De Paul Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com
Tom Sykes stands out with the S1000RR during the opening session of the Superbike tests at Phillip Island. Álvaro Bautista with Honda still behind: eleventh at 1'7
There's been little talk about BMW this winter, and look what Tom Sykes is doing: best time in the first practice session at Phillip Island, on the same track that will host the 2020 Superbike World Championship on Saturday February 29. The lumberjack was the only one to go below the 1'31 barrier, with a very interesting 1'30.938. Well, these are times to be taken with a grain of salt because the session was in fact stopped 35 minutes in advance, for oil on the track. But BMW's cry made a lot of noise in the meadows of Victoria...
YAMAHA SUIT
BMW has brought several developments to Australia, starting with the engine which has ten horsepower more than the unit used in the second half of the last world championship. The S1000RR, at first glance, looks much more like a “racing” motorcycle than in the recent past. But with the other German four-cylinder, Eugene Laverty took two seconds: the mysteries of the tests. Behind Tom Sykes, the two Yamahas of Michael van der Mark and Toprak Razgatlioglu are in pursuit, ahead of Jonathan Rea who stayed in the pits for a long time and completed eighteen laps. Kawasaki technicians are working hard on the geometry. Scott Redding, sixth with the best Ducati, is also ahead of Loris Baz, with the Yamaha Ten Kate. To have a more precise idea, it is better to wait (at least…) for the second session this afternoon.
BAUTISTA, WITH HONDA IT’S HARDER
Álvaro Bautista finished the morning with the eleventh time, 1'7 behind Tom Sykes. A year ago, with the Ducati Panigale V4 R, the Spaniard closed this same session with the phantasmagoric limit of 1'30.743. With the Fireblade, he stopped at 1'32.669, while reaching the highest maximum speed: 318 km/h. Leon Haslam, with the Honda twin, was half a second faster. At the moment, it's the British who are leading the way in an HRC box full of Japanese engineers: at least a dozen!
