WORLD SUPERBIKE
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1/FEBRUARY 21, 2015
PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT/PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA
P94
weekend, but on raceday had to
settle for an impressive fourth in
race one, 2.2 seconds adrift of
Rea.
In race two Torres fell while
attempting to pass Sykes into
turn one.
A better Spanish rookie at the
season opener overall on aggre-
gate was Althea Racing Ducati's
Nico Terol. Terol scored eighth
and then sixth to find himself sixth
overall in the championship.
Remarkably, the MV Agusta
Reparto Corse F4 that has had
virtually no testing in the dry until
Australia, took Leon Camier to a
surprise top 10 in race one and
then a delight-laden eighth in
race two. Seventh overall in the
points for the MV Agusta rider
meant that the top-seven places
in the championship feature ma-
chines from five different manu-
facturers. Clearly the new rules
are already at work on leveling
the road for all, or almost all,
World Superbike manufacturers.
Suzuki got unlucky on race
day when Voltcom Crescent
Suzuki's Alex Lowes was ninth
on a bike with some technical
problems, and then did not get
out to race the second 22-lap
sprint because of an electron-
ics issue on his spare. Fastest
in official testing, Lowes could
have been a podium scrapper
had he not had these issues.
His teammate, a bruised Randy
De Puniet finished 17th and then
seventh, despite being beaten
up from testing.
The Hero EBR team now fully
American, were again unlucky—
this time on race day. Niccolo
Canepa fell after a technical
issue with his bike, between
turn one and turn two and hurt
his ankle, probably breaking a
ligament. He missed race two,
but in that contest team rider/
manager Larry Pegram scored
14th place.
But what of Bayliss, the main
pre-race event?
He showed some real speed,
particularly in race two, but he
only took a 13th place in race
one, then was 16th in race two,
