Qatar WSBK Round to be rescheduled

After a blockbuster opening round of the 2020 Motul FIM World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island, fans will now unfortunately have to wait longer before their next dose of WorldSBK action due to the postponement of the Qatar Round until further notice.

As the global coronavirus outbreak continues, travel restrictions to Qatar have been enforced, primarily affecting passengers from Italy, amongst others.

People arriving directly from the country or who have been in Italy in the past two weeks will be taken directly to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days.

Italian participation in WorldSBK – both on track and off – is vital, thus the decision has been taken to postpone the Lauretana Water Qatar Round until further notice.

Source: MCNews.com.au

2020 WorldSBK
Round One – Phillip Island
Superbike Riders Reflect

Alex Lowes

“Honestly I really enjoyed this weekend, I was quite a way off the pace in the test, and nervous coming into the weekend. What a weekend I couldn’t have asked for more. The battle was fantastic in that race, I tried to control myself as I kept getting punted wide and dropping back to sixth or seven, but I kept it alive and knew it would come down to the end. I just kept it smooth and luckily for me today I had a bit more grip than the other guys, so hopefully a sign of the season ahead. This track is a little bit strange, when it gets hot the tyres drop off, but I’m interested to get to a few different tracks… this man [Rea] is still the man to beat…”

Alex Lowes the victor in WorldSBK Race Two at Phillip Island

Jonathan Rea

“Huge kudos to this guy [Lowes], that’s no means feat, so enjoy the moment – what I mean by that is that when you arrive at a new team, I know what it means to win your first race. It’s huge. He set the pace today, at the end, very clever, and I felt like I was hung out to dry a bit. I sat out in the front thinking, when will someone come through…. It felt like I was just riding…. hanging out in the wind. Super happy to be standing here, yesterday I went down at 220 km/h at Hay Shed, and I was hurting. So to win that Superpole race this morning was incredible. I had horrible news this morning, my Nana passed away, my mum called this morning to tell me, so I wanted to win that race for her, she’s in a better place for now. I’m looking forward to getting home and hanging out with my family now. We head to Qatar in a few weeks time and I hope to carry that momentum forward. At the end of the day good work Alex.”

Lowes leads Rea

Scott Redding

“First of all, it was a bit bloody hot (crowd laughed), I had a year out in BSB riding around in the cold so that was a bit of a shock to the system today trying to prepare for the heat. Third again, in contention for the win, to start a World Superbike season like that is good. These guys have a lot of experience, I was trying to learn as much as possible while being attacked by guys behind, banging bars, and trying to think of a strategy, conserve the tyre…. I had a great time, not happy with third, don’t get me wrong. I do want to win and think I have a bike that can win. I feel very confident. This weekend was a massive learning experience to me, I think this circuit wasn’t the easiest one for me to start on as far as getting used to tyre wear, but I learnt a lot so thanks to these guys being in front for most of the race, even though they beat me, congratulations. It’s good to be back on the world scene. I tried to keep it clean even though we did bang bars quite a lot, but hopefully we can have good racing like this for the rest of the year.”

WorldSBK Race Two Podium

Toprak Razgatlioglu

“We have made an incredible start to the season. At Phillip Island in the last two seasons I was not fast, but we were at the top this time on the R1. The sprint race today was not bad – quite good really – but there was just too much spinning on the last lap and Johnny passed me inside on the last corner. In the second race, the long race, I just waited patiently, and then with four laps to go I passed Loris Baz and started to go for a podium finish, but then my race was over. Overall, it has been a very nice, very good race weekend and we were just unlucky after the second race. Maybe I could not have won that one but I am sure I could have again been in the fight.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu won the opening race of the season

Michael van der Mark

“It has been a bit of a weird raceday. This morning in the Superpole race I did not have the confidence or feeling with the bike that I had yesterday, so it was a real ten-lap struggle. I was really upset because yesterday everything went so well, and I was just a bit unlucky to miss out in the last corner. For the final race we found a set-up solution and I had a really good start. To be honest my plan worked out and again we planned not to take the lead and try to slow it down a bit, not stress the tyre. It went well until two laps before the end when the guys around me started to push. I pushed as well but I just did not have enough grip to attack again. It is a shame but I think we must be quite happy with the pace that we have had and how quick we have been from the first moment on this track.”

WorldSBK Race Two

Chaz Davies

“It was a pretty tough weekend, but all in all, things didn’t go badly in Race 2. It was good to be able to get closer to the front group even though the starting position was very complicated. Of course I can’t be super happy about this weekend but it was very important to finish in a positive way. We still have a lot of work to do and I can’t wait to be in Qatar, a track that I really like”.

