News

Fifty years ago, plans were initially put into action for racing at Misano Adriatico. From the outset there was support. Sitting a stone’s throw from the Adriatic Coast there are few circuits with the natural advantages of a beach resort in the Italian summer. A near guarantee of blue skies and soaring temperatures make this a must visit destination.

After the gestation period Misano was officially opened in 1972. It was one of a new breed of modern circuits. One of the first Italian venues with an eye to safety and facilities rather than built along the contours and features of the natural land. Initially Misano was built to host car races and it took 15 years for MotoGP to finally make the trek along the coast.

With MotoGP established at the track in 1991 WorldSBK made its debut. Since then only Phillip Island and Assen have hosted more races in the championship, with circuit modifications in 1992 prompting the first of only two, year-long breaks. Those changes were to extend the circuit to meet FIM standards and since then there has been some additional modifications including changing the direction of the circuit.

Heading into Round 7 of the 2019 WorldSBK season the question being asked is whether or not we’ve seen a change in the direction of the series. After taking his first win of 2019 Michael van der Mark will certainly feel that change is in the air. The Dutchman will arrive at Misano feeling confident. Yamaha, along with most leading teams, tested recently at Misano so they will be confident of hitting the ground running from Free Practice 1 on Friday.

Momentum is key in motorcycle racing and van der Mark has it on his side. It wasn’t just his Jerez win that will give him that feeling though. Strong from the opening practice session and finishing on the podium in all three races he earned his win. Alvaro Bautista might have crashed out of Race 2 in Spain and left a void to be filled but the 26-year-old Yamaha rider showed his maturity and consistency to step up to the plate and walk away with 25 points. It was a great weekend and one that could easily be repeated at Misano because this is a track that van der Mark has always been strong at.

It was actually at the Misano test that the first real cracks started to appear for Bautista. A fast crash left his Ducati badly damaged and having been nursing a back injury the Spaniard suddenly looked less comfortable with his Panigale V4R. Jerez showed that Bautista is still the favourite for every race that he lines up at but his mistake in Race 2 has, at last, asked questions about him and the bike. It will be very interesting this weekend to see what he can do.

In the aftermath of his Jerez crash Bautista was keen to immediately stress the positives; he had only ceded two points over the weekend to his closest title rival Jonathan Rea. This weekend Rea really needs to start to close that gap from 41 points because the series is now at the halfway point of the campaign. Turn 9 at Misano is called Tramonto which translated from Italian means sunset and if Rea can’t beat Bautista this weekend the sun will definitely be setting on his title hopes. This is a massive weekend for the four-time world champion and we saw in Jerez how hard he was having to push to have a chance of clawing his way back into that title fight. Rea has enjoyed double wins at Misano on two occasions, including last year, and he’ll need to add to his six wins this weekend.

Over the last ten years Ducati has only won three times on home soil. The most recent, Marco Melandri in 2017 was also Italy’s 100th win in WorldSBK, and while Bautista looks almost certain to add his name to that list don’t rule out wild-card Michele Pirro having a strong weekend. The Italian opened his title defence of the Italian CIV Superbike series with a double win at Misano and he’s undefeated on his Panigale V4R this year. Far more familiar with the MotoGP paddock than WorldSBK he’s out to try and claim his first career podium this weekend.