REPORT – 2022 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship – Round 12

Words: Mike Ryan

Photos: Russell Colvin (unless indicated)

With the World Superbike and World Supersport championships already decided by the time both came to Phillip Island for the final round of the 2022 season, you’d be forgiven for thinking there was nothing to play for. But, with racers being racers, pride on the line and wet conditions being the joker in the pack, there was still plenty of action.

Instead of its traditional season-opening slot in February-March, the Australian round for the 2022 World Superbike and World Supersport championships was held in late November.

The last time both categories raced in Australia was back in February, 2020, and that would be the last international-level motorsport event completed here before COVID-19 shut the world down. No Australian round was held in 2021 and the late (but very much welcome) return of an Australian round this year was the product of uncertainties over travel and isolation restrictions related to the virus that pushed all the flyaway rounds to the back end of the 2022 WSBK calendar.

World Superbikes - State of Play

Coming into the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian round at the 4.445km Phillip Island circuit, WSBK had just crowned its World Champion for 2022 in Alvaro Bautista; the Spaniard wrapping up the title at the Indonesian round a week earlier.

Although he didn’t visit the podium here in 2020, Bautista was victorious in all three races in Australia on his WSBK debut in 2019, which coincidentally was also the last time he raced here with Aruba.it Racing Ducati.

Behind Bautista, the runner-up spot in the 2022 championship was still up for grabs, with 37 points separating last year’s champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx) and six-time WSBK Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team).

After dominating the championship from 2015 to 2020, Rea lost his crown to Razgatlioglu in 2021 and was experiencing a tough 2022, with no wins since Estoril in May – that’s 24 races – coming into the Australian round.

Outside of the top three, the next-best rider in the championship, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) was 209 points adrift of Rea, which shows how much the 2022 WSBK season was a race between Bautista, Rea and Razgatlioglu. In fact, no rider outside this three had won a race all season and the triumvirate filled the podium at several races, too.

Riders to have at least challenged the top three included Rinaldi, along with Rea’s team mate Alex Lowes and Razgatlioglu’s team mate Andrea Locatelli, while Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing Ducati) had won WSBK’s Indepdendent Rider award for 2022 after accumulating three podium finishes ahead of the Australian round.

Any of the above could threaten for a podium at Phillip Island, along with the likes of Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK), Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) and Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha).

The 22-rider WSBK field also included some unfamiliar names, some of which had graduated from World Supersport and some who were injury substitutions, including Tetsuta Nagashima, who was filling in for Iker Lecuona at Team HRC, Xavi Fores (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) and Kyle Smith (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki).

World Supersport – State of Play

In World Supersport, it was a similar scenario to World Superbike, with Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) securing the title at Mandalika in Indonesia a week earlier, but Phillip Island would be a new challenge for him, as he’d only raced here in 125cc and Moto2 previously.

Buoyed by his dominance of a season that led to back-to-back WSS championships, Aegerter also came to the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian round with the confidence of knowing he’d be on the World Superbike grid in 2023, having signed a deal in September to join GYTR GRT Yamaha, alongside Australia’s Remy Gardner.

For much of the 2022 season, Aegerter’s sole challenger was Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros WorldSSP Yamaha), who’d taken four race wins and eleven other podiums to remain in the championship hunt right up to the penultimate round. The only exceptions to this pair’s winning record in 2022 came from Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt Triumph) at Portimao and Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), who won at Mandalika.

Other contenders for a WSS win – or at least a podium – at Phillip Island included Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing Ducati WorldSSP), Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Ducati) and Raffaele de Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Ducati).

While there were no Australian representatives in WSBK this season, WSS had two: Oli Bayliss (Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati); and Ben Currie (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti Kawasaki). Currie made a late start to the season and struggled in the races he started, with a best of 15th at Estoril. Coincidentally, Bayliss’s best result in his rookie WSS season would also be at Estoril, with sixth.

Ahead of the flyaway rounds, Currie was replaced by British rider, Tom Booth-Amos, leaving Bayliss as the sole Aussie on the WSS grid at Phillip Island.

World Superbike - Practise, Qualifying and Superpole

After a wait of 32 months, WSBK action at Phillip Island got underway on Friday, 18 November, with Free Practise 1 (FP1), where Rea clocked the fastest time, closely followed by Razgatlioglu and Lowes; all three lapping under 1m32s.

Dry and sunny but cool conditions continued for that afternoon’s FP2, which was halted briefly for geese on the track. When the session resumed, Rea led the way from Bautista again, with Lowes improving and Locatelli, Nagashima and Phillip Oettl (Team Goeleven Ducati) all going under 1m32s, too. Nagashima’s performance was particularly impressive, given he’d never ridden the Honda CBR 1000RR in WSBK spec before and his only experience of Phillip Island was in Moto2.

Saturday, 19 November, dawned with the expectation of rain, which duly arrived ahead of FP3, but the leading group remained the same – Rea, Razgatlioglu, Lowes and Bautista. Conditions saw lap times slower by 10 seconds compared to FP2, but the track had dried enough for the Superpole session to be declared dry.

