The Excitement of World Superbike Championship 2021 Mandalika, Lombok

Mandalika International Circuit (Image: via detik)

​JPTG.- The 2021 World Superbike Championship at Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit, Praya, Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara–Indonesia, has been completed. This world-class major motorsport championship was successfully held from 19-21 November 2021 at the circuit which was just built by the Indonesian government.

Amid the advantages and disadvantages of organizing this event, Indonesia has increasingly added to the stage of world-class sports and is more confident with other world-class venues. The 2021 World Super Bike Championship event at Mandalika International Circuit was expected to pave the way for the implementation of other world automotive sports such as MotoGP and Formula One (F1).

Here are some unique reports for you global travelers regarding the excitement of organizing this sporting event which we have summarized from various sources :

Characteristics of Mandalika Circuit and Directly Tried by President Joko Widodo

Mandalika International Circuit, located in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara Province, was inaugurated on November 12, 2021, and was tested directly by President Joko Widodo. This circuit has a track length of 4.3 km with a width of 15 meters and has 17 bends and has "speed trap" which is quite wide and high. This speed trap, its a kind of thrust that triggers the racer to maximize speed when riding.

This circuit track is equipped with 2 service roads, the "service road inner" and "service road outer" and a “pit lane". The service road inner is 3.8 km long and 14 meters wide. The service road outer was 4.32 long and 14 meters wide. While the pit lane has 835 meters long and 14 meters wide.

The pit lane has 50 two-story garages, each of which has a pit space of 18.34 meters long and 5.24 meters wide. The first-floor pit is used for drivers, technicians, and crew. While the second-floor pit is for VIPs, VVIPs, Media Rooms, Sponsors, and Internet telecommunication providers.

President Joko Widodo uses his custom motorcycle Kawasaki W175 to try out Mandalika circuit. (Image: via tempo)

​According to WSBK Safety Car Driver, Cristian Siso Paris, as quoted from oto.detik, “The Mandalika circuit is very safe. ‘Cause, it's a big circuit, fast and very safe." Before the start of the race, Siso always raced the circuit using Hyundai i30 Fastback N. During the event, the race was postponed due to the changing weather from heavy rain to scorching heat. However, this did not stop the race and World Superbike could finally run smoothly actually.

World Superbike Leaders 2021 Mandalika

Jonathan Rea (left/1), Toprak Razgatlioglu (center/54) and Alex Bassani (right/47) compete in Race I WSBK 2021, Mandalika Circuit (Image: via kompas)

The newly completed Mandalika International Circuit, Central Lombok, is a witness to the history of birth of the new 2021 World SBK world title, Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA Yamaha), the racer from Turkey. The top of 2021 competition standings is occupied by Toprak with the most points.

Toprak points number during the 2021 competition season lasts until Race I WSBK Mandalika, which is 551 points, cannot be overtaken by his closest competitors, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) with 526 points and Scott Redding (Ducati) with 481 points.

This result marks the end of Jonathan Rea's dominance who won the world title for six consecutive seasons since 2015 and now the 2021 world title trophy has been officially won by Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Indeed, Jonathan Rea can still catch up with 25 points from Toprak in Race II WSBK. But even if that happened, Toprak Razgatlioglu remains the world champion because he has won many full races in the 2021 WSBK season. The WSBK official website explains that the winner in Superpole Race is not considered if there are draw points in the competition on the leaderboard.

