Can we just have every race at Phillip Island? That’s certainly what a lot of fans will be thinking after a thrilling opening weekend of World Superbike action.
The tension that has simmered between Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies over the winter came to the fore over the weekend, and once again it is these two riders fighting it out for wins.
The second race of the World Superbike season saw history made, with the introduction of the much touted revised grid that saw the podium men from Race 1 start from the third row.
This meant that Jonathan Rea, Chaz Davies, and Tom Sykes had to fight through the field during the 22-lap affair.
It proved little challenge for Rea and Davies to hit the front, but ultimately Sykes lost too much time making progress, and abused his tires trying to bridge the gap to the leading group.
That leading group consisted of three Ducati’s, a Kawasaki and a Yamaha with the Italian horde of Davies, Marco Melandri, and Xavi Fores – all taking turns at the head of the train.
WorldSBK came back with a bang in the opening round of the 2017 season. With five different leaders, and four manufacturers in the scrap for the podium the Phillip Island crowd was treated to a superb season opener that eventually saw Jonathan Rea come out on top.
The Northern Irishman edged the win from Chaz Davies, after a race that saw the field race with one eye on tire conservation and the other on their rivals.
Afterwards Rea compared the 22-lap affair to a cycling race, where everyone tried to shadow their rivals rather than show their true pace. With that being the case it allowed the likes of Alex Lowes and Leon Camier to fight at the front, and the Yamaha rider came within a whisker of the podium.
Our trained World Superbike reporter, Kent Brockman, has his eye on the World Superbike Paddock, and is ever vigil for the next big braking breaking story.
Submitting a lengthy preview of what to expect from the 2017 WorldSBK season, we have broken it up into two parts in order to make more money whet your appetite ahead of this weekend’s season-opener at Phillip Island.
If you missed it, you can read Part 1 of his WorldSBK season preview here, other continue on for Part 2 of this opus. -JB
Our trained World Superbike reporter, Kent Brockman, has his eye on the World Superbike Paddock, and is ever vigil for the next big braking breaking story.
Submitting a lengthy preview of what to expect from the 2017 WorldSBK season, we have broken it up into two parts in order to make more money whet your appetite ahead of this weekend’s season-opener at Phillip Island. -JB
Jonathan Rea has topped the final World Superbike test of the 2017 preseason, a few days before the season kicks off in earnest at Phillip Island.
The reigning champion was fastest in the morning session, though he had to cede top spot to Marco Melandri in the afternoon. But the Kawasaki man had gone fast enough in the morning to just edge the Ducati of Melandri, and end the test as fastest overall.
Chaz Davies was third fastest, three tenths off the time of his Ducati teammate Melandri, but still ahead of the Kawasaki if Tom Sykes. Xavi Fores made it three Ducatis in the top five, while Leon Camier put the MV Agusta into 6th place, in what is a promising start to the 2017 season.
After three glorious days for MotoGP testing, the weather at Phillip Island has taken a turn for the worse. The first day of the final two-day test for the WorldSBK series ahead of this weekend’s opener was hampered by strong winds and intermittent showers, wreaking havoc on the teams’ testing programs.
The World Supersport series had the best of the weather, the first hour of the morning taking place on a track that was pretty well dry, but the rain hit shortly after that.
Showers continued through the first session for the World Superbike class, but relented in the afternoon, giving the WorldSBK men a little dry track time.
Xavi Forés ended the day on top of the timesheets in the World Superbike class, putting in a couple of quick laps at the very end of the day. The Barni Ducati rider bumped reigning WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea off top spot, the Kawasaki rider holding on to second ahead of Marco Melandri on the factory Ducati.
Jonathan Rea is seeking history in 2017, but it is a clean sheet of paper as the champion strives for a third crown
For the last two years Jonathan Rea has been as consistent as the tides, and wrapped up the World Superbike crown with almost a complete season of podium finishes.
Since joining Kawasaki in 2015, the 30-year-old has notched up 23 wins and 46 podium finishes from 52 races. To put his number of victories into perspective, Rea’s two-year reign would place him in the top ten for career wins.
Last year Rea became only the fourth rider to successfully defend a WorldSBK crown, and this year the Northern Irishman could write his name in the history book as the only rider to ever win three titles in a row.
Race teams continue to debut their 2017 liveries and riders, and this time around we feature the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike squad that will race in the World Superbike Championship.
Chaz Davies of course returns to the team, and this season he will be joined by Marco Melandri. The duo will be an interesting pair to watch this season, with Davies holding onto his impressive form from the last-half of the 2016 season, and Melandri making his return to motorcycle racing, after sitting out last season.
With 2017 to be the penultimate season for the Ducati Panigale R in the World Superbike Championship, the v-twin superbike has shown itself to be an extremely mature machine on the race track.
Couple that to some of the rule changes that have affected the inline-four machines the most, and this season could be Ducati’s for the taking, having both the riders and the machine to tackle Kawasaki’s dominance.
As such, 2017 should make for an extremely interesting season, and all eyes will be on Phillip Island to see if Ducati can draw first blood in the championship standings. These photos are redonkulously large, by the way.