World Superbikes Australia: PH2
There may be snow outside back home but the World Superbikes are back up and racing down under
There were many questions waiting to be answered when the Aussie flag dropped, however Carlos Checa silenced the critics by sticking the Ducati Panigale on pole in its first ever race. Amazing work by the Spaniard, maybe that monocoque chassis ain’t that bad after all Valentino…
Guintoli took the honours in the first race...
Off the line and anyone who has ever tried to quarter mile a Panigale will sympathise with Checa who lost his advantage after getting air under the front wheel. Eugene Laverty took full advantage and hit the front with Tom Sykes (just like last season) behind and a very fired-up looking Haslam in third.
In its first outing the Panigale was looking predictably fast but despite Checa breezing past Haslam on the start/finish straight, the Brit had more faith in the Honda’s front end into the first turn. Where have we heard that before? Behind them Chaz Davies was busy showing why BMW snapped him up, leading his team mate Melandri in sixth spot, while Sykes (with a broken wrist) clung onto fifth and Rea and Camier battled for 10th.
Mid-race and the man on the move was Sylvain Guintoli, who slipped past Checa to take second place behind team mate Laverty, while Melandri looked to have woken up, overtaking Haslam for fourth spot. Then it all went wrong as Checa out-braked himself into the hairpin, taking out Melandri in the process.
...but it was Laverty's weekend
Race two and with Sykes taking the lead Guintoli decided to make it easier work this time by slotting into second. After a great first race it all went to pieces for Chaz in race two after being involved in a first lap incident with Kawasaki’s Loris Baz while Haslam was having a nightmare of his own back 16th. A few laps in and it was once again an Aprilia factory team one-two with Guintoli leading Laverty and Melandri on his BMW in close attendance.
Half-race, and the three became four as Fabrizio joined the party. It was always going to come down to a last lap battle and sure enough, one to go and although Laverty led the way, Guintoli was on his heels. The Irishman hung on despite some determined riding from his teammate to make it another Aprilia one-two with BMW’s Melandri ruining the Aprilia weekend lock-out.
Results:
Race one
1. Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team)
2. Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team)
3. Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma)
Race two
1. Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team)
2. Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team)
3. Melandri (BMW Motorrad Goldbet SBK)
Championship place
1: Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team)
2: Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team)
3: Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma)
Brit watch (race one/race two)
Eugene Laverty (Red Devils Roma) – 2/1
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) – 5/5
Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) – 9/9
Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) – 7/10
Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) – 8/8
Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad Goldbet SBK) – 4/17
Note to track contractors. make your asphalt consistent & put some cars on it to bed it in before allowing fast bike & riders to injure themselves in spades do that work for you.
Well done Aprilliaaa & unfortunate Checa.
Note to track contractors. make your asphalt consistent & put some cars on it to bed it in before allowing fast bike & riders to injure themselves in spades do that work for you.
Well done Aprilliaaa & unfortunate Checa.
Stoner could ride the Ducati (from 2007 to 2009) - true
Rossi couldn't ride the Ducati (in 2011 and 2012) - true, but doesn't mean anything in the context of the above. It's like saying 'Damon Hill won the Championship in a Williams in 1996 but Jenson came 8th in 2000 in a Williams therefore Jenson can't drive'. Or, in other words, total rubbish.
Checa can ride a less powerfully bike with the same chassis tech - is like comparing driving an F1 with an McLaren 12C
Burgess attempts to make the Ducati into the M1 and failed dismally - because Ducati wouldn't let him.
Remember that Jon Urry (the author of the piece) did go and ride a factory WSB BMW last year, so I suspect he knows the difference between the classes!
:As Srob says the authors are generally well-versed, experienced bikers as well as journos though even they can be prone to a bit of mis-interpretation at times. I imagine that the brief inputs to PH2 are a small part of their output to generate a living.
I remember a few years back a certain Bertie Simmonds posted in here asking for a bit of info about people's bikes etc-as research for an article he was writing. He practically got driven off with responses like "Who the F are you?" or "How do we know who you are?" Don't think he ever came back.
He's a freelance journo, bike tester, past MCN staff (I think)& I suspect a real down-to-earth bloke- & a name known to old codgers like me.
Remember that Jon Urry (the author of the piece) did go and ride a factory WSB BMW last year, so I suspect he knows the difference between the classes!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Laverty
i think he gets the irish flag and anthem because he chose to have an irish race licence .
race was,, dare i say,,,, boring. Don't get the Laverty being northern and displaying southern ?? [unless I've missed something] Good on Guinters! what a bloody nice bloke! Well deserved. imo.rossi 2012 qualy time : 1:31.7
hayden 2011 : 1:30.7
something is seriously wrong with that gp bike!
Personally I was a bit disappointed with the races I saw. Bit dull compared to how good some of last season was. Didn't help Checa being knocked out of course.
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