Interesting SBK numbers

Some numbers after the first 2 rounds and before Misano

We were among the skeptics when it came to the late start of testing by BMW with the new BMW M-1000RR. Already in mid-November 2020 they had shone by being absent in glorious weather in Jerez de la Frontera, when the new Kawasaki ZX-10RR was already experiencing its baptism of fire. In spring, they were the last to be on the racetrack, shortly before the official WSBK test in Barcelona. Nevertheless, it sounded very positive at first and the fans were already starting to be happy that the misery of the blue-whites of 2020 would not be repeated. But at the third test in Aragon, the unexpected problems came promptly and with them the first setback. The season started very difficult after that, but also due to the tire lottery the first highlights came on the second day in Motorland Aragon and Estoril also brought a lot of light and shadow afterwards. However, the following statistics with the previous failures are questionable.

Why does BMW always make the same mistake?
Many fans are now asking this question again, of course. In the previous year, before the start of the season, many perky goals and expectant sayings could be heard and read about the British-German combination with a Dutchman as boss. The “rainbow press” of motorsport also celebrated good test times by Tom Sykes and his podium in Australia, as if BMW had already scored points for it. But the second season was a flop for them and neither of the two drivers made it into the top ten of the World Cup. Now they came with a new bike, were even technically favored by the FIM over Kawasaki and also have a second winning rider on the works team. In addition, two sensationally strong private pilots in the person of Folger and Laverty, but nevertheless there were already an incomprehensible number of breakdowns. Why BMW always makes the same mistake is incomprehensible and, above all, it also seems unprofessional. They have known for a long time that WorldSBK is not a children’s birthday party, and yet they hardly seem to learn from their mistakes.

Will Misano turn the tide or does Sykes have to hope for rain?

If you look at the only 3 podium places for BMW since 2019, two of them were won in rain races by the Englishman, who is known as a specialist in wet conditions. It wasn’t until September 28th in Magny-Cours that we saw him on site for the first and so far only time after a dry run on the podium. If you look at how strong Yamaha and Ducati are at the moment, along with the absolute industry leader Kawasaki, it will definitely be anything but easy for the blue-whites for a podium. After all, Locatelli and Rinaldi are two drivers in a works team who will drive their home race in Santamonica. In addition, in the last edition two years ago on the International Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Lowes, Razgatlioglu and Bautista (at that time on Ducati) were doing very well there. That is why we think that writing off HRC Honda too early is a mistake, and Haslam was already on the podium on the Adriatic.

Various milestones await teams and drivers
The only thing that is currently considered almost certain is another anniversary for Kawasaki with currently 349 podium places, which should drop the number 350 next weekend. For Rea, the brand has stood at 149 since he drove for the Greens, so a new record is just around the corner. Just two years ago, the Northern Irishman had caught up with his former teammate Tom Sykes at Misano with 107. The man from Huddersfield has another impressive number in front of him because the BMW driver will be at the start of the first race for the 327th time in the WSBK. This means that he is still 50 short of the record for the 2-time Superbike World Champion Troy Corser. In order to crack its mark, Tom will have to stay with it until at least 2023.

The long-running favorite on the Adriatic
Only Phillip Island with 61 races ahead of Assen (56) had more world championship races than Donington and Misano, each with 55. The most successful driver ever is Jonathan Rea with 8 wins and because Troy Bayliss follows P2 with six, it will be the north Irish will stay for some time, no matter how he does in round 3. With currently 99 podium places, Chaz Davies is close to an impressive number, but especially in Misano it will be anything but easy for him to reach 100 for the reasons mentioned above. Incidentally, BMW has never won at the Adriatic coast, for example Max Neukirchner won in 2008 in a Suzuki and a certain Jonathan Rea won the last triumph for Honda a year later.

The Mugello statistics from the first race until today
The 1991 season started with a historic setback for the Ducati factory team. Back then, private driver Doug Poland from the US private team Fast by Ferracci won both races. He was to win a total of 17 races during the season and became the first “Independent Rider” world champion. It was only Jonathan Rea who managed to equalize this incredible number of victories for Kawasaki 27 years later. This exactly in the last season before the introduction of the Superpole Race, which in the following year ensured that 37 of the 39 planned races were held. As a result of the corona pandemic, the season was shortened to 8 instead of 13 events in 2020, which is why there were as many or fewer races since the sprint race as in 2018. Below is the table with the number of the WSBK run, the year, the World Championship Lap, run number, start number and name of the winner, as well as his bike and team.

>WSBK Misano Preview & schedule: see separate report on this page.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© WorldSBK).