The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team ended the double-header at MotorLand Aragón (ESP) with the Superpole race and race two on Sunday. The racetrack near Alcañiz hosted the fourth and fifth events of the FIM Superbike World Championship season. In the Superpole race, Tom Sykes (GBR) and Eugene Laverty (IRL) finished in P9 and P14 on their BMW S 1000 RRs. In the second main race, Laverty finished in eleventh. For Sykes, a minor technical issue had a major impact and he was unable to compete.
Sykes started the sprint race on Sunday morning from fourth on the grid but lost positions over the ten laps and crossed the finish line in ninth place. Laverty, who started from 16th on the grid, made up two places and was in 14th at the chequered flag. For the second main race in the afternoon, that meant ninth on the grid for Sykes and 16th for Laverty.
When the field completed the warm-up lap from the starting grid, Sykes’ quickshifter failed. Instead of being able to return to the grid, he had to head for the pit and his race was over before it could really get started. From 16th on the grid, Laverty put pressure on the riders in front of him as he had done on Saturday, and got embroiled in several duels. That saw him pick up further points for finishing eleventh after 20 laps.
Eugene Laverty
“This morning’s short race was not going to suit me today as I came strong in the latter stage of yesterday’s race one, so it was always going to be a challenge to get myself further up the field. The final race of the weekend I was optimistic, but unfortunately it seemed that others were able to maintain their pace better. We need to find a way to use the rear tyre in the same way our competition does, but while it may not look it on paper, we have made huge progress in these last six days at Motorland Aragon. The bike is starting to work really well; there is just one final piece of the puzzle which is to really extract everything from the rear tyre, which I’m sure we can get to in Barcelona.”