PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
The man to fire the first shot on the first day of the 2015 World Superbike season opener at Phillip Island was the same man as had been out front in testing a few days ago – Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Alex Lowes.
He was impressively .359 of a second up on rookie Jordi Torres on the Red Devils Roma Aprilia who was in turn just ahead of experienced former World Champion, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes.
All the top three set their best lap times in the morning, with the track temperatures in the afternoon session hitting a grip-reducing 124 degrees Fahrenheit.
Despite this Leon Haslam moved up to fourth in the afternoon on his Aprilia, Jonathan Rea going fifth on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.
Another Spanish ‘rookie’—the 2011 125cc GP champion Nico Terol on the Althea Racing Ducati—was sixth. And on a good day for the new boys, World Supersport Champion Michael van der Mark blasted his way up to seventh, another of the few who could improve their best times on such a hot track surface. The track temperatures in the morning had been a relatively low 84 degrees Fahrenheit.
Chaz Davies was eighth on the main Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale, two places behind Terol’s non-factory bike. And the 2014 Superbike Evo champion David Salom made great use of his continuing Kawasaki support inside his new Kawasaki Team Pedercini squad to go ninth. He was, bizarrely, exactly one second from the lead rider Lowes, to the thousandth.
Just behind was the battered and bruised Randy De Puniet—on the other Voltcom Crescent Suzuki—in tenth, with a positive result of 11th for Leon Camier and the updated MV Agusta Reparto Corse F4.
Another battered French rider, reigning World Champion Sylvain Guintoli was 12th and 1.474 seconds behind the best after the first competitive day of action with his new team—Pata Honda.
And after all the hype and hometown happiness, a calibration error on Troy Bayliss’s Aruba.it Racing Ducati meant he only did a handful of laps in the morning session, then only managed to do 19 laps all day. All this when his rivals had enjoyed two days of dry Phillip Island testing recently, not to mention anything between 30 and 40 laps today.
Hence Bayliss was only 18th in the Friday combined times, but it was still a decent effort given all the circumstances and pressure.
After a strong showing for the Hero EBR team and Niccolo Canepa in recent tests, a bike breakdown in the first session and then a fall after three laps of the second session meant he completed only three laps all day, and yet still managed to finish 20th from 25 riders.
2015 Phillip Island World Superbike
Day One Free Practice Combined Results
1. Alex Lowes (Suzuki) 1:30.855
2. Jordi Torres (Aprilia) 1:31.214
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1:31.403
4. Leon Haslam (Aprilia) 1:31.466
5. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1:31.541
6. Nico Terol (Ducati) 1:31.614
7. Michael van der Mark (Honda) 1:31.693
8. Chaz Davies (Ducati) 1:31.748
9. David Salom (Kawasaki) 1:31.855
10. Randy De Puniet (Suzuki) 1:31.881
