Photo from TV capture
If you have access to World Superbike’s live feed or can find a bar that has it, you might want to head that way by 2:00pm eastern. The first World superbike race at Qatar was a stunner in so many ways and the second race could be even more eventful. It certainly will decide the championship.
The penultimate World Superbike race of 2014 was a stunner. Sylvain Guintoli turned in an amazing ride on an Aprilia Superbike that was vastly superior to the other bikes. That enabled Guintoli to rocket away to a 2.650-second margin of victory to earn the win he so desperately needed to stay in the championship hunt. Meanwhile there was disarray in the Kawasaki camp. It was Kawasaki riders Loris Baz and Tom Sykes running second and third on the final lap. Amazingly Loris Baz refused to slow to allow his teammate to pass and gain vital championship points. With Guintoli riding so well on a bike that is flawless, Baz’ refusal may ultimately make the difference in the world championship.
Now there are just three points between Sykes and Baz with Sykes leading. The second race starts at 2:00pm eastern. Find it and watch it.
The start of race one was hectic with three different leaders in the first couple of laps with Sykes, Jonathan Rea and finally Baz holding the top spot.
Aaron Yates and Alex Cudlin were early crashers.
On lap five Sylvain Guintoli moved passed his championship rival Sykes by drafting him down the front straight putting the series leader back to fourth. Up front it was Baz, with a bit of a gap, Rea in second and Guintoli looking to move up from third to gain as many points as possible.
The championship picture was definitely tightening up on lap, when Guintoli went to the lead over Baz and his Aprilia teammate Marco Melandri pushed Sykes back a position. That put Guintoli in the series lead.
With two laps to go it was Sykes putting in an all-out charge, He took a risky pass around the outside of Rea to take over third, slithering his Kawasaki under the strain the entire way. That move put him back in the championship lead. Now the question was would Baz back off to allow Sykes to finish second? The answer came soon enough as Baz sped on to second, refusing to help his teammate.
Rea came home fourth, with pole winner Davide Giugliano finishing fifth.
“I started the race calmly,” said Guintoli, who goes down in history as the first to win a World Superbike race under the lights. “I had a good pace I could inject if I needed to. Once I got past Tom I pushed to come back on Johnny and Loris, who was fast at the start of the race. Then I just tried to keep my pace and control at the end. I felt quite comfortable. I pushed hard mid-race. I don’t know how to describe how I feel, I’m just so excited and so happy. I feel like I found like I found something else in my riding and I got this energy riding the bike today that was awesome. Tom is a tough opponent and the grand finale is going to be awesome. I can’t wait.”
Neither of the Kawasaki riders touched on the sensitive subject of team orders in the post-race press conference, but you could tell by his expression after pulling into the pits that Sykes was not a happy camper. And not too many green-shirted team members assemble around Baz.
Stay tuned for race two.
World Superbike Race 1 from Losail Intl. Circuit – Nov. 2, 2014
1 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 17
2 76 L. BAZ FRA Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 17 2.650
3 1 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 17 3.955
4 65 J. REA GBR PATA Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 17 4.805
5 34 D. GIUGLIANO ITA Ducati Superbike Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R 17 7.861
6 24 T. ELIAS ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 Factory 17 8.192
7 7 C. DAVIES GBR Ducati Superbike Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R 17 8.991
8 33 M. MELANDRI ITA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 17 10.512
9 58 E. LAVERTY IRL Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 17 15.978
10 22 A. LOWES GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 17 21.456
11 91 L. HASLAM GBR PATA Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 17 25.977
12 59 N. CANEPA ITA Althea Racing Ducati 1199 Panigale R EVO 17 29.085
13 44 D. SALOM ESP Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 17 29.096
14 52 S. BARRIER FRA BMW Motorrad Italia SBK BMW S1000 RR EVO 17 39.270
15 67 B. STARING AUS IRON BRAIN Grillini Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 17 43.360
16 11 J. GUARNONI FRA MRS Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 17 46.206
17 99 G. MAY USA Team Hero EBR EBR 1190 RX 17 1’16.323
18 10 I. TOTH HUN BMW Team Toth BMW S1000 RR 16 1 Lap
————————————————–Not Classified————————————————–
RET 21 A. ANDREOZZI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 7 10 Laps
RET 16 G. RIZMAYER HUN BMW Team Toth BMW S1000 RR EVO 6 11 Laps
RET 95 A. CUDLIN AUS Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 2 15 Laps
RET 20 A. YATES USA Team Hero EBR EBR 1190 RX 2 15 Laps
RET 71 C. CORTI ITA MV Agusta Reparto Corse MV Agusta F4 RR 1 16 Laps
