WORLD SUPERBIKE
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1/FEBRUARY 23, 2014
PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT/PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA
P36
movement to the front, passing
motorcycles that are newer, fast-
er and simply more race-ready
than his Suzuki, was one of the
greatest displays ever seen in
World Superbike racing, and one
that so very few people would
have bet on.
"I am not going to spin some
bull and say that we had it all in
the back pocket because you
never know until you race the
bike," said Laverty. "It is all fine
and well doing some laps in prac-
tice and working on tuning the
race settings, but to have that
good a bike at the end was a
surprise for me. I thought that to-
day we were going to be fighting
for third and that the two Aprilias
would be tough to beat. We used
the same tires as the Aprilia rid-
ers, but the Suzuki chassis is so
mint - so nice."
Laverty passed the factory
Aprilia duo of Marco Melandri
and Sylvain Guintoli, who finished
second and third, respectively,
and it was a simple yet effective
demonstration that maybe Aprilia
really should have found a way to
keep 2013 runner-up Laverty on
board.
"I didn't have the pace in the
first laps," Melandri said. "I do
not know [why] but after mid-race
[we had] collapsed grip, front
and rear. Laverty surprised me. I
knew that would be the only one
able to fight for the victory with
me and Sylvain, but I thought
we would have played, that [he]
does not come from behind and
it would go away. They were bet-
ter than us on the bike. At least
I got in front of my teammate in
race one."
In the second Australian race
the rider who usurped Laverty at
Aprilia, Melandri, almost took out a
few of his peers as he overcooked
at the Honda hairpin, and lost his
chance of his first Aprilia win.
Guintoli (50) won the second race
and leaves Phillip Island with the
championship points lead.
