World Superbikes at Phillip Island is the ultimate Great Mates’ Escape! We’re all dreaming of summer and Australia’s Yamaha Finance round to kick-off the 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Champs.
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| | | | | | | WORLD SUPERBIKES AT PHILLIP ISLAND IS THE ULTIMATE GREAT MATES' ESCAPE!
We’ve had some torrid weather on the island in recent weeks…but we’re all dreaming of summer and Australia’s Yamaha Finance round to kick-off the 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Champs.
February for world supers is the BEST! It’s the perfect summer weekend away with your mates. Enjoy the warm weather while you witness the best production racing in the world and camp on-circuit for a totally easy, totally affordable weekend escape.
February 28- March 1 is our date for 2020 and we’ll celebrate the 30th running of World Superbikes at the Island. We’ve a huge line-up with World Superbikes and World Supersport; and the Australian Superbike Championship opener with Superbikes, Supersport and Supersport 300 racing.
And as a double bonus, at World Superbikes all three-day pass holders get FREE PADDOCK for all three days. For details go to worldsbk.com.au; for tickets go to Ticketek or click here tickets.worldsbk.com.au. |
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| In This Edition | » WorldSBK - The Ultimate Great Mates' Escape | | » 2020 Field Frenzy | | » Honda unveils all-new Fireblade at EICMA with Leon Haslam on board | | » Crowned ASBK Champ Mike Jones of Desmo Ducati tells us why he loves Phillip Island | | » Black Dog Ride to the World Superbikes - BOOK NOW | | » The Greatest - Jonathan Rea "I wasn't ready for the season to end!" | | » VIP Style is the way to go | » Tickets & Camping at Ticketek
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| Jono Rea – the Greatest! – winning his history-making 5th WorldSBK title
FREE PADDOCK for all three-day tickets – head to the Paddock Show to meet the riders |
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It’s a field frenzy - and we’re not talking horses, but high-horsepower motorcycles and their fearsome pilots. Lots of news coming from the gi-normous motorcycle expo, EICMA in Milan this week. Read on for our fix on the 2020 WorldSBK field…
So who’s new in 2020?
Ducati has snapped up British ace Scott Redding, off the back of his British Superbike title victory. He’ll join Chaz Davies and head up Ducat’s effort at Aruba.IT. Redding is a former MotoGP podium finisher and runner up in the Moto2 title. He competed in MotoGP from 2014-2018, and is set to hit the ground running as a world supers rookie, as he’s ridden most of the circuits and knows the Panigale V4R well.
BSB champ Scott Redding joins Chaz at Ducati
America’s back on the grid in 2020 with the arrival of Texan, Garrett Gerloff, joining the GRT Yamaha Team. He finished third in the 2019 MotoAmerica superbike title, scoring eight wins, and thanks to some encouragement from mentor, Ben Spies, he’s taking his talent global. Gerloff’s pit-box partner for 2020 will be Italian Federico Caricasulo.
Texan Garrett Gerloff to fly the US flag
Here's a quick field rundown:
· Alex Lowes goes from blue to green – leaving Pata Yamaha to join five-times world champ, Jonathan Rea at Kawasaki. Here’s Alex this week speaking at EICMA
· Lowes seat at Yamaha was snapped up by impressive Turk, Toprak Razgatlioglu, who was the standout independent rider in 2019 on the Puccetti Kawasaki with wins and podium places
· Toprak joins Michael van der Mark and they’ll campaign an updated Yamaha YZF-R1M focussed on engine improvements
· Spanish sensation, Alvaro Bautista who blitzed the first half of 2019, has jumped from Ducati to Honda to campaign the all-new Honda Fireblade, alongside Leon Haslam (see story below)
· Leon Camier moves to Barni Racing to ride a Ducati
· Northern Ireland’s Eugene Laverty is joining Tom Sykes at BMW on the S 1000 RR
· Spaniard Xavi Fores has signed with Puccetti Kawasaki, taking Toprak’s spot
· Frenchman Loris Baz will be with Ten Kate in 2020
· Ducati factory team – Chaz Davies and Scott Redding
· GRT Yamaha Team – Garrett Gerloff and Federico Caricasulo
· Pedercini Kawasaki – Jordi Torres and Lorenzo Savadori
· Goeleven Ducati – Michael Ruben Rinaldi takes over from Eugene Laverty
Young Turk, Toprak Razgatlioglu, to PATA Yamaha
Alvaro Bautista heads up the factory-backed Honda campaign
Eugene Laverty to BMW with Tom Sykes |
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| | | | Honda unveils all-new Fireblade at EICMA with Leon Haslam on board |
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The legendary Japanese manufacturer is back big-time in WorldSBK, pulling the cover off its glistening new Honda CBR1000RR-R at EICMA in Milan earlier this week, and announcing that Leon Haslam will join Alvaro Bautista at the factory-backed squad for 2020 .
Leon Haslam’s decorated history in the WorldSBK Championship will continue to add sparkle to the field in 2020, as he re-joins Honda, a manufacturer he has achieved many podiums with at WorldSBK level. After a solid season back in the WorldSBK action in 2019 that also threw up challenges along the way, Haslam is enthusiastic for the new season.
“It is a dream come true and I just can’t wait to get out there and get on the bike,” said Leon on his signing with Honda. “From my side, just the thought of HRC coming back into the paddock was intriguing by itself, there was a lot of secrecy about what it was and what the bike was.
