Tommy Bridewell set the pace at the end of the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship Official Test at Monteblanco, leading last year’s fierce title rival Josh Brookes by just 0.054s as the teams now move on to Jerez.
Bridewell had set the benchmark pace during the morning session, setting a time of 1m:36.796s as the times tumbled on the third and final day of action at the Spanish track. The majority of riders set their fastest times during the final morning and the Oxford Racing Ducati rider held the position until the chequered flag, with the top 13 riders covered by just 0.888s.
Bridewell’s time had put him 0.113s ahead of Ryan Vickers with Héctor Barberá in third place at lunchtime on the final day with the leading pair completing their test at midday, ahead of the final two two-day test in Spain, which gets underway on Sunday.
However, Josh Brookes wasn’t finished and the VisionTrack Ducati rider was one of the only big mover in the final hour of the day, leaving it until the closing ten minutes to head back out onto the circuit to set his fastest time of the test and move to within 0.054s of Bridewell.
As the time ticked down on the closing session there were few improvers during the final afternoon, with the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki team holding onto third with Vickers, holding a 0.270s edge over Héctor Barberá onboard the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW.
Barberá had narrowly moved ahead of his teammate Luke Mossey, who completed the top five with Danny Buchan leading the Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki charge in sixth place.
Tarran Mackenzie had a strong final day on circuit to post the seventh fastest time for McAMS Yamaha, holding off Christian Iddon with Jack Kennedy and Jason O’Halloran completing the top ten.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship Monteblanco Official Test
I got a good start in the Superpole race and put my head down. It seemed like I was really setting the rhythm with a few laps to go. Toprak was showing me his front wheel, so I knew he was there. On the last lap, throwing the bike down the inside line, I knew I had a little bit more traction. I really wanted to win that Superpole race for my family. It would have been nice to do it again in that second one but it was very strange race. I did not have the experience of doing 22 laps from race one on Saturday. I was not sure how the bike would be. The temperature went to 45°C on track today too. Nobody seemed to want to come through and do the work. I set about my rhythm and with five laps to go I put my head down – but as soon as I completed this lap I felt a drop in the tyre again. Alex got by me and made a gap and although I had a close ride up to him on the last lap it was just not enough to get to the line first. We got to Qatar now and see what that brings. Yesterday we were 25 points behind, today we are 19 behind, so a positive day all-in-all after yesterday.
Jonathan Rea scored a close race victory on the second day of the opening round of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship, winning the ten-lap Ti Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook
Narrow race three win grants Bayliss maiden Supersport overall victory
Section: Competition
Khouri dominates Supersport 300 class at Phillip Island.
Image: Russell Colvin.
As slender victory in the final Supersport encounter of Phillip Island’s Mi-Bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) opener has granted Oli Bayliss is first-ever overall win in the category.
The Cube Racing rider managed to fend off a charge from reigning champion Tom Toparis (Yamaha), as just 0.017s separated across the chequered flag in what was an incredible photo finish.
WorldSSP300 regular Tom Edwards (Yamaha) rounded out the podium in the race three, just a fraction off the leaders, as the top five was completed by Jack Passfield (Yamaha) and Nic Liminton (Yamaha).
Pole position, a pair of race wins and a runner-up result is what it took for Bayliss to stand atop the podium, joined by Toparis and Liminton.
Image: Russell Colvin.
In the Supersport 300 category, Kawasaki-mounted Harry Khouri stormed to another dominant win in race three to secure the overall victory, edging out Archie McDonald (Yamaha) and Luke Johnston (Kawasaki) in the final outing. The pair joined Khouri on the overall podium, with Jhonston securing second over McDonald.
The Oceania Junior Cup saw Lucas Quinn storm to victory in race three over Marianos Nikolis (Yamaha) and Tom Drane (Yamaha), the overall top three completed by Quinn, Nikolis and Cameron Dunker (Yamaha).
The ASBK now heads to Wakefield Park in New South Wales on 27-29 March for round two.
2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship Round One – Phillip Island Supersport Race Three
Oli Bayliss had broken through for maiden Supersport victory over Tom Toparis on Saturday morning before that finishing order was then reversed in Saturday afternoon’s second 10-lap bout.
