ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 23-25, 2024
PHILLIP ISLAND / VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
ROAD RACING I FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P74
22-24, but there will be an "all-
outer" test at the second-round
venue of Barcelona-Catalunya.
WorldSSP
WorldSSP was just as chaotic,
uncertain and downright unpre-
dictable at Phillip Island as its
bigger cousin,
WorldSBK. Until
the end of each race, that is.
The two races delivered the
same winner on the same bike, a
Ducati Panigale V2.
After a single-day test on
Monday before race weekend
(as the Supersport tires arrived
before the Superbike versions),
the possibilities were huge for
all kinds of machines and riders.
In race one, the dramas were
more like melodramas.
First of all, Bahattin Sofuoglu
(MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was
dragged to the back of the grid
for an under-pressure tire pen
-
Lukey Heights, no less.
Lowes,
therefore, took his
second win, Bautista was sec-
ond, and Locatelli dumped from
potential winner
to crasher as
his bike found a false neutral at
Miller Corner on the last lap.
The last of the nine avail-
able podiums delivered Danilo
Petrucci (Barni
Spark Racing
Ducati) to third as he came
through a gaggle of other bikes,
including all the Independent
Team Ducatis.
After an opening round that
exceeded expectations—and
they had been hyped-up high for
a while—Lowes leaves a manic
series of extraordinary events
behind with 50 points, Bulega
has 41, Iannone and Locatelli 29
and Bautista 27.
It's a long wait of a month for
the next installment of Mad Maga
-
zine in two-wheeled form, March
WorldSBK
overall.
Running a hard front tire,
Saturday podium rider Locatelli
fought his way to second place
in the Superpole race, hold
-
ing off the typically aggressive
Razgatlioglu
across the line.
It was Razgatlioglu's first po-
dium on a BMW and BMW's first
podium since 2022.
Fourth was Bautista and fifth
Saturday race winner Bulega,
proving to be human after all.
The second "long" race was
pure chaos.
A huge delay for an earlier oil
spill, a blow-up from Toprak's
engine, a huge highside for Rea
that brought out a red flag, and
then some. Finally, an eventual
11-lap non-stop race, which Bau
-
tista led almost throughout until
he
was caught by front-runner
Lowes on the final lap and was
passed around the outside at
Andrea Iannone holds
off the Marc VDS Racing
Ducati of Sam Lowes
(Alex's twin brother) with
Danilo Petrucci holding
station at the back.
