2015 WSBK Season Comes To A Close Under The Lights In Qatar
With the 2015 World Superbike championship already decided, the season-ending round at Qatar would be a fight for glory, as some familiar faces and a few new ones fought their way to the front.
In WSBK race 1, Kawasaki riders Tom Sykes and 2015 champion Jonathan Rea led off the line, with Chaz Davies (Ducati), Alex Lowes (Suzuki) trailing. The Aprilia pairing of Leon Haslam and Jodi Torres not far behind.
Lowes eventually dropped out of the race with a mechanical failure, and suddenly the Aprilia men were gaining ground on the leaders. At the beginning of the eighth lap, Torres overtook Davies for third, and by the 12th lap took second place from Sykes. Only a lap later he snatched the lead away from Rea, who fought desperately to hang on. In the end, Torres took the win, followed by Rea in second and Sykes in third.
In race 2, Sykes and Rea on the Kawasakis once again got off the line very well when the lights went out, but from the very first laps it was an immediate battle with Chaz Davies, Leon Haslam and Jordi Torres. At the front of this leading group of six was Ducati rider Chaz Davies, followed by Aprilia rider Leon Haslam and the Kawasaki riders. During the sixth lap, Jonathan Rea was forced to return to the pit lane and withdraw due to a technical problem. Haslam managed to move into the lead momentarily in the 12th lap but then he was forced to hand it back over to Chaz Davies a few turns later. In the 16th lap it was Jordi Torres crashing out and a battle for first place between Leon Haslam and Chaz Davies. In the end, the Aprilia rider got the upper hand, overtaking Chaz Davies on the last turn to snatch the top step of the podium from him. Behind them, Tom Sykes finished third.
In this round the Superbike riders opted for various solutions. On the rear preferences in both races were split almost equally between the standard SC0, chosen, for example, by the Aprilia and Suzuki riders, and the T0611 SC0 development solutions, used by the Kawasaki and Ducati riders.
On the front, the S1699 SC1 development solution was the most used solution, and also the most used tire throughout the 2015 season. Jonathan Rea and Sylvain Guintoli preferred the T1467 SC1 development tire, which comes closest to the SC2 solution usually used by these riders. There were only three riders (Badovini, Vizziello and Ponsson) who opted instead for the T1616 SC1 development solution, the least known as it was brought only to Jerez and Magny-Cours this year.
Troy's been riding motorcycles and writing about them since 2006, getting his start at Rider Magazine. From there, he moved to Sport Rider Magazine before finally landing at Motorcycle.com in 2011. A lifelong gearhead who didn't fully immerse himself in motorcycles until his teenage years, Troy's interests have always been in technology, performance, and going fast. Naturally, racing was the perfect avenue to combine all three. Troy has been racing nearly as long as he's been riding and has competed at the AMA national level. He's also won multiple club races throughout the country, culminating in a Utah Sport Bike Association championship in 2011. He has been invited as a guest instructor for the Yamaha Champions Riding School, and when he's not out riding, he's either wrenching on bikes or watching MotoGP.
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