REPORT - 2023 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship - Round 1
Words: Mike Ryan
Photos: Russell Colvin (unless indicated)
Barely three months after Phillip Island welcomed riders for the finale of the 2022 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship, the production bike category was back at the seaside circuit for the season opener of the 2023 championship. – the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round.
This year, in a “post-COVID” environment, Phillip Island returned to its traditional spot as the opening round of the season, as well as playing host to the final pre-season test.
With so little time between the last Phillip Island round and this one, the form guide for riders in World Superbike (WSBK) was strong, with the past three world champions all on the grid again and aiming to add to their championship tally.
Some new faces would be joining the field, though, including former MotoGP riders Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati) and Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), two-time World Supersport Champion, Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), last year’s World Supersport runner-up Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) and MotoE star Eric Granado (MIE Racing Honda).
In terms of the bikes, WSBK’s homologation changes for 2023 would put into question the “production” part of the production bike category, with new aero parts on the BMW M1000RR, a new engine spec for the Ducati Panigale V4R and new air intake system on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR, none of which feature on the production models – at least for now.
World Supersport (WSS) would be more of an unknown quantity. Aegerter and Baldassarri dominated the results last year, but the pair’s move to World Superbikes means there’s now opportunities for other riders to win. There was a lot of fresh blood in the field at Phillip Island, too, including John McPhee (Vince64 by Puccetti Racing KawasakI), Jorge Navarro (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and last year’s World Supersport 300 champion, Alvaro Diaz (Arco YART Yamaha WorldSSP), to name a few.
Oli Bayliss was back, on a Ducati V2, but in a new team (D34G Racing Ducati), and while the return of Tom Edwards (YART Yamaha WorldSSP) and the arrival of Luke Power (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti Kawasaki) would improve Australian representation in WSS, these latter two will only contest the European rounds.
Similar to WSBK’s blurring the lines between production and prototype, the WSS grid included a new-spec Honda CBR600RR that wasn’t homologated ahead of the Phillip Island round, but allowed to race anyway, albeit with all its results subject to change.
The Triumph Street Triple 765 came to the Island with a bunch of new parts, but at least it had passed homologation. Kawasaki’s ZX-6R was now using a ride-by-wire throttle, but Yamaha’s YZF-R6, the dominant bike in the category for the past few years, came to the 2023 season apparently unchanged.
2022 Recap
Last year, the Australian WSBK round occupied a non-traditional slot in the calendar – late November - and while that had little impact on the results of the weekend’s races, the weather did.
Of the three main protagonists in WSBK, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) was already the new champion, leaving Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Promoteon WorldSBK) to fight for second place.
Rea won Race 1, a flag-to-flag affair in wet conditions, ahead of Razgatlioglu and Lowes. More rain ahead of the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race saw Bautista choose slick tyres; a gamble that paid off as he carved through the field on a drying track to take the win from Razgatlioglu and Rea.
Last year’s Race 2 was in dry conditions, which Bautista also won ahead of Rea in a race that was red flagged following an incident involving the now retired Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW)
In World Supersport, Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) had already won the championship ahead of the 2022 season finale, so could take it easy in the wind and rain that impacted the opening WSS race. Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Ducati) looked to have the win in the bag before crashing out on the final lap, handing victory to Yari Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), ahead of Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it racing Ducati) and Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing).
WSS Race 2, held in dry conditions saw Aegerter run untroubled to take his final WSS win before leaving the category, with Caricasulo and Baldassarri completing the podium.
World Superbikes - Practise and Superpole
The return to a February timeslot brought expectations of hot, dry conditions, but it wasn’t to be - at least not for the entire weekend. The opening WSBK Free Practise sessions were held under sunny skies, though, and Bautista was the fastest in Free Practise 1 on Friday, 24 February, ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Promoteon WorldSBK), Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and Rea.
Gardner was tenth fastest in his first official FP session, just ahead of team mate Aegerter. Petrucci, despite his familiarity with the Phillip Island circuit from GP days, could only manage 16th fastest.
In an ominous sign for his rivals, Bautista was also fastest in Friday afternoon’s FP2 session, with his team mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi second quickest. Phillip Oettl (Team GoEleven Ducati) was next best, while an improving Petrucci made it four Ducatis at the top of the timesheet.
Aegerter and Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) were the other improvers in FP2, while Razgatlioglu and Rea were 13th and 14th fastest, respectively.
Saturday morning’s FP3 session was held in much cooler conditions, with rain threatening, Lecuona topped this session, followed by Bautista and Oettl, then Rinaldi, Rea, Gardner and Razgatlioglu. Tom Sykes, in his return to WSBK with Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, was finding the pace challenging, only able to muster 19th fastest across the three FP sessions.