WorldSBK 2020

Tom Sykes

“It’s just been one of those weekends where we have been a bit unlucky. We had an unbelievable qualifying and the pace of the BMW S 1000 RR was really impressive and I felt very comfortable on the bike. In the Superpole Race, I felt really good. There were a few incidents on track which meant I lost around 1.6 seconds which coincidentally was the same gap to the leader at the end of the race, but this was a good step forward for us. Going into the final race, we stuck to our game plan, we got a good start and I just tried a preserve the tyre a little bit. But unfortunately had a little technical issue which lost us a bit of time. It was a disappointment but I tried my best, the team tried their best and we will continue to do so for Qatar.”

Sykes took pole

Eugene Laverty

“Unfortunately I had a crash in warm-up and suffered concussion so the doctors did not allow me to race. I understand their decision, even if it is not easy to accept as a rider but ultimately it is the correct one. I am very disappointed with myself for the crash as the bike was fantastic. It was the first lap of warm-up, I should have been more tentative and I was on course to take first position. I’d needed to take my time and be calmer because I missed a big opportunity for the races today. I’m sorry to the team.”

Eugene Laverty – TBG Image

Alvaro Bautista

“Today (Sunday) was more difficult than yesterday also because I started from the back in Race 2 following this morning’s crash in the sprint race. A pity because I think I could have fought in the top five in the Superpole race. We made another little change to the bike today and that was definitely an improvement, but I tried too hard and lost the front. Track conditions in the afternoon were really tricky, as I had no grip or sufficient corner speed. Considering that one of the areas we are working on is acceleration, Race 2 was honestly quite tough. All in all though, we are not too far from the fastest riders and I’m happy with our weekend. I think it has been positive for us because we’ve taken some small steps forward and collected a lot of data during these three races to be able to continue with bike development. I want to say thank you to Honda because it’s not easy to win right away with a new bike, especially with a rider like me, used to another engine configuration. Everyone is really supportive and helping me, trying to give me everything I ask for, and we have real margin for improvement with our bike”.

Alvaro Bautista

Leon Haslam

“A false neutral, my mistake, caused me to crash in Race 2. I’m a little disappointed with the weekend’s results because I felt we had the pace to be on the podium. But we all know that, at this track, it is key to put everything together, saving the tyre, engine management etc. and so I think that’s why we did how we did today, with no previous references to use either of course. In Race 1, we were there until four laps from the end, so the weekend has had its positives of course, while today was a little more difficult. Essentially, I’m fairly happy with our speed, but we need to manage it better. We’re still testing fundamental things and strategies and that work will continue at the next round of Qatar”.

Leon Haslam – TBG Image

Takumi Takahashi

“This track is not an easy one to learn, but I feel I’ve made a few small steps forward in terms of my feeling with the bike, particularly between the sprint race and the second SBK race. Various issues have slowed us down this weekend, but this is not surprising considering my limited experience and the fact that this is a new project, but overall I’d say we’ve made some progress and continue to gain experience working together as a team. We will take what we have learned and turn our attention to the next round in Qatar.”

Marc Bongers – BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director

“It has been a disappointing day. Eugene felt extremely comfortable on the bike. So he maybe was a bit over enthusiastic and unfortunately he crashed while being on a very fast lap. The positive aspect, however, is the fact that he clearly has developed a good feeling for the bike. What happened is a pity, but we are glad that he did not sustain any severe injuries apart from concussion. Tom started the morning’s race from pole position. Here we could see that power is still an issue as we are still losing on the straight. Sixth place however was not bad, especially only 1.6 seconds behind the top. The field is extremely close together this year. In race two, he unfortunately suffered a minor technical issue that forced him to quickly restart the bike. It seems, however, that in this race we also could not have maintained the pace in the final stages so we focus on the combination of riding style, chassis and tyre durability. You have to see though that Phillip Island is a challenge in this regard and this could improve at the next races.”

Sykes leads race one

Shaun Muir – Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team

“First of all, on Eugene’s side I feel really disappointed for him because he certainly turned a corner this morning. He felt as though we had given him a good bike and unfortunately during this morning’s warm up got caught out on a fast lap at T10 and crashed. The crash was a big impact crash and as a result he was left concussed and could not continue further in the two remaining races. To Eugene’s own admission he was a little exuberant to crash but we don’t hold that against him, he was trying his best and we are glad he is relatively okay and will be back for Qatar. Tom really struggled today. The Superpole Race I think was a fair reflection of his speed to get P6, but he was still lacking that top speed which hurts us here. Going into the final race from sixth on the grid, he got a good start and kept in the group but unfortunately had a technical issue mid pack and was lucky not to be collected. He then reset the bike and finished tenth to take a couple of points, but the damage had been done by then as the tyre was too worn to try and catch the front group. We will build on our qualifying and free practice pace which has always been top 6 and try to convert it into good race positions in Qatar.”

