The opening round of the 2015 WSB championship was held at Phillip Island earlier today. Race 1 saw new factory Kawasaki rider Jonathan Rea take a close victory over Aprilia’s Leon Haslam, with Chaz Davies (Ducati) finishing third.
In Race 2, the same three protagonists occupied the podium with Haslam taking the win over Rea and Davies again coming home in third.
Rea and Haslam share the points lead after Round 1. For additional details, results and points, visit the official WSB site here.
Three-time champ Troy Bayliss, long retired, came back and rode impressively, although his results do not reflect this. Crucially missing much of Friday’s practice due to mechanical issues, Bayliss nevertheless ran in the top 10 in both races for a time, and his fastest lap in each race was easily in the top 10. Tire wear issues saw Bayliss fade out of the top 10 in Race 1 and force a pit stop in Race 2. Here is a quote from Bayliss following Race 2:
Troy Bayliss (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #21) – 13th, 16th
“I’m feeling a real mix of emotions at the end of the weekend. I came here to have fun, and for the fans and the Phillip Island circuit. I thought that maybe I wouldn’t have the pace to be able to run with these guys anymore but instead I’ve seen that I can still be fast and, if it hadn’t been for the tyre issue, I think I could have done a lot more. So I don’t know, it’s a pity I didn’t have more time on track, and I didn’t have time to train properly ahead of the event of course, but all in all it’s been a really fun weekend, and in many ways it feels like nothing has changed since 2008. I thank Ducati for giving me the opportunity and also all of the fans and ducatisti for their continued support.”
Great racing! Surprised that Sykes wasn’t closer to the front. In my area, I see full HD coverage on BeIn Sports, and no commercials during the race!
I was absolutely mesmerized by the competition in this race, from beginning to end. The last few laps I had to remember to breathe. Do yourself a favor and spend $81 to watch this for the entire year. (Watched the first race live, second race took about an hour to appear on playback.)
SBK just blows MotoGP out of the water, in which the end is pre-scripted (Marquez wins). MotoGP should study SBK rules and do something to bring back actual racing. In SBK the two leaders almost touched several times in the last lap (or did touch). Seeing this happen in corners at speeds mortals can not attain is out of this world. I can not wait till the next race!
Didn’t hurt to be watching on a 92″ perforated retractable screen in 1080P!
Just think how good it would have looked if you patched those holes in the screen! 😉
The center speaker is invisible in movie theaters because the speaker is behind perforations in the screen.
Without exception, there is only one proper vertical height for a screen and speaker system, and its the same height for both objects. Perforations in the screen make the screen acoustically transparent for speaker behind the screen, while the screen still reflects projector light. The only other option is some combination of screen and/or speaker too high/too low.
It is impossible to locate flat panel display at proper height and center speaker with proper architecture at ideal height. There is no exception to this rule. One of the largest market segments in audio (center speaker with flawed horizontal driver array) exists solely to accommodate consumers ignorant of the above rule. OEM, retailers, and journalists have huge investment in maintaining consumer ignorance on this subject.
Please return to your normal 2-wheel programming!
ok these three are going to be on the podium every race, in the end one of them will be the champion… not much drama there
3 or 4 contenders in WSBK
3 or 4 contenders in MotoGP
and believe it or not in MotoGP some of the riders actually touch at speeds mere mortals (or most ex WSBK champs) can not attain.
Even if these were the same 3-4 guys every week, we at least could look forward to them finishing in a different order each race. We can also look forward to much more competitive races resulting in the finishing order.
Anyone betting against MM this year: good luck with that!
Lol. Norm G. Did you even watch/see the races? If so…you’d know Bayliss’s results don’t match what he was actually STILL capable of.
Considering Bayliss only had maybe 1 day total to get acquainted with his bike on this track and at his age(44) was able in both races to get up to 7th place is AWESOME ! He had no time to totally set up the bike for him, know what tires to use for the distance, nor if he was fit enough to race a whole race distance, let alone twice. The man still has what it takes to be competitive against the youngsters. What other retired road racer can you say that about?
re: Norm G. Did you even watch/see the races?
correction Pete, this is what YOU have the burden of asking yourself…
Q: have I Peter, who is but one of the many “Bayliss Bandwagoners” desperately seeking Superman (no not Susan) ever watched more than a handful of the man’s races in my life…?
this either on the telly or in person, relative to Master “Qui Gon Norm Jin” who’s easily watched EVERY race ever shown (not just WSBK, but AMA, MotoGP, GP500, M2, M3, GP250, GP125, included) in the past 15 years…?