In Superpole, Bautista banked the #1 grid position with a 1m29.815 lap – the only rider to go under 1m30s. Rea and Lowes would join him on the front row, with Razgatlioglu, Locatelli and Gerloff on Row 2.

Oettl would lead Row 3 from Rinadi and Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), while Nagashima trumped many experienced WSBK riders to take tenth on the grid.

Bautista’s pole for Race 1 was only his fourth for the season, compared to seven from Rea and eleven from Razgatlioglu this year.

World Supersport - Practise, Qualifying and Superpole

World Supersport's FP1 session on Friday saw Caricasulo come out on top, ahead of Aegerter and Tuuli, while Bayliss was fourth quickest on a track he’s very familiar with. Less than a second covered the top seven riders.

Slightly warmer conditions for the afternoon’s FP2 session saw the order jumbled, with Bulega fastest (1m34.027s), ahead of Aegerter, Yves Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Manzi, Oncu and Baldassarri. Bayliss dropped to eighth, while Caricasulo could only manage tenth fastest in this session, which ended early when Adrien Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) crashed at Turn 8.

With no FP3 or FP4 for World Supersport, the field moved direct to Superpole, early on the afternoon of Saturday, 19 November.

The wet track saw several riders come unstuck, mostly at Turn 6 (Siberia), while Bayliss ran wide at Turn 4 (the newly renamed Miller Corner), ruining his chance of a good grid position.

Caricasulo handled the wet conditions best, taking his second pole for 2022, but his time of 1m37.161 was almost 5 seconds adrift of the WSS track record.

Bulega and Montella would complete the front row, with new WSS Champion Aegerter leading Row 2 ahead of Baldassarri and Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse).

Oncu, de Rosa and Simon Jespersen (Kallio Racing Yamaha) completed the third row, with Bayliss on Row 5 in 14th place, sandwiched between Huertas and Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Yamaha).

World Superbikes – Race 1

For the first time in a long time of WSBK racing at Phillip Island, the umbrellas used by the grid girls were more functional than decorative, as the rain that had impacted FP3 returned for Saturday afternoon’s Race 1, so the field started on wet tyres.

Fortunately, wind was negligible and the rain was already clearing, so a flag-to-flag arrangement was in place, with teams ready to change to slicks or intermediates during the 22-lap race.

Bautista led the field away and would hold a small advantage for the opening two laps, but by lap 4, he'd been passed by Razgatlioglu, Rea and Lowes.

With a dry line forming on the track, Rea and Lowes made it a Kawasaki 1-2 from laps 7 to 9 but differing strategies for the team mates saw Rea come in first to change tyres on lap 10. Razgatlioglu followed Rea in, but Bautista stayed out for an extra lap and Lowes an extra two.

Once the pit stops had been completed, Rea was leading from Razgatlioglu, whose stop had gone 5 seconds over the 63-second minimum due to what he later explained was a problem attaching the front wheel.

Lowes, who felt he could have won if he’d pitted earlier, would overtake Bautista for third place on lap 17, with Locatelli pushing the Spaniard down to fifth a lap later.

Holding this order to the chequered flag, Rea won his first race in almost six months, ending his longest WSBK winless streak since joining Kawasaki. Second-placed Razgatlioglu was left cursing a slow pitstop and Lowes was equally disappointed by a podium (his first since Catalunya in September) that could have been a win.

“There were a lot of things going on in that race and that’s what makes the victory a little bit more special because my team were involved in the pit stop,” Rea said. “We could be strong in the wet conditions and also the dry, and I made that perfect decision [when] to come in.”

Behind fifth-placed Bautista, Gerloff, Bassani, Vierge, Baz and Nagashima completed the top ten.

Despite the potential for chaos in the mixed conditions, there were only three crashes in Race 1, two of which were made by Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK), including a big one at Turn 4.

World Superbikes – Superpole Race

Rain was back on Sunday, 20 November, and wind came with it, which always impacts racing at Phillip Island.

The rain was heavy enough to see the start of the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race delayed for 20 minutes and although it had passed by the time the race got underway just after 1pm, it was still declared wet.

Despite this, Bautista chose to start on slick tyres; a seemingly crazy gamble that saw him plummet from pole to 15th by the end of the opening lap. But thanks to the wind, the track dried and Bautista would be up to seventh by lap 5 of the sprint.

Running on intermediate tyres, or a mix of wet and intermediate, Lowes, Razgatlioglu and Rea would lead the sprint race at various stages before Bautista came through on lap 9 and held on to take the win in what was a remarkable turnaround over a handful of laps.

“In the Superpole Race, it was quite wet, but the experience I had [here] from MotoGP, I knew that it could maybe dry very fast,” Bautista explained. “[But] I took a big gamble because it was too wet.”  

Razgatlioglu and Rea completed the podium, followed by Lowes, Locatelli and Redding; the latter starting from pit lane.

World Superbikes – Race 2

The final race at Phillip Island and the last for the 2022 WSBK season would see a slight alteration to the starting grid, as per Superpole Race results, but it was still Bautista on pole and out front for the start, although Rea, and surprisingly Redding, would lead the Spaniard after the opening lap.

