VOL. 52 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 24, 2015 P91
best top speeds of just over
193 mph—so ultimate power
looks like it's being pegged
relatively even this year.
Davies leaves Australia
third in the championship and
another top World Superbike
name—Tom Sykes heads off
in the fourth spot. But it is not
a happy position for Kawasaki
Racing Team's 2013 champion.
Held back in eighth after a
red flagged Superpole, Sykes
made good starts in each race,
but running off in the first race
(after being left no room by
rookie rider Michael van der
Mark on the Pata Honda) put
Sykes in a fighting sixth. Then
in race two, the former champ
would turn in a fighting fourth
after experiencing front-end
feel issues.
The expected war between
Kawasaki teammates Rea and
Sykes has not yet started, but
the points scores show that
one is clearly ahead—Rea's 45
points (shared with Haslam) to
Sykes' 23.
Battered and bruised after a
big crash recently at the pre-
season Jerez test, the 2014
World Champion Sylvain Guin-
toli rode to a seventh and a fifth
place finish—results that placed
him under the radar, but still
fifth in the early points stand-
ings. Were he fit, Guintoli may
have been able to emulate the
race two push of van der Mark,
his Pata Honda teammate, who
stuck with the leaders right up
to the point where he came un-
stuck and crashed at turn ten.
Van der Mark had been fifth
in race one, which was an
effort and a half in his first full
World Superbike weekend. He
had shown all his double Su-
zuka 8-Hour winning speed and
Briefly...
Racing team at Phillip Island. It now
appears they will not make Thailand
either, but plans are still afoot to be at
Motorland Aragon.
The FIM presented Phillip Island
Managing Director Fergus Cam-
eron with a silver medal in celebra-
tion and appreciation of the fact that
the circuit has now held 25 World
Superbike weekends, and more in-
dividual races than any other circuit
in the championship's history. "This
is a proud achievement for all of our
teams here at Phillip Island, and I
have a very dedicated group of peo-
ple who prepare for these events and
we really appreciate the recognition
we have got here," said Cameron.
BMW appears to have a very differ-
ent opinion to the JR team about
how preparations are going as they
say they have not had any answer to
request for information and commu-
nication since last November. All the
material is ready for the team to use,
but nothing will be released to them
until they pay for it.
Aprilia Racing Red Devils Roma's
Leon Haslam like many riders was
sporting a new crash helmet at Phil-
lip Island, with his old red, white and
Blue colors replaced by black, white
and red Aprilia ones. The rainbow
stripe down the middle caused much
confusion, as it is the cycling world's
symbol of victory, but Haslam con-
firmed it was a small homage to his
team who won the riders and manu-
facturers' championship last year.
A big crash for Davide Giugliano on
the first day of testing at Phillip Island
before the race weekend had begun
fractured two of his lumber verte-
Rea earned his first win with his
new team and his first ever at
Phillip Island.
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