Don't forget to set the SKY box, or if you're hardcore the alarm clock. WSB Superpole is on Eurosport tomorrow morning 0350 hrs. Come on the Brits!
been a long winter, at last i get the TV from the Mrs. shame it the usual month til next race but at least i can watch this one again & again on sky box
I don't think I've been as excited about the start of a WSB season as I am now in YEARS. British riders are filling the top 5 and you can almost guarantee that one of them will be the champion and Baylis is racing in the first round. A return to the golden era of Brits ruling the roost? Then theres a few brits in WSS, notably Gino Rea whom I'm expecting to be a regular on the podium and fighting for the championship. There's also loads of WSB Classics on today/tomorrow featuring Toseland, Fogarty, Hodgson & Sykes.
Sky box set to record . Will have to watch the preview later tonight as am taxi duty taking wife and friends to watch 50 shades of wet knickers. Journey home may be fun
Watched the classic toseland & hodge ones other day. Well to many ducatis at front back then. Used to get it in ear from all my ducati loving mates back then. Although the racing & Brit contingent was brill. Bring on 2015 season
Looking forward to seeing some bike racing again. Sky box set to record (because I can't be arsed to get up at stupid o'clock)
LOVING the build up, sad but I can't wait to see Bayliss on track again too! Ohhhhhh come on......let's see some racing!
I'm watching the WSB Classics: James Toseland and it's great watching Toseland have a proper battle with Haga & Bayliss (before he crashed out)
FP1 1. Alex Lowes GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 30.885s 2. Jordi Torres ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 1m 31.214s 3. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 31.403s 4. Leon Haslam GBR Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 1m 31.520s 5. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 31.541s 6. Nico Terol ESP Althea Ducati 1199R 1m 31.614s 7. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 31.748s 8. David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 31.855s 9. Randy de Puniet FRA Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 31.881s 10. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta F4 RR 1m 32.135s 11. Sylvain Barrier FRA BMW Italia S1000RR 1m 32.393s 12. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Honda CBR1000RR 1m 32.400s 13. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Honda CBR1000RR 1m 32.471s 14. Matteo Baiocco ITA Althea Ducati 1199R 1m 32.565s 15. Tati Mercado ARG Barni Ducati 1199R 1m 33.060s 16. Matthew Walters AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 33.091s 17. Roman Ramos ESP GO Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 33.193s 18. Troy Bayliss AUS Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 34.060s 19. Jed Metcher AUS Race Center Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 34.119s 20. Gabor Rizmayer HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR 1m 34.633s 21. Santiago Barragan ESP Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 35.019s 22. Larry Pegram USA Team Hero EBR 1190RX 1m 35.160s 23. Christophe Ponsson LUX Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 36.116s 24. Imre Toth HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR 1m 36.699s
FP2 1. Jordi Torres ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 1m 31.214s 2. Leon Haslam GBR Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 1m 31.466s 3. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 31.670s 4. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Honda CBR1000RR 1m 31.693s 5. Alex Lowes GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 31.734s 6. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 31.812s 7. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 31.920s 8. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Honda CBR1000RR 1m 32.329s 9. Randy de Puniet FRA Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 32.353 10. David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 32.534s 11. Nico Terol ESP Althea Ducati 1199R 1m 32.535s 12. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta F4 RR 1m 33.131s 13. Matthew Walters AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 33.165s 14. Tati Mercado ARG Barni Ducati 1199R 1m 33.375s 15. Sylvain Barrier FRA BMW Italia S1000RR 1m 33.382s 16. Matteo Baiocco ITA Althea Ducati 1199R 1m 33.484s 17. Troy Bayliss AUS Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 33.490s 18. Roman Ramos ESP GO Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 33.590s 19. Jed Metcher AUS Race Center Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 33.814s 20. Niccolo Canepa ITA Team Hero EBR 1190RX 1m 33.974s 21. Santiago Barragan ESP Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 34.321s 22. Larry Pegram USA Team Hero EBR 1190RX 1m 34.594s 23. Christophe Ponsson LUX Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 36.163s 24. Gabor Rizmayer HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR 1m 36.516s 25. Imre Toth HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR 1m 37.708s
I don't care as long last the Brits are winning races, the racing is great and a brit wins the championship AND the racings great.
A long way off to say for certain that a Brit will win. I hope it does happen, but we've all eaten humble pie before. Anyway. In all honesty so long as the racing is close and exciting I honestly couldn't care who wins it. As long as I'm sitting on the edge of my seat then I'll be a happy man.
Loving these quotes from other riders about how hyped they are to be sharing a grid with TB21. SBK < WorldSBK field hails Bayliss comeback Troy Bayliss’ return to the WorldSBK paddock at Phillip Island this weekend may be only temporary, but the excitement amongst fellow riders was evident by the bucketful on Thursday as the pre-event press conference was staged in Australia. “For me, it’s pretty awesome,” Alex Lowes commented. “He’s definitely one of my all-time heroes. Coming over to BSB when I was a young lad and winning like he did, with his all-action style, has been pretty cool. I am looking forward to it. I don’t think I’ll be looking to it if he’s sliding up the inside of me into Honda hairpin! Hopefully he’ll do a good job and to share the track with him will be pretty cool.” “I don’t think it will be embarrassing, actually!” laughed reigning World Champion Sylvain Guintoli. “You never know what he’s going to do. He could surprise everybody and be very fast. It’s going to be very hard for him - he’s got a lot of balls to come back and do that! Big respect.” WorldSBK rookie Jordi Torres suggested the Bayliss appearance will be a perfect example to view different riding styles in the field, whereas Jonathan Rea recalled first racing the Australian when Rea made his WorldSBK debut at Portimao in 2008. “I was really lucky that, for Troy’s last ever race, the Ten Kate team bumped me up to World Superbike for the last round of the championship,” Rea reminiscences. “We shared the front row together – and now we get to finish the story again here. I think what he is doing is incredible. There are going to be so many more people through the gate because Troy is such a legend in his own right. "When I first saw the gossip news on my Twitter feed and then the official news, I was so happy for everyone. I do believe in fairy tales but then I thought, ‘Hang on, wait a minute…what if everything goes right and he makes me look pretty amateurish, because I’ve been at this every single year [laughs]?’ I’m just really happy to share the grid with me again.” As for Chaz Davies, the Welsh rider will share the Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team garage with Bayliss, who claimed world titles in 2001, 2006 and 2008. “Like the rest of the guys, we are all excited to share the track with him, but if he’s competitive it’s something else!” Davies began. “You can’t rule it out. He’s going to be competitive, isn’t he? He’s kept himself sharp on the bikes since he retired and, from what I gather, that was a retirement he never wanted to make anyway. Looking at him, he is still as fired up as what he used to seem back in the days. “It’s going to be great. It’s really good for the fans and for us guys to share the track with him. When I was younger and first started out in BSB, in the Superteen Challenge, Troy was one of the only guys to come up every weekend to ask how we were doing. To actually now get the opportunity to share the track and the garage with him is going to be an honour…until he beats me [laughs]!” Bayliss and his counterparts take to the track on Friday, as Free Practice 1 for the Swann Insurance Australian Round begins at 11:45am local time (GMT +11).
