threatened rain in Phillip Island during the FP3 of the World Superbikewhich dominated Iker Lecuona with the Slingand the fight for pole position, which took razgatlioglu with the yamaha in front of alvaro bautistawith the ducati and the rookie Dominique Aegerter. And by the beginning of the first race, water was already falling heavily, which delayed the start.
The light went out and Bautista overtook the Turk while Jonathan Rhea got rid of the Swiss first, Toprak later and from Spanish later to put to the Kawasaki leader in his 378 career, the one who has started the most times in the history of the derivatives of the series. In the first meters of the season the panorama already left ‘the three Tenors’ at the front of the race.
And the situation remained like this until the world champion, halfway through the test, overtook Jonathan Rea in turn 3 of lap 10 and put to work Panigale with a constant rhythm to reach the finish line, including a scare, claiming the first victory of the year with a recital and the overall leadership under water in Australia. The defense of the title begins with the Spanish with a demonstration of forcefulness over his two main rivals and companions on the podium of Phillip Island. There, in the closed park, Bautista pointed to the one, here I am, I am the man to beat, he seemed to want to say. “Very happy to start with these sensations. And today has been difficult with the new situation of being without references rolling with the water. You had to stay calm, see how the track was, where the limit was… At the beginning Jonathan Rea had better pace than me, but after a few laps I tried to get in front to avoid the problem of not being able to see. I had a few scares because the track was slippery. But I have kept calm, ”the Talavera native explained better after his victory, number 33 in the category, with which he equals Troy Corser and breaks tie with Chaz Davies and Toprak Razgatlioglu. Next station, 34 o’clock Tom Sykes and 43 o’clock Noriyuki Haga, fourth and fifth respectively in the all-time.
Behind, Andrea Locatellithe independent Axel Bassani and Iker Lecuona, from less to more with the CBR. He also had a good race on the other Honda, the one from Fridaywho, like his teammate, was recovering positions to finish seventh, just ahead of Petrucci, with whom he fought until the last corner, with a touch included that ended with an investigation that favored the Barcelona player with that seventh. As for the drops, Tom Sykes, with mechanical problems, like konig and the fallen Van der Mark and LowesThey couldn’t finish.
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Victory for Bulega in SuperSport and fall for Adrián Huertas.
In SuperSport, Nicolo Bulega took with the ducati a race marked by red flags and delicate conditions due to the rain. in lap 4 Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) crashed, causing the moto to be temporarily cancelled. Both were transferred to the medical center for a check-up, where the Italian was diagnosed with a clavicle fracture and the Spaniard a lumbar contusion for which he was transferred to the hospital for further tests. There they detected a fracture in the L5 vertebra, as reported by the pilot himself on his channels: “Today I had a big accident in race 1, unfortunately I was hit by other pilots who could not avoid me. After some medical tests, the result is a broken L5 vertebra. I will now be transferred to another hospital in Melbourne for some more medical tests so we will keep you posted. Thanks to Yari Montella for coming to help me after the accident, even with a broken clavicle”, said the man from Madrid, who was running fourth before the accident.
In the restart of the test, cut to 10 laps, the pilots who mounted the wet tires were the most benefited, as was the case of the Italian. Nicholas Spinelli (VFT Racing Yamaha) was second in his first race with his new squad and John McPhee (Vince64 by Puccetti Racing) completed the podium in his debut. Jorge Navarro he finished in the points with ninth place.