Phillip Island 2025 - Testing and Racing

Razgatlioglu on Turn 6 crash: "It was very strange… I’m lucky nothing is broken but I feel pain everywhere, especially my hand"

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So the last round of testing before the WSBK and their junior classes kick off, we have big names falling left, right and centre.

Lucky nothing was broken, says Toprak

Rea on the other hand wasn't so lucky

https://www.crash.net/wsbk/results/...lip-island-worldsbk-test-results-day-1-monday

Bulegas dominates the testing so far, with Ducati again, being faster than anyone else.

Sennas_Caress said:

Rea on the other hand wasn't so lucky

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Can't catch a ....... break.
Testing looked so positive, I was looking forward to what Johnny can do on the Yamaha when he's fit.

I didn't expect Rea to factor this season, though his testing looked somewhat promising. Hard to believe he's already going to need surgery. Hopefully, everyone else will stay healthy. No reason to push. Bulega is looking good ATM.

mylexicon said:

I didn't expect Rea to factor this season, though his testing looked somewhat promising. Hard to believe he's already going to need surgery. Hopefully, everyone else will stay healthy. No reason to push. Bulega is looking good ATM.

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At least it's gonna be five weeks till the next race so I hope he'll be fit for round 2.

I wasn't making myself any illusions about a shot at the title but I was hoping for regular Top 5s and the occasional podium.

I think Toprak is the big favorite heading into 2025.

Bulegas still fastest, while Toprak brushes off yesterday's fall with some decent runs

The Maniac and Petrux also finishing off well. Abruzzo's champion will once again do battle with Umbria's finest.
A great sub-theme for the season.

WSBK Practice Results:

1. Nicolo Bulega - Aruba.it - Ducati - 1:28.790s
2. Andrea Iannone - Team Pata Go Eleven - +0.406s
3. Toprak Razgatlioglu - ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team - +0.809s
4. Danilo Petrucci - Barni Spark Racing Team - +0.814s
5. Alvaro Bautista - Aruba.it - Ducati - +0.820s
6. Sam Lowes - ELF Marc VDS Racing Team - +1.009s
7. Yari Montella - Barni Spark Racing Team - +1.025s
8. Alex Lowes - bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team - +1.090s
9. Scott Redding - MGM BONOVO Racing - +1.236s
10. Michael Van Der Mark - ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team - +1.269s
11. Andrea Locatelli - Pata Maxus Yamaha - +1.315s
12. Axel Bassani - bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team - +1.327s
13. Ryan Vickers - Motocorsa Ducati - +1.379s
14. Garrett Gerloff - Kawasaki Team - +1.403s
15. Xavi Vierge - Honda HRC - +1.415s
16. Remy Gardner - GYTR GRT Yamaha Team - +1.509s
17. Dominique Aegerter - GYTR GRT Yamaha Team - +1.886s
18. Iker Lecuona - Honda HRC - +1.886s
19. Tetsuta Nagashima - Honda HRC - +2.252s
20. Bahattin Sofuoglu - Yamaha Motoxracing Team - +2.445s
21. Tito Rabat - Yamaha Motoxracing Team - +2.513s
22. Tarran Mackenzie - PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team - +2.655s
23. Zaqhwan Zaidi - PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team - +6.617s

Bulega is making it look easy in SBK. Toprak doing a good job staying in a podium position. They are talking about pit stops during the race? Is there still an issue with pavement abrasion? Maybe none of these times will matter.

The arrival of the R9 has transformed the WSS soundtrack. The 3-cylinder bikes are dominating the soundwaves. The four cylinder bikes are barely audible in the video feed. Twins still making some noise. Looking forward to the new Panigale whenever it's released for competition.

The track is no so abrasive as it was, but it is the left side of the tyre that has problems handling the heat of the long high speed corners, from turn 10 on the left side is really punished.

PI is definitely for Ducati and BMW. Not a Yamaha or Kawasaki track, Locatelli has nabbed 8th having run around 1 second off 1st all weekend with Gardner doing well to take 9th

https://resources.worldsbk.com/file...8.1934067462.1740192919-1500375428.1740192918

Easy first win for Bulega. He goes well at PI. No one was even close. Toprak and Bautista did a good job scoring points on a weekend with no chance of winning. We'll see if they can keep it together for another 2 race. Nice to see Redding at the sharp end. The championship needs more competitiveness in the satellite Ducati realm.

WSSP was crazy to watch. They seem to have the balance of performance well adjusted. Ducati's cannot easily clear off (not at PI anyway). We'll see how the rest of the season goes, but WSSP could be a really good platform for national and elite club racing. The bikes will become more and more plentiful. Sad that no one is racing a Suzuki at the world level. I guess the WSSP bikes still have too many electronic gizmos and tuning hacks. Factory involvement needed internationally.