Aprilia dominates WSBK opener

Aprilia’s factory duo of Sylvain Guintoli and Eugene Laverty has dominated the opening round of the 2013 Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island.

The pair swapped first and second places in the 22-lap races, with Guintoli securing the major points in the first hitout before a calculated, lap record-setting ride by Laverty in the second saw him claim the major spoils. Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia) and Marco Melandri (BMW) shared third places.

After round one, Laverty and Guintoli lead the championship on 45pts apiece, ahead of Fabrizio (29), Tom Sykes (Kawasaki, 22), Melandri (16) and Jonathan Rea (Honda, 16). Round two will be held in Aragon, Spain from April 12-14.

The result was a particularly sweet one for Guintoli, who was making his WSBK debut in Aprilia colours after racing a Ducati in 2012.

“Coming away from here with a first and second is fantastic, and I feel very happy and content,” said Guintoli. “Laverty and me are going to have a lot of fun this year hopefully racing each other.

“The bike has been working so well. We kept up the pace lap after lap and managed to get the tyres working for the whole race. The team is clever and the bike is clever -- it doesn’t need much more speed really.

“The Aprilia Racing Team is difficult to describe in words, as it’s such a fantastic team. I could get used to this level of service!”

Guintoli, 30, passed factory team-mate and long-time leader Eugene Laverty on lap 15 of race one, and then eased away to a 1.352-second victory – his fourth in WSBK competition and his first at Phillip Island.

After being passed by Guintoli, Laverty then fell into the clutches of the hard-charging Fabrizio over the last few laps, but he managed to hold off his opponent in a thrilling battle all the way to the finish line.

The four-way arm wrestle for fourth position was just as intense, with BMW’s Chaz Davies eventually working his way to the front of the pack, with Sykes, Loris Baz (Kawasaki) and Leon Haslam (Honda) filling positions five to seven.

Rea was eighth, while Australians Glenn Allerton (BMW) and Jamie Stauffer (Honda) scored world championship points in 14th and 15th positions respectively.

Carlos Checa (Ducati) and Melandri (BMW) both failed to finish after a nasty collision at turn four on lap 13 while involved in the fierce scrap for fourth position. Checa, who started from pole position, was subsequently flown to hospital in Melbourne for observation.

Irishman Eugene Laverty has turned the tables on his Aprilia factory team-mate Sylvain Guintoli to win the second World Superbike race at Phillip Island’s season-opening round this afternoon.

In race two, Laverty sat behind Guintoli for most of the time – and even dropped back to third behind Melandri at one stage – before making his decisive move with four laps to go, and confirming his intentions with a new lap record of 1m31.168secs just a short time later. The previous lap record of 1:31.323 was set by Fabrizio in race one.

“I think we have got the best package this year, and it’s a great way to start the year,” said Laverty. Sylvain was using the tyre a lot different to me in race one, so I got a little bit of a lesson then on how to get the best out of a tyre.

“I looked after it too much and was riding the bike like it was 50 laps instead of 22, so in race two In gave it some and then waited to the last few laps and then turned the power up and got past Marco and Sylvain. It was a perfect race.”

Guintoli finished 0.418s behind Laverty, while Melandri completed the battle in third – but not before a minor scare when Fabrizio tapped the back of his bike at turn nine on the last lap.

Fabrizio remained upright to finish fourth, with the top eight was completed by Sykes, Davide Giugliano (Aprilia), WSBK rookie Jules Cluzel (Suzuki) and Rea. Rea’s team-mate Leon Haslam was ninth, but had to fight his way back trough the pack after a lap one melee which also involved Loris Baz (Kawasaki) and Chaz Davies (BMW).

Allerton and Stauffer were 12th and 13th respectively.

In World Supersport, reigning title holder Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) outlasted Yamaha’s Sam Lowes (Yamaha) to kick off the season in the best possible fashion.

Aboard his exceptionally fast ZX-6R, Sofuoglu won the 15-lap event by 1.899 seconds, but it was his outstanding work rate in the last three laps that made sure of victory, including a new lap record on the last lap – 1m33.298s.

The victory adds to Sofuoglu’s previous successes at Phillip Island in 2009 and 2012, and he has now won 22 WSS races in an outstanding career that is yet to show any signs of slowing down.

Lowes led for major parts of the race, but all his hard work around the back of the circuit came undone when Sofuoglu blasted straight back past along Gardner Straight.

But it was still a sensational start to the season for Lowes, as it was for third-placed WSS rookie Michael Van der Mark (Honda), who made it three separate manufacturers on the podium.

The 20-yaer-old Dutchman even held the new lap record for a while, but lost touch with the leaders in the last few laps.

Van der Mark finished 6.771 seconds behind Sofuoglu, with Fabien Foret and David Salom in fourth and fifth on their Kawasakis. Foret charged back through the field after a poor start from the front row of the grid, which saw him back in 20th place on lap one.

Mitchell Carr (Triumph) was the leading Australian in 16th, ahead of Honda riders Josh Hook (Honda) and Matt Davies (20th). Kevin Curtain (Yamaha) retired with mechanical problems after four laps.

Meanwhile, the Victorian Minster for Tourism and Major Events, The Hon Louise Asher, announced this morning a three-year contract extension for Phillip Island to continue to host the Australian World Superbike round until 2017.

A total of 61,500 spectators attended this year’s WSBK round over the three days.

For full results and standings from Phillip Island, visit www.worldsbk.com/en/season.html.