VOLUME 57 ISSUE 9 MARCH 3, 2020 P71
The final race was decided by a
leading four, but eventual second-
place rider Alex Lowes (Kawasaki
Racing Team) first had to get
through a fight with his old mate
Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) on
what was proving to be a highly
impressive debut for the new
Honda CBR1000RR-R SP.
As Haslam's tire grip finally
started to fall off a cliff, Lowes
was already on his way to hunt-
ing down and passing VDM and
tion, and, after the start, I focused
on the race conditions because I
knew I had to save the tires. The
bike was sliding at the end, and,
on the final lap, I was worried
because when I opened the gas,
it started spinning, not going for-
ward. It was very close, but I won
on the new R1."
Doubtless, Jonathan Rea (KRT)
would have been in the mix, but
his half-lap front-running perfor-
mance was ended when Sykes
came up inside him into Lukey
Heights, and then they touched,
with Rea running off the track and
restarting last.
In his effort to get past Michael
Ruben Rinaldi (GoEleven Ducati)
he fell, by losing his stressed front
end on bumps that he had never
experienced before, on a wide
outside passing line through the
daunting Hayshed corner. He was
out, burning his left lower leg at
140 mph.
Alex Lowes (22)
stayed calm and
put one over
Jonathan Rea
and the rest in
race two for a
spectacular win.
FIREWORKS!
WorldSBK is back for the new decade and
kicked off with three spectacular races at the
iconic Phillip Island circuit in Australia
