Image: Supplied.

Race two of Phillip Island’s Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) opener served up another thriller, as Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) fended off teammate Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) to secure victory.

The British ace rode strongly throughout the 22-lap outing, ultimately edging out the five-time champion by a slender 0.037s as they crossed the chequered flag.

Runner-up honours for Rea capped off a positive Sunday, the number winning the Superpole race after enduring a disastrous at the Yamaha Financial Services round.

WorldSBK rookie Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) locked out the podium, while it was Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) completed the top five.

Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) was sixth, followed by Maximilian Scheib (Oorelac Racing Verdnatura), Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing), Sandro Cortese (Ooutdo Kawasaki TPR), and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK).

Leon Haslam (Team HRC) crashed at the beginning of the race before recovering for 12th, while race one winner Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) experienced a technical issue and was forced out of the race.

WorldSBK now heads to Qatar on 13-15 March for round two of the series.

Detailed results

Image: Russell Colvin.

Rookie Andrea Locatelli took a convincing win by almost six seconds at Phillip Island on debut in round one of the 2020 Supersport World Championship (WorldSSP).

The WorldSSP race featured a mandatory pit stop with stints not allowed to last more than 10 laps of the 16-lap race distance.

Bardahl Evans Bros. Yamaha rider Locatelli started from pole position and he led WorldSSP championship winners Randy Krummenacher (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) from the front row.

Krummenacher had a poor start and crashed in the opening sequence of corners as his title defence got off to the worst possible start. Mahias briefly led Locatelli into turn one, but the Italian rookie was able to re-pass the French rider into two. Mahias would eventually finish in fifth place.

Once Locatelli had re-taken the lead, he didn’t look back as he pulled out a six second lead over the course of 16 laps and was also the last of the front runners to make the mandatory pit stop as he pitted at the end of lap nine.

Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) finished behind Locatelli as Italian riders finished 1-2. De Rosa was one of the first riders to pit in the race when the pit window opened, as he dived into the pit-lane on lap seven along with Patryk Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth) and GMT94 Yamaha duo Jules Cluzel and Corentin Perolari.

It was a different strategy to the one race winner Locatelli took as he was the second last to pit – only Jaimie van Sikkelerus (MPM Routz Racing Team) pitting later.

Cluzel finished in third place despite picking up a time penalty for not adhering to the pit stop minimum time during his pit stop, but the 0.080s was not enough to affect his result as he finished five seconds clear of GMT94 teammate Perolari in fourth place.

Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) finished in sixth place, with 3.545s added on to his race time for an infringement of pit time not enough to move him down the order. This was partially due to Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Racing) also receiving a time penalty for the same reason. Soomer’s teammate Isaac Vinales finished in P10.

Australian wildcard Oli Bayliss was a non-starter this afternoon after his Cube Racing team was unable to rectify an issue with the WorldSSP-spec Yamaha that the team had built for Phillip Island.

Detailed results

Image: Supplied.

Defending champion Jonathan Rea has won a nail-biting Tissot Superpole Race at Phillip Island during round one of the 2020 Motul Superbike World Championship, Yamaha Finance round.

After a high-speed crash in race one, the Kawasaki Racing Team top gun responded like a true champion to win a nail-biting thriller.

Rea won ahead of race one victor Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) and Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing Ducati). Just 0.072s separated the trio after the frenetic 10-lapper, with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) right on the tail of the top three.

Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha), pole-setter Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad), Loris Baz (Ten Kate Yamaha) and Leon Haslam (Team HRC Honda) saw out the top eight, plus Michael Rinaldi (Ducati) and Max Schieb (Kawasaki) completed the top 10 in the Superpole race.

Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC Honda) was a big name casualty after crashing at turn six. The victory was the first for Rea at Phillip Island since 2017, while race one winner Razgatlioglu consolidated his early lead in the 2020 championship.

