The season-opening Yamaha Finance Australian Round at Phillip Island saw
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) wrap up a double victory from ninth
position, in a superb Sunday race. Starting from a re-shuffled grid, Aruba.it
Racing – Ducati pair Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri were also on the
podium.
A stunning last lap battle between four riders for podium
positions saw Rea come out on top again, with Davies a close second (+0.025s),
whilst Melandri rode excellently for third (+0.249s) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha
Official WorldSBK Team) collected more good points in fourth having led the race
early on.
Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) finished fifth, whilst Tom
Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) ended up at the back of a group of six riders who
had been battling for the podium positions.
Behind that front group, it
was Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) and Leon Camier
(MV Agusta Reparto Corse) who crossed the line in seventh and eighth
respectively for a good haul of points, whilst Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee
Aprilia) and Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) also registered top ten
results.
After his solid fourth in Race 1 on Saturday Lowes made an
excellent start from the head of the reshuffled Race 2 grid to lead the way in
the opening stages, with Laverty and Fores also getting in the mix early on. Rea
soon came through from ninth though, making light work of the challenge of the
new regulations for 2017 which sees the grid reshuffled on Sunday further to the
Race 1 results.
Rea took over in the lead with 17 laps to go, as Davies
also soon came through to contest the lead, with Lowes fighting to stay with the
Welshman and Rea for a podium result.
Melandri emerged as a contender in
the second half of the race, having steadily fought his way to the front from
tenth on the grid after his WorldSBK comeback on Saturday ended in a
disappointing DNF. The Italian was delighted to return to the podium at the end
of Race 2 as he kept Rea and Davies in his sights.
A technical issue saw
Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) pull off track and out of contention in
the Warm Up lap. Nicky Hayden (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) crashed with
14 laps to go, with additional crashes for Riccardo Russo (Guandalini Racing)
and Ayrton Badovini (Grillini Racing Team).
The WorldSBK riders will be
back in action at the second round of the season, the Motul Thai Round, over the
10th-12th March weekend.
P1 . Jonathan Rea
- Kawasaki Racing Team
“I’m so happy because to win a last lap
battle here is hard, but to do it two times here and with tactical racing, it’s
so hard. I just wanted to come here and start on my way, before yesterday I
hadn’t won before the summer break in 2016 so it’s nice to start my campaign and
with 50 points and two wins.”
P2. Chaz Davies - Aruba.it Racing -
Ducati
“It was tight in both races and this one was even closer I
reckon. Everybody had a little go at taking the lead and tried to break away at
the front, but its near-on impossible here at Phillip Island so I just ran my
own race. I tried to break away with a couple of laps to go but it wasn’t going
to happen. We gave away a lot of points here last year, so to take 40 points at
what is not one of our favourite tracks is good and look forward to the next
one.”
P3. Marco Melandri - Aruba.it Racing -
Ducati
“It’s been a very good weekend, race one was difficult race
two was even more difficult because I came from the back, which meant I was
pushing the tyre a bit too much. In the last few laps I didn’t have enough grip
to try and fight for a win, but those two guys were a bit stronger than me
today. To be back on the podium in my first Round after a year and a half off is
good.”
Abonnieren
Kommentare zum Post (Atom)
CZECH GP - Gaviota Aspar Team starts the first triple-header on top
AVIOTA ASPAR TEAM STARTS THE FIRST TRIPLE-HEADER ON TOP ...
-
Valencia to be replaced by Brno, with the season finale changed to the British Grand Prix Thursday, 28 March 2019 The 2019 ...
-
Aron Canet arrives in Brno in fourth place in his Moto2 debut season, while teammate Hafizh Syahrin hopes to recover from the Jer...
-
AVIOTA ASPAR TEAM STARTS THE FIRST TRIPLE-HEADER ON TOP ...
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen