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: 2nd

I 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.

Continue reading: WSBK Phillip Island: Rider Quotes after Round 1

As usual racing at Phillip Island never lets fans wanting, if Race 1 didn’t disappoint, Race 2 was an absolute thriller. The Italians have a very pictoresque saying about close racing: “correre con il coltello tra i denti” which literally means racing with a knife between between your teeth and that’s what Carlos Checa did today on his privateer Ducati when he won the race.

The Spaniard who debuted with Althea Ducati Racing had a bad start leaving him in 11th on the first lap, but Checa was a man on a mission after his 7th place in Race 1 began working his way through the pack to join the four front runners to make a last lap move to take the victory in front of race 1 winner Leon Haslam followed by Michel Fabrizio who would take third place on the podium.

Haslam seemed to be heading to his second career victory and the race looked like a perfect photocopy of the first race with Fabrizio closely tagging the Brit and Noriyuki Haga in third moving up from his tenth place on the grid, but it would be former MotoGP and BSB rider Sylvain Guintoli who would snatch fourth place from a fading and aching Haga who took fifth.

Continue reading: WSBK Phillip Island Race 2: Carlos Checa wins last lap thriller

Check out this fantastic pic of the photo finish between Leon Haslam and Michel Fabrizio during Race 1 at Phillip Island.

Four thousandth of second, it doesn’t get any closer than that, infact it was so close that Michel Fabrizio was declared the winner of the race, but after this photo the decision was overturned leaving a very happy Haslam and a slightly disappointed Fabrizio.

Photo Source | worldsbk.com

Continue reading: Photo of the Day: WSBK Phillip Island Race 1 Decision

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.

Continue reading: WSBK Phillip Island Race 1 – Leon Haslam wins by a breath!

Leon Haslam rocked in all three stints of Saturday’s Superpole at Phillip Island by taking his first ever career pole position in WSBK and edging out Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio in the last stint by a mere 0.016s.

Cal Crutchlow will also be on the front row with a impressive third place while team mate James Toseland took eighth. Both Sterilgarda Yamaha riders having finally found a proper set up on their ‘hybrid’ R1’s after yesterday’s problems in free practice and in QP1.

Carlos Checa who led in yesterday’s provisional pole will start in fourth with his satellite Ducati while Althea Racing’s second rider Shane Byrne did not make it inside the second cut and qualified 18th, but the Englishman was struggling with back injuries picked up after yesterday’s massive highside.

Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli gave took and excellent fifth position with his Alstare Suzuki and will start on the second row alongside 6th place B&G’s Jakub Smrz and Irishman Jonathan Rea in seventh

Continue reading: WSBK Phillip Island: Leon Haslam Rockets into Superpole

Check out what some of the World Superbike riders had to say after today’s first qualifying practice at Phillip Island and find out who was happy, who wasn’t and why.

Carlos Checa – 1st

“I’m really satisfied with today’s test. I worked very well with my technicians and we tested some different tires and settings. It’s always a good result for our team to reach the provisional pole position. Nevertheless, we have to remember that the race will be on Sunday and that probably we’ll have different weather conditions with colder temperature, but this a very good starting point. I would like to thank all the people in my team, and particularly the general manager Genesio Bevilacqua who was able to create such a competitive team. I hope Shakey will be all right tomorrow to fight for a good result during tomorrow’s qualifications and Superpole”.

Michel Fabrizio – 2nd

“We tried different tyre solutions this morning and various setting solutions in agreement with my engineer. I had a fall, losing the front, but without causing myself, or my bike, too much damage fortunately. Then in the qualifying session we found a good direction with the tyre solution that may well be the one to choose for the race; the results were quite encouraging. During my fast lap I lost a couple of tenths through the last corner but I’m happy; we’ve worked well and I’m satisfied with the results. We have a good race pace but a lot will depend on Sunday’s weather.”

Continue reading: WSBK Phillip Island - What the riders had to say after QP1

The long wait is over and no more testing, we’re finally going to see some real racing action as the 1st round of WSBK kicks off this weekend at Phillip Island.

Satellite rider Carlos Checa on his Althea Ducati led the top of the charts in today’s QP1with a best lap of 1′32″155, but official Ducati factory rider Michel Fabrizio was just a mere 0.007 from the Spanish rider. Leon Haslam was third, two tenths from Checa with his Suzuki followed by Checa’s team mate, Shane Byrne in fourth

There were four Ducati riders in the top five positions, with Noriyuki Haga taking fifth place. Max Biaggi was sixth on the Aprilia-Alitalia. The first Honda CBR1000RR to make it in the top ten was Jonathan Rea in seventh followed by Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki Alstare) and Jakub Smrz finished in ninth with Cal Cruchlow in 10th.

Despite hot and dry weather conditions, the session was scattered with numerous riders crashing their bikes; including today’s QP1 leader Checa. Shane Byrne highsided trying to better his times. Max Biaggi also crashed as did BMW’s Troy Corser and team mate Ruben Xaus, who totalled three crashes today. James Toseland also binned his Yamaha R1, leaving the English rider with a very sore left wrist.

