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Did you know: Race 1 was the closest podium of the century?

Saturday, 29 February 2020 09:11 GMT

An exhilarating battle led to a multitude of statistics, so be in the know ahead of Sunday at the Phillip Island circuit!

After a breath-taking Saturday, which featured the closest finish in nearly 23 years, the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is back with a bang in 2020. With Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) storming to the closest win in seven seasons, a whole new set of records have been opened. From rookie podiums, history-makers and high average speeds, the Sunday Stats Pack has all the nuggets of information you require.

 

  1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) is the first rider in history who wins both for Yamaha and Kawasaki.
  2. For the first time in history, a Turkish rider leads the Championship.
  3. The last Yamaha rider who led the Championship had been Ben Spies after the last round of 2009 (Portimao), when he won the title.
  4. After finishing 4th four times, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was finally able to climb on the Phillip Island podium, the 11th track in which he scores a rostrum finish. This was his 21st career podium, closing on Chris Vermeulen and Akira Yanagawa (23 podiums each: 33rd all-time spot).
  5. Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) is the first British rookie who climbs on the Phillip Island podium.
  6. Redding also becomes the 112nd podium finisher in WorldSBK history, the 21st for Great Britain.
  7. With 0.041 seconds enclosing the first three riders at the flag, this was the second closest podium in WorldSBK history after Monza 1997/1, when John Kocinski won with 0.005 seconds over Aaron Slight and Carl Fogarty in third at 0.008
  8. A great debut for the Honda CBR1000RR-R in the hands of Leon Haslam (Team HRC): Honda was able to achieve a top five finish for the first time since Race 1, Buriram, 2018, when Leon Camier was fourth.
  9. With a lap time of 1'29.230, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) is the first – and only – rider with an average speed higher than 179 kph (179.334) around Phillip Island.
  10.  Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) for the first time since he joined WorldSBK, he didn’t score in the opening round.

Get more action from the remainder of the Phillip Island weekend and find out if there will be closer finishes with the WorldSBK VideoPass!