WSBK – Statements and analysis of the SBK in Phillip Island – Analysis of the World Superbike in Phillip Island

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Phillip Island SBK Statements and Analysis

WSBK - Statements and analysis of the SBK in Phillip Island - Analysis of the World Superbike in Phillip Island

The first round of the World SBK 2013 took place yesterday in Phillip Island, Australia. To complete our live reports, here are the statements of the Superbike riders as well as the Site analysis of the two Australian races.

Analysis of the World Superbike at Phillip Island

Site readers know: in World Superbike, every racing weekend has its share of surprises … And Sunday at Phillip Island, the opening round of the 2013 season – the ninth season on MNC! – did not deviate from this rule.

No video this year !

MNC regrets to announce to its readers – who also continue to have a little more luck than the others – that its analyzes will no longer be accompanied by the "best moments in video" because the, has decided not to share the images of the Superbike and Supersport races…

In his final post on, our colleague from Motorcycle Journal Eric Malherbe also deplores the new policy of the Spaniards: "only internal production and accredited cameras (for a lot of money) are allowed to shoot. Good ! The question: does the Superbike have the means? The answer is obviously no !"Case to follow…

First of all in testing: while the qualifiers had been dominated by the already astonishing Michel Fabrizio riding his private Aprilia, the Superpole was won by Carlos Checa and his brand new Ducati (read).

A real feat on the part of the 2011 world champion who had nevertheless injured his shoulder and foot in a fall on Friday morning and had a bike that was slower in a straight line than the majority of his opponents. !

"Winning the Superpole is a big surprise for me", testified Saturday afternoon" El Torro ","I owe it to the heavy work done by my mechanics, physios and all the rest of the mobile clinic team".

Carlos Checa hits two big shots in Australia…

"I’m a little bit surprised", also confessed Francis Batta, manager of the Ducati Alstare team,"because we weren’t able to ride much during the Jerez testing in January due to the weather, so all of our progress has been made here in Australia".

With Carlos’ teammate Ayrton Badovini breaking his heel during practice, all hopes for the team were on the Spanish rider. Checa therefore took the track Sunday noon with the firm intention of hitting a second big blow at Phillip Island … And he did, but with the head !

Forced to force in the turns to compensate for his a little too fiery start and his declining top speed (308 km / h during the warm-up against around 320 for the Aprilia and 316 for the BMW and Kawasaki), Checa unfortunately left at the start of the first round.

It was during too late braking in the tight "Honda" hairpin that the n ° 7 1199 Panigale hit the n ° 33 S1000RR of Melandri, third in the race. Stunned by the violent impact of his helmet against the asphalt, the Ducati rider will not wake up until a few minutes later … Phew !

Transferred to a Melbourne hospital to undergo a battery of tests, Carlos came out this morning: "it was a big shock to my head but it looks like i’m fineCarlos tweeted on his Twitter account.I’m sorry for Marco, I couldn’t avoid it. thanks for your support".

As for the good surprises of Sunday this time, Sylvain Guintoli’s performance is at the top of the list among French motorcycle speed enthusiasts: winner of the first "final" of Magny-Cours last October on the 1198 and third of the second , our national n ° 50 did even better at the opening of the 2013 championship !

Guintoli and Aprilia win

Saturday evening, on the, the official pilot indicated – in French and with a smirk – that he had "good chances to go ahead". For" Guinters ", his victory and his second place are therefore not strictly speaking" good surprises " !

Confident, Guintoli still had to show composure on Sunday noon: author of an average start, the Frenchie was neither worried nor upset and made relatively careful first laps, before starting an inexorable ascent. towards the first place.

This victory is his fourth in World Superbike, and his fourth in high level competition. It will be unforgettable in more than one way – world? – since, apart from the fact that he took it off on his first outing on the RSV4 Factory, this is his very first in the dry !

Previously feared by his opponents in rainy or tricky conditions, Sylvain has just shown them that he is now formidable in all weathers. In six weeks in Aragon, rain, shine, snow or great shine (!), Guintoli will ride again for the win !

This forecast is all the easier to launch since the Aprilia have always done very well on the long Spanish track. There is even a high probability that Sylvain’s teammate will accompany him to the podium. It remains to be seen on which step…

Second in the first race behind our worthy representative, Eugene Laverty won in the second round, reminding Sylvain that unlike last season, he would not be satisfied with the status of second driver in the Aprilia Racing team. !

The Irishman only has eyes for the world crown, and Carl Fogarty himself sees him achieve his goal: "I just watched the races in Australia. Fantastic weekend for the guys from Aprilia. I really believe that @eugenelaverty can win this year ?!!", the legendary rider tweeted yesterday … Ducati !

"Guinters" and "Youdjine" weren’t the only Aprilia riders in great shape yesterday: Michel Fabrizio also made perfect use of his RSV4 and even contested Laverty for the second step of the podium in the first round !

