WSBK- Round 1 in Phillip Island

2010 Phillip Island WSBK Video Highlight Reels









2010 World Superbike Championship Standings After Round 1, Phillip Island
Submitted by David Emmett on Sun, 2010-02-28 11:27. from : motogpmatters.com
in World Superbikes Phillip Island, Australia
Championship standings for round 1, 2010
1 Leon HASLAM GBR 45
2 Michel FABRIZIO ITA 36 -9
3 Carlos CHECA ESP 34 -11
4 Noriyuki HAGA JPN 27 -18
5 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA 23 -22
6 Jonathan REA GBR 23 -22
7 Max BIAGGI ITA 19 -26
8 Troy CORSER AUS 16 -29
9 Leon CAMIER GBR 10 -35
10 Lorenzo LANZI ITA 9 -36
11 Jakub SMRZ CZE 8 -37
12 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR 7 -38
13 James TOSELAND GBR 6 -39
14 Shane BYRNE GBR 6 -39
15 Max NEUKIRCHNER GER 4 -41
16 Tom SYKES GBR 3 -42
17 Joshua BROOKES AUS 2 -43
18 Andrew PITT AUS 2 -43


Race 1
Leon Haslam won the first World Superbike Championship race of his career after dramatically holding off Michel Fabrizio's last-minute slipstream across the line to win by a mere 0.004 seconds.

Although the pole man led from start to finish, Fabrizio looked to have denied Haslam at the death when he got a better run out of the final bend to pull alongside down the start-finish straight.

Indeed, while Fabrizio was initially declared the winner, the resulting photo finish tipped the result back in Haslam's favour.

His first victory in 61 World Superbike attempts, the win also marks Suzuki's first since Max Neukirchner triumphed at Misano in 2008.

A race that built in tension as the laps counted down, although Fabrizio nosed ahead at the start through the sweeping first corner, Haslam held the throttle around the outside to reclaim the position into turn two.

Just behind, Haga shrugged off his warm-up woes, when a collision with Ruben Xaus sparked a mammoth accident and a rush to get his bike rebuilt in time for the race, to clamber his way up to third place from tenth on the grid.

Jonathan Rea rose to fourth from seventh, ahead of Cal Crutchlow and Carlos Checa, although fifth and sixth place qualifiers Sylvain Guintoli and Jakub Smrz went in the other direction as they completed the first few turns in 15th and 14th.

With Fabrizio and Haga disputing second, the Ducati Xerox team-mates swapping positions twice during laps two and three, Haslam promptly set about putting air between himself and his rivals.

However, despite rallying initially to stretch his advantage to more than half a second over Fabrizio, both the Italian and Haga gamely clung on to establish a three-way fight for victory, with fourth place Rea seemingly unable to maintain the rapid pace.

By the time the riders had reached lap seven of 22, three riders had already fallen by the wayside, with James Toseland, Cal Crutchlow and Chris Vermeulen all crashing out of contention.

A disastrous start to the year for defending champions Yamaha, Toseland lost the rear of his R1 through Lukey Heights, the former champion unlucky to land directly on his already badly injured hand. Causing considerable damage to his bike in the process, Toseland cut a forlorn figure as a walked off circuit clutching his wrist.

Crutchlow added to Yamaha's woes with a tumble at Honda just three laps later, and only two laps after Vermeulen had suffered an identical accident on the Kawasaki having battled his way up to an early seventh position. Shane Byrne was another to get it wrong at Honda, dropping to 20th after running off the circuit early on.

It meant the depleted chasing group of Rea, Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa were left to dispute fourth position, although they would be joined by the recovering Guintoli and Smrz, as well as Leon Camier, by lap ten.

Back at the front, Fabrizio and Haga were beginning to reel Haslam back in, inching closer down the home straight as they benefitted from the GSX-R1000's slipstream. Despite this, Haslam kept his lines clean through the corners ensuring Fabrizio was never in a position to launch a convincing overtaking attempt.

Even so, Fabrizio continued to pile the pressure on, wringing the best from the Ducati 1198 to shadow Haslam as they entered the final lap.

With Haslam erring towards defending his lines, Fabrizio began to form his offense a last ditch attempt to tuck beneath the Suzuki through the long final bend and slipstream past down the straight.

Although Haslam rebuffed Fabrizio's efforts through the left-hander, it was the Italian who got the better slingshot out of the corner as he pulled alongside his rival down the long home straight. Launching across the finish line with barely anything to separate them, although the timesheets initially had Fabrizio classified as the winner prompting premature celebrations in the Ducati camp a quick decision on the photo-finish would see the result reversed just a few seconds later.

A dramatic race to start the season with, a somewhat bemused looking Haslam was left to celebrate an emotional first win at World Superbike level, while a visibly disappointed Fabrizio had to make do with second.

Although he fell no more than a second behind the leaders, Haga wasn't able to build on his superb start as he crossed the line in third. Nonetheless, the podium remains just reward for his team after their mighty efforts to get him out on the grid.

Ten seconds further back, the battle for fourth position went down to the wire, with Rea and Max Biaggi twice swapping spots as the race reached its climax. Nonetheless, it was Rea who would hold on to edge his 2009 sparring partner for the best of the rest' title.

Despite his tardy getaway, Guintoli showed impressive pace to work his way up to sixth position, passing Checa late on and capitalising on an error by Camier, who had risen to sixth only to out-brake himself at Honda on lap sixteen, the Aprilia man doing well to avoid collecting his own team-mate in the process.

Checa held off Jakub Smrz for seventh, while Troy Corser and Lorenzo Lanzi endured lonely races on the way to ninth and tenth positions.

