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World Superbike
WSBK: Phillip Island Takeaways
Evan Williams reflects on the Superbike World Championship opener and what it signified going forward.
BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK's Marco Melandri and Aprilia Racing's Eugene Laverty (Photo: BMW Motorrad)
Finally, the 2013 racing season is underway. World Superbike raced last weekend at Phillip Island in Australia, kicking off this year’s racing season and signifying that winter is over. Sort of.
Change is the one constant in the history of World Superbike and every few years the series gets a shakeup. It usually makes things exciting.
There are tons of questions about the competitors in World Superbike and it really is a new era. No more Max Biaggi. Ducati has a new bike and a new team. The series has new owners and three-riders-wide grids. It was interesting to see how things shook out in an actual race.
Aprilia swept the wins, with Sylvain Guintoli taking Race 1 and Eugene Laverty claiming the second one for the Factory Aprilia Racing team. The factory bikes took both of the top spots in each race.
With Biaggi and Aprilia winning another title last season before the Roman rode into the sunset a winner, this year was going to be a bit of an unknown for Aprilia. Laverty and Guintoli (who joined the team after some racing political intrigue) are good riders, no doubt about it. But could they be contenders for a championship? After one round, it looks like they can.
Both races saw similar plots, with one of the team’s rider leading early only to be chased down by his teammate as the contest wore on. It’s early days but both riders looked ready to take a big step forward in 2013.
Michel Fabrizio on the Red Devils Aprilia finished third in the first race and was in line to perhaps win that slot again in Race 2, but ran wide dicing with BMW's Marco Melandri. Aprilia took five of the podium positions in Oz.
No one could get within five seconds of the smoking fast Aprilias in the first race, but Melandri was just 1.382 seconds back the next time out.
Any time a manufacturer runs away with the opening race like this, tongues will start wagging. Aprilia looked really strong on the track and on the top speed sheets. But the Aprilia has always been fast and 'The Island' is a strange track. More data needed on that one.
Change is the one constant in the history of World Superbike and every few years the series gets a shakeup. It usually makes things exciting.
There are tons of questions about the competitors in World Superbike and it really is a new era. No more Max Biaggi. Ducati has a new bike and a new team. The series has new owners and three-riders-wide grids. It was interesting to see how things shook out in an actual race.
Aprilia swept the wins, with Sylvain Guintoli taking Race 1 and Eugene Laverty claiming the second one for the Factory Aprilia Racing team. The factory bikes took both of the top spots in each race.
With Biaggi and Aprilia winning another title last season before the Roman rode into the sunset a winner, this year was going to be a bit of an unknown for Aprilia. Laverty and Guintoli (who joined the team after some racing political intrigue) are good riders, no doubt about it. But could they be contenders for a championship? After one round, it looks like they can.
Both races saw similar plots, with one of the team’s rider leading early only to be chased down by his teammate as the contest wore on. It’s early days but both riders looked ready to take a big step forward in 2013.
Michel Fabrizio on the Red Devils Aprilia finished third in the first race and was in line to perhaps win that slot again in Race 2, but ran wide dicing with BMW's Marco Melandri. Aprilia took five of the podium positions in Oz.
No one could get within five seconds of the smoking fast Aprilias in the first race, but Melandri was just 1.382 seconds back the next time out.
Any time a manufacturer runs away with the opening race like this, tongues will start wagging. Aprilia looked really strong on the track and on the top speed sheets. But the Aprilia has always been fast and 'The Island' is a strange track. More data needed on that one.
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