Oli Bayliss on the grid with mum Kim – TBG Image
As they lined up on the grid late on Sunday afternoon the track temperature had sky rocketed towards 50-degrees celsius and Phillip Island was a disctinctly sultry place to be when ever the sea-breeze dropped off.
Toparis and Bayliss were again in close quarters right from the off when the lights went out but this time around Tom Edwards had joined the party along with Jack Passfield and Jack Hyde.
Tom Edwards took the lead early on lap two from Toparis and along with Oli Bayliss that trio started to break away from Passfield and Hyde, that pair coming under attack from Nic Liminton.
Bayliss moved past Toparis to take second place and then started attacking Edwards as the race moved towards the half-way mark. The trio then started swapping positions with reckless abandon as the race wore on.
As they got the last lap board it was Toparis from Bayliss and Edwards but the latter of that trio could not sustain the pace and it was going to come down to a Toparis v Bayliss battle to the line once again….
The race to the chequered flag – TBG Image
Oli Bayliss does it with a 1m36.184 fastest lap of the race on the last lap of the race to steal victory by 17-hundredths of a second.
The ASBK Supersport Race Three podium – TBG Image
ASBK next heads to Wakefield Park late this month, the Goulburn circuit playing host to the series over the March 27-29 weekend. Both Tom Toparis and Tom Edwards will be absent from Wakefield Park as they will then be contesting European Championships.
ASBK Supersport Race Three Results
Pos
Name
Machine
Time/Gap
Speed
1
Oli BAYLISS
YZF-R6
16m13.412
273
2
Tom TOPARIS
YZF-R6
+0.017
270
3
Tom EDWARDS
YZF-R6
+1.126
276
4
Jack PASSFIELD
YZF-R6
+5.013
266
5
Nic LIMINTON
YZF-R6
+5.477
266
6
Jack HYDE
YZF-R6
+5.606
269
7
Max STAUFFER
YZF-R6
+7.157
275
8
Broc PEARSON
YZF-R6
+9.495
269
9
Ted COLLINS
GSXR
+17.579
269
10
Aidan HAYES
YZF-R6
+17.745
273
11
Ty LYNCH
YZF-R6
+19.252
267
12
Dallas SKEER
GSXR
+20.220
273
13
Ryan TAYLOR
YZF-R6
+27.330
268
14
Luke MITCHELL
YZF-R6
+31.748
266
15
Chris QUINN
YZF-R6
+36.703
267
16
Brodie MALOU
YZF-R6
+44.829
272
17
Patrick LI
YZF-R6
+47.526
269
18
Darren McGRATH
ZX6R
+48.325
263
19
Mitch KUHNE
YZF-R6
+57.155
263
20
Andrew EDSER
ZX6R
+57.165
267
21
Stephany K-JAMES
YZF-R6
+1:34.597
258
22
Rhys BELLING
YZF-R6
1 Lap
257
ASBK Supersport Round Podium – Bayliss wins the round from Toparis and Liminton claims third – TBG Image
2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship Round One – Phillip Island Superbike Race Three
By Trevor Hedge
The speed of the Ducati V4 R has rivals scratching their heads here this weekend. The opinion of the riders on other motorcycles is that the Ducati is so fast that it is in a different race.
Herfoss quoted Maxwell’s quotes published in our Race Two report where the Boost Mobile Ducati rider complained of not being yet to access a Motec ECU to unlock more potential of his V4 R.
Troy Herfoss Instagram story quoting Maxwell’s quotes published on MCNews.com.au after race two on Saturday
Obviously the post was made due to the incredulous reaction by Herfoss at Wayne’s call for more improvements on the Ducati, combined with a bit of banter. Below are Herfoss’ quotes after the opening bout on Saturday.
Troy Herfoss talking to MCNews.com.au after race one
“What did I learn from the race? I learnt that Wayne’s not the man to beat. When you’re one-second faster than anyone and then you can’t drop anyone in the race, that’s not winning.”
This is going to be one little war of words that is going to be amusing to watch. Herfoss is expected to remain on the previous model Fireblade for at least the next couple of rounds as shipments of the new Fireblade are still some time away, and the time to prepare a race machine from the new platform is very limited.
