26/09/21
Circuito de Jerez
The tenth race weekend of the 2021 FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) in Jerez de la Frontera (ESP) was overshadowed by a fatal accident involving Spain’s Dean Berta Viñales. The young rider crashed in Saturday’s Supersport 300 race. The thoughts of BMW Motorrad Motorsport are with Viñales’ family, friends and team. We would like to offer them our sincere condolences.
After the tragic accident, all the remaining races scheduled for Saturday were cancelled. In consultation with Viñales’ family, it was decided to continue the race weekend on Sunday and to stage the races in memory of the young rider. On Sunday morning, the paddock paid its respects with a minute’s silence. Sunday’s itinerary was amended to feature two 20-lap WorldSBK races.
Michael van der Mark (NED) from the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team ended race one in seventh place. He then finished eighth in race two. Deputizing for Van der Mark’s team-mate, Tom Sykes (GBR), in Jerez de la Frontera was Eugene Laverty (IRL). In light of the injury that Sykes suffered last Sunday in Barcelona, the decision was taken for him to sit out the Jerez weekend. Laverty was 12th and 11th in the two races.