Falls report: who crashed the most in WorldSBK in 2021?
The stats are revealed about the rider who crashed the most in 2021, as well as the round, circuit and corner with the most falls…
The 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign was an incredible spectacle but it also provided plenty of spills throughout the season with numerous crashes and falls in the 13-round season. The annual falls report has been published for WorldSBK, WorldSSP and WorldSSP300 which provides interesting data about who crashed the most, and the corner that featured the most crashes.
In total across the season and all three classes, plus the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup, there were 632 falls with 159 in WorldSBK, 197 in WorldSSP and 220 in WorldSSP300. 56 falls included in the total come from the Yamaha R3 European Cup. In WorldSBK, there were an average of 12 falls across the 13 rounds, an average of 16 across 12 rounds in WorldSSP and an average of 28 across WorldSSP300’s eight rounds. The average number of falls in WorldSSP300 decreased from 34 per round in 2020 and 31 in 2019, while in WorldSBK it decreased from 14 per round to 12 between 2020 and 2021. For WorldSSP, the average increased slightly as it went from 15 falls per round to 16 this year.
Alvaro Bautista was the rider from WorldSBK who fell the most in the 2021 season when riding for Team HRC, crashing 12 times in 13 rounds, with Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) crashing 11 times despite missing numerous rounds in the second half of the season through injury. GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team teammates Garrett Gerloff and Kohta Nozane both recorded ten falls in 2021. Isaac Viñales recorded the fewest falls in 2021 with just one across the season, while in the title fight it was Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) with fewer falls than his title rivals, with three while Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) had six.
It was Niki Tuuli who crashed the most out of the three classes with 13 crashes; meaning the Finnish rider was also the rider with the most crashes in WorldSSP. Raffaele De Rosa, like Bautista, crashed 12 times with Federico Caricasulo, Can Öncü and Vertti Takala on ten each for the season. 2021 Champion Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) had one just fall throughout the season as he claimed the maiden title. In WorldSSP300, Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez took top spot for number of crashes with 12 from eight rounds, with Harry Khouri and Bahattin Sofuoglu second and third on the list with 11 and ten crashes respectively.
In terms of circuits, it was the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” that featured the most falls with 89 across the Pirelli Made in Italy Emilia-Romagna Round, with the Yamaha R3 Cup joining WorldSBK, WorldSSP and WorldSSP300 on track. There were 11 crashes in WorldSBK at the Italian venue, 37 in WorldSSP and 35 in WorldSSP300. The TT Circuit Assen came in second place in this list with 77 falls with the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in third with 69. Out of the three new circuits on the 2021 calendar, the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit had the fewest falls with 14 while the Circuito San Juan Villicum, returning for 2021, featured the fewest across the season with 13.
Individual corners can catch riders out too and the trickiest corner in 2021, in terms of falls, was the re-profiled left-hander of Turn 10 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with 23 falls from the four classes that raced there. The next two corners on the list are both heavy braking zones with the right-hander Turn 4 at Misano and Turn 1 at the Autodrom Most having 20 and 18 falls respectively.
We would like to send our thanks to every single Marshal, whose invaluable support throughout the season helps keep our races and riders as safe as possible. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the sport we all love every year.
Click HERE to view the full falls report PDF.
Relive an incredible 2021 season and get set for 2022 using the WorldSBK VideoPass!
