1988 Donington Superbike World Championship round

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.

  1988 Donington Superbike World Championship round

Round details
Round 1 of 9 rounds in the 1988 Superbike World Championship.
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

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	Roger Marshall	Suzuki	30	+35.830	6
6	8	Kenny Irons	Honda	30	+36.090	9
7	15	Jari Suhonen	Yamaha	30	+42.670	27
8	10	Fabrizio Pirovano	Yamaha	30	+51.670	13
9	18	Andy McGladdery	Suzuki	30	+1:00.940	18
10	36	Michel Mercier	Suzuki	30	+1:01.790	15
11	24	Steve Williams	Bimota	30	+1:10.160	20
12	57	José Maria Pardo	Yamaha	30	+1:11.360	24
13	35	Rueben McMurter	Yamaha	30	+1:17.430	19
14	41	Mark Farmer	Suzuki	29	+1 lap	21
15	63	Dave Leach	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	25
16	37	Tom Douglas	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	30
17	65	John Lofthouse	Suzuki	29	+1 lap	31
18	60	Kimmo Kopra	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	28
19	56	Asa Moyce	Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	34
20	22	Esko Kuparinen	Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	36
21	61	Steve Veasey	Kawasaki	29	+1 lap	35
22	64	Steve Mason	Suzuki	28	+2 laps	40
23	62	Dave Hill	Suzuki	27	+3 laps	37
24	19	Graeme McGregor	Honda	25	+5 laps	32
25	7	Anders Andersson	Suzuki	24	+6 laps	17
Ret	6	Stéphane Mertens	Bimota	28	Retirement	4
Ret	34	Gary Goodfellow	Suzuki	24	Accident	7
Ret	16	Keith Huewen	Bimota	24	Retirement	22
Ret	31	Bubba Shobert	Honda	20	Retirement	10
Ret	14	Peter Rubatto	Bimota	17	Retirement	16
Ret	9	Roger Burnett	Honda	15	Accident	1
Ret	4	Mark Phillips	Bimota	14	Retirement	12
Ret	43	Michael Williams	Honda	13	Accident	39
Ret	42	Hans Lindner	Honda	9	Retirement	14
Ret	30	Des Barry	Yamaha	9	Retirement	29
Ret	20	Robert Dunlop	Honda	9	Retirement	26
Ret	49	Antonio García Moreno	Bimota	8	Retirement	33
Ret	23	Michael Galinski	Bimota	4	Retirement	23
Ret	21	Paul Iddon	Bimota	2	Retirement	8
DNS	47	Peter Häfner	Bimota	0	Did not start	38
DSQ	32	Doug Polen	Suzuki		Disqualified
DSQ	66	Scott Gray	Suzuki		Disqualified
DNQ	54	Claudio Biesele	Bimota
DNQ	52	Darren Dixon	Suzuki
DNQ	1	Virginio Ferrari	Honda

References

1. Paolo Gozzi (21 May 2013). RCS MediaGroup S.p.A. (ed.). "Donington 1988, là dove tutto è cominciato". paologozzi.gazzetta.it (in Italian).
2. Maurizio Mazzoni (21 May 2001). "Donington: curiosità e record". motocorse.com (in Italian).
3. Marco Lucchinelli career statistics at MotoGP.com
4. AMA Superbike Champions
5. https://riders.drivemag.com/features/davide-tardozzi-s-bimota-yb4ei-r-racer-test-coulda-bin-a-champion