Camier recovered to 11th, passing Neukirchner, Tom Sykes and Byrne in just five laps, while Andrew Pitt marked his return to World Superbike competition by claiming the 15th and final point for newcomers Reitwagen Motorsport.

Crash.net / Eurosport

Race 2
Checa snatches last gasp victory
A stunning move for the lead on the penultimate corner of the race has seen Carlos Checa take a shock maiden victory for the privateer Althea Racing team at Phillip Island
In a hugely entertaining race that went down to the wire, Checa stalked his way back into contention after a poor start to launch his bid for victory on the run down to MG at the final time of asking to deny Leon Haslam a double victory for Suzuki.
A remarkable performance by the Spaniard, who was only eighth after the opening lap, the result marks his third career World Superbike win, but perhaps more significantly, the first triumph for the Althea Racing team on its debut with Ducati machinery.
Haslam had looked on course for a second win of the day after moving ahead during the latter stages, the Briton seemingly pulling a decisive move on team-mate Sylvain Guintoli after the Frenchman had snatched the lead on lap six.
Nonetheless, despite the disappointment of losing out to Checa, Haslam still takes an early lead in the standings with a weekend points haul of 45 points.
Even though he had qualified fourth on the grid, there was little indication that Checa was going to be a race win contender from the lights as a tardy getaway saw him shuffled down to 11th initially before he hauled himself back into the top ten by the close of the opening lap.
Up at the front there was a repeat of the first race with Michel Fabrizio out-dragging Haslam into turn one, only for the Suzuki rider to maintain his outside line and snatch back the position into turn two. Noriyuki Haga made it an identical top three as he once again rocketed up from tenth position.
Just behind, Jonathan Rea ruined his chances to challenging at the sharp end when he out-braked himself into, appropriately enough, Honda and dropped to the back of the field. It was an error Cal Crutchlow, Max Biaggi and Leon Camier would go on to mirror over the next few laps.
Trailing the top three, Chris Vermeulen found himself in fourth position after a mighty getaway from 14th on the grid, followed by Guintoli and James Tosleand.
With a poor start consigning him to the chasing pack in race one, Guintoli was making swift amends on this occasion, dispatching Vermeulen at the start of lap two before pulling off a stunning pass on both Haga and Fabrizio through turns one and two on lap three.
A sight not seen in World Superbikes for some time, Suzuki were now in a provisional 1-2, but any expectations that Guintoli would simply shadow his team-mate were dismissed on lap six when he snatched the lead from Haslam down the home straight.
Checa, meanwhile, continued to make progress, picking off Camier for sixth and Toseland for fifth by lap eight. Even so, he was still left with a deficit to make up on the top four, which had now pulled out a two second gap to the chasing pack that he now led.
Checa’s cause, however, was aided by the scrapping up front, with Guintoli and Haslam battling away for the lead, the pair swapping positions on a number of occasions while Fabrizio and Haga kept a close watching brief in third and fourth.
Guintoli’s hopes of a first World Superbike win appeared to improve on lap sixteen when an aggressive move for the lead saw Haslam drift wide and allow Fabrizio between them. However, Haslam composed himself to resume second position just a lap later before proceeding to move back past Guintoli at Honda with three laps remaining.
During this time Checa had worked his way into the lead group, the former MotoGP rider signalling his intent by dismissing Haga for fourth almost straight away. Shadowing Haslam’s pass on Guintoli, Checa went on to move into third ahead of Fabrizio to assume the Ducati challenge.
As Guintoli began to fade, Checa was quickly up to second with a neat pass at MG, leaving just Haslam between himself and victory as they entered the final lap.
Having rebuffed Fabrizio’s last lap attentions during race one, Haslam looked confident as he held off Checa’s first overtaking attempt through Honda. However, the charging Spaniard would not be denied, launching a second attack over Lukey Heights and down into MG, Checa forcing the bike up the inside of the Haslam and hanging him out long enough to prevent a response through the ensuing left-hander.
Breaking any potential tow as he exited the last bend, Checa crossed the line to jubilation from his stunned Althea team. Indeed, Checa himself was visibly emotional when he stepped off the bike as his first win since Miller Motorsports Park in 2008 sunk in.
Haslam was a philosophical second, while Fabrizio secured the final podium position at the expense of Guintoli, whose feisty performance was rewarded with a fine fourth place finish and the fastest lap of the race. Haga, meanwhile, slipped back to finish almost four seconds adrift in fifth.
Beyond the battle for the win, there was plenty to keep the spectators entertained just behind as several riders ducked and dived for positions in the chasing pack.
Toseland had led the way in sixth initially but appeared to struggle as the race wore on, losing spots to Troy Corser and Rea, the Northern Irishman going almost unnoticed as he scythed his way up from the back of the field to finish an impressive sixth.
Corser was seventh to complete a solid day for the one-man BMW team, while Biaggi sprinted to eighth place at the expense of Crutchlow and Toseland during the closing stages.
Outside the top ten, Camier’s second recovery ride of the day was rewarded with another 11th position, ahead of Checa’s team-mate Shane Byrne. Lorenzo Lanzi, Joshua Brookes and Andrew Pitt rounded out the top fifteen.
Elsewhere, there was huge disappointment for Kawasaki, with Tom Sykes hitting mechanical problems on the first lap, while Vermeulen was taken to the medical centre after crashing on the run up to Lukey Heights. The Australian had been running in and around the top ten when he fell, the former MotoGP rider appearing to hit the tyre wall before his bike followed suit.

Crash.net / Eurosport