The FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) is at Misano on the Italian Adriatic coast, this weekend for round three of the 2021 season. Saturday proved to be a difficult day for BMW Motorrad Motorsport. Tom Sykes (GBR) and Michael van der Mark (NED) from the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team ended the opening race in eighth and tenth place. Jonas Folger (GER / Bonovo MGM Racing) finished 16th, narrowly missing out on points. Eugene Laverty (IRL), riding for the Italian RC Squadra Corse team, was unable to take part in Superpole and race one following a crash in the morning’s free practice session.
In Saturday morning’s Superpole, Sykes finished fifth on his BMW M 1000 RR to secure a spot on the second row of the grid. Van der Mark was 13th, while Folger came home 15th in Superpole. In the race itself, Sykes was running in the top six until the penultimate lap. However, he then dropped two places.
Right from the word go, van der Mark set his sights on the top ten, crossing the finish line in tenth place after 21 laps of racing. Folger was 16th, missing out on the points by just one-tenth of a second.
Fans are permitted in the grandstands at Misano for the first time this season. They were given a special welcome from the starting grid by Sykes, van der Mark, Folger and BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director Marc Bongers – with signs which said “Welcome back Fans. Bentornati.”
Following his crash, Laverty was examined in the medical centre at the circuit and was not given the go-ahead to take his place in race one. He will now be examined again before the warm-up on Sunday morning when it will be decided whether or not he may take part in the Sunday sessions.
