Phillip Island (Australia), Sunday 23 February 2014 – Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) has won the second race of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island, his career’s fifth in the series, in front of the 56,515 spectators attending the event. The Frenchman, now Championship leader after the opening round, was in first place on lap 15 when the race was red flagged, following the technical problem suffered by race 1 winner Eugene Laverty. The Irishman’s GSX-R 1000 engine blew as he was running second ahead of Kawasaki Racing Team pairing of Loriz Baz and reigning Champion Tom Sykes, who claimed the remaining podium positions.
Sylvain Guintoli: “I pushed a bit too much in Race 1, I started off really strong but towards the end I couldn’t keep the same pace. Track conditions were a lot different from the previous days, but we did a good job anyway. In the second race, I tried to save the tyre a bit and it worked out. Considering what happened to me during the weekend I can’t be but happy about this round as I finally managed to get back on the top step of the podium. I would like to thank the people who assisted me during my recovery, I feel quite tired now but there is a long break before the next race to be fully fit.”
Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) was 4th followed by Pata Honda duo Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam, whilst Giugliano’s team mate Chaz Davies claimed seventh place ahead of Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) and Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia). Works Aprilia rider Melandri was part of a thrilling ten way battle up front in the early stages, before going wide at Turn 4 during the eighth lap. Two laps later Brit Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) made the same mistake whilst trying to catch the leaders, eventually ending up thirteenth behind EVO riders David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team), tenth, Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati), eleventh, and Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki), twelfth.
Results: 1. Guintoli (Aprilia) 14 Laps/62.230 km in 15:02’05.586 average 173.124 kph; 2. Baz (Kawasaki) 0.283; 3. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1.103; 4. Giugliano (Ducati) 2.052; 5. Rea (Honda) 4.951; 6. Haslam (Honda) 5.673; 7. Davies (Ducati) 9.664; 8. Melandri (Aprilia) 10.574; 9. Elias (Aprilia) 11.682; 10. Salom (Kawasaki) 15.065; 11. Canepa (Ducati) 16.294; 12. Foret (Kawasaki) 16.919; 13. Lowes (Suzuki) 19.694; 14. Morais (Kawasaki) 27.266; 15. Allerton (BMW) 27.845; 16. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 29.431; 17. Andreozzi (Kawasaki) 36.393; 18. Corti (MV Agusta) 37.018; 19. Toth (BMW) 54.093; 20. Yates (EBR) 1’13.385; RT. Laverty (Suzuki) 0.131.
Race 1
The eni FIM Superbike World Championship had its first exciting race of the year today at Phillip Island, with Irishman Eugene Laverty scoring a sensational win aboard his GSX-R 1000, making it three in a row with the double he scored at Jerez last year in the last round. In his debut race with Voltcom Crescent Suzuki, Laverty achieved an historical maiden win for the Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Team. Laverty is also the first Suzuki rider to climb on the top step of the podium since the second… (read more)
Eugene Laverty: “To win race 1 was a dream come true. I had told the boys in the garage that I would win before we reached it being 100 races without Suzuki on the top step but I didn’t think the run would stop so soon after we took the first win. Looking ahead, we have shown that we have the race pace and I think that we can have a very strong season. Thanks to my whole team, we have worked hard over the winter and I am looking forward to Aragon.”
Standings (Round 1 of 14): 1. Guintoli 41; 2. Baz 31; 3. Melandri 28; 4. Giugliano 26; 5. Laverty 25; 6. Sykes 25; 7. Rea 21; 8. Davies 17; 9. Salom 13; 10. Canepa 11; 11. Haslam 10; 12. Foret 8; 13. Elias 7; 14. Allerton 6; 15. Lowes 3; 16. Corti 3; 17. Morais 3; 18. Guarnoni 2. Manufacturers: 1. Aprilia 45; 2. Kawasaki 31; 3. Suzuki 28; 4. Ducati 26; 5. Honda 21; 6. BMW 6; 7. MV Agusta 3
World Supersport
Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta RC – Yakhnich Motorsport) has written a new page in the history of motorcycle racing, winning the first world championship race for the iconic Italian brand MV Agusta since Giacomo Agostini’s victory at the Nurburgring in 1976. The race was red flagged during the eighth lap due to the technical problem suffered by Jack Kennedy (CIA Insurance Honda) and the oil laid on track by his CBR 600 RR. A bitter end of a difficult round for the Irishman, who took part in the race despite… (read more)
Results: 1. Cluzel (MV Agusta) 5 Laps/22.225 km in 14:08’54.503 average 167,530 km/h; 2. Coghlan (Yamaha) 0.224; 3. De Rosa (Honda) 0.317; 4. Marino (Kawasaki) 0.347; 5. Tamburini (Kawasaki) 0.822; 6. Wahr (Yamaha) 4.010; 7. Gowland (Triumph) 5.282; 8. Russo (Honda) 5.310; 9. Menghi (Yamaha) 5.517; 10. Gamarino (Kawasaki) 5.858; 11. Rolfo (Kawasaki) 6.491; 12. Covena (Kawasaki) 7.873; 13. Calero (Honda) 10.163; 14. Bussolotti (Honda) 12.406; 15. Rogers (Honda) 12.622; etc.
Standings (Round 1 of 13): 1. Cluzel 25; 2. Coghlan 20; 3. De Rosa 16; 4. Marino 13; 5. Tamburini 11; 6. Wahr 10; 7. Gowland 9; 8. Russo 8; 9. Menghi 7; 10. Gamarino 6; 11. Rolfo 5; 12. Covena; 13. Calero 3; 14. Bussolotti 2; 15. Rogers 1. Manufacturers: 1. MV Agusta 25; 2. Yamaha 20; 3. Honda 16; 4. Kawasaki 13; 5. Triumph 9.
