For those who couldn’t wait for racing to begin again, WSBK Race 1 at Phillip Island did not disappoint.
The race was won by a superfast Leon Haslam who led the race from start to finish, but the victory had to be decided by a dramatic photo finish decision when Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio who trailed Haslam through out the race tried to slipstream the Suzuki Alstare rider across the finish line, but it was Pocket Rocket who came out on top by a mere four thousanth of second.
A tough Noriyuki Haga took an excellent third after starting 10th on the grid and despite having been taken out BMW’s Ruben Xaus during the morning warm-up that left the Japanese rider bruised and battered.
Xaus had to sit out the race due to a suspected concussion and after having totalled numerous crashes this race weekend that probably left the German team without any spares.
Fourth place went to Jonathan Rea who was a little more than 10 seconds from the lead group, resisting several assualts by Aprilia’s Max Biaggi who was fifth, Sylvain Guintoli finished the race in sixth while Althea Racing Ducati’s Carlos Checa took seventh.
Team Pata Ducati’s Jakub Smrz was eighth, four seconds ahead of BMW’s Troy Corser.
DFX Corse Ducati’s Lorenzo Lanzi rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Out of the running early in the race were both Yamaha riders, James Toseland who suffered a high side and landed badly and Cal Crutchlow who lowsided.
Chris Vermeulen on his Kawasaki also crashed out.
Race 1 Results: 1 91 Haslam L.
(GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 34′13.
435 (171,442 kph)2 84 Fabrizio M.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 0.
0043 41 Haga N.
(JPN) Ducati 1098R 0.
7694 65 Rea J.
(GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 10.
2015 3 Biaggi M.
(ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
10.
7826 50 Guintoli S.
(FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 11.
0797 7 Checa C.
(ESP) Ducati 1098R 11.
2088 96 Smrz J.
(CZE) Ducati 1098R 16.
5229 11 Corser T.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 20.
29110 57 Lanzi L.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 26.
35211 2 Camier L.
(GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
29.
77512 76 Neukirchner M.
(GER) Honda CBR1000RR 30.
15513 66 Sykes T.
(GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 31.
95114 67 Byrne S.
(GBR) Ducati 1098R 31.
95715 88 Pitt A.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 55.
08216 31 Iannuzzo V.
(ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′10.
93217 15 Baiocco M.
(ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′11.
23718 95 Hayden R.
(USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′17.
35719 25 Brookes J.
(AUS) Honda CBR1000RRRET 35 Crutchlow C.
(GBR) Yamaha YZF R1RET 77 Vermeulen C.
(AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10RRET 52 Toseland J.
(GBR) Yamaha YZF R1