He wasn’t able to continue and officially retired from the race on lap 9, with Sofuoglu automatically being declared Champion of WorldSSP for his second consecutive time.

Further down the order FIM Europe Supersport Cup leader Axel Bassani (San Carlo Team Italia) had a good start and was fighting for sixth position with Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Ayrton Badovini (GEMAR Balloons – Team Lorini). The young Italian was able to hold off his Supersport challengers and was able to finish in fifth, after Federico Caricasulo (BARDHAL Evan Bros. Honda Racing) crashed out in the final laps. By being the first ESS rider home, Bassani won the FIM Europe Supersport Cup.

Cluzel finished in sixth ahead of second-placed ESS rider Illia Mykhalchyk (DS Junior Team), with Badovini coming home in eighth. Christoffer Bergman (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) finished in ninth with Lorenzo Zannetti (GRT Racing) rounding out the top ten.

Third-placed ESS rider to finish was Alessandro Zaccone (San Carlo Team Italia) who placed 11th in the race overall, ahead of Xavier Pinsach (GEMAR Balloons –Team Lorini) in 12th. Hikari Okubo (CIA Landlord insurance Honda) finished in P13 with Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing) in 14th and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) picking up a point in P15.

Thanks to Sofuoglu’s win, Kawasaki were named Manufacturers’ Champions of the WorldSSP category, joining their WorldSBK counterparts who won the Award on Saturday at Jerez.

Though the Championship has been decided, WorldSSP isn’t over just yet. The field now heads to Qatar for the final round of the 2016 season on the 28th to 30th of October.

 

Superstock 1000

The season finale of the STK1000 Cup was already set to be a thriller with the season’s protagonists fighting a close battle all year. Raffaele De Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) gave a solid performance in Sunday’s race to finish in the top five to be crowned the winner of the 2016 FIM Superstock 1000 Cup.

Drama struck early on Sunday when Cup leader Leandro Mercado (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team) broke down on the sighting lap. His team couldn’t get his Ducati restarted so the Argentinean was forced to watch from the sidelines.

The start of the race saw Roberto Tamburini (Nuova M2 Racing) lead into the first corner, while De Rosa got caught up with other riders in turn 2. Before long, Maximilian Scheib (GRAPHBIKES Easyrace SBK Team) shot to the front and didn’t stop until he crossed the finish line. Lucas Mahias (PATA Yamaha Official Stock Team) was the only rider to challenge the Chilean and a close battle ensued in the final lap of the race. Mahias stole the lead into the last corner before Scheib found drive coming out to just beat the Frenchman over the line.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) gave another solid performance to finish third ahead of early leader Roberto Tamburini who finished fourth. PATA Yamaha Official Stock Team’s Riccardo Russo finished in sixth ahead of seventh-placed Marco Faccani (Triple-M Racing). Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team) came home in eighth ahead of Kevin Calia (Nuova M2 Racing) in ninth, while his teammate Alessandro Nocco rounded out the top ten.

Andrea Mantovani (Guandalini Racing Team) crossed the line in P11 with Fabio Massei (Team Trasimeno) behind in P12. Wayne Tessels (MTM / HS Kawasaki) ended Sunday in P13, while Federico D’Annunzio (FDA Racing Team) finished in P14 and Danny Buchan (Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) picked up the last point in P15.

Though De Rosa won the 2016 FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, it wasn’t enough for BMW to take out the Manufacturers’ Award for the category. A great effort all year by the Ducati riders ensured the Italian manufacturer won the title.

 

Source: WorldSBK