Weather Wreaks Havoc At
Phillip Island WorldSBK Finale
N
o non-Australian needs to
tell you how awesome Phillip
Island is as a venue to race motor-
cycles. Having last competed here
in the first round of 2020, the pad-
dock regulars and new riders were
excited to get onto the 2.7-mile
circuit and back to Australia.
But nothing is perfect, of
course.
Going into the final round of
the 2022 FIM WorldSBK Cham-
pionship saw Ducati's Alvaro
Bautista competing for the first
time since clinching the number-
one plate at the previous round,
but he was in the mood to win
as much as ever, as were outgo-
ing champ Toprak Razgatlioglu,
former champ Jonathan Rea and
everyone else on the grid.
Many would not have seen
Philip Island in quite the grey, cold
and often angry weather moods it
displayed, but all is forgiven once
the racing starts at one of the
great grandaddy's of WorldSBK.
The weekend ended with three
very different races in three differ-
ent sets of challenging conditions.
After a dry but cool Friday, a
ding-dong Superpole session in
dry conditions again on Saturday
(after a sodden FP3) allowed
Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) to walk
into the first race day with the
bragging rights after he became
the only rider to get under the
1:29 mark this year.
It was a thrilling finish as the
clock counted out, with Rea
(Kawasaki Racing Team) looking
set to take the advantage by just
0.027 from his teammate Alex
Lowes until Bautista scored only
his second Superpole win of his
championship-winning season.
His 1:29.815 lap was still a way
off the track best of 1:29.230, set
by Tom Sykes in 2020, but then
again, Bautista and company had
no super soft SCQs or soft SCX
race tires to use in qualifying,
just middle hardness race tires.
IN
THE
WIND
P40
Alvaro Bautista
played his cards
perfectly at Phillip
Island, especially in
the Superpole Race,
where an inspired
tire choice saw him
blitz through the
field to win.
