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| | | World Superbike Phillip Island : Nitro Nori and Big Bang Ben blow up Phillip Island! |  Written: 02/03/2009 : 15:50. Read 19725 times (19/day). | This weekend in australia, as all two wheels motor sports fan you saw the opening round of the World Superbike championship. It was on Phillip Island Track, and it was more stunning than ever! A new era was opened in the WSBK history, and many riders took part of its renewal.
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It was necessary to be brave to see this moment. Astralia is far, so far that they are in a different « time space »! anyway, it was a « first attempt » weekend and it was really good!
First we saw the new qualifying system, quite similar with the F1 system, the show was good and this new exercise showed that strateg will be really important. Regis Laconi for exemple decided to use his two soft conpound tyres for the first two legs. So he was able to start from the 8th position on the grid.
It was also the first laps in real conditions for Aprilia and BMW. And nice ones for both.
First for the Aprilia who this year puts a stuning V4 bike. Half prototype this bike is not even in shop now but the RSV4 is an audacious bike. And its not often the case in SBK.
So audacious that Francis Batta (alstare's boss) said saturday that it was too prototype... maybe the first race made him change his mind.
Aprilia made a good start with the RSV4, not as good as BMW as the german manufacturer is in front at the world standings, but the italians made a perfect qualifying session, and a quite good second race despite a mistake from Biaggi during the last lap. A top five was possible.
On the BMW side, its like F1. Not really adacious design or technology, no immediate shine, but discretion and efficiency which make me say that this S1000RR will be up front soon. Troy Corser made the best lap during race one! BMW is playing the Nippon game, and their challenge is to beat them with their own rules... Beware of germans!
This weekend was also the « deflowering » of Ben Spies. The new Yamaha top rider was also, for his first WSBK race, on the new Big Bang 2009 R1. Quite similar as Rossi's 2006 M1...
We were expecting a lot, and we were served! This young american champion made a difficult first race but was absolutely fabulous during the second. Consistent, fast and aggressive! First weekend and he has already learn the rules of WSBK... « Big Bang Ben » Elbows is now in Europe!
This first attempt weekend was also the first win for Nitro Noriyuki Haga on an official Ducati 1098, Haga showed a really good shape and many tremendous moves who gave him his reputation.
Always for Ducati, it was also the return of the french man Regis Laconi on a 1098. After several years with Kawasaki the former MotoGP rider was able to made a 7th and a 4th place. Great return and nice show from Laconi who made during Saturday qualifying the new Phillip Island Lap record in 1,31''050.
But a britton puts the Island on fire, even two!
Jonny Rea with the Honda Ten Kate showed his talent after nice debut in Portimao last season. But the most impressive was Leon Haslam (son of Ron), who was able, with his Stggy Motorsport Honda, to step on the podium in the third position.
To end, how can't i talk about Alstare. The new Gixxer K9 made also really good debuts. The first race was good for the Batta team. Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama could do a 2 and 3 after a really good race. Max Neukirchner made for his part a really beautiful race and missed the win for just 32 thousands!
So it was a nice weekend. Good show and one coclusion : This season will probably be one of the most competitive ever, the season who will bring World Superbike in a whole new dimension.
WSBK Phillip Island race 1 :
1. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1098R 34mins 22.631s
2. Max Neukirchner GER Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 +0.032s
3. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 +5.347s
4. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1098R +6.587s
5. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +8.491s
6. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR +8.523s
7. Regis Laconi FRA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R +8.766s
8. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +11.589s
9. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R +11.721s
10. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha Italia YZF R1 +11.761s
11. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +12.609s
12. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +19.096s
13. Roberto Rolfo ITA Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR +24.149s
14. Tommy Hill GBR HANNspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR +27.416s
15. Shinya Nakano JPN Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +28.173s
16. Ben Spies USA Yamaha Italia YZF R1 +28.235s
17. Brendan Roberts AUS Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R +37.348s
18. Makoto Tamada JPN Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +37.401s
19. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR +42.614s
20. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1mi 03.794s
21. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +2 laps
WSBK Phillip Island race 2 :
1.Ben Spies USA Yamaha Italia YZF R1 34mins 20.457s
2. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1098R +1.286s
3. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR +4.213s
4. Regis Laconi FRA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R +4.490s
5. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1098R +6.045s
6. Max Neukirchner GER Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 +9.947s
7. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R +10.174s
8. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 +12.100s
9. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +12.742s
10. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha Italia YZF R1 +20.061s
11. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR +24.854s
12. Shinya Nakano JPN Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +25.192s
13. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +27.162s
14. Tommy Hill GBR HANNspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR +29.737s
15. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +30.036s
16. Roberto Rolfo ITA Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR +38.458s
17. Makoto Tamada JPN Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +44.453s
18. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R +45.486s
19. Brendan Roberts AUS Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R +46.198s
20. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +57.921s
21. Karl Muggeridge AUS Celani Suzuki GSX-R1000 +57.989s
22. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +1min 0.093s
23. Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +1min 7.820s
24. Matteo Baiocco ITA PSG-1 Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 21.224s
25. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 21.276s
Words : Aurélien Filippi
Pictures from WSBK.COM
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(not translated yet) Laconi arrête la compétition
