Superbike World Championship
By Ivo Schützbach – 02/29/2020 09:02
The rivalry between world champions Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) and Tom Sykes (BMW) in the Superbike World Championship has a long tradition. At the start of the season in Australia, they clashed again.
Coming from pole position, BMW works driver Tom Sykes did not get the best start in the first race on Phillip Island and only made the third turn behind Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha).
In curve 3, Sykes overtook the Turk, in curve 9 he pushed past Rea inside. It came into contact, Rea plowed through the gravel bed and came back last, 8 seconds behind.
The completely overwhelmed Takumi Takahashi (MIE Althea Honda) caught up with Rea within two laps. In the sixth round it was finally over when the Northern Irish slipped the front wheel when attacking Michael Rinaldi and he flew spectacularly.
“I was hit from behind and did everything I could to stay on the motorcycle,” Rea told Sykes of the incident to SPEEDWEEK.com. “Unfortunately I had to go through the gravel, but luckily I didn’t fall.”
Was that Sykes’ unfair action – too hard? “Tom wasn’t past me, he wasn’t even in my field of vision,” Rea said. «That was the first lap in the first race of the championship … I don’t want to say too much crap about the maneuver itself. He has done such maneuvers before and it will happen again. He sent me off the track and I fell in Brno because of him. That was the first lap, so you have to stay calm. »
“Then I tried to find a rhythm to score a few points,” Rea said. “Then I ran into a group and wanted to overtake Rinaldi on the outside in Turn 8. But it was wavy, I also lacked some contact pressure and the front wheel slipped away. I am annoyed with myself. The performance density is higher this year, but we are still the strongest. The pace in the race is not something that makes me shudder. »
Result Superbike World Championship Phillip Island, Run 1
| Pos | Driver, motorcycle | Time / Diff |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu, Yamaha | 33: 48.344 min |
| 2 | Alex Lowes, Kawasaki | + 0.007 sec |
| 3 | Scott Redding, Ducati | + 0.034 |
| 4 | Michael van der Mark, Yamaha | + 0.137 |
| 5 | Leon Haslam, Honda | + 3.910 |
| 6 | Alvaro Bautista, Honda | + 4,426 |
| 7 | Loris Baz, Yamaha | + 4.493 |
| 8th | Chaz Davies, Ducati | + 11.849 |
| 9 | Tom Sykes, BMW | + 11.910 |
| 10 | Michael Rinaldi, Ducati | + 11.922 |
| 11 | Eugene Laverty, BMW | + 11.949 |
| 12 | Federico Caricasulo, Yamaha | + 20.720 |
| 13 | Sandro Cortese, Kawasaki | + 20.778 |
| 14 | Garrett Gerloff, Yamaha | + 26.039 |
| 15 | Maximilian Scheib, Kawasaki | + 34.385 |
| malfunction | Takumi Takahashi, Honda | |
| fall | Xavi Fores, Kawasaki | |
| fall | Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki |
World Cup stand after Phillip Island, Run 1:
| Pos | driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | 25 |
| 2 | Alex Lowes | 20 |
| 3 | Scott Redding | 16 |
| 4 | Michael van der Mark | 13 |
| 5 | Leon Haslam | 11 |
| 6 | Alvaro Bautista | 10 |
| 7 | Loris Baz | 9 |
| 8th | Chaz Davies | 8th |
| 9 | Tom Sykes | 7 |
| 10 | Michael Rinaldi | 6 |
| 11 | Eugene Laverty | 5 |
| 12 | Federico Caricasulo | 4 |
| 13 | Sandro Cortese | 3 |
| 14 | Garrett Gerloff | 2 |
| 15 | Max Scheib | 1 |
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