Phillip Island, Australia
The Australian Round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship has drawn to a close with the second race of the weekend at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. Stefan Bradl has finished the race in fifteenth place, while his Red Bull Honda World Superbike team mate Nicky Hayden crashed out of the race on lap nine.
From fifteenth place on the grid, Bradl managed to move up several places and was eleventh by the end of lap ten. He then maintained his position for four more laps while leading a four-way pack and was fifteenth at the chequered flag.
After launching from twelfth place, Hayden was able to maintain his position and spent the first part of the race in the fight for tenth. After setting his fastest time, on lap nine the 35-year-old American tucked the front at turn ten and crashed: despite remounting his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 and returning to the track, Hayden could not continue the race.
The second round of the season will take place in a fortnight’s time at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand.
Stefan Bradl 6
15th
My start today was a little worse than yesterday: the start itself was not so bad actually, but I got a bad line in turn one and, obviously, that carried over in turn two. This meant that the advantage I got at the start was gone already and I dropped back a couple of places. We made some changes to the bike prior to the race especially at the front, which turned out to be a positive step. Unfortunately, whilst the entry corner was good and I could be aggressive on the brakes, we were lacking on corner exit. We’re also too hard on the tyres at the moment and this meant that by the end of the race I could not keep the pace. At least, I could stay within the second group and learn a lot. All in all, it was not an easy weekend but
Nicky Hayden 69
DNF
We made some changes in order to look after the tyres a bit more, especially with the hotter conditions of today, and it was a bit better on the gas but also a bit worse on the brakes. I didn’t get the same good start as yesterday, but I didn’t feel too bad. I set my fastest lap of the race and was improving my splits while trying to stay with the second group, but I over pushed down into Lukey Heights and came off the bike. Obviously I cannot say I’m happy with the results and with the weekend in general: today I tried my best and rode as hard as I could, but it didn’t go to plan. We’ll try to turn things around for Thailand.
Pieter Breddels
We tried a different approach today especially with the electronics, in order to make the power delivery a bit softer and get some more life out of the tyres. Nicky was running at a good pace and wasn’t looking too bad: he was doing quite good lap times but at the same time he was pushing really hard and that led to the crash. It was not a big one and he tried to stay out for a couple of more laps, but then he had to retire from the race. Stefan rode well and was able to fight with the second group but he was unable to maintain the pace in the final laps. We made a step forward from yesterday with him, although it was not as big as we’d hoped. With the information we got from this weekend we have made a plan for Thailand and I’m confident we will be able to make a big difference there.
