WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
to drop back two hard earned
places later on in the race, after
passing riders under a yellow
flag.
His gradual but inexorable
VOL. 51 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 25, 2014 P35
Briefly...
Aprilia's Marco Melandri suffered a
massive crash on Saturday, but got
back up to go third in Superpole.
He was one of many top riders bat-
tling against bashes and scrapes at
best, and outright fractures at worst,
as Phillip Island maintained its tough
reputation.
Iron Brain Kawasaki's Michel Fab-
rizio was forced to sit out the races
after his own massive fall in testing,
but he was lucky to escape with a
'mere' massive internal trauma in
his pelvic and abdominal region that
saw him ruled out of the running.
The team didn't enter a replacement,
leaving Sheridan Morais as the one
Iron Brain rider.
Luca Scassa broke his pelvis when
he fell from his Pedercini Kawasaki
in testing, but his place was taken
by Matt Walters, who was on hand
to take over the seat in practice af-
ter some to-ing and fro-ing about the
details of the ride. He did not race,
however.
A startlingly tough testing period
shortly before the races at Phillip
Island broke one of the favorites for
the SBK Evo championship, Sylvain
Barrier, but Glenn Allerton was on
hand to take over the Frenchman's
Team Italia BMW ride.
There were stringent new rules in
force at Phillip Island for the Pirelli
tire allocation, which now stands
at a first 24 - and with riders only al-
lowed to mount 13 tires per session
on wheels in the back of their ga-
rages. There were complaints from
some that the allocation of stickers
for the tires – which must be fitted
before any rider leaves pit lane –
continued on next page
BY GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
Suzuki's Eugene Laverty (58) came
from well back in the pack to beat
his Aprilia rivals Sylvain Guintoli (50)
and Marco Melandri (33) in the first
of two races at the season-opening
Phillip Island round in Australia.
Here we go again… the World Superbike season gets rolling in Australia
