EXCITING CONTENT
There were fans in the grandstand during every race but come the WorldSSP race , and the arrival of Kenan on track to actually race , it was simply packed . Malaysia - not so far from Indonesia , obviously - has provided no less than three different racetracks for WorldSBK to conduct its high speed business . The first one used was Shah Alam , almost a city centre track on the edge of Kuala Lumpur . We raced there twice , from 1990 to ’ 91 , before Johor was visited three times between 1992 and 1993 . Johor was a Ducati favourite , with all four wins taken by 888 riders . Then , no Malaysia until the MotoGP™ venue of Sepang welcomed the production-derived world of Superbikes from 2014 to 2016 . A remarkable venue in so many ways , it delivered a list of race winners that was like a ‘ who ’ s who ’ of modern day WorldSBK racing - and MotoGP™ - stars . Marco Melandri , Jonathan Rea , Chaz Davies , Tom Sykes and … the late and sadly missed Nicky Hayden . Yes , Asia and Sepang provided the only race win for former MotoGP™ champion Hayden , who fought back the tears after proving he could win in a completely different World Championship from MotoGP™ , and on a bike that was by no means the fastest thing at that time . That unforgettable moment took place in 2016 . Losail may be geographically a very far way from Indonesia , but its position as a regular WorldSBK round has seen it host 22 complete WorldSBK races , in two tranches . First in the early 2000s ( in the heat of the day in the springtime ), and then from 2014 to 2019 ( in the slightly cooler nighttime under the unique acres of floodlights ). Pick your highlights out of all those Losail races ? How about Max Biaggi ’ s first ever race win in WorldSBK , in 2007 ? Or the epic WorldSSP championship decider in 2018 , which finally went in favour of Sandro Cortese over Jules Cluzel , after a gigantic sand and rainstorm that threatened to wipe everything out . Or another all-time nerve-jangler in 2014 , the first year of floodlights , as Tom Sykes finally lost his once strong championship lead . Clever tactics from Aprilia gave Sylvain Guintoli a bike fit for a new king and he duly took the crown at the final round . It was , as I am sure we all remember , amazingly tense stuff , and all done under what felt like a million floodlights and fill-in lamps for the first time in WorldSBK , in the warm desert air of The Gulf . Amazing , unique , and finally a venue that often decided the final championship position itself or the final top three . The most-often visited WorldSBK venue in the overall Asian continent is Sportsland Sugo , near the city of Sendai in Japan . Yes , the same city that was so badly affected by a massive Tsunami and earthquake some years after WorldSBK stopped going . So many countries and cities were affected by that horrible natural disaster , it was not limited to any one region by any means . But it was still shocking for many in the WorldSBK paddock to see the city that most people stayed in for the Sugo race weekends suffer so badly in that time , especially after so many intense positive memories of racing at Sugo . Located in the hills above the coast , Sugo was incredibly scenic in an oldschool kind of way , and as we have seen already , it was the scene of more wildcard upsets and strength in depth than maybe even the British , American or Australia rounds . Few are likely to forget how long the slow shuttle bus took to get back into Sendai , with every service packed to the rafters . It even had a small mini-golf course on site . If you want to find the anomalies - the peculiarities - in the WorldSBK stats books , best look at Sugo first . Youngest ever rider , rookies winning races , manufacturers not winning during certain seasons in ‘ Europe ’ but putting in strong finishes at Sugo , and sometimes Sugo only . For this kind of oddball thing look to a circuit in Japan that has hosted 32 full WorldSBK races . We haven ’ t been there since 2003 , but nobody who ever went there does not remember it all vividly . The Japanese factories still look to the Suzuka 8 Hours before the advent of a four-stroke MotoGP™ class , WorldSBK at Sugo was the next biggest thing that all those four-stroke engine specialists could get their competitive teeth into . And that was just the factories . The local riders pulled off some startling results over the middle years of Sugo competition , with only the best regular riders in the series in with a hope of a podium place , never mind a race win . In the early years , from the first season of 1988 to Yuichi Takeda winning in 1996 , the Canadians , Americans , Australians and Europeans were always the race winners , with even Mick Doohan winning a race there in 1988 . WorldSBK greats Doug Polen , Scott Russell , Raymond Roche and Carl Fogarty all took their turns to win . In general , only the very best regulars could take on the locals and win at Sugo . And then , from 1996 to the second race of 2001 , every single Sugo race was won by a Japanese rider - and all four factories took wins as well . One year , largely due to the usually dominant Michelin tyres not working so well compared to the locally sourced Dunlops , even Troy Bayliss was only13th and then 15th . The kind of result that just does not normally happen . Anywhere . Sugo was entirely its ‘ own place ’ the kind of place where dramas unfolded . The biggest one ? The strongest memory ? Has to be when a certain Carl Fogarty went from third in the championship entering the final round there in 1998 to the championship winner by Sunday evening . His rivals Troy Corser and Aaron Slight had their own nightmare weekends , with Corser ruled out after rupturing his spleen in an otherwise innocuous looking practice crash and Slight having enough tyre issues to lose enough competitive potential that Fogarty took the crown by a margin of 4.5 points . It had been close going into the Sugo weekend that year but it was even closer on the flight home to Europe as Sugo had done its endlessly unpredictable thing once again . After something of a resurgence for the regular WorldSBK riders in the final two WorldSBK years in Japan of 2002 and 2003 , WorldSBK waits for a chance to return to the home of most of its competing manufacturers . But World Superbike ’ s love affair with Asia has restarted again thanks to Indonesia , and now we visit Mandalika , a new track in an old WorldSBK country . WorldSBK has visited Indonesia and Sentul four times in all , between 1994 and 1997 . The relatively short and geometric 3.975km long circuit witnessed the first and only WorldSBK race win for Englishman James Whitham , on a privateer Ducati , full stop . Carl Fogarty won the second race in 1994 and the first in 1995 , with Aaron Slight also scoring a race win in 1995 , on an RC45 Honda . Former MotoGP™ rider and 250cc GP champion John Kocinski won the next three races in succession at Sentul , two on a Ducati and then one in his WorldSBK championship winning year with Honda in 1997 . Who had the last word in Indonesia , before we return this year to Mandalika ? Why , Carl Fogarty of course , on his way to title number three of four . Sentul is still active as race circuit but now we start another Indonesian adventure , on the Island of Lombok , at an all-new circuit . Another Asian adventure for WorldSBK , after being away for too long since the last race in Asia at Qatar , at the very end of the remarkable 2019 season
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