FIM Supersport World Championship Phillip Island, Australia February 28, 2010 Race Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Eugene LAVERTY (Honda CBR600RR), 21 laps, 33:37.836 2. Joan LASCORZ (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -4.359 seconds 3. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Honda CBR600RR), -4.500 4. David SALOM (Triumph Daytona 675), -11.779 5. Fabien FORET (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -17.266 6. Massimo ROCCOLI (Honda CBR600RR), -25.034 7. Robbin HARMS (Honda CBR600RR), -27.834 8. Jason DISALVO (Triumph Daytona 675), -30.102 9. Miguel PRAIA (Honda CBR600RR), -31.931 10. Gino REA (Honda CBR600RR), -31.991 11. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -40.552, crash 12. Chaz DAVIES (Triumph Daytona 675), -40.556 13. Sebastien CHARPENTIER (Triumph Daytona 675), -88.553 14. Paola CAZZOLA (Honda CBR600RR), -1 lap 15. Danilo DELL’OMO (Honda CBR600RR), -2 laps, crash/pitted 16. Michele PIRRO (Honda CBR600RR), -8 laps, DNF, mechanical 17. Alexander LUNDH (Honda CBR600RR), -14 laps, DNF, crash Championship Point Standings (after 1 of 13 races): 1. Laverty, 25 points 2. Lascorz, 20 3. Sofuoglu, 17 4. Salom, 13 5. Foret, 11 6. Roccoli, 10 7. Harms, 9 8. DiSalvo, 8 9. Praia, 7 10. Rea, 6 11. Fujiwara, 5 12. Davies, 4 13. Charpentier, 3 14. Cazzola, 2 15. Dell’omo, 1 More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Laverty and Parkalgar Honda lead the world EUGENE LAVERTY led from start to finish to convincingly win a re-started opening round of the World Supersport Championship at Phillip Island in Australia with team-mate Miguel Praia taking an excellent career-best equalling ninth for the Parkalgar Honda team. Parkalgar Honda goes home for round two of the Championship to the Parkalgar circuit in Portugal in one month’s time on March 28th. Eugene: “It was a pretty easy race after a tough weekend trying to match the pace of Lascorz and Sofuoglu. Those guys can put in a quick lap but we knew we had the consistency and this morning we managed to improve the race set-up of my CBR600RR a bit more. Thank you to my Parkalgar Honda team for all its hard work, it has paid off thank you also to Pirelli for an excellent tyre that worked well for me all weekend and never missed a beat. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season and am looking forward to going to our home circuit in Portugal as the leader of the World Championship a first in my career.” Miguel: “My position was not so bad but I definitely thought I could have competed for a higher finish. The re-start didn’t help because it was difficult to see going through the concrete dust that was laid on the oil. I pushed as hard as I could but the lap times were slower than expected and I ended up in a fight with DiSalvo for the whole race. I ran wide at the Hairpin and then couldn’t get him back. This is my best equal result and now I go to Portimao and my home race with strong points and with a lot of data to improve our performance. The Pirelli tyre is good but I also need to work more on getting the best from it. I am calling all the Portuguese fans to join me and Eugene at Parkalgar to support us, I want Eugene to win and to get in the top five myself.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “That was a brilliant race win by Eugene and a well-deserved top 10 for Miguel. Well done to the Parkalgar Honda team for working so hard, they did a great job. While others went for fast single lap times we concentrated on our own strategy and it paid off. I do not expect the next races to be so easy and we will go back to the PTR workshops and continue to develop our Parkalgar Honda race bikes. Thank you to all our loyal sponsors and none of us can wait to get to our own Parkalgar circuit in Portugal for the second round; we will be doing all we can to deliver the goods there for our main sponsor and circuit owner Parkalgar.” More, from a press release issued by ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing: It’s a strange feeling to end the first round of the season with a good result and still be bitter about it. That was exactly what happened to team ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Racing after David Salom finished fourth and Jason Di Salvo took eighth place, while Chaz Davies and Sebastien Charpentier had to settle for twelfth adn thirteenth respectively. David Salom got the better start and was fourth. Davies followed him and was getting ready to overtake him after posting the fastest time three laps into the race. All premises were met for a great race from the duo but an oil tube broke in Chaz Davies’ bike and the red flag was displayed. The race was suspended and a restart was called. Their start was not as efficient this time around as Salom was seventh after lap one. He recovered a few positions but the gap between him and the front runners became unsurmontable despite havingthe same pace as Lascorz and Sofuoglu, who both finished on the podium. Davies on the other hand did not find a good feeling with the second bike and, on top of it, ran into electronic issues. As a consequence, he was forced to ride a defensive race trying to gather as many points as possible. Jason Di Salvo rode a positive race and managed to further improve. The “yankee” had a long battle with Miguel Praia, whom he managed to overtake in the last few laps. Sebastien Charpentier is still trying to get a good feeling with the bike. DAVID SALOM | Triumph Daytona 675 | 4th: “I knew I could score a good result but, given the race outcome, a podium result would’ve been possible. However, I’m sure there’ll be other opportunies but the important thing is that we kicked off the season with a good result, which puts me fourth in the standings. I”m sorry I couldn’t get a better start the second time around. I’m sure I could’ve battled with Lascorz and Sofuoglu for the podium”. JASON DI SALVO | Triumph Daytona 675 | 8th: “I’m happy with the result. I started pretty far in the back, but I improved a lot. I battled with riders who went faster than me in practice and I had a really nice duel with Miguel Praia in the end, who just wouldn’t give in”. CHAZ DAVIES | Triumph Daytona 675 | 12th: “I was feeling very well and I’m sure I would’ve gotten on the podium, if it wasn’t for that broken tube. I was unfortunately forced to ride the second bike with which I didn’t have the same feeling. The situation got even worse when I had some electronic issues. I hope to redeem myself at Portimao at the end of the month”. SEBASTIEN CHARPENTIER | Triumph Daytona 675 | 13th: “I’m still trying to get a good feeling with the bike and I still need some time to improve after two years of absence”. