Irishman Eugene Laverty has turned the tables on his Aprilia factory team-mate Sylvain Guintoli to win the second World Superbike race at Phillip Island’s season-opening round this afternoon.
Laverty sat behind Guintoli for most of the race – and even dropped back to third behind Marco Melandri (BMW) at one stage – before making his decisive move with four laps to go, and confirming his intentions with a new lap record of 1m31.168secs just a short time later. The previous lap record of 1:31.323 was set by Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia) in race one.
Guintoli finished 0.418s behind Laverty in the 22-lapper, while BMW-backed Melandri — who crashed in race one after being taken out by Ducati’s Carlos Checa – completed the race in third – but not before a minor scare when Fabrizio tapped the back of his bike at turn nine on the last lap.
Fabrizio remained upright to finish fourth, with the top eight was completed by Tom Sykes (Kawasaki), Davide Giugliano (Aprilia), WSBK rookie Jules Cluzel (Suzuki) and Jonathan Rea (Honda). Rea’s team-mate Leon Haslam was ninth, but had to fight his way back trough the pack after a lap one melee which also involved Loris Baz (Kawasaki) and Chaz Davies (BMW).
Checa wasn’t on the grid fort race two after his heavy crash in race one, after which he was flown to hospital in Melbourne for observation.
Australian pair Glenn Allerton (BMW) and Jamie Stauffer (Honda) were 12th and 13th respectively in race two.
A total of 61,500 spectators attended this year’s WSBK round over the three days. The next round will be held in Aragon, Spain from April 12-14.
RACE #2 – RESULTS
| Position | Rider | Team | Bike |
| 1 | Eugene Laverty | Aprilia Racing Team | Aprilia RSV4 Factory |
| 2 | Sylvain Guintoli | Aprilia Racing Team | Aprilia RSV4 Factory |
| 3 | Marco Melandri | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | BMW S1000 RR |
| 4 | Michel Fabrizio | Red Devils Roma) Aprilia | Aprilia RSV4 Factory |
| 5 | Tom Sykes | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki ZX-10R |
| 6 | Davide Giugliano | Althea Racing | Aprilia RSV4 Factory |
| 7 | Jules Cluzel | Fixi Crescent Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 |
| 8 | Jonathan Rea | Pata Honda World Superbike | Honda CBR1000RR |
| 9 | Leon Camier | Fixi Crescent Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 |
| 10 | Leon Haslam | Pata Honda World Superbike | Honda CBR BR1000RR |
| 11 | Max Neukirchner | MR-Racing | Ducati Panigale1199 |
| 12 | Glen Allerton | Next Gen Motorsports | BMW S1000 RR |
| 13 | Jamie Stauffer | Team Honda Racing | Honda CBR1000RR |
| 14 | Federico Sandi | Team Pedercini | Kawasaki ZX-10R |
| 15 | Alexander Lundh | Team Pedercini | Kawasaki ZX-10R |
| 16 | Vittorio Iannuzzo | Grillini Dentalmatic SBK | BMW S1000 RR |
| 17 | Chaz Davies | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | BMW S1000 RR |
| DNF | Ivan Clementi | HTM Racing | BMW S1000 RR |
| DNF | Loris Baz | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki ZX-10R |
| DNS | Carlos Checa | Team Ducati Alstare | Ducati Panigale 1199 |
CHAMPIONSHIP
| Position | Rider | Team | Bike | Points |
| 1 | Eugene Laverty | Aprilia Racing Team | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 45 |
| 2 | Sylvain Guintoli | Aprilia Racing Team | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 45 |
| 3 | Michel Fabrizio | Red Devils Roma) Aprilia | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 29 |
| 4 | Tom Sykes | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 22 |
| 5 | Marco Melandri | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | BMW S1000 RR | 16 |
| 6 | Jonathan Rea | Pata Honda World Superbike | Honda CBR1000RR | 16 |
| 7 | Leon Haslam | Pata Honda World Superbike | Honda CBR BR1000RR | 15 |
| 8 | Jules Cluzel | Fixi Crescent Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 14 |
| 9 | Leon Camier | Fixi Crescent Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 14 |
| 10 | Chaz Davies | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | BMW S1000 RR | 13 |
| 11 | Max Neukirchner | MR-Racing | Ducati Panigale1199 | 11 |
| 12 | Davide Giugliano | Althea Racing | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 10 |
| 13 | Loris Baz | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 10 |
| 14 | Glen Allerton | Next Gen Motorsports | BMW S1000 RR | 6 |
| 15 | Ivan Clementi | HTM Racing | BMW S1000 RR | 4 |
| 16 | Jamie Stauffer | Team Honda Racing | Honda CBR1000RR | 4 |
| 17 | Alexander Lundh | Team Pedercini | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 4 |
| 18 | Federico Sandi | Team Pedercini | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 2 |
