WSBK – WSBK Australia: the champions Biaggi and Sofuoglu are back! –

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WSBK Australia: champions Biaggi and Sofuoglu return !

WSBK - WSBK Australia: the champions Biaggi and Sofuoglu are back! -

Tonight at Phillip Island was the opening round of the 25th World Superbike season. The 2010 champions Biaggi and Sofuoglu largely dominated the debates but their respective competitors were on the lookout for the slightest gap…

Tonight at Phillip Island was the opening round of the 25th World Superbike season. The 2010 champions Biaggi and Sofuoglu largely dominated the debates but their respective competitors were on the lookout for the slightest gap…

First Superbike race

Tom Sykes and his Kawasaki n ° 66 got off to a good start and saw in front of Max Biaggi and his RSV4, Carlos Checa and his 1198, Jonathan Rea and his Fireblade, Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli (both on Ducati). Maxime Berger – third man of the Ducati Effenbert team – is tenth between the two official BMWs of Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam.

From the first hairpin, Carlos attacks Max and climbs to second position. Sykes completed the first lap ahead of Checa and Biaggi who were still fighting for 2nd place. "Johnny" Rea is content to watch for the moment, just like the Ducati Effenbert n ° 50 and n ° 96 slightly behind.

Checa climbed into Sykes’ aspi at the start of the third lap and easily took control of the race. Biaggi’s RSV4 n ° 3 springs up under braking from the straight line at the start of the 4th lap to push the Kawa ‘to the third step of the podium.

Behind, Sylvain Guintoli manages to climb in front of Jonathan Rea. "Kuba" Smrz on the contrary is joined by Marco Melandri, faster and faster at the controls of his new S1000RR. Our second representative, Maxime Berger, is a few lengths from the famous n ° 33.

Max Biaggi raises the tone and beats the lap record held since 2007 (!) By Corser on R1. Mad Max is slowly approaching Toro No.7 and the two world champions are widening the gap on their rivals. The Melandri festival continues in parallel: it points to the fourth place !

Suddenly, Checa loses the rear of his machine in the final curve of the layout and goes highside! Biaggi therefore inherits the lead. Guintoli climbs on the podium, just behind Sykes … The Frenchman even sneaks up for second place in the next loop, but is passed over.

Marco Melandri takes advantage of the fight between these two men to get back on the Ducati n ° 50. The n ° 96 is always a few lengths away, while the n ° 121 (seventh) does not leave the Honda n ° 65 with one wheel..

Meanwhile, Biaggi goes on laps at a rate much higher than those of his pursuers. The Roman Emperor must relish: he has the track free and sets lap times half a second lower than those of Sykes.

Maxime Berger is magnifying himself and traces straight through the gravel! The young Frenchman returned to the track in a distant twentieth place. Sylvain Guintoli him, returns to the attack and climbs again in second place in front of Sykes, Melandri, Smrz, Rea … and Fabrizio, back in contact !

Biaggi continues his solo race, setting times one second lower than those of his direct competitors! Two other Italian drivers stood out on the track: Michel Fabrizio took his 6th place from Jonathan Rea, then Marco Melandri passed Sylvain Guintoli at the end of the straight line.

Further still, Camier gave up his eighth place to a very incisive Giugliano. Surprised by the Italian’s attack, the Englishman even had to straighten his Suzuki and get off the track. Hiroshi Aoyama, who remained in the shadow of the two pilots, took the opportunity to climb to ninth place.

Max Biaggi flies to victory and scores the corresponding 25 points. Marco Melandri takes second place just ahead of our national Sylvain Guintoli. Tom Sykes and Jakub Smrz finish this first Australian round in the Top 5.

Fabrizio blows the 6th place to Rea in the final acceleration. Aoyama finally finished his first WSBK race in a nice eighth place. We must also congratulate "our" Berger for his tenacity: the Dijonnais finished thirteenth despite going off the track. Roll on the second round !

Supersport Race

The poleman Broc Parkes missed his start a little and could not keep his first place in the first corner. Jules Cluzel takes second place behind Sam Lowes. Good start, Fabien Foret slightly tangles the brushes in the Honda cup but manages to stay on the track in fourth position.

The n ° 99 recovered quickly and was in third place in the 3rd loop. Fabien and his Ninja put pressure on the rookie Jules and his CBR600RR. In front, Sam Lowes applies but does not manage to distort company to the two French.

Foret took Cluzel’s second place in braking at the end of the straight line and immediately transferred the pressure to the shoulders of the No. 11 posted in the lead from the start. It was nevertheless Jules who emerged at the head of the race a lap later at the same place. !

Forced to move aside in the first corner, n ° 16 replaced in the wake of n ° 99. Lowes is therefore third in front of Kenan Sofuoglu, Sheridan Morais and Broc Parkes. Alex Baldolini, Ronan Quarmby, Balazs Nemeth and Ondrej Jezek complete the Top 10 a little further on the track.