Razgatlioglu, after bouncing around the tail end of the Top Ten in FP, saved his best for Superpole, popping out a 1’29.400 to take pole. Alongside him on the front row were Bautista and Aegerter, with Rea, Oettl and Rinaldi on Row 2. Gardner headed up Row 3 of the grid ahead of Lowes, despite the latter running wide during his Superpole flying lap.
Petrucci qualified in tenth, while the factory BMWs of Michael van der Mark and Scott Redding would grid up in twelfth and thirteenth, respectively.
World Supersport - Practise and Superpole
With only two Free Practise sessions for World Supersport, both held on Friday, 24 February, riders had to make the most of their time on track.
Stefano Manzi (now on a Ten Kate Racing Yamaha after riding the Dynavolt Triumph last year) and Bulega showed they’d be the riders to watch on the weekend. Manzi topped FP1 ahead of Bulega, with positions reversed for FP2. The only other riders showing that sort of consistency were Oncu, who was fifth in FP1 and fourth in FP2, and Caricasulo, who was fourth and sixth fastest across the two sessions.
Times from other riders were all over the place, with Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) going from third to twelfth, Nicholas Spinelli (VFT Racing Yamaha) from eleventh to third and Bayliss from eighth to thirteenth. Of the WSS first timers, Navarro posted times of 14th and 11th, while McPhee's best was an 18th and 19th.
The Superpole session for World Supersport just beat the rain, which was a mixed blessing, as dry times would count for little in the wet race that followed. Regardless, Manzi took pole with a 1’32.814 – the only rider to go under 1 minute 33 seconds on their flying lap.
Oncu would qualify second, with last year’s Race 1 winner at Phillip Island, Montella (now with Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati), third. Row 2 would be made up of Bulega, Spinelli and Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse). Bayliss qualified on Row 4 in tenth place.
World Superbikes – Race 1
Rainstorms that had already impacted the WSS race saw the WSBK Race 1 start delayed 15 minutes to 4:15PM.
In the wet conditions, Bautista got the holeshot over Rea, but the Ulsterman would take the lead within the opening lap, while polesitter Razgatlioglu dropped to fourth behind Lowes.
Van der Mark was one of the first casualties of the greasy track, crashing on Lap 2, while Sykes entered the pits on Lap 4 and would retire on Lap 11.
Rea lost the lead to Bautista on Lap 10, but the Spaniard almost threw his race away with a huge slide a couple of laps later at Turn 8; the same corner where van der Mark crashed out.
Well off the pace in third, Razgatlioglu was having a race on his own, especially when fourth-placed Lowes crashed put on Lap 15, while Gardner was dropping back through the field on his WSBK debut; from seventh to thirteenth.
Bautista would ultimately win by more than three seconds from Rea, with Razgatlioglu almost a further three seconds back in third and Locatelli over 10 seconds behind in fourth.
Biggest improver was Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing Ducati), who moved from 14th to fifth at the chequered flag, while Lecuona finished sixth after starting from eleventh on the grid.
Gardner would ultimately complete his first WSBK race in twelfth, while Petrucci lost one position for irresponsible riding in an incident with Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) and would be classed in tenth place.
WSBK Race 1 - Result
1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 37m48.672s
2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +3.471s
3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +6.168s
4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +16.789s
5. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +20.918s
12. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) +48.833s
World Superbikes – Sprint Race
Sunday’s Tissot Superpole Race would be run in dry but very cool conditions, where Bautista proved he was just as capable as he was in the wet.
The Spaniard took the lead from Razgatlioglu on the opening lap, while Rea was pushed down to a very unfamiliar ninth place following some aggressive tactics from Aegerter.
An early hiccup from Rinaldi was overcome and he was soon fighting with Lowes for second, then passed the Brit on Lap 4 to set up a potential 1-2 finish for Aruba.it Racing; an impressive comeback for the Italian who finished 14th in Race 1.
Two laps later, Gardner and team mate Aegerter crashed at Turn 4, putting both riders out of the race and seeing the Aussie slapped with a Long Lap penalty for Race 2.
With Bautista free and clear at the head of the field and Rinaldi untroubled in second, the fight came down to the final podium position. Razgatlioglu was scrapping with Lowes and Locatelli wasn't out of contention, either. In the end, third went to the Turk, while Lowes just edged out Locatelli for fourth.
WSBK Tissot Superpole Race – results
1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 15m14.958s
2. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.462s
3. Toprak Razgatioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +3.060s
4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) +3.833s
5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +3.893s
DNF. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK)
World Superbikes- Race 2
With the results from the Superpole Race setting the front half of the grid for Race 2, Bautista would start from pole, with Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu alongside, while Rea would have to start from seventh in the dry but cool conditions.
