From Australia. Hopefully it won’t be the Jonathan Rea show again this year, the Yamaha’s have been looking good and if Bautista gets going with the V4 we could see some decent racing. Interestingly Rea had a dig at Bautista on Twitter telling him to use the ‘ follow me ‘ button so I wonder if Rea is feeling under threat from him. http://www.bikesportnews.com/news/n...land-worldsbk-test-bautista-leads-opening-day
I’m looking forward to this season and hope to watch more races - couldn’t get excited about it at all last year.
I'll certainly watch the first race simply to see how the WSB spec V4R goes. According to the article linked, Alvero seems to have clicked with it but Chas hasn't. Andy
Where are you seeing that ? All I can find is the results from the second session which has Bautista fastest. Andy
It was on Eurosport the other night. Something like 2019 season preview. They were talking to one of the riders, not sure which & he said rea had been fastest so far. Wish I had not heard that as I want Ducati to win.
Don't know what Eurosport were broadcasting but according to the linked article above, the final WSBK testing only began today (18th) at Phillip Island (so 12 hours ahead of us). Andy
Rea had an off in today’s first practice and was 3rd fastest after second practice, Bautista was fastest by 0.4s. It would be nice to see a bit but it doesn’t seem to be on Eurosport, only a 2018 season review and a look ahead. Andy
I'm hoping Bautista will burst Rea's bubble, WSBK needs someone to do that. Looking promising so far.
2019 Season-Starting Rev Limits Aprilia 14,700 BMW 14,900 (50 rpm less than last year’s model) Ducati V4 16,350 (all new engine for 2019) Honda 14,550 Kawasaki 14,600 (500 more than 2018 model) MV Agusta 14,950 Suzuki 14,900 Yamaha 14,700
Biggest issues will be how reliable the Ducati V4RS can be, how it treats its tyres and the lack of set-up data. Kawasaki have shown time and time again that their bike and Rea is the package to beat. Andy
Bautista fastest again http://www.bikesportnews.com/news/n...orldsbk-test-sykes-chases-bautista-on-day-two
Interesting comment about tyres. Bautista is half a second faster than the circuit record on standard tyres. Looks like the first weekend is going to be interesting. Andy
I think the sprint race will be a free for all but the real test will be Sunday. Bautista is a Phillip Island specialist with 125 and 250 lap records so we might not get a true appraisal for a couple of rounds. Going to be interesting though.
Cheers for the "heads up" guys. All on series link so that will be the box full by Saturday lunchtime and wife/kids going nuts at all their programs being overwritten