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Three days ago at Jerez de la Frontera Michael van der Mark, at 21 years of age, became the 2014 FIM Supersport World Championship. The Pata Honda rider claimed his fifth win out of nine races, a result he did not necessarily need to clinch the title but one that further proved his dominating performance in the season. The race was far from easy for the Duthcman, who had some fierce competition to defeat without, at the same time, making any bike mistake. “The race was really intense” said van der Mark. I had a really good start but I messed it up at the first corner so I had to work my way up again. I knew I had the pace to run at the front but the guys were racing so hard and I was doing the same. For me it was also hard because I wanted to win but the other guys were really strong, especially Florian and Jules. Jules went over the limit a few times so I was waiting for him to make a mistake.

Apart from the season opener at Phillip Island, van der Mark’s season has been simply perfect: “It has been an amazing season so far, we only had one DNF in Australia and in the other race either I won or finished second. That’s really a dream come true. Everywhere we went we were fast, everything we did worked out. We managed to win again at the Suzuka 8 Hour, which is incredible. The bike was perfect and I improved a lot compared to last year. We made almost no mistakes and that shows how good the team is and how good I’ve been. I couldn’t have done all this by myself, we all worked together and I’m so thankful to all of them.”

Despite not having sealed any agreement for the following season yet, van der Mark gave WorldSBK.com a hint on where he might be racing next year. “I had a great feeling with the big bike” he added, “I showed at Suzuka I can be fast on a 1000cc. Nothing is really done at the moment but my heart is with Honda, they helped me a lot: I got 2 Suzuka 8 hour titles and a WSS Championship win with them. There is a great chance I will be with them in World Superbike next year.”