Guintoli wins shortened second WSBK race at Phillip Island
Race two red flagged as Laverty's Suzuki expires with a bang.
Image: Russell Colvin.
Polesitter Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) won the second World Superbike race at Phillip Island this afternoon, in what was a dramatic conclusion to the 2014 season opener.
The race was declared after 14 laps of the planned 22 when the Suzuki of race one winner Eugene Laverty blew up in a blaze of smoke exiting Turn Four on lap 15, leaving a trail of oil in his wake.
The red flag was immediately brought out, with results declared at the end of lap 14 – but not Laverty as the cause of the early race stop.
With Laverty removed from the results – he was running second when his Suzuki lost the plot – the podium was completed by factory Kawasaki pair Loris Baz and world champion Tom Sykes, who improved five spots from his race one result.
Guintoli has now won WSBK races at Phillip Island in successive years and he’ll take a 10-point lead into round two at Aragon in Spain come April, with Baz second from Marco Melandri (Aprilia, Davide Guigliano (Ducati), Laverty, Sykes, Jonathan Rea (Honda) and Chaz Davies (Ducati).
Guigliano was fourth in race two, a couple of seconds clear of Rea, with Leon Haslam (Honda) sixth from Davies and Melandri, who had to recover after running off at turn four on lap eight.
Australian Glenn Allerton (BMW) finished in 15th position on his EVO-spec BMW machine. The leading EVO rider was David Salom (Kawasaki) in 10th position.
2014 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round one – Phillip Island, VIC
Superbike race two results:
1. Sylvain Guintoli
2. Loris Baz +0.283s
3. Tom Sykes +1.103s
4. Davide Giugliano +2.052s
5. Jonathan Rea +4.951s
6. Leon Haslam +5.673s
7. Chaz Davies +9.664s
8. Marco Melandri +10.574s
9. Toni Elias +11.682s
10. David Salom +15.065s (EVO)
15. Glenn Allerton (AUS) +27.845s (EVO)
Championship standings (after round one):
1. Sylvain Guintoli 41
2. Loris Baz 31
3. Marco Melandri 28
4. Davide Giugliano 26
5. Tom Sykes 25
6. Eugene Laverty 25
7. Jonathan Rea 21
8. Chaz Davies 17
9. David Salom 13
10. Niccolo Canepa 11
14. Glenn Allerton (AUS) 6
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