World Superbikes at Donington Park preview

This year is the 30th season of World Superbike racing – and Donington Park hosted the inaugural race of the then fledgling championship back in 1988. It was British rider Roger Burnett on a Honda who was the first ever pole-setter in WSBK, although he couldn’t reproduce that form in the race so the man who went down in history as the first ever winner in WSBK was Davide Tardozzi – the same Davide Tardozzi who today manages the works Ducati MotoGP team.

Fast forward 30 years and WSBK is now an established championship which, not for the first time, is dominated by British riders.

The main questions around this weekend’s UK round of the WSBK championship concern the current top Britons. Can anyone break the two-year stranglehold of Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki? And can Rea’s team-mate Tom Sykes continue his winning streak at his home race? And can Chaz Davies carry on his form from the last round in Imola and seriously challenge Rea for the championship?

The British trio have significant point advantages over their nearest rivals. Rea, as he has since the first round, leads the championship but last time out at Imola he was outscored over the two races for the first time this season. Rea finished both races in second place with Davies (Ducati) taking victory in both races. The gap between the two at the head of the championship is now 74 points.

In previous years the form of Rea, Davies – and anyone else for that matter – heading to Donington has been irrelevant. Tom Sykes has won every single race at the Midlands circuit since 2013, as well as taking pole position four times in the last five years. Sykes has yet to win in 2017, but by virtue of finishing every race so far things season, with only three of those finishes off the podium, finds himself only one point behind Davies.

Such is Rea’s dominance (six wins and four second places from 10 races), this year could be the year that Sykes relinquishes his monopoly at Donington.

Hoping to put track knowledge to his advantage is Leon Haslam, who has a wildcard entry on a Kawasaki. Whether we will see a flashback to the heady days of 2003 when Shane Byrne did the double at Brands Hatch as a wildcard entry remains to be seen, but is seems unlikely.

Another Briton, Yamaha-mounted Alex Lowes, is currently fifth in the championship. Lowes has scored points in all but one of the 10 races to date and is currently top Yamaha, two places and 16 points ahead of team-mate Michael van der Mark.

Whatever the outcome, or how thrilling the racing is this weekend, the event will be tinged with sadness after the tragic death of Honda rider Nicky Hayden, who lost his life earlier this week after a cycling accident in Italy. Nicky was widely heralded as one of the nicest guys to grace the world’s paddocks of the world and will be sorely missed by the motorcycling fraternity and fans alike. Our sympathies and thoughts are with his family and friends.

2017 World Superbike Championship standings

1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 235 points

2. Chaz Davies (Ducati) 161

3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 160

4. Marco Melandri (Ducati) 124

5. Alex Lowes (Yamaha) 94

6. Xavi Fores (Ducati) 84

Supersport

Interest in the Supersport class continues to increase. For the second race in succession, last time out at Imola Kenan Sofuoglu brought his Kawasaki home in first place with current championship leader Lucas Mahias on his Yamaha finishing second.

Sofuoglu is now 35 points adrift of Mahias with seven races remaining. Interestingly, should the pair continue the trend of the last two races with Sofuoglu winning and Mahias finishing second, come the end of the season they would be tied on points. Highly unlikely as this is, Sofuoglu would be crowned champion by virtue of having won more races than his rival.

If recent history is any indication, Sofuoglu will start as favourite this weekend having won the previous two races at Donington Park as well as holding the lap record for the Supersport class.

The home nations will be well represented in the class, with Kyle Ryde, Kyle Smith, Gino Rea and Luke Stapleford all eager to impress. Ryde is currently the highest place of the home contingent in seventh place in the championship. He will be hopeful of repeating his wildcard performance from 2015, when he finished on the podium.

2017 World Supersport Championship standings

1. Lucas Mahias (Yamaha) 85 points

2. Sheridan Morais (Yamaha) 58

3. PJ Jacobsen (MV Agusta) 55

4. Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 50

5. Roberto Rolfo (MV Agusta) 41

6. Jules Cluzel (Honda) 39