The Phillip Island weather provided plenty of excitement in the closing minutes of the first Motul FIM Supersport World Championship Free Practice session, with Andrea Locatelli (Bardahl Yamaha 1:34.061) ending the session as fastest. Many riders chose not to go out in the early part of the session while the damp track dried, leaving a flurry of activity for the final ten minutes of the session before another bout of rain. Australia’s Wild Card competitor Oli Bayliss acquitted himself well, ending the session 13^th fastest.

The World Supersport riders faced a damp track for their first Free Practice session, with the resultant water from morning rain just before World Superbike FP1 not clearing by the time the 600s got underway.

bLU cRU’s Andy Verdoia and Galang Hendra Pratama were the first out of the pit, keen to get some track time ahead of their first round in WSSP having moved up from WSSP300 last year. Hannes Soomer on the Kallio Racing Yamaha was out not long after, making it a trio of Yamahas out testing grip levels as the sun came out and the dry patches slowly started to take over. Soon after, Soomer and Hendra Pratama ducked back into the pitlane, leaving Verdoia with the track all to himself. After banging in seven laps (his best 1:47.124) he was in the pits as well and Phillip Island fell silent.

It wasn’t long before Verdoia’s teammate Hendra Pratama was out again, still on wets despite the sunshine that now bathed the circuit- he’d now have a turn with the drying circuit all to himself.

After ten minutes of what must have been great fun going around on his own, Hendra Pratama had a 1:47.580 to show for it, three tenths off teammate Verdoia. Corentin Perolari and Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) decided that Hendra Pratama looked lonely enough on track to join him, going out on track to test the conditions for a lap before coming back in.

By this stage Perolari was game enough to try slicks, and headed back out. Perolari immediately went six seconds faster than Hendra Pratama’s wet tyre time, knocking out a 1:41.060 and tempting the rest of the field out of the pitlane- but not before Perolari lowered the mark even further to 1:38.062, then a 1:36.604, then a 1:35.797.

Ten minutes to go and it was busier than the Monash Freeway on a Monday morning in pitlane as the riders suddenly scrambled to get some track time. Aussie Wild Card Oli Bayliss (Cube Racing Yamaha) was out flying the flag in front of the local crowd, his first flyer a 1:39.660 and good enough for third behind Perolari and Soomer (1:36.868) at that stage. By then there was only six minutes to go and the track was almost completely dry, letting Cluzel jump to the top with a 1:35.055 ahead of Perolari.

Four minutes to go and Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Yamaha) punched into the 1:34s for the first time (1:34.890), ahead of Cluzel, with Isaac Vinales (Kallio Racing Yamaha) rounding out the top three with 1:35.320. Three minutes to go and the tailwind down the straight had done a complete 180 to become a headwind, and with that the blue skies disappeared and the grey skies returned. Andrea Locatelli claimed the top spot on the Bardahl Yamaha (1:34.061) with all the riders now on track as the clock ran into the final 90 seconds of the session. But it looked like it was too late- riders began putting their hands up as they ran through Turn 1, with the Phillip Island weather gods calling an early end to the session.

At that point many of the teams were appearing with stands in the pitlane, to practice tyre changes for the planned flag-to-flag races, but there were no more laps. Locatelli ended the session fastest (1:34.061) ahead of Perolari, Cluzel, Soomer and Odendaal, with Bayliss in 13^th (1:37.011). Raffaele De Rosa, Federico Fuligni (MV Agusta), and Hikari Okubo (Dynavolt Honda) all failed to set a time.

The Yamaha Finance Round of the 2020 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship continues until Sunday (1 March) from Phillip Island.

Source: MCNews.com.au

2020 WorldSBK
Round One – Phillip Island
Free Practice One

With Chris Plumridge

Ducati’s Scott Redding has had the ideal start to his Motul FIM Superbike World Championship career, with the 2019 British Superbike Champion fastest out of the blocks in the first Free Practice session of the Yamaha Finance Round from Phillip Island.

After overnight rain had provided damp but drying conditions for the morning ASBK sessions at the Island, the heavens opened 15 minutes before the first World Superbike practice session. The result was that both the track and the hardy punters keen for their first dose of WSBK action for the weekend ended up completely soaked. Ten minutes later and the sun was shining, but the track was still very damp and it would be up to the riders and teams to weigh up the risks of extra track time versus binning it before the weekend truly got underway.

Alex Lowes – TBG Image

Honda’s Alvaro Bautista was first to brave the conditions, keen to continue his development of the new Fireblade and get the relationship off to a good start after moving from Aruba.IT Ducati last year. Jonathan Rea was not far behind, out to match his rival in getting some track times while their rivals sat in their leathers and waited for the weather to clear.

Federico Caricasulo (PATA Yamaha) joined the fray not long after with Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Pucetti Racing) and Maximillian  Scheib (ORELAC Racing Kawasaki) also out on track. Just under 40 minutes to go and the spray trails got longer and longer as the rain worsened, with the BMW of Eugene Laverty and the MIE Honda of Takumi Takahashi finally giving in and getting out there.

Rea seemed to be the only rider really willing to push his equipment as he slithered around the Phillip Island layout, Rea’s rivals almost two seconds outside his 1:43.323 best.

Jonathan Rea – TBG Image

Takahashi, having only just emerged from had an electronic component dangling by a wire behind the motorcycle. It finally parted company soon after, and Takahashi was stopped by the side of the road, rejoining soon after.

Frenchman Loris Baz (Ten Kate Yamaha) has consistently impressed in testing, the independent rider faster than his more fancied factory opposition. He catapulted himself to second with a 1:45.292 with 23 minutes to go. Rea’s time from earlier still stood, and the conditions were no worse, but no better, than what Rea had experienced early in the session so it was a surprise that many were still hesitant to match the Northern Irishman’s pace in the 1:43s.

With talk of slicks permeating the pitlane Tom Sykes finally showed what the BMW is capable of, lowering the mark to 1:43.290, Rea still second quickest. However with a number of ‘rivers’ of standing water in many places nobody was keen to take the gamble just yet. Baz then brought the mark down futher, 1:42.345 the best so far with Redding, Camier, Davies, Cortese, Rinaldi, Lowes, Razgatlioglu and van der Mark all yet to set a time with twenty minutes left in the session.

Leon Haslam – TBG Image

Scott Redding (Aruba.IT Ducati) was closing the gap to Baz at the front, his 1:42.553 only a tenth short of Baz. Ex-Motoamerica star Garret Gerloff was acquitting himself admirably for his first session in the wet on a World Superbike, sitting in sixth (1:43.998) ahead of Bautista, Scheib, and Leon Haslam (HRC).Redding’s next lap finally took him to the top of the timesheets, 1:41.479 six tenths up on Baz with four minutes to go.

Scott Redding – TBG Image

With most riders having found what they needed many riders opted to sit out the last part of the session, with Chaz Davies (Aruba.IT Ducati) the only rider to emerge of the ones having not yet set a time- he was straight back in the pitlane.

The order at the chequered flag was Redding, Baz, Haslam, Lowes, Sykes and Rea. The World Superbikes will have their second practice session this afternoon (Friday) at 1500.

Leon Haslam – TBG Image

WorldSBK FP1 Results

Source: MCNews.com.au