From the outset of the 22-lap race, Bautista put on a clinic, building a lead of more than a second by Lap 7, then adding to that with each successive circuit, to the point that his margin was more than six seconds by the finish. Rinaldi followed his team mate early on, but couldn’t match the Spaniard’s pace. He did, however, remain comfortably ahead of Locatelli.
Rea fought his way up to fourth within the opening half a dozen laps, but lost grip almost immediately after and would be passed by Lowes (who crashed on lap 11), Bassani, Oettl, Lecuona and Aegerter before the chequered flag.
If Rea was having a bad Race 2, Razgatlioglu’s was worse. The 2021 WSBK Champion was hovering between fourth and seventh place before being taken down in Lowes’s Lap 11 crash, ending his weekend.
Gardner’s Long Lap penalty saw him only lose one place behind Vierge, after which he would benefit from the exit of Lowes and Razgatlioglu. The Aussie finished the race in eleventh place, but a time penalty for Vierge (passing under yellow flags) moved him up one place in the final standings.
Three wins from three starts meant Bautista left Phillip Island with the maximum 62-point haul, while mixed results from everyone else meant the Spaniard’s championship margin was already 28 points after just one round. Rea left Phillip Island 31 points behind Bautista and Razgatlioglu 39 points in arrears.
WSBK Race 2 – results
1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 33m40.779s
2. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +6.191s
3. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +9.099s
4. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +11.680s
5. Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) +12.020s
10. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorlsdSBK) +21.331s
World Supersport – Race 1
The rain that had been threatening all day on Saturday, 25 February, finally landed during the opening race for the World Supersport class, which was just about to restart following a red flag incident.
Three laps had been completed before a crash involving Huertas and Montella brought an end to the contest. As riders completed the warm-up for the restart, the rain came down, leading to a second delay to allow for tyre changes.
What was scheduled to start at 2:30PM eventually got underway at 3:19, but without Oncu, who had been leading at the red flag, and Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), as both crashed on the warm-up lap.
With the race distance reduced from 18 laps to just 10, riders who went for wet tyres or intermediates over slicks soon had an advantage when the rain started again. One of those was Bulega, who took the lead on the opening lap – from 16th on the grid! - and held it to the finish to take his first ever WSS win and Ducati’s first in the category since 2005.
McPhee managed to stay on Bulega’s tail for the opening couple of laps, but couldn’t match the Italian’s wet-weather performance. The Brit eventually lost the runner-up position to Spinelli on the final lap, but it was still an impressive result for the WSS rookie.
Bayliss was one of several riders to gamble on slicks, paying the price when the rain returned and ultimately being lapped before finishing in 16th.
WSS Race 1 – results
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP) 18m16.149s
2. Nicholas Spinelli (VFT Racing Yamaha) +0.942s
3. John McPhee (Vince64 by Puccetti Racing) +2.965s
4. Niki Tuuli (Dynavolt Triumph) +11.624s
5. Tarran Mackenzie (MIE MS Racing Honda Team) +15.838s
16. Oliver Bayliss (D34G Racing) +1 lap
World Supersport – Race 2
Sunday, 26 February, provided far better weather conditions for the World Supersport field than Saturday, allowing a more accurate impression of who the new stars in the category would be.
Those who thought Bulega’s wet weather win was a fluke were soon proved wrong when the Italian got the holeshot in Race 2 and held the lead despite very close attention from Oncu and Manzi.
Harry Truelove (Dynavolt Triumph) crashed on the opening lap and Spinelli ran wide at Turn 10 on Lap 4, ending his fight at the front half of the field.
With the margin covering Bulega, Manzi and Oncu rarely exceeding half a second, the leading trio soon opened up a gap on those that followed in their efforts to outdo each other.
Caricasulo was at the head of this chasing pack until he fell on Lap 12, leaving Schroetter and Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team Yamaha) to capitalise on any mistakes from the frontrunners.
Bayliss was enjoying a much better race this time around; in tenth place early on, then improving to eighth in the closing stages before dropping to tenth again at the finish.
Manzi took the lead on Lap 10 but Bulega countered on Lap 13, which proved to be the final circuit when the appearance of Cape Barren Geese on the track (a regular sight at the Phillip Island GP Circuit) brought out the red flag. With the race declared five laps early, Bulega was the winner from Manzi and Oncu, with Schroetter the best of the rest, almost nine seconds in arrears.
Bulega’s second victory capped off a dominant weekend for Ducati at the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round – winning all five races across WSBK and WSS in a performance that most likely has no precedent.
WSS Race 2 – results
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team)
2. Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +0.382s
3. Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.665s
4. Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +9.647s
5. Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) +11.080s
10. Oliver Bayliss (D34G Racing) +2 sectors
Attendance across all three days of the 2023 Superbike World Championship Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round at Phillip Island was 46,310 - a 6.5 per cent improvement on last year’s crowd.
