We’ve got a batch of final quotes after this exciting World Superbike Championship 2010 season opener at Phillip Island, so check out what the riders had to say after round 1.
Leon Haslam – Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 2ndI am so happy to get my first WSBK win and it feels great! I want to thank the team and all the staff back at the workshop for all their support and hard work and I’d also like to thank Francis and Patricia Batta for having faith in me.
The first race was such hard work and it was impossible to relax for a second.
I knew that I had Michel and Nori breathing down my neck, but I just kept concentrating on my lines and my braking points and tried to hold them off.
I realised that Michel was in my wheeltracks going into the last turn and would try and use the draft to get past me, but I kept my head down and charged to the flag.
At the end, I didn’t know if I’d won or not, but when I realised that I had, I was so unbelievably happy and it was such a fantastic feeling.
All weekend I knew that a win was possible, but thinking about and it happening are two different things.
In race two, I had some problems with rear traction but I still thought I could win.
I had a great fight with Sylvain and when I finally got ahead of him and made it stick, I thought he might act as a buffer between me and the rest.
Then suddenly, Carlos was there.
He dived under me just three corners from the end, on the last lap.
I tried to get it back, but he managed to hold me off and take the flag.
But, it feels good to take a win and a second in my first race with the team and it feels fantastic to be leading the Superbike World Championship.
Carlos Checa – Race 1: 7th, Race 2: 1st”The second race was perfect.
In race one we chose a tyre that was perhaps too hard for the conditions and I found it hard to brake.
In race two we selected a better tyre and I could brake much more strongly, I also had a very good pace and was able to pass riders fairly easily.
My style of riding actually seemed to mean that tyre wear was less of a problem for me than for some other riders.
By the last lap I was up in second and I could finally get pass Haslam.
I wanted to pass him earlier but it was impossible and he didn’t leave me space to pass until the very end.
I am of course extremely happy with the result, it is my first race with the Althea team and on the Ducati 1198 and we have a good package with which to fight this season.
My thanks go to the entire team for their hard work and dedication.
”Michel Fabrizio – Race 1: 2nd , Race 2: 3rd“I had a great battle with Leon in Race 1.
In the last four laps I tried to understand where I could attempt to get past him but it wasn’t easy so I pushed on right to the finish line and, to tell the truth, I thought I’d done enough! Leon and I were right there together as we crossed the line, and on the big screen I could see my wife celebrating in the box – but the result was decided by the photofinish and I had to settle for 20 points this time.
The great thing about the Superbike championship however is that there are two races….
My team did not make any changes to the bike before the second race and I was again able to make a good start but it was a very difficult race.
I stayed there with the leading pack but I realized it would be very hard to win, and in the last four laps it became more difficult to fight.
I am very happy with today’s results, which put me in second place on the leaderboard after round 1.
It will be a very long and challenging season but we’ve made a good start today.
”Noriyuki Haga – Race 1: 3rd , Race 2 : 5th“My result in Race 1 was really good as far as I’m concerned as I had had a crash during the warm-up and suffered from a bit of arm-pump during the race.
I was confident that I could make a good start from 10th position and I did so and then I tried to keep up with Michel and Leon but my arm led me to make a few small mistakes.
Anyway I really enjoyed the race and the points I made in the race are definitely a good start for the championship.
In the second race my arm played up more and it became harder to brake, I felt very tired physically.
But all in all, with regard to the classification and bearing in mind this morning’s accident, it didn’t go too badly; I finished third and fifth and we take home some good points.
” Sylvain Guintoli – Race 1: 6th, Race 2: 4thI have really enjoyed today and it’s been great fun.
I can’t remember the last time I was leading a world champion ship race, so to lead quite a lot of race two was a great feeling and now I want to do it again.
When I was in front, I felt comfortable and I knew I could keep up a good pace.
Everything felt very smooth and it was all going to plan until I made a small mistake and Leon and then Carlos went through.
Carlos and I touched in turn 8 when my elbow was in contact with his front wheel and then I tried a bit too hard to get back straightaway when perhaps I should’ve been a bit more patient and that;s where I lost ground.
