News

WorldSBK.com provides a quick round-up of the facts and figures from the fifth eni Superbike World Championship round at the Donington Park circuit in the UK.

QUALIFYING
• Sixth career pole position for Tom Sykes, who equalled John Kocinski and Cal Crutchlow in the sixteenth all-time spot. It's the 25th pole for Kawasaki, which hadn't recorded four in a single season since 1994. Tom once again didn't manage to turn poles into wins: he has never won from the pole spot;
• After exactly one year Leon Haslam managed to qualify second again, scoring his thirteenth front row start. Melandri was alongside him: for the first time in BMW history two bikes were present on the front row;
• 30th front row start for Max Biaggi;
• For the first time in history a Ducati was not present on the front row in Donington;
• Worst grid spot since Monza 2011 for Carlos Checa (ninth);

RACES
• BMW became the eighth manufacturer in Superbike history to win a race, with Melandri's victory in race one. Melandri had also given BMW their best result (second) in the opening race in Phillip Island. BMW is the first new manufacturer to post a win since Aprilia, back in 2000, in Phillip Island. With a second place for Haslam, BMW scored their first double: all the manufacturers to win in Superbike have posted at least one double in their history, Ducati leads the way with 85;
• Marco Melandri scored his fifth win, in the same track where he posted his maiden one last year. The accident in race two put an end to a streak of 22 races in the points (since Aragon 2011);
• 27th career podium in race one for Leon Haslam: he equalled Rob Phillis at the 22nd all-time place. In race two Leon missed out on a possible win: two years ago he scored his last one, in Kyalami, 2010 (16th May) ;
• Double podium for Tom Sykes: amazing performances for him recently. Six of his eight career podiums have come since the start of this season and Kawasaki wasn't able to finish on the podium in both races in Donington since 1996 (Anthony Gobert and Simon Crafar in race one, Gobert in race two);
• Jonathan Rea is the 23rd rider in history to clinch the milestone of ten wins, with his success in race two. He equals Fabrizio Pirovano and Chris Vermeulen;
• Thanks to Rea's win, Great Britain equalled Australia and United States at the top of the all-time chart: these three countries have won 118 races each, more than half of the run of 599;
• For the second time in history after 2007, Ducati wasn't able to climb on the podium in one of the two races run in Donington;
• Best career result for Chaz Davies, seventh in race two, for the first time inside the top-10;
• Four straight races without podiums for Carlos Checa: it didn't happen since 2010 (Misano race two-Silverstone race two, for a total of five);
• Ayrton Badovini, sixth in race two, scored his best result since last July, when he twice finished in the same spot in Brno;
• Fourth place for Leon Camier in race two is the best result for Suzuki since Brno last year, when Michel Fabrizio was fourth twice;
• Loris Baz, Superstock 600 champion in 2008, scored his maiden points and first finish inside the top-10 on his debut weekend;
• In the Supersport class, Sam Lowes won his maiden race at 21 years and 7 months: he is seventh in the age chart, led by Yoann Tibertio (19 years and 5 months in Monza, 2006).

Compiled by Michele Merlino