Cycle News

Aprilia would add one more— Ducati. Yet again, British riders had a field day up front to lead both races and provide astound- ingly close racing all the way through both 22-lap contests. In the final analysis Kawasaki's Jonathan Rea made the kind of debut for a new manufacturer most would dream about—Su- perpole, a race one win, a race two second place (by only .010 of a second) and a joint champi- onship lead of 45 points. It was mirror image results on raceday for Aprilia Racing Red Devils Roma's Leon Haslam— second in race one (by only .039 of a second) and then took the second race win by mak- ing a better final corner exit and slipstreaming Rea beautifully. "On the last lap when Leon [Haslam] came past I knew I had some more tire to at least fight with him," Rea said, of holding off the expectedly faster Aprilia in race one. "It was a nice battle at the end. I had to go as slow as I could and still stay at the front, so it was a really strange race. I was quite surprised to be honest because I had a bet with myself after my team manager was quite conservative with our targets for this weekend. I knew I could do a good job and the whole team did themselves proud." Haslam has been through a world of physical and emotional pain since breaking his lower right leg horribly at Assen in 2013, but winning races was the medicine he had been looking VOL. 52 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 24, 2015 P89 Briefly... Kawasaki Team Pedercini's David Salom was forced to miss the PI race after suffering a huge accident on Saturday in Superpole two. He fell exiting turn 11 and took two big hits to his neck and head into the gravel. Lying prone as he had been knocked out for a short time, and then felt he had probably broken his right lower leg, he stopped. "I waited for the marshals and doctors, but they said it was okay," Salom said. "It looks from the photos that the wheel hurt my leg. I have broken the top of my right middle finger and it is always this hand, in this kind of area that gets injured." Salom suffered no ma- jor fractures and was walking around the paddock on Sunday morning. Aprilia Racing Red Devils Roma's Jordi Torres has proved to be a competitor with teeth and an over- flowing personality. Apologizing for his limited English skills he answered the question of comparisons be- tween Moto2 and World Superbike, especially as he has been so com- petitive in World Superbike at Phillip Island. "The levels are different be- cause the riding style is completely different, Torres said. You have to understand the tires, the power, or engines, electronics—it is complete- ly different. Moto2 is different. You need more velocity in the middle of the corner, and you need other feel- ings in your ass to catch the feeling. Here you need more strength; and you make your time with your balls." Troy Corser was in town at Phillip Is- land, wishing his old friend and rival Troy Bayliss well just before he went out for his first World Superbike ses- sion. Corser was tight lipped about the non-appearance of his JR BMW continued on next page

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