Factory Yamaha Pit
But possibly better than how Baz feels with one point and seventeenth place to his name . There were impressive performances by what is a very strong cohort of independent riders . Fan-favourite Petrucci ( Barni Ducati ), coming to WorldSBK from MotoAmerica , Gardner ( GYRT GRT Yamaha ), from MotoGP , Aegerter , from WorldSBK Supersport , Axel Bassani in his second year on the Motocorsa Ducati and Philipp Oettl on the GoEleven Ducati were all showing that they could challenge for podium positions and could disrupt the natural order of the factory Ducati , Yamaha and Kawasaki teams up at the front of the field . They need to find more consistency though and it would be best if Gardner didn ’ t take out his teammate Aegerter , forcing them both to retire , as he did in
the Superpole race . That incident cost Gardner a long-lap penalty in Race Two . Not so happy faces at Puccetti Kawasaki though where Tom Sykes , returning to WorldSBK after a year in BSB , scored three DNF and zero points for the weekend . Where to from here ? WorldSBK consists of Twelve Rounds and with two full length races and one sprint race ( with half points awarded ) per round , there ’ s a lot of points to be won and lost before the season wraps up . Baustista won ’ t be as dominant at every round but Round One gives strong indications that he ’ s the man to beat and Rinaldi , Locatelli and Razgatlioglu are the most likely challengers and hopefully they will be able to challenge for the championship and not just the minor placings as the series unfolds .
Jonathan Rea
Toprak on the way into MG corner
KIWI RIDER 33