Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) like Alvaro Bautista, Chaz Davies and Eugene Laverty, is one of the riders who have competed in MotoGP in addition to WorldSBK – on the weekend of the sixth round of the World Championship in the Czech Republic, it is difficult or even impossible to watch his races live on TV (© HRC Honda).

The second clash of this year – MotoGP cannibalizes WorldSBK

At the clash between MotoGP Spielberg and WSBK in Most, one can only shake one’s head in view of the bold original planning by FIM and Dorna for the 2021 season. As if there had never been a corona pandemic and mutations, they published a calendar in November 2020 that was so impossible to realize. Immediately afterwards, we criticized this as the only news portal known to us. All other media known to us, on the other hand, took over this bad planning without criticism. The result is known, since then there have been countless modifications, deletions and emergency solutions for both series. What is particularly annoying for fans, teams, drivers and sponsors of WorldSBK are of course the clashes between the two series. And due to the bankruptcies and mishaps of FIM and Dorna with their planning, these increased in an uncomfortable way.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX) – only moderately successful in Moto2, he triumphed in the WorldSSP 600 in 2020 like no other driver before him. His first podium in the WorldSBK finally followed in Assen, and with it the long-awaited confirmation that he has rightly earned his place in the Yamaha works team.

Catastrophic situation for the premiere in Most
While the WSBK weekend in Estoril still ended lightly due to the time difference in Portugal compared to CET, there is now a total collision with Spielberg in Most. Because the Olympic Games are still being played at the same time, Eurosport is boycotting WorldSBK just as it was on the Assen weekend. There is no live broadcast on TV for fans from Switzerland, Austria and Germany because MotoGP is a priority for Servus TV. In addition, this station, like the route in Styria, belongs to the Red Bull Group. For the premiere in Most, Dorna constructed a catastrophic situation for the WSBK, although it was responsible for both series. In most of the countries there will be no live broadcast, which is a huge annoyance not only for fans and drivers, but also for the teams and their sponsors.

The rather unsuccessful layout of the former Österreich Ring, later named the A1 Ring due to the renovation and today adopted as the Red Bull Ring with the same terrible characteristics. With the start-finish straight and the parts between the first corner (the corner is too flattering for that) and the terribly unfortunate kink number 3, as well as the also tight corner four, all can be driven at full throttle, even in MotoGP. Turn 2 is not a real curve and only serves the fact that you came up with the number ten. The only interesting part is between turn 4 and the target curve 10. This very boring course is now the restaurant of the second double race of the 2021 season. In order to give the virus a chance, even the number of spectators should be unlimited. Note: Even people who have been tested and vaccinated can become virus carriers and thus a danger to others!

Jonathan Rea’s 200th podium is just around the corner

Valentino Rossi’s incredible brand after 423 starts at the Assen GP in 2021 has 235 podiums. Because the old champion may be driving his final season and has never been on the podium since the second GP in Jerez last year, Jonathan Rea could possibly still reach his mark. With one exception, the Northern Irishman was on the podium in each of the 15 races this season in WorldSBK, exactly a third of them on top. On the same weekend that MotoGP is in Spielberg, the number 200 in the Kawasaki Ace can be expected. But the six-time record world champion in Most is missing just one more place in the top three. In many countries, however, this historic brand will not be seen live on TV. The first race of the WorldSBK in Most is at the same time as the MotoGP qualifying and over the full distance on Sunday at the same time as the Styrian GP. The Superpole Race coincides with the Moto3 GP in Spielberg. For this reason, numerous fans will not have the opportunity to witness Jonathan Rea’s 200th podium live. The reason for this is not the corona pandemic, but a catastrophic bad planning.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR) – due to his sensational performance, it is now even rumoured to be associated with MotoGP, which does justice to his reputation and the incredible achievements of the 6-time world champion. However, it is doubtful whether it will really end up at Petronas Yamaha SRT, as some portals rashly claimed recently.

The main cause of the extreme spread of the pandemic

It was very noticeable that the so-called Delta variant could suddenly no longer be called an Indian variant. Some political strategists may have recognized early on that without this move, the main cause of the extreme spread of the pandemic would be recognized far too obviously by the population. As of July 26, 2021, for example, Switzerland is just before the mark, where this mutation of the Coronavirus from India accounts for a full 95 percent of cases. Actually unbelievable, but still completely plausible to explain. In contrast to spring 2020, all lockdowns have now been lifted. On the contrary, in the meantime the responsible governments of all countries have done everything to ensure that the virus can spread diligently and this was especially true for the Indian variant.

The KymiRing in Finland was already included in the calendar for 2020 and, like Sachsenring, Assen, Silverstone and others, flew out again due to the pandemic. But why a double race is now being held in Spielberg and why the Grand Prix of Finland is sacrificed for it, was actually never explained conclusively and understandably. In the paddock, there is a rumour that Red Bull wanted another race in their own country (which is actually not true because the majority of the shares are owned by a Thai family and not in Austria, for example) and that they had offered Dorna a substantial sum for it. The truth of this is unlikely to ever come to light. If you see how much people are currently travelling in Europe despite the pandemic, the cancellation of the event at the KymiRing hardly makes any sense.

Give the virus a chance – this is the strange strategy of politics
With the lifting of travel restrictions, the protection provided by the vaccinations and the supposed safety through tests have been completely undermined. Why is that so? Quite simply, the world’s democracies are not pandemic-resistant. In other words, governments simply lose too many voters if they tighten the screw too tight with lockdowns. In this awareness, the politicians of this world risk the health of their voters in order to save their own skin or power. This is actually quite easy to see through, but hardly anyone wants to admit it. We live in a world of selfishness, and this is not easy to accept. But even the hamster purchases during the first lockdowns opened the eyes of the waking spirits among the population. Opening up to tourism regardless of loss will propel us into the next catastrophe. This is already completely clear, but the main thing is that numerous people were on holiday again. True to the motto, after us the flood. This to the political bad planning.

Start of the second race of the WorldSBK in Assen on Sunday, July 25th, 2021 with in blue and the number 54 Toprak Razgatlioglu and the 31 Garrett Gerloff (both Yamaha YZF-R1), who got in each other’s way in turn one. On the left, the latter and three-time winner this weekend, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR). The two Yamaha pilots have already extended their contract beyond the 2021 season, which actually also applies to Kawasaki Ass Rea. However, no details were published with him in the previous year.

The new combined calendar for MotoGP and WorldSBK without BuriRam

A few days ago the GP of Thailand fell from the calendar listed below, in the revised, still provisional version. In red letters are the MotoGP events, which formally cannibalize the WSBK events, because of course the near-series world championship is enjoying a shadowy existence with the majority of fans and the public. It is also a nuisance for the media, except for us in a genteel way. But professional news portals and TV stations, which usually broadcast both series, are also challenged, if not overwhelmed. We have already made up our minds and are sending out a small, perhaps even tiny, sign. On our side, from August 6th to 8th, everything will primarily revolve around WorldSBK. On the other hand, we are virtually ignoring MotoGP this weekend and will only report on it in a summary at the beginning of the following week. Definitely a small sign that all readers can bear, but it is likely to be repeated for the collision between the GP of Misano and WSBK Barcelona. As real bikers with passion, we want to remain loyal to the near-series World Championship even in times of crisis. On these weekends, the MotoGP should take care of scribes, of whom the majority only knows the word border area from hearsay.

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