ROAD RACE
FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1 / FEBRUARY 23-25, 2018
PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT / PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA
P72
jump in competitiveness from
the Yamaha duo of Alex Lowes
and Michael van der Mark did
not come to podium fruition.
In race one, Lowes was sixth,
17 seconds down, with VDM
ninth and encountering severe
tire issues. In race two, Lowes
was fifth, winning a fight with the
otherwise rejuvenated Red Bull
Honda team and their lead rider
Leon Camier. Sixth equaled the
best Honda finish from 2017, at
only the second go in 2018.
Camier being only 2.745
seconds down on Melandri was
remarkable in many ways, and
another treat for the highly enter-
tained neutrals.
He was seventh in race one.
Fast in practice and super-
pole, the Milwaukee Aprilia duo
of Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo
Savadori saw their luck swing
back again when points came
up for grabs.
Savadori crashed and broke
his left collarbone in superpole
and missed all the potentially
rewarding race action.
Laverty was fourth in race one
to start but a lack of grip from
his front tire saw him drop down
and finish eighth, losing over 20
seconds on the leaders.
In race two, he started like a
man possessed and led for two
laps, before falling and limping
back out to take 15th place and
one point, but two laps down on
the winner Melandri.
In the championship, for the
first time in years the name
Jonathan Rea has not been at
the top of the rankings leaving
Australia (or anywhere else for
that matter), because Melandri
is this year's Mr. Perfect, with 50
points.
Next up is Sykes, his best
Down Under rides at a track that
he loves but that seldom loves
him back.
He has 33 points (one for
every one of his WorldSBK race
wins so far), Rea has 31 and top
Independent rider Fores has 29
in the overall rankings, with a
lead of 19 points already in the
Independent rankings.
WorldSSP
Lucas Mahias was boiling mad
at tire failures and problems
on Saturday, but faced with a
flag-to-flag two-parter instead of
a planned 15 laps straight race,
he started from pole position
anyway.
Lucas Mahias came away
with the WorldSSP victory.