On April 14, during the, n ° 84 should respond again present. By getting in between the official Aprilia riders and their opponents – or by getting ahead of them all, why not? -, Fabrizio will thus consolidate the first place in the ranking of manufacturers occupied by the Noale brand.

It will also be necessary to closely monitor the fourth V4 of the field: that of Davide Giugliano who, hopefully for the Althea driver and for the show, will not give up from the first laps on an electronic problem as was the case on Sunday noon when the No. 34 fought at the forefront !

Ninth on the starting line and sixth at the finish of the second round at Phillip Island, Giugliano was the slower of the "Aprilia guys" this weekend … But a good number of riders from the 2013 field straddling the other machines would readily accept this kind of "underperformance" !

The men of BMW in particular would have liked to know these "bottom" values. Like Guintoli and Laverty, the two semi-official Goldbet team riders, Melandri and Davies, took turns on both heats but did not score as many points…

BMW and Kawasaki beaten but on the lookout

Marco does not demerit, however. Knocked down in the first round by Carlos Checa, the Ravenna Hedgehog valiantly climbed his first podium of the season, despite his sore right shoulder. Thanks to the postponement of the Indian event, Melandri has six weeks to rebuild his health and close the 29-point gap between him and the two leaders.

Conversely, Chaz Davies had a superb first race but got tangled up in the second, so that the results of No.19 are as mixed as that of No.33. Overall, BMW is not doing so badly with 29 points on the clock, against 50 for Aprilia, 22 for Kawasaki, 17 for Honda, 16 for Suzuki and 11 for Ducati and its only driver Neukirchner.

Unlike his teammate Melandri, it was his own fault that "Chazie" fell from his S1000RR, dragging the unlucky Loris Baz into his fall. Fortunately, the two men did not hurt each other. They even reconciled via Twitter: Chaz will just have to wax Loris’ slightly damaged boot when he arrives in Aragon on Thursday. !

Without his fall in the second round, our dear "Bazooka" could have claimed a very good place in the provisional standings and above all would have been able to achieve one of his main objectives this season: to finish in the Top5 on a dry track !

However in the first round, our favorite n ° 76 failed very little in this mission, finishing in sixth place … in the wheel of his leader Tom Sykes, less than seven seconds behind the winner! Such a performance should be applauded, especially as our "Green Giant" was participating in his very first race on the impressive Australian track. !

Incredibly swift on a wet or "drying" track in 2012, Loris wants this season – his first complete in WSBK – to take another decisive step: to fight with the best in the dry, the "real". So, we can consider that it is done !

Fifth after the two races, Tom Sykes was less impressed than his teammate. But make no mistake: the English Ninja was not rolling "knock" this Sunday, the fault on a wrist – right, as long as we do! – ugly crumpled if not completely broken during unofficial testing last week.

Tom knows better than anyone that every (half!) Point counts in this category! Relieved to have been able to take part in this first event, the vice-world champion collected 22 points yesterday and is placed in fourth in the provisional classification.

The centenary Rea and the rookie Cluzel

Jonathan Rea also intended to amass many more points than he did: only 16, thanks to his two eighth places. At the height of his 26 years, the Honda rider celebrated his 100th start on Sunday afternoon…

The huge cake prepared by his team must have remained on his stomach: the day was not so festive as expected. Too bad, the page is turned for Jonathan: other dates or key moments remain to be celebrated.

This was the case today, Rea reports on his Twitter account, since February 25 was the birthday "one of the greatest pilots of all time": the late Joey Dunlop, legend of the Tourist Trophy and" king "of the Isle of Man where Johnny resides (Rea, not Halliday!).

Disappointed by his performance at Phillip Island, Jonathan undoubtedly took advantage of the arrival of Nakamoto San (vice-president of the HRC) to emphasize the lack of performance of the electronic system of his Fireblade, however derived from that used by the winged brand in MotoGP … Will the call for help from n ° 65 be heard? ?

Finally, congratulations as it should be to our third French rider, Jules Cluzel, author of a very simply memorable World Superbike weekend! Because the task of n ° 16 turned out to be even more difficult than expected…

Jules’ GSX-R1000 has not ceased to make its own, chaining various small technical problems since its arrival on the oceanic continent … and limiting the taxiing of its pilot accordingly! Applied and motivated, our vice-world champion in Supersport nevertheless managed the crisis perfectly..

Qualified in 17th position, Jules took great care of his left elbow – damaged last week – but also not to miss the stages. He thus finished the first round in a respectable 11th place, 30 seconds behind the winner, Sylvain Guintoli..

In the second round, our Coq Supersportif did much better than confirm, leaping to 7th place and closing the gap with the leading man by almost half! He even offers himself the luxury of beating the experienced Jonathan Rea on the line: 9 thousandths of a second separated the French "rookie" from the English "centenary"…

Jules Cluzel finally scores as many points as his teammate Leon Camier and settles in a wonderful 8th place in the general classification. BRAVO JULES !

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