Race three, a 22-lapper, will be held at 3:00pm this afternoon with American Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) and Eugene Laverty (BMW) again missing after nasty concusssion-causing crashes in warm-up this morning.

Detailed results

Image: Russell Colvin.

There was no denying Boost Mobile-backed Ducati rider Wayne Maxwell on his way to a commanding clean-sweep in race three at Phillip Island, clinching the Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) round overall.

Maxwell once again led Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) from the front of the pack, the pair going 1-2 for the third time in as many races this weekend.

The eventual winning margin of Maxwell aboard the V4 R was 0.752s from Halliday, with Josh Waters (JW Racing Suzuki) claiming third. That would also be the overall podium for the opener.

Defending champion Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati) finished fourth ahead of Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing), with Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance), Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW), Daniel Falzon (JD Racing Yamaha), Arthur Sissis (Suzuki) and Matt Walters (Kawasaki Connection) the top 10.

With Maxwell’s perfect weekend placing him on 76 points to open his championship account, Halliday is 16 points back in second and a further 11 ahead of Waters in third.

Early this morning in the bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup, Lucas Quinn made his three from three by only 0.003s over Marianos Nikolis, with Tom Drane third and just 0.087s from victory.

No less than 15 riders finished within 0.933s of each other across the line following six laps, awarding Quinn the overall from Nikolis and Cameron Dunker, who was fourth today.

The final Supersport and Supersport 300 races of the weekend are scheduled for this afternoon following the international schedule at Phillip Island’s opening round of the Motul Superbike World Championship.

Detailed results

Image: Russell Colvin.

Wayne Maxwell has continued his dominance so far at Phillip Island’s opening round of the 2020 Mi-Bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), the Boost Mobile Racing contender riding to victory in race two.

The former multi-time champion was unstoppable in the 12-lap affair, although he was unable to shake Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday, who kept him honest for the duration of the encounter.

The pair broke away from the field to finish first and second respectively, crossing the line over 10 seconds ahead of third’s Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati).

The reigning champion was locked in a multi-rider battle for third, ultimately fending off a hard charging Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance) and Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing).

Josh Waters (JW Racing) drew the short straw to marginally finish in sixth after a drag race down the straight, while Daniel Falzon (Yamaha) closely followed in seventh. The top 10 was completed by Matt Walters (Kawasaki Connection), Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW), and Jed Metcher (Suzuki).

Image: Russell Colvin.

Reigning champion Tom Toparis (Yamaha) fended off Oli Bayliss (Cube Racing) in Supersport race two, the number one defeating the WorldSSP wildcard by 0.263s.

Rookie Max Stauffer (GTR MotoStars) was an impress third, as Jack Passfield (Yamaha) and Nic Liminton (Yamaha) completed the top five.

The Supersport 300 category was dominated by Kawasaki-mounted Harry Khouri, the youthful talent winning by over seven seconds ahead of Luke Jhonston (Kawasaki) and Laura Brown. The final races will take place tomorrow.

Detailed results

Image: Russell Colvin.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) narrowly edged out Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) to secure victory in race one at Phillip Island’s Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) opener, the gap separating them just 0.041s.

The 22-lap encounter got off to a chaotic start when pole-sitter Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) clashed with five-time defending champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) in the opening laps, sending the number one off-track and to the rear of the field.

Rea later crashed heavily while attempting to work through the pack, while up front a four-way battle ensued between Razgatlioglu, Lowes, Redding and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha).

It was a photo finish in that order, with Razgatlioglu winning by a mere 0.007s, while Redding was a further 0.034s back. Fourth’s van der Mark crossed the line 0.136s behind the winner, the Dutchman being out-dragged down the final straight after previously battling for victory.

Fifth went to Team HRC’s Leon Haslam ahead of teammate Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC), while the top 10 was completed by Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing), Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati), Sykes, and Michael Rinaldi (Team GoEleven).

The Superpole race and race two will be staged tomorrow.

Detailed results