Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1217238
ROAD RACING FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 27-29, 2020 PHILLIP ISL AND / PHILLIP ISL AND, AUSTRALIA P76 pit-box wheel-change time. Despite the video replay pic- tures showing Cluzel ahead of De Rosa in the aftermath of the race, on track, it was De Rosa/Cluzel with his small penalty making no difference to second and third place. Off the podium, Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha) raced well but also simply out-dragged Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) out of the final corners and onto the final straight, leaving Mahias upset at what he thought would be a higher level of com- petitiveness for his bike in 2020. He won two races in 2019 on the Ninja, but at the fast P.I., it was an uphill battle, even for a World Champion as recently as 2017. Philipp Ottl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) fell from a strong position and was unable to restart. Hannes Soomer (Kallio Rac- ing Yamaha) was another to be championship-winning bike, it was all dreamlike after his career change from the GP path. "It was a fantastic weekend, which I have still not realized yet," he said. "I missed winning, it's a beautiful feeling: the race wasn't easy, both for the track conditions dif- ferent from the last few days and for the flag-to flag-obligation. I still have to learn some things, but I think I got off to a good start. The package at my disposal was great, we have worked in the best way since the first practice, and I felt comfortable in every moment spent on the bike." The next nearest man to the impressive Locatelli was an old WorldSSP hand, and another top MV rider, Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse). He was just ahead of Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha), who was given a small penalty—like five others— for not respecting the minimum Rea 32 and Van der Mark 31. Anything can happen between now and Argentina in early Octo- ber, but so far, a lot already has, most of it compelling. WorldSSP Andrea Locatelli (Bardahl Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) was— almost—a start-to-finish race win- ner in WorldSSP, his only drop in position caused by the same mandatory tire change stop dur- ing the race as everybody else, to just make extra sure there would be no blistering problems for even the least prepared teams. He may have had real competi- tion from the number-one plate holder Randy Krummenacher, but 'Krummi' was out way early after a crash on the first corner of the first lap. For Locatelli, a new boy at an uncatchable pace on last year's Leon Haslam rode well on the new Honda and was in the mix in race one.