Scott Riding and BMW are one mess after another

In 2020, at Phillip Island, Scott Redding clinched his first Superbike podium in his Ducati debut. After his BSB victory, he’s just a few thousandths away from success, and he’s been outraced on the Kawasak of Alex Luiz and Jonathan Rea. Two years later, the Briton is in full crisis: he has left the Reds to revive BMW’s fortunes and is instead mired in the German battleship’s chronic problems. The launch of Tom Sykes and focus on ReddingPower with the release of the new M 1000 RR has been portrayed as a turning point by the company’s top management, but it’s even worse. It is clear that the problem is not in the drivers, but in everything else. The first Australian race was the natural result of mistakes and horrors. Redding wasn’t fast in the wet, which was a home major, and certainly not in the second part of the race in the dry. Can we talk about strategy? disaster…

The box calls, Redding doesn’t answer

With the rain tires gone, Scott stayed on track with four more laps to go than Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgalioglu, who made the best move among the big names (Here is the date and order). With most of the peloton in the garage, Redding led the race for two laps, ignoring the “IN” sign observed from the BMW garage. When he realized that with slicks the others were rolling 9-10 seconds faster than him, it was too late. After the pitstop, he was out of the points, 72 seconds behind race winner Rea. “During the race, when the others got into the pits, I figured that even if they were a lot faster than me, I would maintain a good leadScott Redding commented. “I passed my garage sign twice but was convinced staying inside paid off. Instead, when I saw Jonathan Rhea so close to the screens along the circuit, I knew it wasn’t going to work…” He also stopped, but by then it was too late.

catastrophic end

In the central part of the championship, BMW showed signs of awakening, but this final brought the whole process back to its darkest crisis. Redding sits eighth in the standings, behind Axel Bassani, with just 190 points compared to 564 for Alvaro Bautista, who inherited his place at Ducati. The former MotoGP racer went to BMW for the money, over a million euros for a quarter of what the Italian brand was offering for a revamp. Who knows if he will do it again. The great sword of Damocles is that half of the paddock has the idea that the potential of the M1000RR is great, and that the dub is in the technical department. The responsibilities of the crisis will be divided between the internal racing department, in the hands of the Dutchman Mark Bongers, and the management on the track entrusted to the British Sean Muir Racing.

Michael Van Der Mark in Peak

At the end of 2021, in Portimao, the Dutchman cruising in the wet took his only win since his official return, in 2019. In Australian Race 1, Michael van der Mark crashed twice: in the opening at turn 10 and in the final at turn 4, hairpins. The Dutchman missed a large part of the championship due to an injury in pre-season training on his bike. Once his condition recovered, he also disappeared from the radar. BMW already has engine-specific privileges and next year will also have “super-privileges”, that is, the possibility of modifying various parts of the chassis, those that will be required according to the manufacturer. It’s a giant help, who knows if it will solve the situation. The suspicion is great.

picture: Instagram