Things got started on Friday at Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto for MotoAmerica riders Mallory Dobbs and Sonya Lloyd, who are both competing in this weekend’s final round of the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship (WorldWCR). Both women competed aboard their Yamaha YZF-R7s in Free Practice and Superpole qualifying.
For Dobbs, who has been racing for the full season in WorldWCR, she was eighth in Free Practice and also qualified eighth in Superpole. The Sekhmet Motorcycle Racing Team member had a tipover in Superpole, but it was after she’d already done her fastest lap of the session She will start in the middle of the third row for the weekend’s two races.
“My day didn’t end how we wanted it to end, but that sometimes happens,” Dobbs said. “We pushed in qualifying this morning. We did one flying lap that put us up in the top five. And then, unfortunately, on our second flying lap, I had a pretty big crash. I’m all good. The bike needs a little bit of work, but we still ended up P8 in the session, even with only our one flying lap. It was our best qualifying result of the season. I’m really confident that we can shake down the bike in morning warmup and shoot for the top six. That’s our goal. We’ll see what we can do and keep working on getting top-10 results.”
Lloyd is a wildcard entry in WorldWCR at Jerez, and she’s enjoying the experience so far. Having raced a Yamaha R7 all season long in the BellissiMoto Twins Cup Championship, she was able to make a lot of comparisons with the slightly different-spec R7 she’s racing this weekend. After ending up 20th in Free Practice and 21st in Superpole, Lloyd talked about her adventure so far.
“It’s been awesome so far,” Lloyd said. “Everyone’s been super nice and the other riders are super helpful. It’s a really cool environment. The racing’s a lot different in this championship. The bikes are very different, but the track is awesome. I’m having a blast so far.
“There are a lot of nuances with these bikes that don’t really translate from my Twins Cup bike. The front-end feel is totally different and where you get on the brakes, where you get on the gas, just everything is different. There is a lot of chatter, so just managing that is different. The tires are a lot different, too. I’ve only ever raced on Dunlops, so this is my first time on a new brand of tire. The grip level is insane. Before I went out, I stuck my finger in it, and it’s crazy how soft these tires are. You can really just get on the gas, and the bike will just wiggle, but it will totally stick, so I have a lot of confidence in the tires.
“I qualified 21st. I was aiming at going two seconds faster in qualifying, and I actually ended up going two-and-a-half seconds faster. But, everyone else ended up going faster, too. We’re still shaving off a ton of time. Typically, in Twins Cup, I shave off two or three more seconds during a race. So, I’m hoping to do the same here, and that would put me about 13th or 14th. I’m hoping to make up as many places as I can in the race and lower my lap times even more. That’s the goal.”
Dobbs and Lloyd will line up for WorldWCR Race 1 on Saturday at 11:50 a.m. and Race 2 on Sunday also at 11:50 a.m.. Both times are local.
