Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 20-22, 2026 PHILLIP ISLAND / VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA ROAD RACE I FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P84 Son of three-time WorldSBK Champion Troy, Bayliss had been nearly inside the podium places before, most recently with a fourth at Balaton Park in round eight, missing the ros - trum by a mere few tenths of a second. His third place makes him the youngest Australian, at 22 years old, to achieve a World Supersport podium and ends a nine-year drought for Australian riders in the category. His teammate, Tom Booth- Amos, crashed out heavily in the dry first race but walked away. Race two, a tire gamble for all, was led by those on slicks throughout, as the dark clouds never dropped any more rain. Arenas thus had his first WorldSSP race win in only his second WorldSSP race; his teammate, Aldi Satya Mahendra, took his first WorldSSP podium; and Matteo Ferrari (WRP Rac - ing Ducati) also took his first WorldSSP top three ranking. Fourth was another slick gambler, Andrea Giombini (Motozoo by Madforce Dubai MV Agusta). WorldSBK Race One (Top 10) 1. Nicolo Bulega (Duc) 32:56.857 2. Yari Montella (Duc) +4.776 3. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Duc) +6.147 4. Axel Bassani (bim) +6.183 5. Sam Lowes (Duc) +8.249 6. Iker Lecuona (Duc) +12.549 7. Alex Lowes (bim) +13.746 8. Miguel Oliveira (BMW) +20.610 9. Alberto Surra (Duc) +21.663 10. Danilo Petrucci (BMW) +22.250 WorldSBK Superpole (Top 10) 1. Nicolo Bulega (Duc) 14:56.175 2. Axel Bassani (bim) +2.752 3. Alex Lowes (bim) +3.563 4. Yari Montella (Duc) +3.585 5. Sam Lowes (Duc) +3.985 6. Garrett Gerloff (Kaw) +4.250 7. Alvaro Bautista (Duc) +5.118 8. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Duc) +8.178 9. Iker Lecuona (Duc) +9.291 10. Danilo Petrucci (BMW) +9.512 WorldSBK Race Two (Top 10) 1. Nicolo Bulega (Duc) 37:21.038 2. Axel Bassani (bim) +11.336 3. Alvaro Bautista (Duc) +17.790 4. Tarran Mackenzie (Duc) +28.356 5. Andrea Locatelli (Yam) +30.966 6. Danilo Petrucci (BMW) +31.901 7. Miguel Oliveira (BMW) +32.135 8. Iker Lecuona (Duc) +32.608 9. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Duc) +33.241 10. Garrett Gerloff (Kaw) +48.734 Albert Arenas (75) made a dream debut in the WorldSSP class by taking the second race win. Mahendra and Arenas both ride for the setup that used to be the MV Agusta Reparto Corse squad, which has swapped to R9 power in 2026. Can Oncu was fifth on his Ten Kate Yamaha, with the GMT94 Yamaha of Roberto Garcia sixth. The Race-two top three com - prised a former Moto3 champion, a recent WorldSSP300 Champion, and a former MotoE Cham - pion. WorldSSP may have lots of Moto2 "runaways" on board again, but it still feels like an open house for anybody fast enough. In the early championship points, Arenas has 38, Masia 31 and Ferrari 26. Oettl is fourth with 25 points, and Mahendra, so heavily injured last year, is fifth with 23. CN