World Supersport

Press releases from the World Superbike and World Supersport teams and the series organizer after qualifying at Donington Park:

Jules Cluzel set the outright lap record at Donington last year with a 1'30.931. With the conditions as good and the competition as high, the question was how many would be able to beat it today.

Once again, Sam Lowes put himself on the top of the timing sheet ahead of Kenan Sofuoglu, and did so with an outright lap record of 1'30.903, three tenths quicker than that set by Jules Cluzel last year in qualifying. Jack Kennedy continues his good qualifying form, while title contenders Fabien Foret and Michael Van Der Mark languished in 23rd and 10th respectively.

Both World Superbike and World Supersport were victims of the cold and miserable rain. In the free practice session only five World Superbike riders even recorded a complete lap, with the rest sitting it out. In the afternoon session, as it was a timed session, everyone went out to get a lap in case the rain continued into Saturday, an unlikely event, but not impossible. All predictions, reliability being a benefit of East Midlands airport living next door, point to nothing but sun for both Saturday and Sunday.

Press releases from the World Superbike and World Supersport teams, as well as the series organizer, after the first day of practice at Donington:

Sam Lowes topped the timed session to get provisional pole over a second faster than Kenan Sofuoglu. Lowes left it until late in the session before heading out and only recorded four complete laps, claiming the top spot with three out of those four laps.

The riders are still over ten seconds off the lap record set by Sam Lowes in 2011, and Gabor Talmasci was the fastest man throughout most of the session, setting the fastest lap ten times, until Lowes and Sofuoglu fought for the pole slot. The track conditions are still holding the times up, but the weather promises to improve tomorrow.

Results:

Kenan Sofuoglu managed to put in a fast lap before the rain started to come down at a cold and damp Donington. 

Result:

Press release previews from the teams and the organizers ahead of this weekend's World Superbike round at Donington Park:

The second batch of post-race press releases after this weekend's World Superbike round at Monza, issued a day later because of the confusion over the results:

Press releases from some of the World Superbike and World Supersport teams after several incident-packed races at Monza:

Motor racing has been described as drag racing between corners. Never is this adage truer than at Monza. Speed out of corners is paramount, especially out of the Parabolica, the fast last corner that leads on to the equally fast start/finish straight. The faster you exit a corner, the sooner you reach your top speed. Monza has two long straights, both with fast corners leading onto them; this is what makes it different from other tracks with long straights. Fuel limits and tyres come into play in a different way here than any other track on the calendar. The other unique aspect of Monza is the controversies that arise from its uniqueness, and this weekend was no different in that respect.

Fourth time lucky, the World Supersport race was reduced to a ten-lap dash at the end of the day.

The World Supersport race was halted after four laps after the front four riders all went down on oil that was not spotted from a third lap crash at Variante Della Roggia. The restart lasted for two laps before a rider crashed out of the Ascari chicane, immolating the motorbike and destroying the ablative air fencing; an automatic red flag. On the third start of the race, a ten-lap dash, a rider ploughed through Prima Variente, the first chicane, taking a few other racers with him. A third red flag was waved and the race was postponed until after the second World Superbike race. Nobody was significantly hurt in any of the incidents. 

Press releases from the World Superbike and World Supersport teams after qualifying on Saturday at Monza: