The action continues, in Superstock 1000. Leandro Mercaco and Raffaele De Rosa, are tied for the Superstock 1000 Cup points lead. Raffaele De Rosa, is the points leader. We've been to Aragon, Assen, and Imola. We are book ending the month of May. At post time for STK1000, we have an air temperature of 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit), and a track temperature of 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit). Check out these stats on the Italian, Raffaele De Rosa. He's the only rider to finish on the podium in all three Superstock 1000 races so far this year, and, he's on a streak, of eight consecutive podium finishes that dates back to this race at Donington Park, last year.
The wind is picking up a little bit in Leicestershire, before this race. 36 riders and motorcycles, will be racing today. Let's hope we don't have a first lap wreck, and have an uninterrupted 15 lap race. We have an impressive list of riders who have won at Donington in STK1000 before including Lorenzo Savadori who is now finding success in World Superbike. Xavier Simeon, who has won in Moto2, came out of this division. Niccolo Canepa, James Allison, Chris Vermuellen, and David Jeffries have also won STK1000 here and gone on to successful motorcycle racing careers. Last year, in 2015, was the first STK1000 race at Donington, since 2009. Roberto Tamburini starts second. Leandro Mercado is right next to Tamburini on the front row, in third.
The pole man, is the aforementioned Raffaele De Rosa, on the Althea BMW S1000RR who is our current Cup points leader and who has that streak that was mentioned. Right now, Leandro Mercado and Raffaele De Rosa, are tied on race victories. This is round four of eight. So, we are halfway home in the STK1000 Cup season, after this event. Leandro Mercado has won more races than has De Rosa. Michael Ruben Rinaldi, meanwhile, is third followed by Kevin Calia and Andrea Mantovani. The manufacturers cup is close, too, and fun to watch, because, these motorcycles, are pretty much the same ones, you can buy (with a great deal of cash, mind you), from your local dealer, and either ride on the street, or, go out and race.
Ducati leads BMW by nine points. Aprilia, Kawasaki, and Yamaha, round out the top five in the manufacturers cup standings. Raffaele De Rosa won at Assen in Holland a while ago. The BMW in stock trim will be a strong bike. Niccolo Canepa starts fourth, on the Yamaha. Yamaha has had a tough time as of late, with Sylvain Guintoli's injury, as well as those of Alex Lowes, and their regular STK1000 riders, Florian Marino, and Ricardo Russo, who are also on the mend. Niccolo Canepa fills in at Yamaha this weekend. Starting fifth will be the Aprilia RSV4 RF for Nuova M2 Racing, ridden by Italian Kevin Calia. Luca Mahias was with Yamaha in STK1000 earlier this season. But, today's race will see Niccolo Canepa, teaming up with Dutchman Danny De Boer.
Kevin Calia was on the podium at the race at Imola. Michael Ruben Rinaldi, rolls off in sixth place. Like Leandro Mercado and Raffaele De Rosa, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, depending on his result, has a chance, to take the points lead in the STK1000 Cup, after this race. Marco Faccani is seventh. Eighth on the grid is the Yamaha of Luca Marconi. Wayne Tessels starts in ninth spot. Gregg Black completes the top ten. He's the top British rider on the grid. Another Kawasaki is next, and that's bike #54 of Turkey's Toprak Razgatlioglu. Eleventh is another Kawasaki ZX10R for the Pedercini team, ridden by France's Jeremy Guarnoni. 13th on the grid is the Yamaha YZF R1 ridden by Sebastien Suchet.
Give a call to Bryan Staring. He is recovering, from a broken leg, and won't be back in action for a good while. But, his team, is still intact, with three riders as Brit Luke Jones joins Julian Puffe and David McFadden at Agro-On Benjan Kawasaki. Jones will race bike #82. These Kawasaki riders tested at the Nurburgring in Germany and at Zolder in Belgium, on the Dutch side of the country. Danny De Boer, rolls off 14th on the PATA Yamaha Stock Team Yamaha YZF R1. De Boer, is team mate, to Yamaha's World Superbike riders, then.
