Kawasaki Tom SykesThe Sepang International Circuit debuted on the World Superbike calendar last year, challenging the grid with a new layout and the steamy Malaysian climate. Sepang was a known circuit in Grand Prix racing, and riders with MotoGP experience were immediately up to speed. The 2014 SBK results showed this relationship; the would-be 2014 SBK Champion Sylvain Guintoli earned Superspole and a pair of seconds on race day, and Marco Melandri doubled.Sepang returned to the World SBK calendar this week for the second-straight year, and wildcard rider Max Biaggi topped Friday’s rain-plagued sessions. The rain wasn’t an issue during Saturday’s Superpole; this time it was heat as the riders encountered hot 93-degree (F) temps.
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes didn’t seem affected by the high temps as he piloted his Ninja ZX-10R to his 28th career Superpole win. The 2013 World SBK Champion earned the pole position with a lap of 2:03.240. To put this into perspective, the Best Lap at Sepang is a 2:03.002 (Guintoli, 2014).Joining Sykes on the front row for Sunday’s two 16-lap races are Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils’ Jordi Torres and Pata Honda World Superbike’s Sylvain Guintoli. As for Guintoli, this is his first front-row start of 2015 World SBK.Following 2015 Sepang SBK Superpole, Tom Sykes said: “I had a great start to the weekend as my wife had just given birth to a baby daughter. On track we were a little bit behind to start with as we had a big schedule of work this weekend and had to compromise on it because of the session we missed yesterday in the rain. That is the same for everybody so overall I am relatively happy. We did what we wanted for Superpole and did what we wanted to do in Free Practice 4.“The bike settings came good and I was really happy for that. In FP3 we stayed on a harder tyre all session just to evaluate some things and we almost got caught out. On paper seventh at that point may have looked bad, but in reality it was not the case and we moved back up the order. I think tomorrow will be interesting and we do not look in bad shape, so I am relatively confident. The weather may be a bit hit and miss but we are set-up now for dry conditions.”Heading up row two is the 43-year-old two-time SBK Champion Biaggi, who qualified ahead of Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Alex Lowes and the man who doubled at Laguna Seca two weeks ago, Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK’s Chaz Davies.Qualifying on row three are the current points leader, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea, Aprilia Racing Team’s Leon Haslam and Althea Racing Ducati’s Niccolo Canepa, respectively.Canepa’s teammate Matteo Baiocco qualified in 10th, followed by Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) with as it stands Italian Ayrton Badovini in 12th, the BMW Motorrad Italia rider has however been declared unfit and will take no further part in the weekend after his crash in FP4, World SBK reports.The riders return to the Sepang circuit Sunday for round 10 of the 2015 World SBK Championship.
2015 Sepang Superbike on TV
beIN will broadcast 2015 Sepang Superbike from 11 a.m. to 12:55 p.m. ET Sunday, August 2.
2015 Sepang SBK Superpole Results:
1 .Tom Sykes, 2m03.240s: GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team 2. Jordi Torres, 2m03.510s: ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils 3. Sylvain Guintoli, 2m03.836s: FRA HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team 4. Max Biaggi, 2m03.948s: ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils 5. Alex Lowes, 2m04.018s: GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki 6. Chaz Davies, 2m04.179s: GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team 7. Jonathan Rea, 2m04.207s: GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team 8. Leon Haslam, 2m04.214s: GBR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils 9. Niccolo Canepa, 2m04.654s: ITA DUCATI Althea Racing 10. Matteo Baiocco, 2m05.000s: ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Ultimate Motorcycling’s weekly Podcast—Motos and Friends.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s Podcast is brought to you by Yamaha motorcycles. Discover how the YZF-R7 provides the perfect balance of rider comfort and true supersport performance by checking it out at YamahaMotorsports.com, or see it for yourself at your local dealer.
This week’s episode features Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s impressions of the beautiful new Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST that is loosely based around the original FXRT Sport Glide from the 1980s. Hailing from The Golden State, these cult-status performance machines became known as West Coast style, with sportier suspension, increased horsepower, and niceties including creature comforts such as a tidy fairing and sporty luggage.
In past episodes you might have heard us mention my best friend, Daniel Schoenewald, and in the second segment I chat with him about some of the really special machines in his 170 or so—and growing—motorcycle collection. He’s always said to me that he doesn’t consider himself the owner, merely the curator of the motorcycles for the next generation.
Yet Daniel is not just a collector, but I can attest a really skilled rider. His bikes are not trailer queens, they’re ridden, and they’re ridden pretty hard. Actually, we have had many, many memorable rides on pretty much all of the machines in the collection at one time or another.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
