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#UKWorldSBK: Sunday Guide

Saturday, 28 May 2016 18:39 GMT

Everything you need to know about Saturday’s fastest men ahead of Race 2 at Donington Park

Tissot-Superpole – Tom Sykes (Race 1: Winner)

The 35th career pole for Tom Sykes, his fourth in Donington, to equal WorldSBK legend Carl Fogarty as the rider with most poles at this track.

In Race 1 Sykes won his seventh straight race at Donington: he is only the second rider in history who has won 7 straight times at a given track and in Race 2 he can equal the all-time record of 8 straight - recorded only by Carl Fogarty in Assen, when he was the sole winner from 1993 to 1996.

In Race 2 Tom can also equal Carl Fogarty per podium finishes at Donington: this was his tenth at the British track, while Carl counts 11. Only Troy Corser had more (13).

Sykes can achieve another amazing record in Race 2: 10 straight podiums on the same track, recorded for the last time by Colin Edwards in Monza in the races from 1998 to 2002. The all-time record belongs to Fogarty, with 15 straight podiums at Assen from 1992 Race 2 to 1999 Race 2.

The 248 points scored so far by Sykes at Donington is the second-best value among the current riders: only Jonathan Rea has done better at Assen (310). It’s worth remembering that with his Donington points alone, Tom Sykes would place at the 80th all-time spot for most points scored in WorldSBK history.

2nd – Chaz Davies (Race 1: DNF)

For the first time in his career Chaz Davies qualified on the front row at Donington, but his crash in Race 1 was indeed a rare sight, as for the first time he didn’t score points here and also put an end to a 28-race string of races in the points, started exactly one year ago in the first Donington Race.

3rd – Lorenzo Savadori (Race 1: 6th)

First front row appearance for Lorenzo Savadori, at his seventh weekend in the series: he hadn’t qualified on the front row since his pole at Misano last year in the STK1000 Cup.

4th – Jonathan Rea (Race 1: 3rd)

In Race 1 Jonathan Rea extended his string of podium finishes to 13, only one shy of the fourth all-time sequence (Carl Fogarty: Phillip Island 1994/1 – Salzburgring 1995/2). This was the fourth Donington podium for Rea.

If Rea wins Race 2, he will score his 20th win for Kawasaki, in 40 races for the Japanese manufacturer.

5th – Davide Giugliano (race 1: 2nd)

An important podium for Davide Giugliano in Race 1:
- for the first time in his career he scored back-to-back podiums (he was second in Sepang Race 2);
- this was his third podium in 2016, already equalling his best season, 2015, when he was on the podium in Imola/1, Algarve/2 and Misano/2;
- this was his first podium at Donington, in his ninth race here;
- the 820th podium placement for Ducati in WorldSBK history;

For the eighth time in his career Davide finished second, his best result so far.

Other notes

  • Best career result for Karel Abraham in Race 1: ninth.
  • In all his three races run in Donington, Jordi Torres has always finished seventh.
  • In Race 1 Nicky Hayden recorded the best result for Honda at this track (5th) since Jonathan Rea finished fourth in 2013, Race 2.
  • Kawasaki’s performance level at Donington remains high: they have won the last 7 races here and placed two bikes on the podium in the last five. The last Donington race without a Kawasaki rider on the podium was back in 2011.