2022 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round 12 – Phillip Island
WorldSBK Race One
Alvaro Bautista’s Ducati seemed to stutter off the wet start line but that didn’t stop him taking the lead into turn one ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu, Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes. The rain had stopped but the track was still quite damp and almost the whole field had started on full wets, only Oettl choosing an intermediate rear.
Early on lap two Jonathan Rea ran wide at turn one but somehow gathered it up to retain third place, not only that, but later on that same lap he started to show a wheel to Razgatlioglu and challenge for that second place. Rea took that position in turn one as they started the next lap and immediately started closing onto the rear wheel of Bautista’s Ducati. Rea then took the lead at turn four and started to pull away from Bautista.
Razgatlioglu then pushed Bautista back to third, then Alex Lowes put a pretty hard move on Bautista to push the Spaniard further back to fourth.
Toprak Razgatlioglu then got great drive onto the main straight and took Rea at turn one for the race lead with 17 laps to run. The track was now drying rapidly and it was going to be interesting to see who would have any tyre left at the end of the race, or who would choose to pit first…
Razgatlioglu ran a little wide out of Southern Loop which allowed both Rea and then Lowes to also pass the Turk and make it a KRT 1-2 up front, but little separated that top four.
Alex Lowes then took the race lead at the end of main straight with 15 laps to go after putting in a new fastest lap of the race. He then went quicker again next time around as he tortured his rear Pirelli.
On lap nine Xavi Fores entrered the pits to put what looked like an intermediate into the back of his Barni Ducati. Rinaldi then came in for new rubber. On the next lap the first of the leaders came in for slicks, Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Alex Bassani also followed suit. Alex Lowes and Alvaro Bautista both stayed out on track, but the Ducati man came in next time around, while Lowes chose to do yet another lap on his wets and now had a 28-second lead over the now second placed Scott Redding.
Race leader Alex Lowes then came in with 11 laps to run while Scott Redding stayed out and took the race lead, the Brit had 1.5-seconds on Kyle Smith. Kyle Smith though then started closing in on him. Jonathan Rea was now in third placed after rejoining the race and was running 1m32s, nine-seconds quicker than what Redding and Smith could muster on their wets. The gap between Rea and the leaders was over 20-seconds but was coming down rapidly.
Redding finally came in for rubber with nine laps to run as Kyle Smith took the race lead. Not for long though as Rea reeled him in easily and blew past him with seven and a half laps to go. Razgatlioglu then pushed Smith further back to third while the Turk slotted himself into second place just under eight-seconds behind Rea. Bautista then moved in to third, Lowes fourth and Locatelli fifth as Smith got shuffled further down the field.
Razgatlioglu was chasing Rea hard and had the gap under six-seconds with six laps to run, but the battle for third place was really hotting up, Lowes, Bautista and Locatelli all in close company.
With three laps to run Rea led Razgatlioglu by 5.2-seconds while Lowes and Locatelli were a further 10-seconds back, Bautista was starting to lose touch with them.
Jonathan Rea took a calculated win, his first victory in 24 races, his last coming at Estoril early in the year. Toprak Razgatlioglu home in second place and Alex Lowes secured the final step on the podium ahead of Alex Locatelli and Alvaro Bautista.
Jonathan Rea
“Yeah very nice race because it was a bit of everything, I had to keep my composure and my mentality. I tried to make the pit stop at the right time because I could see the track was drying very quickly. Alex was very fast in the beginning, so I thought why not, lets go and roll the dice and it worked. My guys did a great pit stop and they gave me a good bike, compromised on a wet and dry set up and I was able to adjust the bike while I was riding as well so a big thanks to the Kawasaki Racing Team, my family here at Phillip Island as well, and all my fans here thank you very much and lets hope we can do a good job tomorrow and finish the year strong.
“It was so blistery coming up through hayshed [Turn 8] I was getting blown onto the wet part of the track and then going down into MG that part of the circuit remained wet, I was always braking early. I was racing in the 31’s cautiously. With pit stops we have a procedure.
“It’s a second home race for me, I can roll out my own bed, my son reminded me it’s a 6 minute drive it’s amazing. I have a lot of support and family here and it’s a beautiful track, it was the scene of my first win with Kawasaki in 2015 so there’s a lot of special memories for me.”
Kyle Smith completed the entire race on wets to eventually finish 12th, 66-seconds behind the race winner.
Toprak Razgatlioglu – P2
“After the race today I was feeling better, especially in the wet conditions I feel the bike is much better. Today we start the race feeling track is not great (wet), the rear was sliding and everyone was the same. After we see a dry line, I was closing to Johnny because I was not eating the tyre. Today was strange weather, I was waiting for more rain but I see very clear sky and after I see Jonny enter the box I enter in directly. The front tyre was not going in, there was a problem with the front tyre. The team is now not happy for this, but anyway this is teamwork it is why I am here because we are together. Anyway, Championship is almost finished, I am second and I want to fight with Jonny for the win but maybe tomorrow.”
