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RACES

Jonathan Rea scored a win and a second place at a track on which he had prevously been unable to achieve a podium finish in 12 races. His 16th career victory matches the tally of Giancarlo Falappa as well as British compatriots and former World Champions Neil Hodgson and James Toseland, going 13th in the all-time standings. Rea has not only become the first rider ever to win on his debut for Kawasaki, but clinched the marque’s first victory at Phillip Island since Anthony Gobert did the double back in 1996. Rea has now finished on the podium at 15 different circuits, having won on nine of them. He has also achieved race wins in seven different seasons; topping that particular chart is Noriyuki Haga, who managed victories in 11 different seasons.

Rea’s victory broke a string of six consecutive wins for Aprilia, which started with Race 1 in Jerez last year. However, Aprilia was back to winning ways with Leon Haslam in Sunday’s second race to confirm that the Italian manufactuer kept contributing to an active string of ten race on the podium. In Race 2, Leon Haslam’s win for Aprilia was his first since Kyalami 2010; ironically, Jonathan Rea finished second to him on that occasion as well.

The gap between Haslam and Rea in Race 2, 0.010 seconds, goes into the record books as the tenth closest finish to a race in WorldSBK history. The closest is Phillip Island 2010, when Haslam won the opening race by just 0.004 seconds from Michel Fabrizio. Haslam has now recorded podium finishes in the championship with five different manufacturers: Ducati, Honda, Suzuki, BMW and Aprilia. Michel Fabrizio also managed this feat, although both remain behind Troy Corser who holds the record of podiums with six different makes: Ducati, Aprilia, Petronas, Suzuki, Yamaha and BMW. In Race 1 at Phillip Island, Haslam sealed the fastest lap for the fifth time in his career, although he had been yet to do this since Race 1 at Moscow Raceway in 2012.

Chaz Davies scored a double podium for the first time since Imola last year, taking his career tally to 16. He had previously never finished in the top three at Phillip Island. Ahead of him, Kawasaki and Aprilia celebrated landmarks in the pair of races: Rea’s victory for Kawasaki was the 60th for the manufactuer, whereas Haslam’s marked the 50th for Aprilia later in the day.

In both races, there was an all-British podium. The last time both races were locked out by British riders was at Silverstone in 2010 (Cal Crutchlow, Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam followed by Cal Crutchlow, Jonathan Rea and Leon Camier). Australia marked the tenth time in history that both races featured all-British rostrums. Great Britain remains the only nation to date to be able to lock out a podium in a World Superbike race outside of their own country.

Courtesy of a fifth place in Race 1 and seventh position in Race 2, Sylvain Guintoli finished in the points for the 40th sucessive race. This sets a new record in WorldSBK. The previous record of 39 races in the points was achieved by Max Biaggi between Brno 2009 and Donington 2011. Guintoli’s current run began in Race 2 at Imola in 2013.

At 45 years, 10 months and 23 days, Troy Bayliss has become the oldest rider to score points in WorldSBK. He beats the previous record of Pierfrancesco Chili, who scored in Race 2 at Magny-Cours in 2006 at the age of 42 years, 3 months and 18 days. Bayliss also goes 19th in the list of all-time race starts, matching Stephane Mertens and Max Biaggi on 154.

At the other end of the spectrum, Christophe Ponsson has become the second-youngest rider in history to score in WorldSBK. At 19 years and 2 months, he slots in behind Yuichi Takeda, who won Race 1 at Sugo in 1996 at the age of 18 years, 8 months and 27 days.

Michael van der Mark (at 22 years, 3 months and 27 days) has become the youngest rider to lead a race since Loriz Baz led and won at Silverstone in 2012 at 19 years, 6 months and 4 days of age.

QUALIFYING

In scoring his fifth career pole, Jonathan Rea has become only the second rider in history to start from pole position on his Kawasaki debut. Before him, only Anthony Gobert had achieved the feat, also at Phillip Island, in 1994.

Rea’s pole was the 46th for Kawasaki, putting the company one ahead of Honda for pole positions. Incidentally, Honda’s last pole also came courtesy of Rea - at Imola last year.

Chaz Davies’ front row appearance was his first since Laguna Seca 2014. Second on the grid equalled his best ever qualifying result, previously achieved in Moscow two years ago.

Leon Haslam’s third place on the grid marked his first front row since Donington last season. The Briton started on Row 1 for the 18th time in his career, equalling Jakub Smrz for 25th place in the all-time rankings of front row starts.

Fourth on the grid for Michael van der Mark signalled the best rookie qualifying performance since Ben Spies clinched pole position at Phillip Island at the start of his title-winning season, 2009.