BMW Motorrad Motorsport in Most: solid WorldSBK weekend with highlights
Most. The eighth round of the FIM Superbike World Championship 2023 (WorldSBK) in Most (CZE) delivered solid results and some highlights for BMW Motorrad Motorsport, both teams and the four BMW Motorrad factory riders. Michael van der Mark (NED), returning to the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team after missing an extended period due to injury, chalked up some points and got plenty of race kilometres under his belt.
Race one on Saturday afternoon developed into a tyre lottery. Rain set in at the start, but the expectation was that it would ease off and the track would quickly dry out. So, the key question on the wet grid was: which tyres should we start the race on? Van der Mark played it safe by starting on wet-weather tyres and then pitted after a few laps to switch to slicks. He scored points in his first race after a long, injury-enforced break, finishing 13th.
It rained once again on Saturday night and Sunday morning, but the track dried out in time for the Superpole Race before noon and Van der Mark crossed the finishing line in 14th position. Rain clouds re-appeared before the start of the second main race on Sunday afternoon, but conditions remained dry for the race. Van der Mark finished 15th to score another point.
The WorldSBK is now taking a summer break. The ninth round of the 2023 season will take place on 8th to 10th September in Magny-Cours, France.
Michael van der Mark, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team (SP: 18 / R01: 13 / SP Race: 14 / R02: 15): “This Sunday was OK for me. My priority was to do as many laps as possible. Of course you also want to go as fast as possible too. In this morning’s Superpole race, I was happy. I had quite a good rhythm but it was not more than ten laps. Then in race two, I had a good start but was a bit too cautious into turn one and then I was behind a big group. I stayed with them for a while but I was pushing too much to stay with them so I backed off because I knew I had to do as many laps as possible. It was a lonely race but we had to finish, we had to do the laps. So I am happy with the result. Overall, it’s nice to be back.”