Italy's Emanuele Pusceddu riding the SK Barni Ducati Panigale has a stuffed animal on his bike, much like the platypus is the symbol for Roman Ramos in World Superbike. Not sure what creature Pusceddu has. Our commentary box, is filled with stuffed teddy bears. Hehe. Teddy bears, like motorcycle racing, too! We must move the teddy bears away from the window, to see the race. Sorry, teddy bears. You'll have to find a different vantage point for your view of this race. All joking aside, let's move the bear, away from the window, and take a look at the rest of the contenders.
Fabio Massei on the Team Trasimeno Yamaha YZF R1 rolls of 16th. Five minutes until we go racing, as the Alfa Romeo 4C safety car (a very lovely looking automobile I might add), pulls away from the grid to take a lap around Donington. Speaking of wonderful machines, let's reiterate, there are four makes in the top spots for this race. BMW, Aprilia, Ducati, Yamaha. Kawasaki is struggling a bit. Luke Jones, rolls off 17th. Andrea Tucci rolls off 19th, on the Yamaha for Berclaz Racing By MotoX, bike #44. One more points finish (within the top 15 places) in today's race, for Kawasaki, makes them the first brand in STK1000 history, to rack up 70 points.
This run stretches way back to 2008 at Algarve in Portugal, when South African Sheridan Morais, gave Kawasaki a single point in STK1000 in that race. Sheridan Morais was supposed to race in World Superbike here at Donington. But, we didn't see him in either of the races. Riders are ready to race. Raffaele De Rosa, the points leader, has pole. Completing the grid are Jesper Hubner from Sweden in 34th, and 35th, Marco Sbaiz, of Italy, as the bikes set off on their warmup lap. We have another packed field for this race. 36 riders and motorcycles, will take the start. We look at the points standings for the Cup. Not a championship, but a trophy cup series. Leandro Mercado and Raffaele De Rosa, are tied on 57 points apiece for the lead, while next up (in second, technically, but third in the table), is Michael Ruben Rinaldi.
Weather conditions have remained unchanged. Temperatures for track and air are still as they were when the bikes were brought to the grid. Davide McFadden (who travels to every STK1000 race directly from South Africa where he is from), and his team mate Julian Puffe (from Germany), are on the same row of the grid. We will have to watch, to answer the big question. Can this massive field of motorcycles, get through the Craner Curves and the Old Hairpin, without turning the race into a demolition derby? This is the same question, asked at every Stock 1000 race meeting. But, it's very important, here at Donington. We are ready to race, with De Rosa, the pole man, leading the field.
De Rosa on the BMW, Tamburini, on the Aprilia, and Mercado, on the Ducati. We're set to bring the action! STK1000 at Donington, is underway! Great start for Mercado and the second Aprilia. But, we've got a wreck, right on the front straight, in the back! Jeremy Guarnoni, a rider who has also run endurance motorcycle road racing, is down and out already! Can the rest of these blokes get through a clean lap? Kevin Calia has already advanced from fifth to third into the first turn at Red Gate. Niccolo Canepa on the Yamaha is going up the inside, and someone runs wide out of the Old Hairpin. Leandro Mercado is challenging Raffaele De Rosa. Local rider Gregg Black, he also wants to get up and scrap with the front runners.
Luciano Tamburini is the Aprilia mounted rider who has fallen back from his front row start. Luca Marconi was the other rider to crash on the starting line. Game over for Marconi and for Jeremy Guarnoni. Through Coppice, more riders have fallen, like dominoes. The riders fly through the Fogarty S curves and down to the Melbourne Loop. Michael Ruben Rinaldi charges into third place. Toprak Razgatlioglu is flying, and using advice, from the rider who he is protege of, Kenan Sofuoglu, who competes in World Super Sport. A couple of crashed bikes, are being removed from Goddard's corner. Those motorcycles are either headed for the junkyard, or, the repair shop. Hello? Yes. I crashed my stock motorcycle in a Superstock 1000 race, and need it fixed. Oh yes, please, bring it in and we can work on it.
