1988 Donington Superbike World Championship round

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  1988 Donington Superbike World Championship round

Round details
Round 1 of 9 rounds in the 1988 Superbike World Championship.
← Previous round none Next round →
Date	3 April, 1988
Location	Donington Park
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.149 km (1.957 mi)
Superbike World Championship
Pole position Roger Burnett 1:14.810 Fastest lap race 1 Fastest lap race 2 Marco Lucchinelli Bubba Shobert 1:14.140 1:14.100

The 1988 Donington Superbike World Championship round was the opening round of the 1988 Superbike World Championship season and the first ever in the series. It took place on 3 April 1988 at the Donington circuit in Great Britain.

Report[]

The first grand prix in the history of the Superbike World Championship took place on April 3, 1988, on the 3.149 km National Circuit layout of Donington Park. 45 riders participated in qualifying, with pole position initially going to Doug Polen of the Yoshimura Suzuki team, but he, along with teammate Scott Gray, were disqualified (and deprived of the opportunity to participate in either race) because their bikes were found to have a cubic volume of 765 cm³, against the imposed limit of 750 cm³.^[1] This arose from the fact that the AMA Superbike regulations (the championship in which Polen and Gray raced) allowed this through "overboring" of the Suzuki's cylinders, while the World Superbike regulations were more rigid.^[2] With the exclusion of Polen from the starting grid, pole was inherited by Roger Burnett, who became the first rider to take pole position in a World Superbike race.

In the first race, 40 riders (the maximum allowed) lined up, but only 39 left the grid; rider Peter Häfner unable to take the start. The first race was won by Davide Tardozzi on a Bimota, despite having to manually restart the electronic injection system a few laps from the finish. The 1981 FIM 500cc World Champion Marco Lucchinelli finished second on the lone Ducati in the field, while Joey Dunlop finished third.^[3]

In the second race, Tardozzi and Lucchinelli once again fought for the top two positions, with the battle only being decided when Tardozzi crashed just after Starkey's Bridge on the final lap. Three-time AMA Superbike champion Fred Merkel would take second, and Burnett third.^[4]

Due to the points system being based on the combined results of the two races, Tardozzi's final lap crash would prevent him from scoring any points, despite his win in the first race. From the next round at Hungary onwards, half points would be awarded, but now for each race.^[5]

Classification[]

Race 1[]

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	2	Davide Tardozzi	Bimota	30	37:50.720	2
2	39	Marco Lucchinelli	Ducati	30	+1.090	3
3	3	Joey Dunlop	Honda	30	+30.050	5
4	17	Fred Merkel	Honda	30	+31.870	11
5	11		Suzuki	30	+35.830	6
6	8		Honda	30	+36.090	9
7	15		Yamaha	30	+42.670	27
8	10	Fabrizio Pirovano	Yamaha	30	+51.670	13
9	18		Suzuki	30	+1:00.940	18
10	36		Suzuki	30	+1:01.790	15
11	24		Bimota	30	+1:10.160	20
12	57		Yamaha	30	+1:11.360	24
13	35		Yamaha	30	+1:17.430	19
14	41		Suzuki	29	+1 lap	21
15	63		Yamaha	29	+1 lap	25
16	37		Yamaha	29	+1 lap	30
17	65		Suzuki	29	+1 lap	31
18	60		Yamaha	29	+1 lap	28
19	56		Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	34
20	22		Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	36
21	61		Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	35
22	64		Suzuki	28	+2 laps	40
23	62		Suzuki	27	+3 laps	37
24	19		Honda	25	+5 laps	32
25	7		Suzuki	24	+6 laps	17
Ret	6	Stéphane Mertens	Bimota	28	Retirement	4
Ret	34		Suzuki	24	Accident	7
Ret	16	Keith Huewen	Bimota	24	Retirement	22
Ret	31	Bubba Shobert	Honda	20	Retirement	10
Ret	14		Bimota	17	Retirement	16
Ret	9	Roger Burnett	Honda	15	Accident	1
Ret	4		Bimota	14	Retirement	12
Ret	43		Honda	13	Accident	39
Ret	42		Honda	9	Retirement	14
Ret	30		Yamaha	9	Retirement	29
Ret	20	Robert Dunlop	Honda	9	Retirement	26
Ret	49		Bimota	8	Retirement	33
Ret	23		Bimota	4	Retirement	23
Ret	21		Bimota	2	Retirement	8
DNS	47		Bimota	0	Did not start	38
DSQ	32	Doug Polen	Suzuki		Disqualified
DSQ	66	Scott Gray	Suzuki		Disqualified
DNQ	54		Bimota
DNQ	52	Darren Dixon	Suzuki
DNQ	1	Virginio Ferrari	Honda

Race 2[]

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Combined results[]

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References[]