Bad weather takes its toll on WorldSBK once again

The World Superbike Championship’s battle against the elements showed no sign of abating after the first day of its in-season test was hampered by rain.

Two weeks after heavy downpours forced the cancellation of the final WorldSBK race in Imola, yet more bad weather in Italy – this time Misano – played havoc with testing plans for most of the leading teams. Before that snow caused organisers to scrap one of the three races at Assen too.

Though teams did take advantage to get some wet weather mileage in and an improvement in conditions in the final hour enabled quicker times, it was not the full programme that had been planned for the likes of Kawasaki, Ducati and Yamaha.

The inclement weather was particularly frustrating for series returnees Ten Kate Racing, which had intentionally delayed its anticipated return to racing to Jerez next week so it could attend the Misano test and acquire data with rider Loris Baz.

Similarly, with Honda Moriwaki Althea tipped to use Xavi Fores to replace the injured Leon Camier in Spain, the test is seen as a chance for him to become acquainted with the electronic-equipped Honda CBR1000RR for the first time.

Frustratingly for the teams, the weather only shows minor improvements for Thursday, with rain only expected to stop in the afternoon.

Come to Italy they said, it’s beautiful this time of year...
Currently wetter than an otter’s pocket here in Misano. @NickCanepa59 doing some shakedown work on new parts, lucky chap... #YamahaRacing #WeR1 pic.twitter.com/fPFx9oHn35

— Pata Yamaha WorldSBK (@PataYamahaWSBK) May 29, 2019

Not much track action at the moment here @circuitomisano #WorldSBK testing as 'raindrops keep falling on our heads' #forzaducati pic.twitter.com/bavzrCF1kc

— Aruba.it Racing (@ArubaRacing) May 29, 2019