ROAD RACE
FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 24-26, 2017
PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT/ PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA
P66
Not only was race one close,
race two felt faster and was even
closer.
WorldSBK prodigal son,
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing
Ducati), was a faller in race one
but got to within 0.249 seconds
of what would have been a
sensational victory in his come-
back in race two. It was still a
spectacular third and proved he
is back in full effect, if not quite
back to full race fitness.
Davies also spoke about
how close and slow race one
was, but for a reason, he also
acknowledged that maybe Rea
and he were not the only two in
it. "The other manufacturers are
coming a bit closer, but I think
PI is PI," he said. "It is that kind
of circuit where the group stays
close and it stayed closer than
usual this year, because the race
was very strange and up and
down."
toward the flag.
"When Marco [Melandri] hit
the front we were doing 1:33s,
which is like supersport lap
times," Rea said of his first win-
ning race. "But that is the kind
of strategy you need at Phillip
Island. Yesterday I did a long run
in 1:30s and 31.0s, but the tem-
perature increase was too much
and we did not have the informa-
tion, so it was always better to
play the safe strategy today."