Another wildcard rider, has wrecked. It's game over for Sweden's Jesper Hubner and Kawasaki Racing Team Sweden, as Hubner crashes his Kawasaki ZX10R. Poor old Hubner started right at the back of the grid, on the final row, and his race is run, with barely a lap in the books. Deary me. More drama, as at Coppice Corner, we lose another rider, to a fall. Luca Appesidiano of Italy, out. Leandro Mercado running second, is being hounded by team mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi. Rinaldi has to hold his fire, backing off a little bit. Rinaldi really wants to win his first ever STK1000 race. The bikes turn into Melbourne hairpin. 30 riders remain in the race. Six are out. Marco Sbaiz of Italy, is caboose on the field, on the #26 BWG Racing Kawasaki ZX10R.
De Rosa leads by 6/10ths of a second, and now, Tony Finsterbusch, the German, who used to be in Moto3, is out. Game over for the #9 BCC-Racing Team Kawasaki for the man from Leipzig. We are tenth of a second outside of the lap record. 1:29.984 for De Rosa. De Rosa pulls out a lead, while the battle rages between the Aruba Junior riders as Rinaldi fends off Mercado's challenge. Starkeys is a corner where you can come in fast, exit slow, or vice versa. Niccolo Canepa is up to fourth, but is a full second in-arrears of Rinaldi. Gregg Black has made a great start, and has jumped from tenth on the grid, up to sixth. Luciano Tamburini is seventh, followed by Marco Faccani, Wayne Tessels, and Toprak Razgatlioglu, completing the top ten.
We've got a yellow flag and an oil flag (yellow with red stripes) down, in the Fogarty S curves. So, one of the motorcycles has dropped oil somewhere. There's a difference in slippery surface flags. Red and yellow is for fluid. White, is for rain, and a wet surface on the road. Canepa is still being reeled in by Kevin Calia. The schedule was changed for this race. You've heard about the second World Superbike race here at Donington. But, the STK1000 blokes raced before the Superbike riders had race two. Usually, the Superstock 1000 riders, run the final race of the day. Maybe the Superbike riders will learn something, watching these folks race, as Tamburini passes Black on lap four.
Lorenzo Savadori had a best lap here at Donington in last year's STK1000 race at 1:29.824. De Rosa has run a 1:29.800. Rinaldi and Mercado run in tandem, as if the Ducati had four wheels, but isn't a car, and is still a motorcycle. Niccolo Canepa runs fourth, Kevin Calia, fifth, Luciano Tamburini in sixth. Gregg Black seventh. We've seen about three wrecks in this race so far, and the most severe of them had to be when Tony Finsterbusch went down, and his motorcycle, flew in the other direction, almost wiping out Sebastien Suchet! Game over for Finsterbusch. But, you can't help thinking, Sebastien Suchet must be petrified about going through the esses, because in his mind's eye, he still sees that flying Kawasaki right up in his face!
Raffaele De Rosa has opened up a second and a half lead. According to timing and scoring, Fabio Massei has to drop two places. He's running 16th and has to yield, falling to 18th. Massei will have to drop behind Eric Vionnet of Switzerland, and Christophe Ponsson. Ponsson had a bad wreck here last year, through Goddard's in the Superbike race. Marco Facani is in hot pursuit of Gregg Black. Gregg Black has experience on an STK1000 machine having run as early as 2007 and he's also run in the FIM Endurance World Championship, and the French 125cc series. Black almost finished in the points on a wildcard outing at Imola in 2015, but crashed out of the race before the end.
Raffaele De Rosa still leads. De Rosa would lead the points standings by five points 82-77 over Leandro Mercado, if the running order stayed as is, headed to the next race, (which has happened, but will be covered soon), at Misano in Italy. Fourth and fifth haven't changed. It's still Niccolo Canepa and Kevin Calia in those positions. Fabio Massei has not yet yielded those positions. If he goes past that signaling board at the end of the pit lane, in the gap between the lane, and the speedway, he'll be called in to take a ride through penalty. De Rosa, is checking out on the Ducati's, opening the gap, and managing it.
Mercado is stretching the advantage over Rinaldi, and this track at Donington Park, is one where making up time on another competitor, is hard to do. Niccolo Canepa is fourth on the Yamaha. He won this race for STK1000 at Donington, in 2007, riding for Ducati. Calia is going well and so is Luke Jones on debut, who is running ahead of Danny De Boer at the moment, in eleventh spot. Emanuelle Pusceddu is running well, and so are Julian Puffe and Andrea Mantovani on bike #59 completes the points paying places. Black and Facani continue to battle. Facani has been in this paddock for a while, having won the Superstock 600 championship in 2014. The top six riders scrap for the podium places and are relatively close together.
