On track fights, big disappointments, a legend’s future and more – eyes on springs this weekend
The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has been incredible throughout the opening eight rounds of the year and now that we head for the summer holidays – beach, city or mountains – we are all on a deserved bit of time off. However, the Acerbis Czech Round was brimmed with drama and as usual, that spills to the media debriefs. As the Czech’s say, this week’s hot headlines are pikantni this week!
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK): “I’m not 100% content in my situation; it’s important at this point of my life and career that I make a good decision”
Scoring more points than anyone else at Most, the topic of conversation for 36-year-old Rea was his future: “I’m thinking a lot right now; I am not 100% content in my situation to be honest. I have quite a lot of days of thinking ahead but I don’t feel in any rush and there’s no panic. It’s important at this point of my career and my life, that I make a good decision. One that’s right for me. I’ll take my time but before thinking about that, I want to have a beer and enjoy this weekend. I feel like we did a really good job as a team all together. We’ll start thinking about 2024 in a couple of weeks.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK): “I didn’t understand… we have many races, it was just bad luck”
A tyre failure in Race 2 from the lead of the race cost Toprak Razgatlioglu a chance to get the gap to Bautista in the title race down to 44 points; instead, it’s 74 into summer: “I’ve never seen this with the tyres. I didn’t understand; it felt like the chain had gone but then when the marshal picked the bike up, I saw the tyre and then after, it had very big damage. The chain was still on, it was just the tyre. Last year, I used SC0 tyre and did the same number of laps without problem and won the race. I used the SC1 as Pirelli were scared about the SC0. We used it but I am very surprised about the problem. My plan was, because Ducati are very strong on the straight, that in the last corner, I need to turn alone because if Alvaro is leading, then I can’t pass him into Turn 1. I always had him behind on the last sector; he was so strong there. He passed me at Turn 20 but I passed him again straight away at Turn 21. I had 0.6s on the board on my last lap and it looked like I was riding very well. We have many races; I’m angry but not for myself or the team, just the tyre. I can’t say anything bad about Pirelli because they brought the SC1 to avoid this, it was just bad luck. I’m not thinking about the Championship, I’m just focused on winning. Every weekend, I try my best.”
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati): “I thought ‘s**t, it’s impossible’… I was fighting with him on the limit!”
After a classic head-to-head fight, Championship leader Alvaro Bautista enjoyed his battle with Razgatlioglu, one of the best we’ve seen in 2023 so far: “I think on a normal lap, I’d have hit Toprak after his crash. I was very lucky. In the battle, I wasn’t thinking first or second. We were fighting and it seemed like the 100 times we entered the chicane, 100 times he got there first. He put the bike inside and we always missed the apex but it’s OK. When you are half in the middle of the track, it’s hard to close the door, but I tried it so he couldn’t pass me between Turns 1 and 2, but he came from the outside! Then I thought, ‘s**t! It’s impossible!’, but I had other options on the track but I didn’t see them as clearly as the first chicane. I didn’t think that ‘today I could win or I’ll just finish second’, I just enjoyed the battle. I was fighting with him on the limit.”
Bautista was also vocal on if the last two rounds have been a turning point: “The good or bad thing of racing is that anything can happen until the chequered flag. This isn’t a turning point; neither at Imola or on Saturday at Most. We did our best but the best result was 12th with all the problems – and they were problems, not bad luck. I don’t believe in bad luck. I believed in myself; I thought I could be fast without the problems but on Sunday, I felt better with the bike, proving the work and the confidence is there. I haven’t seen, don’t see and won’t see this as a turning point, no; this is one race more and now, we have a break, we’ll try to work harder and be focused for the next one. We don’t have to be more worried after Imola or less worried after here.”
Speaking on Friday evening after the rumours of Jonathan Rea’s potential move to Yamaha for 2024 surfaced, Bautista joked when asked about it, saying it would be cool to have the top riders all switching teams for 2024’s season: “It would be nice to have Toprak at BMW, Jonathan at Yamaha, Scott at Kawasaki!”
Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team): “Jonny was a gentleman, he’s a great World Champion; I owe him at least two beers!”
Talking about his battle with six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea, Danilo Petrucci fought hard for a best of P2: “Unfortunately this morning, for my riding style, I’m using a lot of corner entry speed and at Turn 1, I went wide. I was in the middle in P3; everyone braked at the same time but I put more load on the front and had Toprak and Axel ahead. I had to choose which rider to hit; I released the brake and went in the middle, and my day was f****d up. In the Superpole Race, I was far down and recovered a lot of places to start P8. In front of me in Race 2, I was P10 again, so I was like, ‘the day is over’. Lap by lap, I had chances to pass and I saw the front riders were still there and when I was alone, I could push a lot and be good in braking.
“I passed Jonny at Turn 1 on the final lap, but he answered me back at Turn 2. I had a good braking point for Turn 6 but he was still there and I thought that if I’m going to pass him, we’re both going to crash. I thought third was OK but in the penultimate corner, I saw him struggling so I tried to pass him, then he came back on the line and we did the last corner side by side. He was a gentleman, because with a bit more throttle, he’d hit me and put me wide, but he’s a great World Champion. I owe him at least two beers next time! P2 is my best result; we need to start better.”
Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing): “I’m young fighting with old guys, sometimes I make mistakes; we’ll continue to fight for our dream”
No podium this weekend for Axel Bassani but plenty of laps led and once again, he demonstrated that he’s right on the precipice of a first win: “I made a big mistake; I braked late but went off. I’m sorry for the team. We were fast and I’m not happy because we had the possibility to fight with Alvaro. We took fourth, really close to second and third and I put everything on the final lap. It was a good recovery; it’s nice for the rest of the season but it’s been three rounds now where we’re really close to the podium or victory. We didn’t achieve the right results for whatever reason, so I need to stay alone now and think how we can change that. Maybe I need to stay more relaxed in the early laps. I’m young fighting with old guys! To fight with Jonny and Alvaro… sometimes I make mistakes. When you win, you achieve one of your goals and I hope to do it before the season. I think we can and we’ll try our best. We’ll continue to fight for our dream.”
Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team): “We’ve made a good technical step”
Two top six finishes on Sunday for Remy Gardner, although similar issues with tyres got him at the end: “Position-wise, I don’t think there was much more but time-wise, maybe a little bit more. On the last lap, I had a similar issue to Toprak and we were lucky to finish. We’re asking so much of the tyre to make up the deficit on brakes; Toprak is much more than me but we’re frying the rear brake so much to get the bike to stop and we’re trying to use most of the track. The line of the Yamaha is to use all the track and pick it up using the corner speed, but you use so much of the tyre. I don’t think we have the power to pick it up on the tyre. From Donington Park, we’ve made a good technical step and here, we’ve seen an improvement and I’m feeling the limit of the tyres a bit better now.”