2023 World Superbike - Round 10 - Portimao
- Thread starter JFM01
- Start date
It will be interesting to see what happens next year. Gerloff is on a roll recently, and he's doing his dramatic late charge from the midpack, rather than 13th. He's made a big step and van der Mark didn't look too shabby.
Not sure what's going on with Redding. He's completely out of it. Maybe BMW have determined that his developments are not work while and they are spending more time with Gerloff and VdM. We'll see.
I'd prefer to see some variety in SBK racing, but I also don't like watching riders choke their championships away as Alvaro has already done once before. Glad to see him back at the front and finishing strong for his 2023 championship campaign. Toprak is awesome and the BMW is making a few steps. Maybe he will return BMW to 2012 form. They've really been off the pace since the new regulations were released, despite pouring a small fortune into the M1000RR program. Two factory teams for next year!
Joined Mar 2023
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Australia
Good race. The only thing that can stop Bautista winning the championship is injury, he just needs something like 10 points over Raz to take it out today but more likely it will go to the next weekend.
Big thanks to Toprak and Bautista for reminding motorcycle fans what proper motorcycle racing looks like.
The commentators were bagging a bit on Bautista for using the power of the Ducati to pip Toprak at the line in Race 2, but Alvaro was already around the outside on the exit of the final turn. It wasn't straight-line speed, and rider weight. Bautista was good enough around the rest of the lap, and he was flying out of the final turn, long before the bike was upright. Toprak was fast in.
I'm a pretty strong proponent of bike-rider minimum weight in balance of performance formulas, but even I though the critique of Ducati's Sunday victory in Race 2 was unfair.
Still trying to figure out what happened in the Superpole race. Kawasaki unstoppable, and BMW terrible. Then in Race 2 it was the reverse, except BMW was just good again in Race 2. Toprak and Bautista went back to the sharp end. Anyway, happy that WSBK is still delivering the goods, and the other teams are learning how to make in-roads against Ducati's strategy.
The commentators were bagging a bit on Bautista for using the power of the Ducati to pip Toprak at the line in Race 2, but Alvaro was already around the outside on the exit of the final turn. It wasn't straight-line speed, and rider weight. Bautista was good enough around the rest of the lap, and he was flying out of the final turn, long before the bike was upright. Toprak was fast in.
I'm a pretty strong proponent of bike-rider minimum weight in balance of performance formulas, but even I though the critique of Ducati's Sunday victory in Race 2 was unfair.
Still trying to figure out what happened in the Superpole race. Kawasaki unstoppable, and BMW terrible. Then in Race 2 it was the reverse, except BMW was just good again in Race 2. Toprak and Bautista went back to the sharp end. Anyway, happy that WSBK is still delivering the goods, and the other teams are learning how to make in-roads against Ducati's strategy.
I just watched the race and I'm struggling to find words to describe what I saw.
I can't think of many things more beautiful than watching Toprak wheel a motorcycle.
The bike is not the only reason why Bautista always wins, he's also way ahead of the other Ducatis but as a fan it's pretty damn frustrating when Toprak outbreaks Bautista at least 15 times and Alvaro gets him back accelerating out of the final turn every damn time.
It was an incredible race though. Boy how much I miss seeing that in MotoGP.
I can't think of many things more beautiful than watching Toprak wheel a motorcycle.
The bike is not the only reason why Bautista always wins, he's also way ahead of the other Ducatis but as a fan it's pretty damn frustrating when Toprak outbreaks Bautista at least 15 times and Alvaro gets him back accelerating out of the final turn every damn time.
It was an incredible race though. Boy how much I miss seeing that in MotoGP.
Toprak is by far the best rider in the WSBK paddock at the moment. It’s a joy to see him apply his craft. And it was also awful to see how dejected he was after today’s races, knowing there is absolutely nothing he can do about the situation.