If the WorldSBK Honda machines are anything to go by though, the new Fireblade is going to be very fast. Bautista has been the fastest through the speed traps here all week and set a new WorldSBK record speed here this weekend at 327 km/h on the new Honda…
But who would raise their game to take the challenge to Maxwell today..?
The closest in the previous bouts was Cru Halliday. The YRT man is looking strong while Josh Waters is smiling and happy with the speed being mustered from his new privateer effort.
Mike Jones has a V4 R beneath him and is still adapting to the new bike after racing the big 1299 to the ASBK Championship Title in 2019.
Bryan Staring had shown some glimpses of speed and Allerton has displayed some promise on the new BMW.
Daniel Falzon is making progress on his adaption to Dunlop rubber and was not far off podium pace in the first contests of the weekend…
Aiden Wagner would be looking to turn around his troublesome weekend to leave here on a positive note while Matt Walters had been impressive on the Cessnock Kawasaki and looked capable to upset some of the regular front runners.
Race Three away
Wayne Maxwell scored the holeshot and led Cru Halliday, Josh Waters, Troy Herfoss, Glenn Allerton and Bryan Staring through Southern Loop for the first time. Mike Jones had a shocking start and was ninth early on the opening lap but had worked his way up to seventh by the end of lap one.
Allerton showed Herfoss a wheel to try and steal fourth place into turn one but the Penrite Honda man held on to maintain that position.
The front runners all recorded low 1m32s on their first flying lap but no changes in the order had taken place amongst the leading quartet. Jones though was continuing his march forward through the field and by lap three was looking for a way around Allerton. A mistake by the BMW man, running a little wide, opened the door for Jones and he piloted the DesmoSport Ducati right through it to take that fifth place.
Aiden Wagner’s disappointing weekend was not turning around, the Queenslander ran wide at turn four and lost around ten positions before he rejoined the race way down in 16th place.
Superbike Race Three – TBG Image
Herfoss was starting to lose touch with the leading trio as the race approached the halfway mark. Maxwell looked in control up front as Halliday and Waters chased that Boost Mobile Ducati hard.
Both Mike Jones and Bryan Staring were lapping quicker than Herfoss in the second half of the race and it looked as though that pair would close in on the Penrite Honda before the final lap. Jones had caught Herfoss way before the final lap though and took fourth place from Herfoss with four laps to run. It looked like a matter of time before Staring would push Herfoss further back to sixth.
Halliday and Waters were still doggedly pursuing the Boost Mobile Ducati of Maxwell. With three laps to run Cru Halliday was inching closer and closer to the Ducati, the gap down to three-tenths.
The leaders started to encounter lapped traffic as they started the penultimate lap. Halliday had been baulked on the final lap in the previous encounter but this time around Maxwell was tripped up more than Halliday on their initial contact with a back-marker.
Josh Waters had now lost touch with the leading duo but Halliday was still all over Maxwell as they got the last lap board.
Maxwell though had enough left in the bag to keep Halliday at bay and took the chequered flag with a number of bike lengths over the YRT man.
Superbike Race Three Results Maxwell Halliday +0.752 Waters +3.923
Josh Waters a good third place finish, 2.5-seconds further behind, while Jones recovered from a shocking start to claim good points in fourth.
Staring and Herfoss were battled over fifth position on the final lap and the Honda man just held on to win that tussle.
Wagner crashed at turn two on the final lap to draw a line under a very difficult weekend for the Queenslander.
Superbike Race Three Results Maxwell Halliday +0.752 Waters +3.923
A perfect 76-point haul from the season opener for Wayne Maxwell and the new Boost Mobile Ducati Team.
Cru Halliday was rewarded with 60-points for his trio of second place finishes which Josh Waters completed the round podium with his 51-point haul.
Bryan Staring’s 49-point swag from his 4-4-6 results good enough to edge Herfoss from fourth place by a single point.
