Rea on the grid
after placing third and you could feel the sincerity when he announced that he was having more fun in SBK than he ’ d ever had in MotoGP . Which may be an emerging theme in the near future as it ’ s probably not unreasonable to suggest that as some riders come off contract in MotoGP , WorldSBK might start to look like a real option if they can swallow the pay cut . Looking at the weekend ’ s result , it really is a rather magnificent sign of things to come . Lowes topped the table with Bulega and Locatelli in second and third , although a word of caution that PI is quite different from every other track on the calendar so it can ’ t be taken as wholly representative of how the season might play out . Regardless , having Bulega stepping up from Supersport , Iannone coming in from the cold , Toprak on a new bike that most didn ’ t expect to perform , Lowes re-establishing himself as a genuine contender , Locatelli continuing to showcase his talent , Petrucci reaffirming that he ’ s still got it and Bautista being his mecurial-self sets the scene , hopefully , for the kind of season we knew WorldSBK could give us but hadn ’ t quite managed to in recent years . Round Two at Catalunya ( March 23-25 ) will help us understand whether PI was a magnificent aberration , or we really are in for a WorldSBK season for the ages .
Razgatlioglu
66 KIWI RIDER