Facani wobbles the bike going into Coppice. Wayne Tessels, Gregg Black's team mate, is not far behind these two. Toprak Razgatlioglu rounds out the top ten followed by Jones, De Boer, Puffe, Pusceddu, Mantovani, and Massei, still 16th. Now, Marco Facani is going to make his move on Gregg Black. We are just past halfway in this race. Lap nine of 15. Black continues to defend. Facani passes on the inside line through McLean's. Facani will open a gap, relatively quickly. Toprak Razgatlioglu makes a pass on Wayne Tessels. Seeing the battle between Facani and Black, proves why Donington Park is not only a car racing track, but definitely, a track for motorcycle circuit racing, too.
Raffaele De Rosa, well, the man is on a Sunday cruise. De Rosa leads by 3.5 seconds and he's been top dog in every session this weekend. Luciano Tamburini, he will score points. But, he'll only finish sixth in this race. He has not had the season he expected at all, or that analysts of motorcycle road racing expected. Tamburini was expected to go for the STK1000 championship title. BMW's fortunes in STK1000 have been better than in WSBK. In Superbike, they've struggled. But, here, being that the bike is exactly the same as the one you can go to your BMW motorcycle dealer, and put down the cash for, if you desire, De Rosa, has been a cut above everyone else on the grid. He's performing better than the Ducati's or the Yamaha's. The BMW S1000RR is an impressive motorcycle.
Niccolo Canepa, though, he's pushing himself towards the Ducati's. The Yamaha R1 works very well around Donington Park. The bike does very well with directional changes, and we did see that in World Superbike, with Alex Lowes and Sylvain Guintoli. Canepa comes for the pass on Michael Ruben Rinaldi. Canepa puts the bike where he needs to be and says "arriva derci" to Rinaldi. Block the other rider, take the spot away, and get out of the corner as quickly as possible. Fabio Massei passed the pit board five times, didn't yield, and then, saw the board, and finally, came in for the ride through penalty. Michael Ruben Rinaldi is losing ground and Kevin Calia is nipping at his heels. Can Niccolo Canepa pass for second?
Rinaldi takes his left hand off the handlebar. What was that about? Not sure. Calia pursues Rinaldi and Rinaldi holds on through the sweeping Craner curves. Fabio Massei has trundled through the pit lane and rejoined the race in 28th place. Rinaldi is losing points. Roberto Tamburini is catching him. Rinaldi has to know he needs points. He's throwing them away, by struggling with his motorcycle. Game over for Marco Facani. He's out of this race. Facani has smoke spewing from his Ducati Panigale R. Gregg Black is now elevated back into the top eight at Facani's expense. Marco Sbaiz makes way for Raffaele De Rosa.
Oh wow. Kevin Calia, has passed Michael Ruben Rinaldi. Pardon me. That's Roberto Tamburini who has made a pass on Rinaldi. Rinaldi's race is going pear shaped. Raffaele De Rosa will have four podiums in four races, ten career podiums, nine straight podiums back to this race last year, and he's very comfortable on the BMW. He came through with expectations when he ran in the 250cc class. Althea won the WSBK title in 2011 when they were racing Ducati's, with Carlos Checa. Meanwhile, it's the final lap, and Roberto Tamburini is being told to drop two places, after he passed Michael Ruben Rinaldi. Niccolo Canepa is now right behind Leandro Mercado. How will this scrap end?
Raffaele De Rosa wins his second STK1000 race of the year. Mercado beats Canepa. Canepa puts a Yamaha on the podium! Luke Jones will finish in the top ten. Poor old Luciano Tamburini, will be penalized for passing under yellow when Marco Facani had his issues with his Ducati going up in smoke.
Superstock 1000 Race: #35 Raffaele De Rosa ITA. BMW S1000RR
Luciano Tamburini had to be demoted after his pass before the end of the race. Niccolo Canepa, third, Leandro Mercado, second, and Raffaele De Rosa, the winner. Leandro Mercado will lose the points lead, to Raffaele De Rosa. The next race, again, it's happened. But, you will hear about it, when STK1000 races at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Rimini, Italy.
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