Superbike Race Preview

Ian Marsden sets the stage for a thrilling weekend of racing Superbike, like the British and world championships return



 After a break of six weeks, the MCE British Superbike Championship returns this weekend for the fourth round at Snetterton, with JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider James Ellison seeks to extend his lead over reigning champion Shane "Shakey" Byrne in the Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki.

Last time Oulton Park, Tommy Bridewell and Stuart Easton each won a race while Byrne crashed out of the second race, with BMW Riuochi Kyonari while the couple was fighting for the lead. It was this that allowed Ellison DNF take the lead in the championship with second place. Ellison now has 109 points, while Byrne has 101 and third-placed man Josh Brookes (of Millwaukee Yamaha) is 94.

Byrne did the double at Snetterton last year, and a repeat would be enough for him to regain the lead of the championship, regardless of how it performs Ellison. However, Brookes is likely to have a say in the proceedings, after breaking his own lap record and finished almost a second ahead of his nearest Byrne during a recent two-day test at Snetterton rival.

Brooke’s performance is even more impressive considering that the Yamaha is new for this year and the beginning of the season was not withdrawn, far from the machines that you or I could buy at our local dealer. After the test, Brookes said there was more to come from the R1. It is still early days and the evidence is not the same as racing, but Brookes could be a serious contender for the title in 2015.

In 2014, he was pushed Ryuichi Kyonari closest championship Byrne. And although it is too early for him to write this year so far, it has endured a torrid time in the first three rounds, and yet is about to get a podium. That has to change in Snetterton - a circuit that both knows and likes.

Snetterton will have a VIP guest at the weekend: nothing less than the legendary Giacomo Agostini, who won 15 world championships in his illustrious career. Always associated with the Italian manufacturer MV Agusta, which will be supporting in his British Superbike campaign, besides being in attendance for the opening of a corner on the circuit is named in his honor.

Away from the racing, there will be an exhibition on Sunday by the Air Corps 6th Army Regiment with its Apache helicopter.




 Snetterton is not the only accommodation superbike circuit action this weekend. The eighth round of the Superbike World Championship is held in place certainly more glamorous of the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, near the Italian resort town of Rimini.

Britain's Jonathan Rea is running with the series; after seven rounds and 14 races leading by a massive 124 points from his teammate and fellow Briton Tom Sykes. Mastering Rea has seen finishing in the top two in every race so far, winning 10 times.

Donington Park round in May gave a ray of hope that Rea begin to see some serious competition, with Sykes win both races. However, normal service resumed at Portimao in Portugal, with Rea taking two wins.

To be fair to Sykes, who finished second and eighth, was hampered by technical problems. In the first race, while he was struggling with Rea for the lead, his bike suffered a problem that stopped him beyond 9,000 rpm speed. And then in the second race he suffered a rear tire deflation caused by a damaged rim.

British riders are filling the top four places in the championship: Leon Haslam in third and fourth Chaz Davies. Indeed, such is the domain of British pilots this year, 37 of the 42 podium places available so far have been taken by Rea, Sykes, Haslam and Davies.

Both the British and World Superbike championships will be shown on Eurosport.

2015 X Games Moto X QuarterPipe Results

Thomas Pages of France, a pioneer of freestyle motocross quarterpipe, won gold at the X Games debut of Toyota Moto X quarterpipe. Pages earned by throwing a revolutionary motorcycle flip in his second race; he was the first athlete to land the trick again in 2014. Page lost his first attempt on Sunday, but got the bike flip in his second pass for a score of 95.33, beating New Zealand Levi Sherwood, who made his signature egg roll trick and scored 93.00 for the silver medal. Sheehan, who recently won the first triple backflip in the history of motocross in Travis Pastrana's house in Maryland, the bronze medal was.

 

(Courtesy of Monster Energy) Josh Sheehan Monster Energy took bronze in the inaugural Moto X quarterpipe event at the X Games Austin 2015. In front of the high-energy crowd at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, the player 29-year-old from Donnybrook, Australia, had his second career medals at the X Games.

The X Games has always been about progression and the introduction of the first Moto X quarterpipe event is an example of that. The combination of a quarter-pipe ramp as you'd find in skateboard or BMX freestyle motocross competitions, the only rules were that each competitor would have two attempts, and the trick to really tell, had to walk out.

Time gold medalist multiple Monster Energy Freestyle Moto X Taka Higashino was forced out of the event with a broken foot, leaving his Monster Energy teammate, Australian Josh Sheehan, to maintain the strength.

Sheehan recently made headlines by becoming the first person to successfully land a triple backflip on a motorcycle, so there is no doubt that he is not afraid to push the progression and Moto X quarterpipe round one, Sheehan became the first competitor to land his trick actually - A Flair, combined with an Indian-Air Superman. Sheehan scored a solid 85.33 in the first round, placing second overall led to the second round.

Flair is a trick invented by BMX legend Mat Hoffman BMX, and in the second round, Sheehan pushed his trick even more, landing the same trick, but more widely, leading to a better score of 87.33 .

 

In the end, the pairing of a legendary stunt on BMX BMX-inspired event brought him the bronze in the first Moto X quarterpipe event. I was his second X Games medal after the bronze was placed in Moto X Best Trick at the X Games in Los Angeles in 2011.


Toyota Moto X Final Quarterpipe:

1. Thomas Pages, 95.33 Gold (FRA) 
2. Levi Sherwood, 93.00 Silver (NZL) 
3. Josh Sheehan, 87.33 Bronze (AUS)

Moto X Total Points Pipe Quarter:

  

1. Thomas Pages Run February 1 70.0 95.33
2. Levi Sherwood Run 1 Run 2 93.00 91.33
3. Josh Sheehan Run 1 Run 2 87.33 85.33
4. Davi Johnson Run 1 Run 2 67.66 67.33
5. Jey Rouanet Run 1 Run 2 64.00 65.00
6. Cameron Sinclair 51.66 Run 1 Run 2