Gerloff and Vierge crashed out at Turn 2 on the first lap and both would retire as the field behind the leaders began to stretch out.  

When Lowes pushed Bautista down to fourth on lap 3, it seemed like another Kawasaki podium was on the cards, but Bautista rebounded to be in front again on lap 6 of 22.

In the first all-dry WSBK race of the weekend, Bautista could hold Rea at bay, but not shake him, with the Ulsterman less than half a second in arrears, while Razgatlioglu was dropping back due to tyre issues.

The margin see-sawed over the following laps, but Rea remained within striking distance and appeared to be setting up a late charge for the win when the race ended prematurely.

On lap 18, Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) crashed at turn 1 and was struck by Fores, leaving the Irishman with what was later diagnosed as a fractured pelvis. With Laverty needing medical attention at one of the fastest parts of the track, the red flags came out, bringing an end to the race.

As more than two thirds distance had been completed, there would be no restart and positions from the end of lap 17 would stand, meaning Bautista was the race winner, from Rea and Lowes.

“I lost a lot of positions in the beginning and then I got the lead,” Bautista said. “Jonathan was just behind [and] I expected a big battle, especially in the last two laps, but unfortunately the red flag stopped the race.

“I think it has been the best way to end this amazing season. I’m so happy.”

Off the podium, Razgatlioglu was fourth, ahead of Locatelli, Redding, Rinaldi, Oettl and Nagashima, with Baz completing the top 10.

In the championship, Bautista finished with 601 points, Razgatlioglu with 529 and Rea with 502.

World Superbikes will return to Phillip Island on 24-26 February for the opening round of the 2023 season.

World Supersport – Race 1

The rain that had impacted Superpole and Race 1 for World Superbikes made for a challenging first race of the weekend for World Supersport, compounded by strong winds.

Tuuli, Manzi, Hannes Soomer (Dynavolt Triumph) and Unai Orradre (MS Racing Yamaha) were early crashers, while Bayliss was avoiding the chaos, holding down 12th place

At the head of the field, Caricasulo was leading from Montella, who was on track for the best result of his rookie season. It looked even better for the 22-year-old Italian when he took the lead on lap 5 and managed to hold the experienced Caricasulo at bay for the next seven laps.

Schroetter was the next retirement, followed by Ondrej Vostatek (MS Racing Yamaha) and Marcel Brenner (VFT Racing Yamaha) as the rain continued to fall, while Bayliss trailed Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha).

The final laps saw Caricasulo and Montella battle for the lead and it looked like Caricasulo would prevail, but he crashed out on the last lap, gifting Montella his first win in the category.

“I'm really happy for this. Really happy for the team also because I think the last win of the team was in 2020,” Montella said. “I enjoyed the race a lot, it was a great battle with Caricasulo.”

Bulega and Oncu completed the podium, followed by Baldassarri. Newly-crowned champion Aegerter was several seconds further back in fifth, followed by de Rosa and Caricasulo, who had managed to remount after his Turn 4 crash.

Bayliss finished in twelfth in the tricky conditions, just behind van Straalen.

World Supersport – Race 2

Compared to Saturday’s wet and wild Race 1, Sunday’s World Supersport Race 2 was a calmer affair, held in dry conditions, but with wind still a factor.

Bulega was the early pacesetter, but it would be Aegerter, Baldassarri and Caricasulo who’d battle it out for the lead after the opening lap.

Oncu was the race's first retirement, while Montella came down from Saturday’s high with a Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding, but it made little difference to his track position. Dropping from fourth to seventh, he was back up to fifth soon after.

Manzi was the only other retirement as Aegerter, Baldassarri and Caricasulo continued to trade places at the head of the field. The order settled after lap 8, with Aegerter building a margin over Caricasulo, who was doing the same with Baldassarri.

Bayliss was having a much better race this time around, especially in the mid-section of the 18-lap event, where he improved from 13th to eighth.

At the chequered flag, Aegerter’s winning margin was 1.888 seconds from Caricasulo, with Baldassarri completing the podium a further 0.749 seconds further back.

“The race today was amazing. We were finally able to ride in dry conditions in the fantastic track at Phillip Island,” Aegerter said.

“I had a big battle with Caricasulo and Baldassarri, also with Bulega. I was trying to always stay in front. Once I saw I had a small gap I tried to push a little bit more so I can open the gap and that they couldn't overtake me on the slipstream."

Off the podium, Bulega finished fourth, ahead of Montella, with de Rosa much further back in sixth, then Schroetter and Bayliss, with Andy Verdoia (GMT94 Yamaha) and van Straalen completing the top 10.

Aegerter's 17th race win of the season saw him finish this year's World Supersport Championship with 498 points, 110 clear of Baldassarri (388), with Oncu third (264), Bulega fourth (242) and Caricasulo fifth (222).

Like World Superbike, World Supersport returns to Phillip Island in February for the opening round of the 2023 season.