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Lascorz The Runner-Up In Round One WSS, Phillip Island, Australia, 28 February 2010 Joan Lascorz and Katsuaki Fujiwara were both on target for a superb double podium finish at Phillip Island, but only Joan was to take home some silverware, finishing second overall. He and Katsuaki looked set to fight it out for second on their Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R machines when the Japanese rider went past into second place, only to fall at the fourth turn on lap 18 of 21. The race had been started and then halted after some serious oil leaks coated the circuit, with Joan disputing the lead at the time. In a full distance re-start the race changed in character and Joan rode hard to take second place and 20 points. Katsuaki simply whistled through the pack at full pace after being pushed wide in turn one, dropping to 11th but putting in a very determined ride. He was impressed by his machine’s capabilities all through the race and was simply caught out when pushing to make a gap on Joan. Kawasaki runner Fabien Foret (Lorenzini by Leoni) was fifth in the race, riding alone for long periods and almost ten seconds ahead of his pursuing group at the end. Joan Lascorz: “We had a perfect qualifying but in the race we found a bit of chatter. I was not sure why but I tried my best. It is not so bad at this race to be second and score lots of good points, and at the next race we should be even better. Katsuaki used a different rear tyre choice from me and he seemed more comfortable on the final few laps. He was just unlucky to fall. I am looking forward to the next race already.” Katsuaki Fujiwara: “I made a good start but I was pushed wide at the first corner and lost a few places. My bike was really consistent and we made a good choice on the rear tyre. The set-up was really good. I had just passed Joan and was trying to go forward when I lost the front, in mid-corner. I got on and scored some points but I should have been in the podium. We were in very good shape this weekend and I think we will be back again at Portimao.” More, from a press release issued by Gino Rea’s publicist: Top Ten for Gino in his World Supersport debut at Phillip Island Starting the Phillip Island WSB race weekend with a new track to learn, new team, new motorcycle and in a new championship, Gino Rea has finished his debut World Supersport race in 10th position, a point scoring ride that everyone is pleased with… apart from Gino. The young Londoner feels he should have not preserved the rear tyre so much and pushed at the start of the race to battle for top 7 positions… Gino Rea: “That was a frustrating race. Having known what I do now after my first 21 lap race, I would have pushed harder from the beginning and went with the leading group as I think I had the pace. I feel I saved the tyre for too long and it just didnt pay off. I also should have passed both Parkalgars Miguel Pria and Factory Triumphs Jason Disalvo at the end as I had more pace then them. Even with the chassis set up still needing work, I feel I still could have battled for top 6/7 positions. So thats why I’m frustrated. But on the other hand, with so many unknowns coming into this race weekend, we have come away with points and a top 10 for the team. I want to say a massive thanks to Andrew Stone, my chief tech who has worked non stop and believed in me when we hit a brick wall and couldnt improve our set up over practice and qualifying. My mechanics and the whole team too for putting in so much effort and working hard to overcome language issues and to make us feel welcome.” Race Report: “I was initially in 8th position and the race got red flagged due to oil. But the frustrating part for me came in the restart. I got quite a good start, and was around 8th/9th position. Miguel Pria and another rider got past me at the same time when I went a little wide. I thought that Pria would be able to keep with the top 7 riders, but he rode a bit defensive and held us up. It was ok for my race plan anyway as we planned to preserve the tires for the end of the race. My team mate blistered a tyre after 14 laps in practice and we did not have enough time to set the bike up for the other compund tyre. The top 7 riders pulled away but I sat behind Pria preserving my tyres. We started to catch the group ahead towards the end of the race but I couldnt get past Pria who was riding defensively and I ended up in 10th position. Laptime wise, I didnt get to put in anything decent when the tyres where good, but my ideal time from my sectors would have only been 0.8seconds off Laverty’s best. So once again, we have close the gap. ” “I also was so close to crashing at Lukey Heights, where Toseland crashed in race 1, I lost the front on the crest and was convinced I had crashed, the front slid and my elbow and knee where on the ground, somehow over the next bump it picked itself up, I was literally hanging off the side! “Well the first race is out of the way, lets hope for more progress at Portimao in a months time!”