I could’ve made a better result in the first race if I hadn’t had such a bad start.
My pace was good, but I was too far off the leaders, but I am learning about WSBK race pace and also the fact that the races are longer than what I have been used to.
I am very happy with all the work we’ve done and am enjoying riding this bike so much.
It was nice to get a trophy (for the fastest lap in race two) and I hope that it will just be the start of many to come.
I am looking forward to Portimao and my next trophy.
Jonathan Rea – Race 1: 4th and 6thWe’ve had problems all week, really, from the test last weekend, right through this one and into the race.
We knew it would be hard, so, if fourth and sixth is a bad weekend, I’ll take it.
I was pretty happy with fourth, because I had to fight for it all the way.
We changed the front a bit for the second race and I think it caught me out as I braked for the hairpin on the first lap.
I had to let off the brake and, by the time I got back on track, I was last.
It gave me a pretty strong motivation actually, and I really enjoyed riding through the field and passing I think maybe 16 other riders, which was a lot of fun.
Now we’re looking forward to getting back to some tracks where we know the bike works and to fighting for some podiums again.
Max Biaggi – Race 1: 5th Race 2: 8th“It didn’t go very well.
In Race 2, I went straight for the little curve, where Camier went off the track twice, because I was at my limit, and in these situations, a mistake is right around the bend.
There’s still a lot of work to be done, but I’m not going away disheartened or discouraged because we are aware of our own potential and we know we can surely do better when once we have eliminated these problems.
”Troy Corser – Race 1: 9th, Race: 7th“I had a good start in the first race and gained a couple of positions but unfortunately the tyre dropped quite quickly and I was unable to push as much as I wanted but I was still a good result.
We changed the settings on the bike before the start of the second race and things were a lot better.
The grip was a lot better immediately, and it was easier to do consistent lap times.
I was able to push and fight in the second race like I wanted to in race one.
I had to work really hard to pass James Toseland towards the end of race two but I did and managed to pull away slightly.
Overall, we can be happy with what we achieved here today at Phillip Island.
”Cal Crutchlow – Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 9th“Race one was unfortunate, I felt we had good pace and were running up in the top five quite comfortably, I just made a little mistake.
I was a bit better than Rea into the hairpin so had to run wide to avoid him and lost the front on the dirt.
The second race was hard, I felt like I had no grip from the start and still some chattering.
If we had better grip we could have pulled more out of it.
We need to go back to the drawing board and work some stuff out.
”James Toseland – Race: 1 DNF, Race 2: 10th“I really needed to finish the second race after the crash in the first.
To only finish 14 seconds from the front with the issues we’ve had this weekend is not so bad.
I was really disappointed with the first race, with my injury on Friday I wanted to have two good finishes today.
Full credit to the team they’ve tried so hard but unfortunately we haven’t had the software here to solve the issue.
We know what the problem is and I’ve given enough feedback and input to give the guys a direction to go in.
We’ve got a lot of work to do, no doubt, but even with all the problems we’re not actually that far away.
The package, the power, the balance and the suspension have come on leaps and bounds.
On to Portimao now, it’s a long season so we can do it.
”Jakub Smrz – Race 1: 8, Race 2: DNF “Although we had no luck in either of the races, I’m satisified.
The team did a great job here in Australia and this allowed me to battle for the top positions.
I’m eleventh in the riders standings now but I hope to improve it next time in Europe.
I got a good start in race 1 and despite the incident with the other rider, I climbed up again right away.
Unfortunately, the back end did not perform at its best by the end of the race.
As a consequence, instead of attacking I had to defend myself.
Had the race been a bit longer, I might have not finished it.
In race 2, I crashed at the fourth corner while I was battling for sixth place because I didn’t get a good feeling with the bike.
Leon Camier: Race 1: 11th, Race 2: 11thI’m very sorry about all of the mistakes I made.
In Race 1 I tried to pass the other drivers at the little curve, but I overshot a bit while braking and in order to avoid hitting Max, I went off track.
Then I really pushed to recover as many positions as possible.
