The on, off, on again, off again then on again WorldSSP season opener

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship

Round One – Phillip Island

World Supersport Race One

Can Oncu got a great run from the middle of the front row but it was Nicolo Bulega that took the lead into turn one but Yari Montella then went around the outside of him entering turn two and made him look like he was standing still.  Oli Bayliss made up for his disappointing Superpole session to be up to third placed early on but before they even finished the opening lap the rain started falling!

The precipitation had seen a lot of the front runners button it right off. Bulega was back to tenth by the end of the opening lap, Bayliss back to eighth.  But on the other side of the coin riders like Van Straalen and John McPhee had seen their chance to take a risk in the tricky conditions.   Van Straalen through to the lead ahead of Mantovani and McPhee up to third after starting from the very back of the grid!

McPhee led Mantovani, Van Straalen and Huertas around lap three and by the end of that third lap McPhee had built a small buffer over that pursuing trio around the back of the circuit but they closed up again down the main straight. Adrian Huertas then joined the back of that group and the rest of the field also started to close on the leaders.

Yari Montella was in seventh and Adrian Huertas in fourth but both went down pretty hard at turn seven and out of the race.  The detritus on the exit of Siberia saw the red flag come out and the riders return to pit-lane as medical crews attended the scene and looked after what looked to be a significantly injured Adrian Huertas.  Montella was subsequently diagnosed with a broken left collarbone. Huertas was diagnosed with a lumbar contusion and was sent off to hospital for further investigation.

World Supersport Race One Part One Results

World Supersport Race One Part Two

After a lengthy delay the race was to be restarted under the ‘Quick Start Procedure’ whereby the pit lane was open for 60-seconds and the race then re-started for a 12-lap race distance.  Riders were to start from the grid in the place they had been the lap before the red flag stoppage, so we had Can Oncu on pole ahead of Glenn Van Straalen and John McPhee. Oli Bayliss gridded up in P10.

The track was pretty much dry and no rain was apparent when the riders were waved off for their warm-up lap, but then rain fell the heaviest it had all day while they were on the warm-up lap… Phillip Island… What can you say….

The riders put their hands up on the grid to indicate that it was too dangerous to start while they were on slicks. It was then bedlam as the riders remained on the grid as mechanics ran out there from every direction carrying race stands and tyre warmers. The teams whose garages were at the beginning of the pit-lane had their work cut out for them as it was a long run carrying gear down to the start lines. And of course as this was happening, the rain stopped again to confuse things further…

The riders headed off on their warm-up lap.  Caricasulo had swapped to intermediates on the grid, others were on wets. Then the riders came back around to the grid once again and we had another delay with mechanics running all over the place and tyre choices being gambled once again… Was starting to look somewhat like a lottery… The further delays saw the race distance reduced further to 11 laps, then reduced again to ten laps…

Pole-sitter Can Oncu looked as though he was on full wets but that didn’t prevent him high-siding out of turn four on the warm up lap when they were sent out again, and Battahin Sofuoglu then collected his stricken machine.  The fairing on Oncu’s Kawasaki completely wrecked and it was impossible for him to make the race start.

We finally got underway again and everyone was away cleanly and managed to navigate turn one upright… McPhee leading Mantovani, Bulega, Schroetter and Manzi.  It appeared as though Oli Bayliss had started on slicks and thus was 16th early on and hoping for the track to try during the race…

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Across the stripe for the first time Bulega took the lead from McPhee and the Ducati man then immediately started to stretch away from the field. McPhee was doing much the same in second place. As they started lap three Bulega led McPhee by 1.6-seconds, the Scotsman then had 2.4-seconds on Schroetter, Spinelli and Tuuli.  The tyre gamble by Bayliss was not bearing fruit as after only three laps he was 30-seconds behind the race leader with only eight laps still to run.

The slippery track conditions had given Tarran Mackenzie a lifeline after what had been up until now a disastrous week. The 27-year-old grabbed it with both hands. By lap four he was up to fifth place and lapping quicker than the two men in front of him, Schroetter and Spinelli.

At half-race distance Bulega led McPhee by three-seconds and the Scotsman had 5.5-seconds over third placed Spinelli.  Could Mackenzie get the better of Spinelli and Manzi and make it two Scotsman on the podium!  Surely someone would have to find a set of bag-pipes if that happened!

Then the rain started falling again….

The track deteriorated rapidly once again as the rain fell and lap times started to slow again as a result.  Manzi and Spinelli seemed to benefit from the worsening conditions the most as he started to claw back ground on McPhee and race leader Bulega with three laps to run. Tuuli then moved up to fifth which pushed Mackenzie back to sixth.

Mantovani then fell at turn eight while running in seventh place and was out of the race.

At the last lap board Bulega led McPhee by 3.6-seconds but the Scotsman now had Spinelli in close company… Spinelli pushed McPhee backed to third place in turn one but McPhee came back at him as the pair negotiated lapped traffic. Spinelli got the better of it though to take that second place ahead of McPhee.

The race victor Nicolo Bulega. Spinelli second and McPhee third.

Tuuli eight-seconds further behind in fourth ahead of Tarran Mackenzie.

World Supersport Race One Results

Phillip Island WorldSBK/ASBK Race Schedule