STATS ROUND-UP: the milestones hit from a historic return to Phillip Island
New race leaders, benchmarks set and records shattered, it was a mighty return to ‘The Island’
The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship came to a close with the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, where there was plenty of history made. In what was a memorable season full of action and drama from the start, there were plenty of stats to delve deep into as we get ready for the off-season.
601 – Alvaro Bautista becomes the first rider for Ducati to score 600 points or more in one season.
589 – Kyle Smith (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) became the 589th rider to score points in WorldSBK in Race 1 at Phillip Island, taking 12th. Two places ahead of him in tenth, Tetsuta Nagashima became the 588th rider to do so in the same race.
250 – Race 2 at Phillip Island was the 250th different race led by a Kawasaki rider, with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) eventually finishing second.
245 – After his second place in the last race of 2022, Jonathan Rea took a 245th podium in WorldSBK.
185/19 – With a second pole of his season, Bautista took Ducati’s 185th pole in WorldSBK. The #19 also took Spain’s 19th pole in WorldSBK, their third of 2022 and a first at Phillip Island since Carlos Checa in 2013 on the Ducati Panigale’s debut,
175 – Alvaro Bautista’s win in Race 2 was the 175th for Spain in the Championship’s history.
160 – Toprak Razgatlioglu’s (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) fourth place in Race 2 at Phillip Island made it 160 straight races where Yamaha have been in the points. The longest current run is Ducati at 243, whilst the longest ever is also by Ducati with 344 from Brainerd Race 1 1991 to Valencia Race 1, 2005.
118 – After ending his win drought in Race 1, Rea made it 118 wins in his career, exactly double of the next rider in the win rankings, Carl Fogarty, who has 59.
82 – After leading in Race 1, Kyle Smith became the 82nd different rider to lead a World Superbike race.
58 – Taking a 58th podium with Race 2 victory, Bautista is now one podium clear of Raymond Roche in the all-time podium rankings in 15th place. The rider with the most is Jonathan Rea at 245.
32 – Neck and neck throughout 2022, Bautista and Razgatlioglu end the season on 32 wins in their WorldSBK career, tied with Chaz Davies, one ahead of Colin Edwards and one behind Troy Corser.
27/21 – Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Rea shared the podium together on 27 occasions throughout their career, with 21 coming in 2022. The first time was Imola Race 1, 2019, with Rea winning his first race of the season, Bautista taking second and Razgatlioglu third.
16 – Race 2 saw Alvaro Bautista take a 16th win of the year, the second highest number of wins for one season in WorldSBK after Doug Polen took 17 wins in 1991 and then Rea took 17 in 2018 and 2019. It’s the same number of wins for Bautista as his 2019 campaign.
10 – Ten riders stood on the podium in 2022: Bautista, Rea, Razgatlioglu, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Alex Lowes, Scott Redding, Axel Bassani, Andrea Locatelli, Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team). The only rider in the top ten of the Championship standings who didn’t get a podium was Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), who had a best result of fourth at Misano in the Tissot Superpole Race.
7 – For the first time in seven seasons, the reigning World Champion coming into the year has failed to lead the World Championship at any point. The last rider was Sylvain Guintoli. In terms of the last time it happened when the defending Champion remained in the same team for the next season, you have to go back to 2011, when reigning Champion Max Biaggi didn’t lead the title, with Carlos Checa leading it from the start.
3 – For the first time since 2014 and thus the first time since joining Kawasaki, Rea finished outside the top two in the Championship.
2 – For a second consecutive season, all five manufacturers achieved at least one podium in WorldSBK. It’s also the fifth consecutive season that at least one Independent team has achieved a podium.
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