2020 WorldSBK

Paul Denning – Pata Yamaha Team Principal

“After yesterday’s victory and Michael being so close to the win we were obviously hoping to replicate that, but with the full understanding that when the racing is this close it can go in the other direction! Unfortunately Michael was restricted in the Superpole race due to a settings imbalance, and this is something we have to improve upon. Toprak looked like he was going to double up on yesterday’s win but got very narrowly beaten to the flag by Jonathan Rea, after another outstanding performance on his new Yamaha. In Race two, Michael’s bike was much improved but it was a strange race. Unfortunately at the end when it was time to “go” we had just used a bit more of the tyre than the podium finishers. That was disappointing but again it was a really solid, fighting ride by Michael that has put us in a decent position after the first round of the championship. Unfortunately we have to apologise to Toprak and to Yamaha as the bike had a problem that could and should have been avoided, which is extremely disappointing. Despite that, if we reflect on this Phillip Island weekend, being so competitive, having won the first race and ran at the front all weekend, we have to be happy with the confirmation that the R1 has taken a good step forward into 2020. With a very strong bike and two incredibly talented riders, we can look forward positively to the rest of the season.”

WorldSBK 2020

Source: MCNews.com.au

2020 WorldSBK
Round One – Phillip Island
Superbike Race Two

Jonathan Rea somewhat made up for his disappointing no score on Saturday by winning an exciting Tissot Superpole race on Sunday morning.

It was a very tight and intensely hard fought affair that saw the top three cross the stripe covered only by seven-hundredths of a second. Toprak Razgatlioglu and Scott Redding the other podium place-getters narrowly ahead of Alex Lowes.

A quite healthy Sunday crowd of 27,391, slightly up on 2019, was claimed by organisers along with a three-day crowd figure of 54,437.  Phillip Island continuing the trend that marks the seaside circuit as one of the most popular and well attended rounds on the WorldSBK Championship calendar.

Tom Sykes the only one of the leading riders to change his tyre selection from what he ran during Saturday’s race one. After starting strongly in race one, the BMW man had then gone rapidly backwards from half-race distance, thus his change to the more favoured ‘A’ option SC1 rear hardly surprising. Cortese had also gone from an ‘A’ option front to the ‘B’ option, as had Scheib.

The track temperature was rising rapidly as riders sat on the grid ahead of the second 22-lap encounter, some pyrometers registering almost 50-degrees celsius.

And the lights go out!

Michael van der Mark the early race leader from Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Alex Lowes, Loris Baz and Tom Sykes while Scott Redding had gone from his front row start to be down in seventh place as they negotiated turn four for the first time.

WorldSBK Race Two

Jonathan Rea moved through to the race lead early on lap two. Then at Lukey Heights Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Leon Haslam clashed which saw both riders skittling off the circuit.

WorldSBK Race Two

Five laps in and still the top ten were virtually nose-to-tail as they threaded their way around the 4445 metre Phillip Island lay-out.

Xavi Fores went firing off the circuit at turn three at high speed but somehow pulled it up before the fence and managed to rejoin the race near the back of the field. Sykes had also been tripped up by that Fores detour and lost a number of positions.

That leading group was now down to nine riders. Rea still holding sway up front as the others diced each other up for position, but still that top nine were all line-astern.

WorldSBK Race Two

As the race approached the half-way mark the pressure on Rea to quicken the pace started to pile on.  Loris Baz through to the lead at turn four, but Rea went back to the front early on the following lap. Baz again forced his way through next time around, then Rea back through before the pair swapped places yet again at the start of lap 13.

Alex Lowes moved up to second place to make it a Kawasaki 1-2 with seven laps to run. Loris Baz ran wide at turn three but somehow kept it together without losing too much ground in what was a miraculous escape.

Lowes leads Van der Mark

Lowes used the slip-stream to sneak past Rea into turn one on the next lap but Rea took the lead back at Southern Loop as Van der Mark tried to split the two Kawasaki men. The Dutchman couldn’t quite make it stick at turn two but he was through a couple of corners later. Lowes used the slip-stream again though to move up to second place as they started the following lap to again make it a KRT 1-2 up front. The top nine though were still only covered by a second…

Rea then dropped the hammer to try and break away after dropping in a 1m32.173 to set a new fastest lap of the race. It was a great move made at the right time as Rea inched away as his pursuers battled for position amongst themselves.

