Recently concluded, the 2020 World Superbike Championship round in Phillip Island, Australia was the season opener to a worldwide racing calendar that is now thrown into disarray with the spread of Covid-19. While we wait for news about rescheduled races and rearranged calendars, here’s a gallery of superbike racing from windswept Phillip Island.
What was shown during the races at Phillip Island this year is the rest of the field seems to have caught up with five-time champions Kawasaki Racing Team. Five manufacturers – Kawasaki, Ducati, BMW Motorrad, Aprilia and Honda – showed in the top speed table at Phillip Island, with Chaz Davies on the Aruba.IT Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R posting 330.3 km/h.
Alex Lowes Kawasaki ZX-10RR clocked 329.3 km/h, putting him second in the speed stakes while the brand new Honda CBR1000RR-Rs of Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam did 329.3 and 327.3 km/h, respectively. Newcomer to WSBK Scott Redding, who left MotoGP and Aprilia in 2018 and rode in British Superbikes last year, tied for top speed with Haslam.
Top placed Yamaha was Toprak Razgatlioglu on the Yamaha YZF-R1 with 326.3 km/h while Tom Sykes, having moved over to BMW Motorrad WSBK from Kawasaki Racing Team, showed a 324.3 km/h. It is interesting that Max Biaggi’s 324.6 km/h from 2012 on an Aprilia still stands eighth on the speed board.
Despite this being his first year in WSBK, Redding showed consistency in his race placings, taking third in both races as well as the Superpole race. Race one was won by Razgatlioglu while Lowes come in second.
In race two, Lowes took the win with Jonathan Rea coming in second. With one race down, Lowes tops the rider championship standings with 51 points, followed by Redding with 39 points.
In third is Razgatlioglu with 34 points, while Rea and Michael Van Der Mark have 32 and 31 points each. In the manufacturers standings, Kawasaki leads with 57 points, with Yamaha at 47 points and Ducati with 39. Rounding out the table is Honda, coming in with 23 points and BMW with 17 points.
All photographs courtesy of Half Light Photographic.
Source: Read Full Article