During the second race, I started off quite well and I was with the lead group right behind Checa, who immediately passed Toseland.
When I attempted to pass, we ended up a bit wide.
Then I shifted into the wrong gear and overshot at the same curve as in Race 1.
I’m disappointed because I ran with very good times and seeing how the race ended, I could have had an excellent result.
We’ve improved a lot, but I wasted a good opportunity.
Now we’re headed to Portimao, a track that I know well and where I intend to keep up with the leaders.
But, there’s still a lot of work to do and I especially have to improve during the Superpole.
”Lorenzo Lanzi – Race 1: 10th, Race 2: 13thThe starts are my weak point and also on this occasion I missed both.
It ‘frustrating, after all the work done by the team, defeating the Superpole with a start like this but unfortunately I still can not find the right way to modulate the clutch.
For the rest I am quite happy, we received the first points of the season and the guys deserve credit for all work this weekend.
I raced with the largest tire at the rear of 200 and engineers we managed to find a perfect set-up and that has not ruined the tires.
I really like the bike and find a good feeling for a constant ride to the limit.
”Shane Byrne – Race 1: 14th, Race 2: 12th “The first race I made it was very difficult for myself, I knew I had to make as many passes as possible to get near the front.
I pushed to pass Guintoli and Sykes and couldn’t make it, so had to go straight.
A small problem with the rear brake and it was hard to turn, but anyway I recovered and had good rhythm so I was happy with it, though not so happy with the result.
The first thing to say about race two is congratulations to Carlos and to the whole team for the win.
Genesio and the team have put together a very competitive machine.
There are too many fast riders to be able to start from 18th and expect a good finish, but I got up as far as about tenth place which wasn’t so bad, having been caught up in battles with several riders.
Today we have seen that there are many riders that can fight for race wins, the level of riding is very good.
We go home and concentrate on preparations for Portimao.
”Max Neukirchner – Race 1: 12th, Race 2: 16thWell, it hasn’t been a fantastic weekend and we struggled to find the right direction from the very start.
We made some more progress during warm-up this morning and in race one I was able to make up some places from my grid position.
We made a big change to the rear of the bike for race two and it felt pretty good for the early part of the race.
I was following Biaggi quite closely in his slipstream and ended up braking a bit late for turn four and losing maybe 20 seconds.
I had a bit of a lonely ride after that and it was a disappointing finish to the weekend.
We came here to do a better job than this and we’ve got some more work to do to get back on course at the next round.
Tom Sykes – Race 1: 13th, Race: 2 DNF “In race one we made some changes to the set-up and but it didn’t suit the tyre we used.
In race two we got a good launch, but got boxed in and pushed out on to the dirty stuff, along with another couple of riders.
So I went from thinking I would be sixth to being 15th.
The bike was feeling good but when I went into the final two corners it felt like someone was pushing me from behind.
I came back in and checked the bike, then went back out again before retiring.
It was just a ten cent o-ring for the steering damper, causing the steering to feel strange sometimes.
Otherwise, the bike was very good and giving me a strong race pace in race two.
This whole Australian experience has been a good test period for us and I know that we go to Portimao having learned a lot.
I would like to thank Kawasaki and the team for the amount of effort they have put in.
” Josh Brookes – Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 14th We went back to similar settings that we had at the tests, even though that meant we had some problems with chatter again.
When we tried to get rid of those we lost the ability to keep a good line and turn the bike on the throttle.
So we went back to what we had, I was able to race with some guys and took some points in race two.
Chris Vermeulen – Race 1: DNF, Race 2: DNF “I was feeling positive for the race after our two-day test and qualifying sessions.
In both races I had really good starts but in the first race I lost the front early on when lying 7th and in race two I had a problem that resulted in a high-speed crash.
I’m bruised and battered but am feeling OK, considering the speed of the crash.
I had heavy impact on my lower right leg and my finger is pretty smashed up.
The preliminary X-rays have shown no breaks but for a precaution I am heading to Melbourne for a more detailed MRI scan.
I’m glad we have a month before Portimao, so I can ensure that I am back to full fitness.
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