WorldSBK is back and it is tighter than ever. Only three points separate Toprak Razgatlioglu from a new sorpasso in the World Series of motorcycles. Three points are what will have to cut this weekend Jonathan Rea if the Turk wants to be the leader of the World Superbike again. And he will have to do it, again, by opening a circuit in the competition calendar: Navarra, which arrives this weekend as another of the great novelties.
And while WorldSBK’s debut on different circuits has always been good for Jonathan Rea, the last round gives the Yamaha rider wings to fly. He won two of the three races held at Most, while the Kawasaki one suffered and Redding sneaked in as the winner of the third race of the round to get deeper into the title fight with his Ducati. Currently the Briton has 213 points on his locker, 53 points behind Rea and feeling increasingly comfortable with his Panigale V4R.
Despite the fact that the round in Navarra, seventh on the calendar, comes as a great novelty to the World Superbike calendar, the championship pilots will already land with the odd reference to face the weekend. They had the opportunity to actually do some tests on the Spanish circuit, the opposite of what happened with Most (Czech Republic), which they arrived completely blind. Unlike that occasion, this weekend only Superbike and Supersport will participate in the event.
Bautista, pending his future
Just a week ago, Álvaro Bautista admitted having offers from other teams on the table and, for now, his future at Honda remains unclear. “It is not 100% sure that I will stay,” he indicated after the last Superbike race, almost reaching his limit, marked for the lack of results In these two years he has been with the brand of Golden Wing. And it is that the Talaverano has gone from winning races with Ducati to not going beyond a fifth best place this season.
Therefore, the door of the Italian brand seems not to be completely closed, and more after confirming that Redding will go to BMW. In fact, Honda would have put on the table an offer to Iker Lecuona to enter WorldSBK after running out of place in the KTM Tech3. What is clear is that Bautista wants “a team and a motorcycle that can win” because, he himself, claims to be at the right level to do so before putting an end to his sports career. Therefore, this career will be key to making a decision about his short-term future (his contract with HRC ends on December 31).
Suzuki continues to prepare its return
Even with the great attention that the queen class gets and the fight so tight for the championship, this weekend the eyes will also be on Suzuki. Following his 2015 return to MotoGP and his world title five years later, the Hamamatsu factory also announced his return to WorldSBK. With the intention of continuing to prepare for the championship, the brand will put Naomichi Uramoto on the track this weekend with a GSX-R 1000, Together with the JEG Racing team and with the configuration they have of the Spanish Superbike Championship.