WSBK preview, Donington, UK, May 22-25

The legendary Donington Park circuit will play host to the sixth round of the 2015 Superbike World Championship this weekend (May 22-25), with British riders set to dominate on their home turf.

Kawasaki's Tom Sykes is the second most successful British rider at the track after Carl Fogarty, having done the double for the last two years. Sykes also impressed in 2008, finishing second as a wildcard behind Aussie Troy Bayliss.

However, it's Sykes teammate Jonathan Rea who is generating all the headlines this season, and leads the championship by 87pts (240 to 153) over Leon Haslam (Aprilia), followed by Sykes on 128. Rea has eight wins and two second places to his name, and perhaps his best Donington memory is from 2012 when he won race two after the BMWs of Leon Haslam and Marco Melandri came together at the last corner.
Haslam will be hoping to avoid such drama this weekend, as he heads to Donington after three ‘bogey' circuits: Aragon, Assen and Imola, with his second race in Italy having featured one of the biggest crashes of his racing career. He is now attempting to put the title attack back on track in front of his many fans, friends and family members at Donington.

Chaz Davies is next in line on 123pts on his factory Ducati, and will be praying for race finishes and a strong haul of points following two very costly race retirements — both beyond his control — last time out. Davies teammate Davide Giugliano took the paddock by storm two weekends ago, dramatically clinching pole position before picking up a race one rostrum finish; all the more impressive considering this was his first round back since his pre-season testing crash.

Elsewhere, Jordi Torres (Aprilia) has become the first Spanish rider to collect a WSBK podium since Carlos Checa. However, he has another new track to learn. The UK round could be a telling one for Pata Honda (Michael van der Mark and world champion Sylvain Guintoli) and Voltcom Crescent Suzuki (Alex Lowes and Randy de Puniet) , which are both are still looking for the consistent rate of success they yearned at the start of the campaign. For Suzuki, based in Dorset, the learning curve has increased in size since the introduction of a new electronics package from the Aragón round.

Last year, Lowes finished on the podium at Donington, while de Puniet last raced at Donington in 2009, when he clinched the second of his two career MotoGP podium finishes, taking third behind Andrea Dovizioso and Colin Edwards on a wet track.

Memories of the longest ever run of consecutive points finishes are but a distant memory for world champion Guintoli, who at Imola registered a second non-finish of 2015, while van der Mark also had a difficult weekend following the heroics of Assen when the Dutchman clinched top three finishes in both of his home races.

Leon Camier (MV Agusta) is another rider with a Donington Park podium to his name, having finished on the rostrum racing alongside Max Biaggi at Aprilia in 2011. The Kent rider had made his WSBK debut at the circuit two years earlier as a wildcard with the same Yamaha team he won the British superbike title with.

Expected to return to action is Nico Terol (Ducati), who was replaced at Althea Ducati by Michel Fabrizio for Imola. Terol had been injured in the previous gathering at Assen and now hopes to be back in action at a circuit he knows from his Grand Prix racing days. Others are looking to back up a strong Imola performance as Leandro Mercado (Ducati) and Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad).

Donington is particularly special in WSBK history, as it hosted the very first race event in 1988. Home rider Roger Burnett picked up his first and what proved to be only pole position before Italians Davide Tardozzi and Marco Lucchinelli triumphed in the two heats.

In world supersport, Aussies Aiden Wagner (Kawasaki) and Glenn Scott (Honda) will continue their campaigns — the former just two rounds in — while Turkey's Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) has been the dominant force of late.