A: no.
’cause if you HAD (and I have yet to meet the man who has?) then you’d know exactly what Norm knows, or at least be pretty close. also, you’d get a “kudos” from me for having matched my dedication.
he (Bayliss) is a 4 time champ on Ducatis, he (Bayliss) still rides and tests motorbikes for Ducati, he (Bayliss) tackled Phil’s Isle armed with not some clapped out, recalcitrant FZR400…? but Goog’s factory Panigale, and he (Bayliss) rode around his home track, a circuit he knows like the back of his hand ffs.
(bird chirp sound erupts from Galaxy N3 in background)
omg, just got a text from Tiger Woods, this is so unexpected…!!! 🙂 he says “sorry, in golf world that’s what we call PAR FOR COURSE”. LOL
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=what+is+par+for+the+course
so moral of the story…? NEVER be so foolish as to ask an “Alpha Ducatisti” (just don’t do it) whether or not they’ve seen a WSBK race involving not just Bayliss…?
but Checa, Toseland, Hodgson, FOGGY!!!, Corser, Xaus, Laconi, Biaggi, Haslam, Gazza, BBoz, EBoz, Shakey, Haga, Reynolds, Chili, Lavilla, Russell, Fabrizio, Pegram, etc.
for Bayliss is but one man (1) and ALL these riders have had successful stints on production Ducatis in the past decade. worse, there’s a good chance I might turn the tables and ask, what do you know from any of THESE gentleman’s exploits whilst flying the flag for Bologna.
right then, what DO you know about these guys…?
Keep your cliches straight. You switched from saying Bayliss “phoned it in” to saying his performance was “par for the course”. Which is it? They don’t mean the same thing. And your post above….are you saying that because you have WATCHED every race Bayliss has been in for the last 15 years that it makes you more qualified than any other human to judge exactly how much effort Troy put into his Phillip Island outing???? Like by WATCHING him you have undergone some Vulcan mind meld with him and you know know his exact level of effort when he rides a motorcycle???? And you have a treasure trove of data about former riders who put in a race several years after they have retired so you know exactly what lap times he should have been putting in to be officially classified by “Qui Gon Norm Jin” as NOT phoning it in??? Dazzle us with your racing expertise and tell us where you would draw the magical line between phoning it in/par for the course/good effort/remarkable effort, would you please? I’m very anxious to hear EXACTLY would he would have had to do to earn the descriptions listed above. And please tell us when was the last time you rode the Phillip Island circuit along with your laptimes so we can judge for ourselves your credibility in determining a particular rider’s capabilities on any given raceday.
I watched both of these racers- man, what a difference new rules makes- in the 2nd race the top 4 bikes traded the lead time and again- it was breath taking stuff akin to Moto2&3 or Supersport. Great stuff I and I will definmitley be watching a lot more races this year.
Also Troy Bayliss- you are a freakin legend mate!
So much for Bayliss “phoning it in”….
re: “Troy Bayliss – 13th, 16th”
relative to the podium, top 5, top 10 chatter of the fanboy…? this IS phoning it in.
You either didn’t pay attention to what happened this weekend (TB even had to deal with a high side crash in the free practice on Saturday), or you are being deliberately unfair in your comment. Either way, not to your standard. Regarding TB’s performance, it frankly blew my mind. Less than 2 days practice to run competitively with the WSB regulars? He even passed the defending WSB champ on lap 4 of race 2! He would be fighting for podiums again with some practice and set-up time. Amazing.
Wow. We obviously have vastly different definitions of “phoning it in”. I will agree to disagree with you Norm – about Troy Bayliss, about your gigantic MotoGp conspiracy theories and about your self-congratulatory psychoanalysis of every post that appears on this site. You live in your world and I will, quite happily, live in mine.
Norm- geez man, Troy has not been physically training for super bikes for like 4 years.
re: “you are being deliberately unfair in your comment”
it’s the YIN to your YANG…
I’m being deliberately UNFAIR, while you gents deliberately seek the “psychological comfort” of Superman.
Normie – dosage check man – I’m afraid the omniscient “Normensity” persona has become a full blown delusion state
Be very interesting to see what Bayliss could do given a full season. Cracking the top ten times is really just incredible.
Was it on a “normal” cable channel? Maybe if they didn’t start the same weekend as Nascar they might get more viewers in the USA 🙂 Dang, don’t tell me we have to watch it on a spanish speaking network this year or on the internet on Youtube. Argh!
Q: Was it on a “normal” cable channel?
A: define “normal cable channel” a decade and half here into the 21st Century.