WSBK: Magny Cours Preview: Title on the horizon for Rea

World Superbikes in 2018 is coming to an end – well, it isn’t but the race for the title is. Jonny Rea has stormed off with the championship and could win at the first time of asking at Magny Cours on Saturday. The Northern Irish sensation has dazzled us for the last few years aboard the Kawasaki and he looks set to take a record-equalling fourth title, the only rider to do so in consecutive years. But instead of focusing on the negative side of a championship being won early, lets focus on the close racing that usually happens at Magny Cours, a track where anyone and usually everyone causes an upset. Who will it be in 2018?

Jonny Rea’s record at Magny Cours is a mixed one in all fairness, having only taken his first win at the track last year, whilst being forced out of race two due to an ankle injury. Three pole positions – including two in the last two seasons – make Rea a favourite to do well at the circuit, whilst his 2018 form isn’t bad either. With the exception of race two at Brno, the triple-champ has been no lower than 3rd since Aragon, a remarkable achievement. Since Brno, he has been a race winner in every race. Can he go on to win the remaining six races of the year? The Ulsterman has already set a personal best of six on the bounce in his current form and will look to extend it. The highest number of consecutive races wins is nine in WSBK, held jointly by Colin Edwards in 2002 and Neil Hodgson in 2003 – it is fair to say that we are witnessing history, whether we bloody well like it or not!

Chaz Davies still has a mathematical chance of the championship but his season has unraveled horribly whilst Jonny Rea’s has taken off. Just two wins for the Welshman this season and without a win since race two at Aragon, it is fair to say that the Aruba.IT Ducati rider has gone completely off the boil. It has been over two and a half months since Davies stepped on the podium, back when he was 2nd at Misano in race one on the 7th July. Still injured, it will be a tough job to hold off Jonny Rea’s title charge now, so we will turn our attention to the battle for 2nd place between himself and Dutch revelation, Michael van der Mark. Those two are separated by just 20 points and last year, Davies scored 50 points more than ‘Magic Michael’. Although we know that 2018 has been a completely different story. Currently on 29 wins, the Welshman will want to make it 30 before the season is out.

Michael van der Mark occupies the 3rd place in the championship and makes it three different manufacturers inside the top three. The Dutchman has been a joy to watch in 2018, noticeably becoming a lot more ‘at one’ with the Yamaha R1 as the season has unfolded. van der Mark was a podium man at the Magny Cours circuit last year and will want to repeat the achievement in 2018 too, maybe even notching up a win a track that he has never finished outside of the top ten at before. The Pata Yamaha ace has the beating of teammates Alex Lowes, of that there is no doubt (at the moment), but can he get the beating of the Factory Aruba.IT Ducati and finish runner-up – if he to do that, he’d be the first non-British rider to finish 2nd in the championship since Eugene Laverty (Irish) back in 2013.

It is quite sad to see former WSBK champion Tom Sykes languishing down the order in 2018, the season clearly not going his way after what was quite a good start in Australia. The Huddersfield-ace hasn’t had a podium since race one at Brno – even longer than Chaz Davies has had to wait! Out of a ride at Kawasaki for 2019 and a prickly relationship with teammate Jonny Rea, Sykes will be hoping to take it to Rea at Magny Cours, having been on the podium at least once a year there in the last three years. Two poles at the circuit also suggest that he may well be able to do something special from the front row but time will only tell. With just one win this year and the championship now mathematically impossible, it is all about pride and glory for ‘Sykesy’ now.

Marco Melandri’s season started so brightly but it’s starting to finish on a bit of a whimper. Having said that, the 5th-placed man in the championship has been on the podium in the last three races, better than his teammate’s run of form. With no future at Aruba.IT Ducati for next year, Melandri will want to prove the Italian manufacturer wrong about losing him, as he heads to Magny Cours with an 11 point deficit to Tom Sykes in 4th. The Italian has five 2nd-places and one win to his name at the iconic French track, as he goes in pursuit of adding to that tally this year. 2nd and 5th in 2017, can Melandri add to his two wins at Phillip Island before the season closes?
Alex Lowes had a relatively dire Portuguese round, when he returned from the ridiculously long summer break and slumped home to a 10th and 11th. The Pata Yamaha rider is 80 points behind his teammate and 25 behind Marco Melandri, meaning that Magny Cours is a crucial round to get a good points haulage. Lowes stepped on the podium for the first time ever at Magny Cours in the 2017 season, finishing a well earned 2nd place and just three seconds behind Chaz Davies’ Ducati. Can the Lincolnshire rider manage another podium and end the season strongly, possibly breaking into the top five? If he does and teammate van der Mark stays in the top five too, it’ll be the first time since 2011 that two Yamahas have been inside the top five at the end of the season. Can you believe it’s been that long?

Other riders to keep an eye on round Magny Cours will be Leon Camier, who led the race for MV Agusta at the circuit last year and will be eager to get the Red Bull Honda inside the top six and if possible, on the podium – like he came so close to doing earlier on in the year. The Milwaukee Aprilias have clearly turned a corner, with Laverty giving the team a pole at Portimao whilst Savadori fought through to 6th. Xavi Fores is another rider to watch out for, whilst Loris Baz will be looking to build on his best weekend yet from Portugal. Jake Gagne has been in the points since race two at Brno and he comes to a track that he knows from last year too, so maybe he will be able to surprise us with a top ten. He was 12th last season.