VOL. 51 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 19, 2014 P21
overall over the two days. I've worked really
hard; I was consistent this afternoon, we had
a few issues, but it would be impossible not
to be happy really. I don't think many people
expected me to be this close already and with
a couple of days to reflect we should be in
a stronger position for the weekend. I'm lov-
ing riding the GSX-R, it's a bike you can really
push and it seems to be a bit like me – the
harder it's worked the better it goes. Thanks
to everyone on the team, we have a great at-
mosphere and I'm enjoying myself."
Aprilia's Marco Melandri and Ducati's Da-
vide Giugliano were fourth and fifth, respec-
tively, and just ahead of Sykes' Kawasaki
teammate Loris Baz. Baz crashed twice dur-
ing the test and was fortunate to not suffer
injury.
Aprilia's Sylvain Guintoli seems to be back
to health with his surgically repaired shoul-
der and the Frenchman who won race one
at Phillip Island last year ended the test sev-
enth best. Pata Honda's Leon Haslam and
Jonathan Rea both suffered crashes near the
end of Tuesday's session and they ended up
eighth and ninth best. Ducati's Chaz Davies
was 10th overall after the two days of testing.
Only .848 of a second separated the top
10 riders.
The Hero EBR team of Geoff May and Aar-
on Yates struggled during the test, the pair
ending up 23
rd
and 24
th
overall, respectively.
May lapped at a best of 1:34.807 with Yates
turning in a 1:36.662.
Althea Racing's Niccolò Canepa was 11th
overall on his EVO Ducati 1199 Panigale – the
best of the EVO class racers.
Lowes wasn't the only Phillip Island new-
bie who turned heads. PJ Jacobsen ended
up second overall on the World Supersport
timesheets, the New Yorker ending up just
.281 of a second behind three-time World Su-
persport Champion Kenan Sofuoglu on his
Intermoto Ponyexpres Kawasaki.
Briefly...
Why We Ride
Available
The movie "Why We Ride"
is now available for audi-
ences worldwide on digital
platforms. Beginning on
February 18, Why We Ride
will be available across all
of iTunes' and Amazon's
stores worldwide.
Kerr To Harley Series
Ohio road racer Ryan Kerr
will ride a Kyle Wyman Rac-
ing prepared Harley-Da-
vidson XR1200 in the AMA
Pro Vance & Hines Harley-
Davidson series. Kerr will
ride the #28 XR1200 with
support from Best Book 1
and RFC.
World Superbike
Streaming
The World Superbike
Championship now gets
a SBK VideoPass that
brings us full coverage of
Saturday's Superpole and
Sunday's races for every
round of the season – live
and on-demand. All video
content on worldsbk.com
is completely commercial
free. The SBK VideoPass
also includes SBK Live Tim-
ing, the interactive news-
letter, exclusive merchan-
dising and ticket offers.
For more information, visit
www.worldsbk.com/en/
subscribe.
Clear Creek Update
The U.S. Bureau of Land
Management has an-
nounced the reopening of
the 31,000-acre Serpentine
Area of Critical Environmen-
tal Concern in California's
San Benito and Fresno
counties to limited street-li-
censed vehicle use, accord-
ing to the AMA. At the same
time, the BLM says, about
5070 acres of public lands
within the Clear Creek
Management Area "exhibit
Wilderness characteristics"
and "will be managed to
emphasize primitive, non-
motorized recreation oppor-
tunities." The BLM decision
also means ATVs will have
access to the parts of the
Clear Creek Management
Area that were never closed,
but were rendered inac-
cessible. The 75,000-acre
Clear Creek area, which
includes the Serpentine
ACEC, was closed in 2008
after the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency raised
concerns about asbestos
exposure.
Reunited And It
Feels So Good
The original six rookie Ex-
perts from the 1979 AMA
Grand National Champion-
ship will be reunited this
summer for their 35th an-
niversary in August. Wayne
Rainey, Scott Parker, Ron-
nie Jones, Charlie Roberts,
Tommy Duma and Johnny
Wincewicz will be at the
third annual Springfield
Mile After-Party on Satur-
day, August 30.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