Continue reading: WSBK Phillip Island: Carlos Checa leads in QP1

Michel Fabrizio led day 2 of official testing at Phillip Island, less than a week from the opening round of the season with a splendid lap of 1’31”650 on race tires, as Pirelli did not bring any supersoft Superpole tires to the test.

Fabrizio wasn’t the only Ducati rider to shine during these tests because Shane Byrne, Jakub Smrz and Carlos Checa all on privateer Ducati’s also showed great form, with all these riders breaking the 1.32 mark.

Jonathan Rea was fifth with his Honda, sandwiched between Checa and Noriyuki Haga on the other factory Ducati. Leon Haslam was seventh overall. Aprilia’s Max Biaggi and Leon Camier were 8th and 9th respectively, with Camier making a giant leap forward from Sunday and Biaggi posting a top speed of 313,4 km/h.

Continue reading: WSBK Test Day 2 - Fabrizio Leads Ducati Domination

Jonathan Rea was once again the fastest rider on the final day of testing at Portimao posting the fastest time of 1’41.7s. Rea’s lap on race tires was almost a second faster than his best qualifying time from the weekend and 0.5s up from Ben Spies pole position.

Max Neukirchner was also back on track today and his best lap was 1’43.5s.

Jonathan Rea:

I just want to say how really, really proud I am of the whole team, who have worked so hard over the last weeks. They’ve gone through this test positively and methodically and got the bike working better. The great thing is that there is still so much potential and that just fills me with confidence for next season. The lap times were coming quite easily and we did all our work on used tyres. Everyone deserves a good rest now before we get back to work in December.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao Tests - Day 2 with rider quotes

The curtain has just come down on 2009 WSBK season on Sunday, but the first day of the official 2010 test got underway today at Portimao.

Not all riders had their transponders on, so the times are unofficial and from some reporters turned time keepers scattered around the track.

Jonathan Rea posted the fastest times in both the morning and afternoon sessions, with a best lap of 1′42″156 (Ben Spies best lap during the race was 1′42″412). Immediately behind Rea was Ducati rider Michel Fabrizio with a 1′42″362, which was also lower than the official record.

Newly crowned 2009 Supersport champion Cal Crutchlow, who was promoted to Yamaha’s Superbike team finished third. This morning he set a 1’44”139 on his first outing with the R1, but binned his bike, but this afternoon did a 1’42”795.

Noriyuki Haga who lost the championship to Ben Spies was fourth, but never dipped below the 1’43 mark.

James Toseland is present at Portimao. The Brit rider who got permission from Herve Poncharal to take part in the test, before the final MotoGP season race at Valencia. Toseland’s fastest lap this morning was 1’46”608 while getting to know the unfamiliar circuit, and this afternoon reportedly posted a best time of 1’43”7.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao Tests - Day 1

Ducati Xerox team manager Davide Tardozzi has been getting a lot of flak from Italian Ducatisti fans (we’ve personally read them) since Sunday afternoon, when Noriyuki Haga lost the WSBK championship to Ben Spies by only six points.

Many were angrily citing the fact that Tardozzi refused to give Michel Fabrizio any team orders and that Fabrizio’s first place in Race 2 at Imola and in Race 2 at Portimao took away 10 valuable points from Haga’s title race.

Tardozzi has even had to defend himself on the official Desmoblog:

At this point I would also like to address some comments that we have heard since the final race….
Certainly, and we are well aware, that the decision to not stop Michel at Imola could have cost us dearly. But, after seeing how things went, I don’t think that this is the right moment to evaluate that situation.

In race 2 today Spies was clearly in control, knowing that he had the potential to fight for the podium but realising that a fifth position would be more than enough to win. One should also consider that Nori took second position during the final lap and Michel could not have known what was happening behind him.

Continue reading: WSBK - Davide Tardozzi has to defend himself

Ben Spies has taken the 2009 World Superbike Championship in his rookie year after finishing race two at Portimao in fifth place this afternoon.

Spies was the third Yamaha rider that took a championship title today; Valentino Rossi in MotoGP, Cal Crutchlow in Supersport and Spies’ win is also a first for the Japanese manufacturer at the World Superbike level.

The Texan won the championship separated by just six points ahead of Noriyuki Haga.

Michel Fabrizio won the race itself after an incredible and exciting dash through the field after another of his terribile starts. Team mate Noriyuki Haga took second, while Jonathan Rea was third after leading the race until the final laps when he went wide letting through Fabrizio and a few turns later Haga. Rea would finish third and Shane Byrne on his private Ducati impressed the field with his fourth place. Max Biaggi was sixth after putting on another fantastic race with his Aprilia but going wide too many times suffering from arm problems picked up in yesterday’s crash. BSB champion Leon Camier was seventh, while Jakub Smrz finished in eighth. Troy Corser took ninth and Sylvain Guintoli finished a solid tenth in his Superbike debut after pulling out of race 1 due to mechanical difficulties.

Spies now will head to MotoGP to take part in the final race at Valencia with his new Yamaha Tech 3 team with a another championship title in his pocket.

After the jump Race 2 results and final championship standings:

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao Race 2 – Michel Fabrizio wins, and Ben Spies crowned 2009 WSBK Champion