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WSBK Phillip Island - February 2011:
A huge change in 2011, Ducati have withdrawn their
factory team, BMW have increased their commitment and Ten Kate have gained the
fabulous Castrol Racing livery/support for their Honda CBR 1000RR machinery.
Major rider changes include Leon Haslam moving from Suzuki to
join Troy Corser in the works BMW team, James Toseland and WSBK 2010 Superstock
winner Ayrton Badovini head up a new team called BMW Motorrad Italia. Johnny Rae
welcomes? Ruben Xaus into the aforementioned Castrol-Ten Kate Honda team.
Please click on the heading or associated image to be taken to
the dedicated page/s covering the event.....
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THE
CLASS OF 2011:
Most of the teams and riders competing in the World
Superbike and Supersport Championships congregated on Phillip Island's
Gardner Straight for Thursday afternoon's publicity shoot and many of the
WSBK riders also attended a signing session in the Paddock area the
following day. A recently retired rider 'stole the show' at the signing
area, a man by the name of Troy Bayliss! The
'clickable' image depicts the Aprilia Alitalia Team and the Castrol-Ten Kate
Honda Team machinery. |
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THE
PIT REPORT:
Marvellous machinery, I visited the majority of 'WSBK' race
team pits, chatted to many riders and pit crews, absolutely top people. The
quality of engineering, preparation and paintwork, just excellent. I also
visited the 'WSBK Supersport' and 'Australian Historics Challenge' pits.
The 'clickable' image depicts the striking finish of the WSBK #50: Ducati 1198R
of Jakub Smrz, painted in the Effenbert corporate colours. |
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THE WORLD
SUPERBIKE RACES 1 & 2:
Phillip Island once again staged two highly competitive
races to start the WSBK Championship for 2011. Given that the official works
entries from Ducati are no longer competing, the observer might discount
their performance, someone forgot to tell Carlos Checa however, the #7:
Althea Racing Ducati team won both races convincingly.
The 'clickable' image depicts #7: Carlos Checa taking the chequer in Race 1. |
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THE
WORLD SUPERSPORT RACE:
Incredibly close racing ensured a knife edge finish at the
first Supersport race of the year, and amazingly the favoured Honda CBR600RR
teams were beaten by riders on Yamaha and Kawasaki machinery. The winning
margin at the chequer, a mere 0.009 of a second! The
'clickable' image depicts #9: Luca Scassa blasting down Gardner Straight. |
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THE
AUSTRALIAN HISTORICS RACES:
A great category of racing and the lap times were by no
means embarrassed by current machinery, or riders! The WSBK race weekend was
the first time I had the opportunity to witness Robbie Phillis race the Suzuki
Katana in anger. Unfortunately for Robbie, Beau Beaton on the Irving Vincent
spoilt the Katana's debut. The 'clickable' image
depicts #32: Robbie Phillis launching off the line to take the early
lead in the 'Australian Historics Challenge', race 3 of 3, on the Saturday afternoon. |
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THE
SUPERBIKE EXPO:
Sadly the new BMW K1600 Six Cylinder machinery
did not arrive in time for the 2011 Expo, however there were some interesting
machines from Honda, Moto Guzzi and Aprilia.
I was particularly attracted to the beautifully
finished Aprilia RS125 'Biaggi Replica', the machine looks marvellous, albeit
limited in the performance department by a single cylinder two stroke 124cc
engine.
The 'clickable' image depicts the Aprilia RS125 'Biaggi
Replica'. |
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