Alex Lowes
“Yeah it was a strange race I felt like I was one of the fastest riders, I was fast in the wet fast in the dry so I am just happy to be on the podium. I just want to be battling with the front and show my speed. I enjoyed my race it’s always strange when you have to pit in the middle. In the end I am on the bike, I can come in whenever I want. Maybe. I was too late to pit, I was thinking I will pit when the first person pits, but I was in front so I didn’t know when to pit and I wanted to use the wet tyre as much as possible. I just missed the window a little bit.”
WorldSBK Race One Results
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap | Speed |
1 | J. Rea | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 36m47.340 | 315,8 |
2 | T Razgatlioglu | Yamaha YZF R1 | +6.247 | 316,7 |
3 | A. Lowes | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +15.435 | 319,5 |
4 | A. Locatelli | Yamaha YZF R1 | +18.342 | 317,6 |
5 | A. Bautista | Ducati Panigale V4R | +19.369 | 323,4 |
6 | G. Gerloff | Yamaha YZF R1 | +36.235 | 317,6 |
7 | A. Bassani | Ducati Panigale V4R | +37.641 | 316,7 |
8 | X. Vierge | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | +43.137 | 322,4 |
9 | L. Baz | BMW M1000RR | +57.704 | 314,9 |
10 | T Nagashima | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | +1m01.086 | 327,3 |
11 | M. Rinaldi | Ducati Panigale V4R | +1m03.075 | 324,3 |
12 | K. Smith | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1m06.326 | 296,7 |
13 | X. Fores | Ducati Panigale V4R | +1m07.099 | 316,7 |
14 | L. Mahias | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1m08.976 | 309,5 |
15 | H. Syahrin | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | +1m12.006 | 313,0 |
16 | S. Redding | BMW M1000RR | +1m12.785 | 319,5 |
17 | L. Mercado | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | +1m16.024 | 314,9 |
18 | E. Laverty | BMW M1000RR | +1m22.552 | 316,7 |
19 | O. Konig | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1m33.661 | 306,8 |
20 | P. Oettl | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1 Lap | 317,6 |
Not Classified | ||||
RET | M. Van Der Mark | BMW M1000RR | 3 Laps | 305,9 |
RET | K. Nozane | Yamaha YZF R1 | / | / |
WorldSBK Championship Points
Pos | Rider | Points |
1 | Alvaro Bautista | 564 |
2 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | 507 |
3 | Jonathan Rea | 475 |
4 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | 284 |
5 | Andrea Locatelli | 258 |
6 | Alex Lowes | 250 |
7 | Axel Bassani | 239 |
8 | Scott Redding | 190 |
9 | Iker Lecuona | 189 |
10 | Xavi Vierge | 162 |
11 | Garrett Gerloff | 139 |
12 | Loris Baz | 119 |
13 | Philipp Oettl | 77 |
14 | Lucas Mahias | 58 |
15 | Michael Van Der Mark | 42 |
16 | Eugene Laverty | 36 |
17 | Roberto Tamburini | 36 |
18 | Luca Bernardi | 35 |
19 | Xavi Fores | 32 |
20 | Kohta Nozane | 15 |
21 | Illia Mykhalchyk | 10 |
22 | Hafizh Syahrin | 10 |
23 | Christophe Ponsson | 9 |
24 | Tetsuta Nagashima | 6 |
25 | Kyle Smith | 4 |
26 | Leon Haslam | 4 |
27 | Tarran Mackenzie | 3 |
28 | Peter Hickman | 2 |
29 | Leandro Mercado | 2 |
30 | Oliver Konig | 1 |
31 | Jake Gagne | 1 |
Phillip Island WSBK/ASBK Round Schedule
Sunday November 20 | ||
0850 | Pillion Rides | 20 min |
0920 | ASBK SS300 Race Three | 8 laps |
0950 | ASBK SBK Race Two | 12 laps |
1030 | WorldSBK Warm Up | 15 min |
1055 | WorldSSP Warm Up | 15 min |
1130 | ASBK SS Race Three | 10 laps |
1205 | Pit Walk / ASBK SS Trophy Presentation | 30 min |
1300 | WorldSBK Superpole Race | 10 laps |
1340 | ASBK SBK Race Three | 12 laps |
1430 | WorldSSP Race Two | 18 laps |
1505 | Safety Car Laps / ASBK SS & SBK Presentations | 25 min |
1600 | WorldSBK Race Two | 22 laps |