BMW Motorrad WorldSBK rider, Tom Sykes certainly turned up the heat during this morning’s Tissot Superpole sprint race. Sykes managed to get into a battle with Laverty and similar to yesterday’s Race 1 came on strong in the latter stage of the race. Managing to gap Laverty in the closing laps he would bring his BMW S 1000 RR in another strong P5, putting him on the second row of the grid ahead of the final race of the weekend.

Looking to make amends from yesterday’s tangle with Jonathan Rea, Markus Reiterberger was lucky to evade another T1 crash with Michael Van der Mark and Michael Ruben Rinaldi on the opening lap.

Markus looked strong in the opening laps as he lay in P8 just behind teammate Tom Sykes. Despite the good start the luckless Reiterberger was forced to retire with a technical problem – again prematurely ending his race.

In the final race of the weekend it would be yet another dominant display by Alvaro Bautista as he claimed his ninth win of the season. BMW Motorrad WorldSBK’s Tom Sykes ran a difficult race as he suffered from rear grip issues moving him down the field from P5, to claim a final position of P12.

A weekend to forget for the German Markus Reiterberger with 2 DNF’s in Race 1 and 2. Markus started Race 3 in P11 however failed to improve on this position as he picked up the final point in P15.

A weekend of two tales for the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team with Tom Sykes taking 26 points and grabbing two solid top 5 finishes. On the other hand, a real unlucky Markus Reiterberger who took a single point from all three races after his race 1 crash, technical problem and P15 in the final race.

The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team will now travel to the Netherlands for Round 4 of the World Superbike Championship at the world famous TT Assen Circuit. (12-15 April).


Shaun Muir – Team Principal

“We had a very good Superpole yesterday which set us up for the weekend. We obviously then started today’s Superpole race in a good situation. Tom fought really well, Markus had a technical issue which sadly put him out and had to start from 11th in today’s main race but Tom had a strong Superpole Race and he battled through.

We can obviously see where the deficiencies are with the bike but I think overall it has been a promising weekend and we’ve made some good steps forward. Clearly, the main race was difficult for us to watch. Markus again had a technical issue and Tom was really struggling with rear grip. Once he was in a group of riders, he was clearly faster in the corners but slower on the straights and he was always in a difficult situation. It was a long race for him and one by one he got picked off. Eventually he brought the bike home with points. Not where we wanted to be but two strong races out of three has not been a bad weekend for us.”

Marc Bongers – BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director

“Overall, we feel that we had a very good weekend that unfortunately ended in a disappointing way. We are pleased, but of course it’s a shame that we had such a tough final race after the good results in the first main race, and in the Superpole race.
Both riders told us that the tyres had very little grip, but that alone cannot be the reason. Markus had a few problems with the electronics in the second race. We would have liked to have carried the positive feelings into the next race, but we will just try and forget about it and pick up where we left off in the Superpole Race.”

Tom Sykes (GBR)

“Honestly, it has been a very positive weekend for the entire BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team. I feel that we have again made some steps forward. I am very impressed and also there have been a lot of people inside the racing paddock who have commented on the potential of the BMW S 1000 RR, so I think we are heading in the right direction and are definitely making good progress.

Everything was good, we were top five in most of the sessions and with the exception of my mistake in Superpole almost could have had pole. In the final race we did not have the correct rear traction, which is a shame because the bike did not change and on the same tyre I was so fast during the race weekend, so with my honest opinion and with my experience I certainly feel we perhaps did not have a tyre that was to its full potential. It was a bit of a disappointment on a great weekend but this is part of racing. Sometimes these things happen and we will be making up for this moving forward.”

Markus Reiterberger (GER)

“After my fall yesterday, I was not sure how I would feel, but I was back to normal this morning and the medical check gave me the green light. I felt great during warm-up and I managed to produce eight to ten really fast laps which meant that I was ready for the race.

We changed the ratio a bit for the Superpole race as the wind was so strong, so we were expecting some slipstream duels. It didn’t feel so bad during the early laps, however, I suddenly got a warning in the cockpit and also heard some noises and had to park up the bike which was annoying, as it meant starting the second race from 11th place.

I made a normal start but once again it was another rider who knocked my handlebar - this time it was Michael van der Mark. I was just about able to stop myself from falling again. I recovered from that but then I had two massive high-sides that I was just about able to deal with. Something was not quite right and I think, but am not sure, that it could have been a problem with the tyres. In any case, it proved impossible to ride it out and I just wanted to get over the line for the points. Now we will analyse what the problem was, carry on working and start afresh at Assen.”