Alex Laws (left) congratulating Sam Laws on a good fight.
The FIM Superbike World Championship (WSBK), where monster machines based on commercially available sports bikes compete, begins at Phillip Island (Australia) at the end of February. The second race will be held from March 22nd (Friday) to March 24th (Sunday) at the Catalunya Circuit near Barcelona, Spain. All 12 rounds (36 races) will be broadcast live on J SPORTS this season. This time we will provide a race preview of the second race, Catalunya (Barcelona).
Well, did you see the opening race at Phillip Island? Did the situation when the season opened match your expectations before the season started?
I think the result probably exceeded most people’s expectations. A close battle and an unpredictable melee rarely seen in history. The opening match of this season’s WSBK gave me a feeling that it was going to be a really exciting event.
J SPORTS On-demand program information
The first unexpected element was the struggle of champion Alvaro Bautista (Ducati). Until last year, Ducati and Bautista showed such speed and had a big advantage on the straight sections, but it feels like there are no longer any situations where it is clear that Bautista will win.
Starting this season, WSBK has set a handicap for rider weight as a new regulation. The standard weight is now 80kg, and riders who are lighter than the standard must carry a certain amount of ballast (weight) on their vehicle. The idea is to suppress the advantage of lighter, smaller riders and make adjustments so that even larger riders can compete. However, this is nothing but a nuisance for Bautista, who is light and small.
Bautista has strengthened his muscle training to gain weight and strengthened his physical strength, rather than gaining ballast. Not wanting to let anyone say that he won because he was small, he fought for the win in race 2. Although he lost by a nose to Alex Laws (Kawasaki) for second place, he ran a great race to overcome the handicap imposed on him.
2024-03-23 11:42:53
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