2016 WSBK Phillip Island Superpole and Race 1 Result and Summary

The 2016 WSBK Season got off to a fantastic start with an intriguing Superpole session and an excellent hard fought race.

Superpole 1 & 2

Superpole 1 saw the Yamaha of Alex Lowes and the BMW of Jordi Torres finishing fastest and bumping themselves up into Superpole 2.

The first half of Superpole 2 saw a quick lap from Ducati man Davide Giugliano find a place at the top, with Sylvain Guintoli and Alex Lowes behind. At the halfway mark as has now become a tradition, everyone pitted in for qualifying rubber before they headed out for the one quick make or break lap.

After much jostling of position, Tom Sykes took pole on the qualifying rubber, followed by Giugliano and Rea. The two Yamahas of Guintoli and Lowes took 4th and 5th, which were followed in turn by the two Hondas of Michael van der Mark and Nicky Hayden. Reigning Superstock 1000 Champion Savadori took 8th behind Hayden, while Chaz Davies and Leon Camier rounded out the top ten. Reiterberger and Torres took their BMWs to the last spots available in the Superpole 2.

Race 1

This was the first time in WSBK history that a race was going to be held on a Saturday afternoon. With the new format of racing being introduced this year, many a fans might have missed tuning in to watch this race. Well you guys missed an awesome spectacle of close quarter racing, where there was no love lost between multiple teammates!

The 22 lap race started with Jonathan Rea taking the lead with Tom Sykes on his rear wheel, the Kawasakis muscling the Ducati of Guigliano out of the way. Chaz Davies from 9th and Michael van der Mark from 6th both got good starts as they worked they way through the field to the front.

The initial laps saw a pack of 9 riders within striking distance of each other, until Lorenzo Savadori had to drop off as he couldn’t maintain the pace at the front. Everyone at the front was riding cautiously as in WSBK the Pirellis drop off towards the end and managing the tyres is of paramount importance.

Rea led for the first three laps of the race till Sykes took him on the brakes, Davies followed through, but Rea fought back his position from the Ducati. Giugliano made a hard pass on his teammate forcing him to stand his bike up as he went through, but Davies returned the favour on the next lap, allowing the Honda of van der Mark through as well. Hayden followed behind biding his time as he rode cautiously in the initial laps. While the Yamahas of Alex Lowes and Sylvain Guintoli hung onto the group. By the halfway mark of the race, the top 8 were still bunched together. And as expected by Lap 15, tyres started dropping for some, while those more consistent stayed at the front.

Davies was running a longer swingarm to try reducing tyre degradation, while Rea was the only one to have done a 22 lap race simulation, van der Mark had done a 17 lap race simulation and the tactics of these three paid off. The group of 8 started shrinking, with Hayden suffering from tyre issues and Alex Lowes crashing out. Sykes was unable to match the pace at the front and had to ride hard to keep off the charging Yamaha of Guintoli. Giugliano put in the fastest lap of the race at the very last lap to grab the final place on the podium, but the Honda of van der Mark held on. Davies made a last lap dive under Rea. Rea allowed him through, and held the racing line while Davies went wide losing drive down towards the last corner. Davies had one last chance of slipstreaming Rea down the main straight, but the Ducati didn’t have the power to match of the Kawasaki on the straights.

Rea won the race with Davies 0.063 seconds behind, van der Mark took the final place on the podium. It was good to see three different nationalities and manufacturers on the podium. Northern Ireland, Wales and Holland. Kawasaki, Ducati and Honda. A welcome change from the dominance of the Spanish and Italians as we see in MotoGP, with all races being won by either Yamaha or Honda. All the riders have a chance to go through their data and sleep over it and try again afresh tomorrow in Race 2. This Saturday race does add a bit of spice to the entire proceedings!

Results for Race 1 below:

The World Supersport Race will be live at 0800hrs and the WSBK Race 2 will be live at 0930hrs.