“The aim is always to win; Honda and HRC have not come here to finish second, that is for sure,” continued Leon. “Obviously, it is a new bike and a new team to the Championship, so testing is going to be very important. I’m pretty confident we can hit the ground running and Phillip Island is one of my favourite tracks where we kick off in February, so it is not long to wait.”
The new Honda is heavily derived from the MotoGP™ RCV213V, with a 13% power increase and state-of-the-art technology that is set to see the manufacturer at the forefront of the World Superbike Championship.
Haslam was last with Honda in 2014, when he took a podium finish at Magny-Cours. His most successful season with Honda came in 2009 as a privateer at Stiggy Racing, taking numerous rostrums.
After a star-studded first season in WorldSBK which saw him romp to 16 wins, Alvaro Bautista joins Haslam with the new Honda team and is counting down to Phillip Island – a track he launched his world superbike 2019 campaign in last February with three wins.
You can see Honda’s Fireblade debut LIVE at Phillip Island, Feb 28-March 1. So for a WILD RIDE, TRACKSIDE grab your mates and book your tickets and camping here tickets.worldsbk.com.au.
Sneak peak at the new Honda Fireblade
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| | | | Crowned ASBK Champ last weekend, Mike Jones of Desmo Ducati Australian Superbike Team, tells us why he loves Phillip Island |
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| | | | | | Black Dog Ride to the World Superbikes The Great Mates' Escape |
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Want to turn your trip to World Superbikes February 2020 into a week-long Great Mates’ Escape?
Join the Black Dog Ride to the World Supers at Phillip Island and treat yourself to a week with people who love motorcycles plus receive a host of Phillip Island privileges exclusively for Black Dog Riders.
Your GOLD or SILVER ticket allows you to join the three-day ride emanating from Queanbeyan in NSW, Marysville in Victoria or from Tasmania plus …
· Participate in a money-can’t-buy Parade Lap of the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit on board your own bike, Thursday of race weekend
· Join the Black Dog Dinner on-circuit on Friday night, hosted by Mark Bracks with guest appearances from our superbike stars
· Stay in the accommodation of your choice – but if you opt for the easy and affordable on-circuit camping you’ll be with a whole bunch of great people in the Black Dog Ride exclusive camping area
· Visit Carl Cox’s Inline 4 café at Cape Woolamai, packed with motorcycling memorabilia with the Black Dog Ride crew.
There’s plenty of bike chatter over the week. Whether at a road stop, at a pub, at a caravan park or at the circuit, the Black Dog Riders are on a mission to get people talking – connecting and chatting about bikes, about life and the ups and downs of the crazy world we all live in, to make us all happier and healthier inside and out.
If you love bikes, love mates, love a holiday and love a chat, the Black Dog Ride could be for you. It will be an experience you will never forget, a true Great Mates’ Escape.
Here’s the lowdown:
NSW ride... meet in Queanbeyan Monday February 24 to ride the Kozciuszko National Park, the Great Alpine Way to Sale and onto the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
VIC ride... meet in Marysville Monday February 24 and loop up through some great Victorian high country roads to Bright, ride the twists and turns to Sale and onto the ISLAND.
Tasmanian ride… meet up in Tassie and ride to Marysville to meet the Victorian crew and ride the high country to Bright, down to Sale and onto the world’s motorcycling mecca, Phillip Island
For details and bookings go to….
NSW details & bookings
Victoria & Tasmania details & bookings
Facebook
Enjoy your money-can’t-buy Parade Lap of Phillip Island for all Black Dog Riders
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| | | | The Greatest - Jonathan Rea "I wasn't ready for the season to end" |
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After winning a history-making fifth World Superbike Championship, quasi-Aussie Jonathan Rea is the greatest world superbike rider of all time. The victory was particularly sweet for the man who married Phillip Island’s Tatia Rea and calls the island his summer home, while proudly hailing from Northern Ireland. From 2019’s round one at the island, Rea knew the year would be tough. He had been struck heavily with the flu and was not feeling the greatest. In struts the Spanish assassin, Alvaro Bautista on the Ducati, taking to the Phillip Island opener like a man possessed and walked away with a clean-sweep of three wins. Bautista was a force to be reckoned with – he went on to win 11 races on the trot and amass a 53 point lead over Rea. It was not till May at Imola that Rea and his Kawasaki team had his measure, and took their first season victory. Then began the Rea-revival, chipping away race by race at the Bautista buffer to eventually take the title in Magny Cours. Rea took a 53 point disadvantage and turned it into a 165 point lead when he closed off his 2019 book in Qatar with a points haul that totalled 663. Here’s the champ speaking at the motorcycle show, EICMA in Milan this week, who claims “I wasn’t ready for the season to end” and talks about the off-season test plans, his new team mate Alex Lowes and his push to develop race-pace for 2020 kick-off at Phillip Island:
It was a tough road to the top in 2019 for Jono Rea
Click to play video
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| | | | VIP Style is the way to go |
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| From high-speed heaven on Gardner Straight to ultimate Pit Roof packages, there is a VIP Hospitality option for everyone at the 2020 Yamaha Finance Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island. There are 1, 2 and 3-Day packages available starting at just $215.00
Book here
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Keen for a Ride Wild, Trackside at the World Supers next February 28-March 1. Get organised, grab your mates and book your tickets here to be at the season launch of the 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, Yamaha Finance round.
Photo credit: Russell Colvin, Graeme Brown and Nici Marshall |
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