It was a terrible struggle to wrench myself away from my yacht sailing around the Tropics but the WorldSBK championship returned at the weekend, after what seemed like a spring, summer and autumn break, at Lausitzring in Germany. If only there had been one more week of holiday.

In reality getting back into it was like it always is, as if I had never been away. It was nearly ten years since the series had last been to Lausitzring and my memory from then didn’t have me frothing with excitement at a return. Sure enough I arrived on Thursday afternoon to find there was no desk space left in the press office and no wifi codes left to give out. I was told that they had laid out 75 places and generated 75 codes. The press room staff didn’t think there would be over 100 people. Now I am sorry if I am trying to over simplify things but if you add the number of permanently accredited media to the number of one-event accreditations I think you will come up with a number that will tell you how many seats and wifi codes you will need. Just a suggestion, but they can keep that one for next year, see how it goes.

In terms of the championship there now seems that there aren’t enough seats to go around either. Over the break there was a hectic game of musical chairs that has seen several rider changes.

Stefan Bradl drafted into the Ten Kate Honda squad and that prompted the announcement that Michael van der Mark had finally decided to jump ship to Yamaha. I think it’s a bit of a gamble on both sides. The Yamaha hasn’t set the heather on fire so far, and whilst Bradl is a quality rider there is no guarantee that he will find his form on a Superbike. It seems the talented Dutchman just really wanted a change. His results this year have shown promise but he explained in an interview to his home media that there were still issues with the electronics package on the Honda that were limiting its potential. Personally I like Michael and he has a great riding style and bit of a win-or-bust attitude that makes for good racing. I hope he finds his feet quickly at Yamaha and gets the results he is looking for.

That move has left Sylvain Guintoli looking for a new seat as has Ducati’s Davide Giugliano. The young Italian has lost his ride to Marco Melandri. A really strange choice for me. Giugliano has struggled to find form again after his big crash that resulted in a broken back last year, but he has shown in flashes this season that the speed is there. His team-mate Chaz Davies has at times been utterly dominant, so the bike is definitely fast. There was also the chance of Eugene Laverty taking his seat as well but apparently the Italian telecommunications sponsor, Aruba.it were concerned about falling interest in the WorldSBK series and demanded a big name Italian rider, hence Melandri. He may well draw in a few more Italian TV viewers but given Davies’ current form he will surely be playing second fiddle in that garage.

Laverty has found himself re-united with Aprilia but at the Milwaukee squad who have severed their ties with BMW; rather harshly as well with team boss Shaun Muir posting a picture of his race bike on social media with the simple caption – For Sale. Laverty will be joined by Lorenzo Savadori from the current IODA Aprilia squad. It therefore looks as though current Milwaukee rider Josh Brookes will be heading back to the UK to race in BSB whilst team-mate Karel Abraham is looking for a ride elsewhere in the WorldSBK paddock. I am sure he will come with enough backing to find something somewhere.

The races themselves at the weekend were fairly intriguing. Davies was on another planet in ideal conditions but was highly critical of the Lausitzring track. Most riders who rode at the test in August had complained that the track was incredibly bumpy. There are several changes of surface as well and the white lines and curbing being very unforgiving, particularly when the short circuit came on and off the oval. Most of them felt that it wasn’t really up to standard for modern Superbike racing.

Jonathan Rea got a ‘Get Out Of Jail Card’ on Sunday when the heavens opened as the grid formed up for race two on Sunday. On Saturday he suffered a recurring problem in race one, finding neutral out on track and crashing out of the race as a result. The team rebuilt the bike overnight and changed things to make it harder to select neutral on the grid but hopefully resolve the problem on track. There was a lot of debate in the pressroom if the problem was Rea’s doing as team-mate Sykes hadn’t been suffering the same fate. In the end the weather intervened. This time Sykes fell and Rea dominated on the treacherous surface, meaning we left Germany with the championship standings more or less where they were when we arrived.

Next stop is Magny Cours where the weather can play a part as well. Thankfully it is historically a venue where we get a huge crowd of fans that creates a brilliant atmosphere, as well as a track that has thrown up some great races in the past. Maybe we should have just skipped Lausitzring and headed straight to Magny Cours. At least I would have got that extra week aboard my fantasy yacht [and a press room seat? ed]

Photo by GeeBee Images