WSBK: Double Retirement For Disappointed Shane Byrne
Byrne crashes out in both races at Phillip Island
The Phillip Island track seems to be a perennial bugbear for team Sterilgarda. Marco Borciani’s team finishes the Australian round with Byrne retiring twice. Nonetheless, everybody at Sterilgarda is confident the squad can reach higher goals in the next rounds. In spite of everything, the Phillip Island round helped Shane Byrne make himself familiar with the competition. However, Byrne is confident he can redeem himself and do better in Qatar in two weeks time.
SHANE BYRNE | Ducati 1098R | retired, retired: “It was bad luck. I had a good start in race 1, but I noticed that the tyres were slipping in an odd way in the early laps. I tried to recover, but after 7 laps I slipped. Although I had a hand injury, I didn’t give up and started race 2 as well. I had a pretty good start, but after 11 laps, while I was trying to overtake Smrz, I got very wide on the final corner. I tried to hold trajectory but the steering wheel locked up and I crashed. Nevertheless, I started to understand how hard-fought the SBK is, especially in the first laps”.
MARCO BORCIANI – team manager: “We’ve had a lot of bad luck on this track. We haven’t done well but we won’t lose heart. We know we have a great rider as he managed to set the third time during warm up despite being the only top rider who doesn’t know the track. He was confident he could score a great result…Nevertheless, I’m sure he will redeem himself in Qatar where he has already raced and factory teams haven’t tested for some time. Anyway, our championship will start in fifteen days time”.
Race 1
1 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 34’22.631 (170,677 kph)
2 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 0.032
3 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 5.347
4 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 6.587
5 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 8.491
6 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 8.523
7 55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098 RS 09 8.766
8 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 11.589
9 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 11.721
10 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 11.761
11 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 12.609
12 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 19.096
13 44 Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 24.149
14 33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 27.416
15 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 28.173
Race 2
1 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 34’20.457 (170,857 kph)
2 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1.286
3 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 4.213
4 55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098 RS 09 4.490
5 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 6.045
6 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 9.947
7 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 10.174
8 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 12.100
9 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 12.742
10 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 20.061
11 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 24.854
12 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 25.192
13 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 27.162
14 33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 29.737
15 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 30.036
Standings
1.N. Haga JPN 45
2.M. Neukirchner GER 30
3.L. Haslam GBR 26
4.B. Spies USA 25
5.Y. Kagayama JPN 24
6.M. Fabrizio ITA 24
7.R. Laconi FRA 22
8.J. Rea GBR 18
9.J. Smrz CZE 16
10.T. Sykes GBR 12
11.T. Corser AUS 8
12.C. Checa ESP 7
13.M. Biaggi ITA 6
14.R. Xaus ESP 5
15.S. Nakano JPN 5