Daniel Falzon can take plenty of positives away from the weekend. A puncture cost him time during qualifying and then an oil leak in the final bout had him somewhat nursing the JD Racing Yamaha home but he still earned a highly creditable 41-points from the weekend. Fellow South Australian Arthur Sissis was another somewhat quiet achiever with a 37-point haul.
That issue heading towards the grid that ruled him out of the opening race, despite turning out to be a non-issue, was costly for defending champion Mike Jones. He showed increasing speed all weekend though, and demonstrated the pace in the final stanza to run with the leaders but a poor start robbed him of that chance.
ASBK next heads to Wakefield Park late this month, the Goulburn circuit playing host to the series over the March 27-29 weekend.
2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship Round One – Phillip Island Superbike Race Three Results
Pos
Rider
Bike
Time/Gap
Speed
1
Wayne MAXWELL
V4R
18m38.013
309
2
Cru HALLIDAY
YZF-R1
+0.752
307
3
Josh WATERS
GSXRR
+3.923
303
4
Mike JONES
V4R
+5.570
309
5
Troy HERFOSS
CBR RR
+7.800
303
6
Bryan STARING
ZX10R
+7.834
310
7
Glenn ALLERTON
S RR
+14.613
309
8
Daniel FALZON
YZF-R1
+17.108
303
9
Arthur SISSIS
GSXRR
+20.239
313
10
Matt WALTERS
ZX10RR
+22.113
313
11
Jed METCHER
GSXRR
+27.315
303
12
Linden MAGEE
S RR
+36.297
302
13
Sloan FROST
GSXR
+37.151
303
14
Max CROKER
GSXR
+37.551
309
15
Beau BEATON
V4R
+37.641
309
16
Brendan McINTYRE
GSXR
+58.850
293
17
Glenn SCOTT
ZX10R
+1m02.378
304
18
Matthew TOOLEY
YZF-R1
+1m06.633
291
19
Dean HASLERn
S RR
+1m08.886
294
20
Nathan SPITERI
GSXRR
+1m09.095
292
21
Evan BYLES
ZX10R
+1m09.189
293
22
Adam SENIOR
YZF-R1
+1m19.088
287
23
Aiden WAGNER
YZF-R1
+1m21.431
313
24
Dominic DE LEON
ZX10R
+1m27.938
291
25
Michael EDWARDS
YZF-R1M
+1m37.581
294
26
Hamish McMURRAY
ZX10RR
1 Lap
273
2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship Points
Pos
Name
Machine
Pole
R1
R2
R3
Total
1
Wayne MAXWELL
Ducati V4R
1
25
25
25
76
2
Cru HALLIDAY
Yamaha
20
20
20
60
3
Josh WATERS
Suzuki
18
15
18
51
4
Bryan STARING
Kawasaki
17
17
15
49
5
Troy HERFOSS
Honda
16
16
16
48
6
Daniel FALZON
Yamaha
14
14
13
41
7
Arthur SISSIS
Suzuki
15
10
12
37
8
Mike JONES
Ducati
18
17
35
9
Jed METCHER
Suzuki
12
11
10
33
10
Glenn ALLERTON
BMW
5
12
14
31
11
Linden MAGEE
BMW
10
6
9
25
12
Matt WALTERS
Kawasaki
13
11
24
13
Max CROKER
Suzuki
9
7
7
23
14
Aiden WAGNER
Yamaha
13
9
22
15
Sloan FROST
Suzuki
8
5
8
21
16
Beau BEATON
Ducati
7
4
6
17
17
Glenn SCOTT
Kawasaki
4
8
4
16
18
Brendan McINTYRE
Suzuki
6
3
5
14
19
Josh HAYES
Yamaha
11
11
20
Matthew TOOLEY
Yamaha
1
1
3
5
21
Giuseppe SCARCELLA
Ducati
3
2
5
22
Dean HASLER
BMW
2
2
4
23
Nathan SPITERI
Suzuki
1
1
2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Manufactureres Points
Lowes fends off Rea in close race two WorldSBK encounter
Section: Competition
Redding completes WorldSBK debut with trio of podiums in Australia.
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.
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
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.”
Debut Phillip Island victory for Locatelli in WorldSSP affair
Section: Competition
First-ever world championship race win for series newcomer.
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.
