Most. Saturday in the Czech city of Most began with a strong
Superpole result for BMW Motorrad Motorsport but ended with a
disappointing race result. The FIM Superbike World Championship is
making its first appearance at Most, where it is staging round six
of the 2021 season. In Superpole, Tom Sykes (GBR) of the BMW
Motorrad WorldSBK Team finished fourth on his BMW M 1000 RR,
narrowly missing out on the front row of the grid. He then came home
ninth in race one. Sykes’ team-mate Michael van der Mark (NED) made
an impressive fightback in the race before crashing out. Jonas
Folger (GER) from the Bonovo MGM Racing team retired with a
technical issue.
Sykes came up just 0.015 seconds short of a place on the front row of
the grid in Saturday morning’s Superpole qualifying. However, fourth
place also put him in a good position going into the race. Van der
Mark had to settle for 17th place in Superpole. Folger, who had
crashed in the morning’s third free practice session, qualified 21st.
Sykes climbed into third place at the start of race one. However, he
went wide in turn one while having to avoid other riders and slotted
back into fifth place. On lap five, he again headed straight on in
turn one when he was touched by another bike. Finding himself in tenth
place, Sykes attempted to work his way back to the front of the field,
but then had issues with the rear tyre. He ultimately crossed the
finish line in ninth place.
Starting from 17th on the grid, van der Mark launched a spirited
comeback on his M RR. However, having climbed into eighth place, that
comeback came to an abrupt end. The Dutchman was one of several riders
who crashed out of Saturday’s race. Folger had been continuously
moving up the field towards a points finish until a technical issue
forced him to retire on lap seven.
Quotes after race one at Most.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “The
outcome of the race has been disappointing. In Superpole, Tom gave a
strong performance, he was right up there, and his race simulations
looked good in practice. During the race, he had to abort at T1 twice
going straight on, so he lost several positions throughout. Mickey had
a very disappointing qualifying but, in the race, made up in the early
stages as he usually does. He had good pace during the race and was
catching the P6, P7 group in front of him which would have been a good
result to come home with, but he unfortunately crashed. So we take the
positive point from today that the pace from Michael was there, but if
you don’t bring it home you get no points, so it was disappointing
overall. Jonas unfortunately retired due to an engine failure, so we
have to look into the cause. Now we hope for a better day tomorrow.”
Shaun Muir, Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team:
“We always aim for the first two rows as it’s a great
position to be in and Tom did just that in Superpole. In the race, Tom
got pushed wide going into the first corner and reacted quickly not to
lose many positions and time. The SC0 was the tyre of choice for the
race and he got into a pretty lonely battle at the end of the day so
he will equally be disappointed to finish 26 seconds off the win.
Michael had a difficult qualifying session but come the race he did
true Michael van der Mark style to battle and come through into a good
position. He was doing lap times in that race he hasn’t found all
weekend, so I am more pleased he was able to find that comfortable
feeling and his confidence ahead of tomorrow. Unfortunately, he
crashed at T20 which is easy to do with the temperatures increasing.
But we are not totally disappointed, we will come back stronger
tomorrow as we gained a lot of information.”
Tom Sykes, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “The
qualifying result for sure was nice. When we put the Q tyre into the
BMW M 1000 RR, I am able to ride the bike much more naturally, and the
bike does things much better. But unfortunately for the race there was
a mix of tyres. We went down the safer route and this certainly did
not help us. After the start, going into T1 I was in there and I’ve
been happy with my braking all weekend, but the guys had stopped, and
I didn’t want to collect anyone, so I took the option to spoil my
first lap. Then the second time somebody was up the inside of me and
touched my handlebar, so I wasn’t able to make the turn. For tomorrow,
we will look to improve the set up, and we will revisit the tyre
choice. Overall, I am a little bit disappointed, also disappointed
with the final race result but we have learnt a lot today. Tomorrow we
will get two more chances.”
Michael van der Mark, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “It
was a really disappointing day, to be honest. In Superpole, I had bad
traffic on both outings on the Q tyre, which was such bad luck. It’s a
shame as I felt we could really make a step forward, so it was not
easy starting from P17 on the grid. Anyway, in the race I got a good
start and had good pace. I was fighting my way towards the front and
was feeling good with the bike but unfortunately when I was sat in P8
I lost the front going into T20. I was trying hard so it’s a shame
because we lost some valuable points. It was a difficult day overall,
but we can be happy with the pace we had in race one.”
Jonas Folger, Bonovo MGM Racing: “I was quick in
yesterday’s first free practice session, but unfortunately I then had
a crash in practice this morning. The mechanics managed to get the
bike ready just in time for qualifying. As a result, I only rode two
laps before we went into Superpole. That was probably why I didn’t
manage a good time. In the race, I noticed when changing gear that
there was a problem with the engine, which unfortunately then failed.
It was a tough day.”