The race – shortened to 15 laps instead of 21 due to the Pirelli’s limited endurance on the scorching Australian track – continues relatively quietly: the positions remain the same when the pilots pass the halfway mark. In short, Foret control, Cluzel and Lowes follow.

We had to wait until the tenth lap to see Jules take the reins of the race, then Kenan Sofuoglu overtake Sam Lowes to climb to the third step of the podium. The n ° 54 wins a new place one lap later and quickly climbs to the top !

By launching hostilities, the double world champion momentarily brings together the leading peloton: Foret, Cluzel, Lowes and Parkes find themselves wheel to wheel! The Turk then takes a slight advantage as the two French bicker and interfere without limiting Kenan’s breakaway..

Behind, Parkes won his duel against Lowes and once again fell on our two compatriots. Sofuoglu proves that it is truly cut out for Supersport – less for Superbike and Moto 2 … – and is heading for an 18th victory in "its" category.

On the last lap, however, Fabien separated from Jules and joined Kenan. Despite very heavy braking, Foret and his Ninja n ° 99 did not find the fault on the Kawa ‘n ° 54. The Frenchie must therefore be satisfied with escorting the Turk to victory.

Although removed from the podium by the experienced Broc Parkes and the unique Honda Ten Kate, Jules Cluzel fully convinces during his very first World Supersport race at the controls of his Honda PTR. We can count on him this season to torment the three top names in the category placed in front of him in Australia !

Second Superbike race

Tom Sykes elbows against Biaggi from the start. Perhaps disconcerted by this strong opposition, Biaggi pulls straight into the first curve and lets slip his chances of a double and probably a podium. Given his pace in the first race, however, a Top 10 is widely possible….

Sykes therefore leads the race ahead of Jonathan Rea, Carlos Checa, Leon Haslam, Sylvain Guintoli and Niccolo Canepa. Maxime Berger is ninth behind Joan Lascorz and Davide Giugliano, and ahead of Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri.

Jonathan on his No.65 Fireblade takes Tom and his No.66 Ninja in charge of the race in the third lap. Carlos and his Ducati n ° 7 also pass the English driver and settle behind the Northern Irishman: Biaggi almost out of the race, the Spaniard would be wrong to rush !

Sykes does not intend to let it go and briefly recovers his second place. Starting off at an excellent pace, his teammate Joan Lascorz joined the leading group and moved away from the peloton led – somehow – by a still recovering Haslam.

Sylvain Guintoli loses ground but clings to the wheel of Melandri who begins as usual, a nice comeback? In any case, this is what we hope for Syl ‘who has just stalled in his wake !

Max Biaggi for his part is forced to make his way through much denser traffic, which does not displease the public. He came away from a distance – from last place quite simply – and yet the winner of the first round is already eleventh on the 8th round…

Checa is also working hard, but leading the race. The Spaniard is more than 2 seconds ahead of Rea. Guintoli for his part is doing a little too much: he comes out in the same place as his teammate and compatriot Berger during the previous race! The Drômois crosses the gravel smoothly but cannot avoid falling on the grass and cannot start again.

Decidedly hyper at ease on the Australian track, Biaggi doubles his opponents one by one: Maxime Berger, Eugene Laverty, Davide Giugliano … Privateer n ° 3 takes advantage of Lascorz’s abandonment (then 4th) to climb to 6th place in the tenth lap.

In the following loop, the five-time world champion even allows himself to overtake Marco Melandri in the middle of the straight line: the RSV4 is working hard, even more than the S1000RR! Also, Biaggi seems to be riding in another category: his next target, Sykes, occupies the third position and is more than three seconds away..

An identical chasm now separates the leader Checa from his direct pursuer Rea. Biaggi (4th) bridged the gap between him and Sykes in just two laps! Poor Tom may well resist by delaying each of his braking as much as possible, he ends up being overtaken too…

Against all odds, however, the fiery Ninja manages to level the playing field with the 2010 world champion for one lap. The show is beautiful, but the outcome was known in advance: Biaggi throws Sykes off the podium.

Behind another high quality show is provided by the two official BMWs of Haslam and Melandri, as well as by the Ducati of our "Mad Max" national Shepherd. Put to the test, the Pirelli are struggling to get the power to the ground. The long drifts of the motorcycles in the curves must enrage the pilots, but satisfy the public.

Then it was Johnny Rea’s turn to be dominated by Max Biaggi. The Italian, 24th in the 2nd lap, finds himself second in the 20th loop! There are only three laps to go and Checa is just over 7 seconds behind the RSV4.

As Biaggi continues to whip his Aprilia, Sykes does the same with his Kawasaki. So much so that the n ° 66 manages to join the n ° 65 and its Honda. The last lap sees Tom go for it all: he is rewarded by knocking Johnny out of the last curve of the circuit. !

Carlos Checa finally won this second round at Phillip Island and pocketed his first points of the season. Max Biaggi amassed 20 more and moved to the top of the championship with 45 points, ahead of Melandri (30 pts) and Sykes (29). Guintoli is 6th (16) tied with his teammate Smrz. Berger (12) completes the Top 10.

 

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