WSB ROUND 1, PHILLIP ISLAND SUNDAY 28TH FEBRUARY
Arai riders get off to a great start
LEON HASLAM, ALSTARE SUZUKI
Race 1: First Race 2: Second Championship Position: 1st
“THIS FEELS GREAT!”
Leon Haslam recorded his first ever World Superbike win in the first race of this year’s World Championship at Phillip Island. He led from start to finish and took the flag, just 4000ths-of-a-second ahead of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati). His win in race one and runner-up spot in the second puts him on the very top of the Superbike World Championship, nine points ahead of his nearest rival.
“I am so happy to get my first WSBK win and it feels great! I want to thank the team for having faith in me. The first race was such hard work and it was impossible to relax for a second. I realised that Fabrizio was in my wheel tracks going into the last turn and would try and use the draft to get past me, but I kept my head down and charged to the flag. I was so unbelievably happy to win and it was such a fantastic feeling. In race two, I had some problems with rear traction but still thought I could win. I had a great fight with Sylvain but I finally got ahead of him and made it stick. Then suddenly, Carlos was there – he dived under me just three corners from the end, on the last lap. I tried to get him back but he managed to hold me off and take the flag. It feels good to take a win and a second in my first race with the team and it feels fantastic to be leading the Championship.”
JONATHAN REA, TEN KATE HONDA
Race 1: Fourth Race 2: Sixth Championship Position: 6th
“WE KNEW IT WOULD BE HARD…”
Rea was reasonably satisfied with his weekend. After struggling to find the right set-up he started both twenty two-lappers from the second row, moving up to fourth place in race one and fighting off the advances of Max Biaggi to hold that position cross the line. Race two got under way in similar vein for the young man from Northern Ireland, however a mistake at turn four on the opening lap left him on the grass and he rejoined in last place before fighting his way back through the field. He holds sixth place in the Championship.
“We’ve had problems all week, really, from the test last weekend, right through this one and into the race. We knew it would be hard, so, if fourth and sixth is a bad weekend, I’ll take it. I was pretty happy with fourth, because I had to fight for it all the way. We changed the front a bit for the second race and I think it caught me out as I braked for the hairpin on the first lap. I had to let off the brake and, by the time I got back on track, I was last. It gave me a pretty strong motivation actually, and I really enjoyed riding through the field and passing I think maybe sixteen other riders, which was a lot of fun. Now we’re looking forward to getting back to some tracks where we know the bike works and to fighting for some podiums again.”
CAL CRUTCHLOW, STERILGARDA YAMAHA
Race 1: DNF Race 2: Ninth Championship Position: 12th
“BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.”
It wasn’t the start to the season Crutchlow had hoped for, as race one saw him on the deck after running wide onto a dirty section of track. Race two was much more positive – despite battling set-up issues with his Yamaha R1 and lack of grip Cal fought off the WSB all-stars, including Biaggi and Corser to finish ninth, leaving him in 12th position overall in the Championship.
“Race one was unfortunate. I felt we had good pace and were running up in the top five quite comfortably, I just made a little mistake – I was a bit better than Rea into the hairpin so had to run wide to avoid him and lost the front on the dirt. The second race was hard, I felt like I had no grip from the start and still some chattering. If we had better grip we could have pulled more out of it. We need to go back to the drawing board and work some stuff out.”
NORIYUKI HAGA, XEROX DUCATI
Race 1: Third Race 2: Fifth Championship Position: 4th
“WE TAKE HOME SOME GOOD POINTS”
Haga, too had his troubles at the first round of what will be a long season. Punted off at high speed by Xaus in the morning warm up, a battered Nori did well to finish the first race in third, just a second behind the Haslam/Fabrizio battle. The second outing saw Haga suffering just a little bit more and a sold fifth place was well held by the Xerox Ducati rider, bagging valuable points that’ll no doubt come in handy later in the year…
“My result in race one was really good as far as I’m concerned as I had had a crash during the warm-up and suffered from a bit of arm-pump during the race. I was confident that I could make a good start from 10th position and I did so and then I tried to keep up with Michel and Leon but my arm led me to make a few small mistakes. Anyway I really enjoyed the race and the points I made in the race are definitely a good start for the championship. In the second race my arm played up more and it became harder to brake, I felt very tired physically. But all in all, with regard to the classification and bearing in mind the morning’s accident it didn’t go too badly; we take home some good points.”
Jakub Smrz on the Team Pata B & G Racing Ducati had a day of mixed fortunes after qualifying sixth on the grid in Superpole. In race one he had an eighth place finish but disaster struck in race two when he crashed out on lap six. Championship position: 11th.
Next round Portimao 27th/28th March, 2010.