Complete results in Race I, Jonathan Rea managed to finish in the first place, followed by Toprak and Scott Redding. However, these results were enough to make Toprak the 2021 WSBK world champion. In Race II, Jonathan Rea again managed to finish in first place, followed by Scott Redding finishing second and Michael van der Mark in third.
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Toprak at podium World Champion WSBK 2021 accept the flag from Jonathan Rea (Image: via kompas)

Complete Result Points of the 2021 Mandalika World SBK Championship Standings (after Race I)
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1. TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU (YAMAHA) - 551
2. JONATHAN REA (KAWASAKI) - 5526
3. SCOTT REDDING (DUCATI) - 481
4. ANDREA LOCATELLI (YAMAHA) - 283
5. MICHAEL RINALDI (DUCATI) - 282
6. MICHAEL VAN DER MARK (BMW) - 246
7. GARRETT GERLOFF (YAMAHA) - 218
8. ALEX LOWE (KAWASAKI) - 213
9. ALEX BASSANI (DUCATI) - 210
10. ALVARO BAUTISTA (HONDA) - 189
11. TOM SYKES (BMW) - 173
12. CHAZ DAVIES (DUCATI) - 139
13. LEON HASLAM (HONDA) - 134 
14. KOHTA NOZANE (YAMAHA) - 55
15. LORIS BAZ (DUCATI) - 53
16. TITO RABAT (KAWASAKI) - 50 
17. LUCAS MAHIAS (KAWASAKI) - 44
18. EUGENE LAVERTY (BMW) - 40
19. ISAAC VINALES (KAWASAKI) - 38
20. LEANDRO MERCADO (HONDA) - 33
21. CHRISTOPHE PONSSON (YAMAHA) - 31
22. JONAS FOLGER (BMW) - 21
23. SAMUELE CAVALIERI (DUCATI) - 14
24. MARVIN FRIT (YAMAHA) - 6 
25. LORIS CRESSON (KAWASAKI) - 3
26. ANDREA MANTOVANI (KAWASAKI) - 2
27. LUKE MOSSEY (KAWASAKI) – 2
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The Sharpest Bend on Mandalika International Circuit

Mandalika Circuit which has 17 corners has officially received homologation pass status from International Motorcycle Racing Federation (FIM). It’s known that the FIM completed an inspection of Mandalika circuit on Thursday 18 November 2021 to check the homologation status.

Homologation in automotive sports is an assessment of fulfillment of racing standards as a condition for obtaining a license to hold international races. Some of the homologation requirements assessed include track asphalt, run-off areas, guardrails and health facilities in circuit area.

Meanwhile, “The bend 10”, considered the sharpest corner among the other bends on the Mandalika circuit. Bend 10 is called more extreme than other MotoGP circuits in the world because it is connected to a straight track from Turn 9. In the speed trap position, the speed of a MotoGP class or Superbike can reach up to 350km/hour and immediately confronted with sharp turns.
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Bend 10 view (Image: via ntbsatu)

​​The Mandalika Circuit, which is located on the beach side, was built in 14 months with the real target of MotoGP 2021. However, the pandemic caused a delay so that MotoGP got its schedule in 2022 while WSBK became the first race to try out the circuit.

​Enthusiastic Local Audiences and Abroad with Strict Health Protocols

The 2021 WSBK event, which was held for the first time in Indonesia, invited huge enthusiasm from domestic and foreign audiences. Tickets sold online are known to have been invaded by local and foreign audiences since a week before the event.

WSBK 2021  was held in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic which was still raging and carried out with a very strict health protocol. Every spectator who comes required to have carried out Covid-19 vaccine up to the second dose, wear a mask and be required to do SWAB-antigen test before entering the circuit arena. It’s also prohibited from bringing private vehicles because the organizer provides shuttle bus towards the location.

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Impressions and Messages from the Racers

Jonathan Rea in a recording of the local TV interview session said that the event had gone well and Indonesia as the host had worked hard to organize it very well. Rea, gave a message after the race that there was still room must be improvement at Turns 12 and 13 where there were still uneven trajectories. However, according to him, it’s natural for a circuit thats holding this world-class event for the first time.

Meanwhile, Toprak Razgatlioglu was impressed with this race and found out that his name was similar to one of the famous traditional local foods in Indonesia, namely “ketoprak”. Toprak plans to try that traditional Indonesian food after this WSBK event.

This circuit is then expected has to become a world MotoGP event in March 2022 and Formula One (F1) at future. We hope so, travelers!
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