SBK- Race cancelled due to rain; BMW Motorrad impressive run cut short

Michelle Liew

May 13, 2019

Despite the great performance in the Superpole, BMW Motorrad could not deliver more in Imola as Race Two was cancelled due to the heavy downpour.

Photo credits: BMW Motorrad

BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team had an impressive run in Sunday’s race at Imola, Italy. The FIM Superbike World Championship (WSBK) kicked off well over the weekend in Italy but was cut short. Riders Tom Sykes and Markus Reiterberger both claimed eight and tenth place in the Superpole race respectively. Despite that, their run will be prolonged as Race Two had to be cancelled due to the heavy rain. The weather was not on anyone’s side this weekend. The track was already moist during the morning. This is the first session to be done in rainy conditions for the new BMW S 1000 RR. In the Superpole, Briton Tom Sykes put up a sterling performance as he started in last place and pushed his way up to eighth place. Germany’s Reiterberger came in tenth place. The downpour began right before the second race to delay it and was eventually cancelled.

Photo credits: BMW Motorrad

The weather conditions for the morning’s Superpole race were changeable, with dry spells. Sykes gave an impressive recovery performance: he had to start from the pit lane, in last place, due to his tyre pressure being slightly too low on the grid. Sykes ploughed through the field on his RR, moving up so far that he was able to cross the line in eighth position. Reiterberger ended the Superpole race in tenth place. A heavy downpour began just as the grid formed up for the second race. The start was delayed and then the race was finally cancelled an hour and a half later.

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad)- As It Happened

Photo credits: BMW Motorrad

“We just had a little bit of bad luck. The tyre pressure was finally correct but on the grid it was a little bit low because I made a slow lap to the grid. The BMW S 1000 RR chassis was working very well. I made obviously a lot of passes in ten laps. Sure, I’m a bit disappointed but we’re making progress all the time; the team works very hard and I am sure we will have some good fortunes soon. For now it has been a strange day, another race cancelled due to safety conditions, and now we are moving on to the next race where I hope the package can also be competitive. So keep working and hoping we will get the result we’re all working forward very soon,” says Sykes as quoted from BMW Group.

Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad)- As It Happened

Photo credits: BMW Motorrad

“This morning’s warm-up was the first time that we had raced in the rain with the new RR. I had a pretty good feeling. The conditions were changeable for the Superpole race. It was mainly dry, with some wet spots and we took the risk to opt for the Supersoft tyre. Unfortunately, tyre wear was quite heavy towards the end but I managed to cross the line in tenth place. We had to wait a long time to find out whether we would have a second race or not. It would have been important for us to gain some experience in the rain but the decision to cancel made sense from the point of view of rider safety, as it was really at the limit. Overall, we learned a lot at Imola and we will check out a lot of things during testing to help us continue to make progress. Thanks to the team for their hard work.