World Superbike returns to Misano
The Italian venue will host the seventh round of the season
After a one year absence, the eni FIM Superbike World Championship returns to the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, for the seventh round of the 2014 season.
Of all the riders involved in the championship, only Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) has won at Misano before in the Superbike class. The British rider edged out Michel Fabrizio in race two at the finish line to claim his maiden victory in the series in 2009.
Despite a difficult performance at Sepang a fortnight’s ago, Rea is still third in the standings and only 22 points shy of championship leader Sykes. Like 2nd place Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), who is just 13 points from the top, Rea took the most out of the reigning champion’s DNF in the first encounter to limit the damage and maintain a strong position in the title race.
On the other hand Guintoli did not manage to fully capitalise from Sykes’ unlucky crash in race one, as his teammate Marco Melandri twice edged him out to secure a crucial double win. The Italian rider finally made it to the top step of the podium as a factory Aprilia rider, narrowing the gap to the top from 88 to 54 points.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) has never been in the top 3 at Misano, despite being the pole-sitter in the last editions.
Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) had one of the best races of his WSBK career at Misano in 2012, as he led the first outing for five laps before being overtaken by race winner Biaggi and second place Checa, eventually finishing third.
Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) is looking forward to the second Italian round of the season, after returning to the podium for the first time since the season opener at Sepang. Laverty is no stranger to winning at Misano however, having won in WSS in 2010.
Team Hero EBR secured their best result of the season last time out, Aaron Yates narrowly missing the team’s first championship point with 16th in the opening Malaysian race.
BMW had a second rider in the points in Malaysia as Hungarian Imre Toth scored both his and Team Toth’s maiden WSBK points in their debut season.