Rea leads Lowes

Alvaro Bautisa was looking very loose on the Honda and was in seventh place, sandwiched between Ducati men Scott Redding and Chaz Davies.

Rea’s escape act though has not worked quite as per the script. His pursuers closing back on to the tail of the #1 Kawasaki, five of them were still in the race for the win.  Rea, Lowes, Van der Mark, Baz, Razgatlioglu and Redding while Davies and Bautista had been dropped off that leading pack.

Lowes chasing Rea

Baz ran off at turn three again, this time right across the kitty litter and somehow remained upright and rejoined the circuit at turn four but was now out of the battle for the win.  Baz had been ran wide at three by Razgatlioglu and left with nowhere to go. The Turk then ran off at turn eight with some sort of problem.

Lowes leads Rea

Alex Lowes took the lead on the penultimate lap and had the rear Pirelli smoking through turn three as Jonathan Rea and Michael Van der Mark did battle, Scott Redding right with them also as the leading group’s numbers reduced to four.

At the last lap board Lowes had half-a-second on his team-mate. Rea had it down to three-tenths by turn four…  Lowes still in front through Siberia, Rea thought about it at Hayshed, instead follows Lowes, and the #22 stayed in front through MG Hairpin…

Alex Lowes won from Rea at P.I.

They then wound up through turns 11 and 12, Lowes leads onto the straight with Rea right up on his clacker… The drag to the line and Lowes holds on for victory!

Alex Lowes the victor in WorldSBK Race Two at Phillip Island

Scott Redding rounding out the podium ahead of Michael Van der Mark.

WorldSBK Race Two podium

That marks the second WorldSBK victory for Alex Lowes, his first coming two years ago at Brno. The 29-year-old Briton leaves Phillip Island leading the WorldSBK Championship on 51-points.

KRT 1-2 in WorldSBK Race Two

WorldSBK heads to Qatar in a fortnight’s time for round two.

2020 WorldSBK
Round One – Phillip Island
Superbike Race Two Results

2020 WorldSBK Championship Points

Source: MCNews.com.au

2020 World Supersport
Round One – Phillip Island

Wildcard Oli Bayliss had withdrawn from the event this morning after suffering engine issues yesterday.

Lucas Mahias got a great start off the line but Andrea Locatelli was the early race leader as the field streamed through turn one for the first time.

WorldSSP

World Champion Randy Krummenacher didn’t stream through turn one though, he instead went hurtling off the track. His MV Agusta destroying itself while the Swiss rider walked away seemingly unhurt.

Due to problems with rear tyre longevity, a mandatory pit-stop had been enforced for the World Supersport race. All riders needed to stop between lap five and lap ten for new rubber to finish the 16-lap race distance.

By lap five Locatelli led De Rosa by more than 2.5-seconds. Mahias was third ahead of Cluzel and Perolari.

Oettl was riding well and challenging for fifth position before going down at turn two.

The first riders to pit were Raffaele De Rosa and Jules Cluzel.

Locatelli came in on lap nine with a six-second lead.

Andrea Locatelli

For safety reasons there was a minimum amount of time required for the rider to be stationary in the pits.  So riders do not rejoin the track with mechanics having to have rushed a change of tyre.  Riders have an indication of the time on their displays but still almost every rider left too early, and were then hit with time penalties. It all seemed somewhat farcical to be honest…

Andrea Locatelli

Locatelli though seemed to be one of the few riders not to have under-stayed his time in the pits and after all riders had stopped the 23-year-old Italian emerged with a four-second lead over De Rosa. By the last lap board Locatelli had stretched that gap back out to over six-seconds.

The best of the rest was De Rosa and Cluzel with that pair enjoying a significant advantage over fourth placed Lucas Mahias, who was in-turn battling for position with Perolari throughout the final lap.

Andrea Locatelli

Locatelli the victor by 5.8-seconds over De Rosa who took second place ahead of Cluzel, while Perolari got the better of Mahias for fourth.

Andrea Locatelli P1

“It’s been an unbelievable weekend and one in which we haven’t made a single mistake, which was important for me. This track is a little bit different to others that we will race on and I may have pushed a little bit more this weekend because it is also one of my favourites. I’m happy because the whole team worked really well all weekend, we were faster in qualifying and took pole position and then we were faster in the race and took the win. It’s been so good. But now we need to keep focus and push at every race, especially at the one or two tracks that I haven’t raced at before.”

Andrea Locatelli

World Supersport Race Results

World Supersport Championship Standings

Source: MCNews.com.au