Mid-term report: World Superbike
At the halfway point of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship the stats so far show that it has been one of the most even-handed championship battles ever. A nice way to celebrate 25 years of SBK racing in general, is it not?
With the unavoidable cancellation of one race at the rain-affected Monza round of the championship there have been 13 races so far, not quite the 14 there should have been. In virtually every race, however, there have been multiple possible winners. Within those 13 races there have been six different race victors, from six different teams, representing five different competing manufacturers.
The race winner count so far runs to Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) with four, Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) three, Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) and Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) on two apiece, plus Sylvain Guintoli (team Effenbert Liberty Racing) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) one apiece. The race win total per manufacturer lines up as Ducati five, Aprilia three, Honda two, BMW two and Kawasaki one. All of the five race-winning manufacturers had taken a win by only the eighth race of the year; when Marco Melandri scored BMW's first ever SBK victory, in race one at Donington.
Podium finishers spread the net even wider, as three more riders join the previous list of race winners. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) has five 2012 season podium scores, Eugene Laverty has two for Aprilia Racing, with class rookie Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati) also on two. There have been a total of 11 podiums for Ducati riders.
In terms of Tissot-Superpole pole positions Tom Sykes has often proved unbeatable, scoring five from seven, with only Guintoli and Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) able to oust the English rider and his Japanese in-line four machine from the top spot pre-races. Sykes is now one of the most successful Superpole competitors in SBK history, with seven in his relatively short career in this class.
In the overall battle for supremacy a strong mix of speed and consistency have taken Max Biaggi to a 38.5 point lead over Jonathan Rea, thanks to a total of 210.5, but seven riders have amassed over 100 points already.
With settled rules making for an even playing field in terms of relative performance, and a vast array of potential race-winning talent in place once more heading towards the final round at Magny-Cours in October, the expectation is that more and more riders will add their names towards the sharp end of the statisticians' pencils before the season round-up stories are written.
