If Leon Haslam can keep the level of faultless performance he delivered at Phillip Island this weekend going, not only will he be World Superbike champion come October, he will be the next Brit to move up to MotoGP. The Pocket Rocket from Derbyshire looks like he is ready to take the factory Alstare Suzuki all the way, with only the Xerox Ducatis looking capable of keeping pace. Starting from pole, Haslam swept round the outside of the Dukes into Doohans to take the holeshot in race 1, his confidence in the package under him clear to all. He opened a 10 bike length lead in the early laps, but Fabrizio gradually wound him in, bringing Haga with him in the process. Haslam was quicker in the fast sections but his wide lines left him vulnerable to a block pass at Honda and MG corners. It all came down to the last corner and dash to the line. Haslam powered out with a narrow lead but Fabrizio had been coming all the time, and he launched the 1198 Ducati for the line in a mighty effort to nick it. Fabrizio thought he'd done it, but the photo finish gave Haslam his first ever WSB win by just 0.004 secs.

Leon took the lead in race 2, but was unable to get away from a chasing pack that included Haga and Fabrizio again, as well as Alstare team-mate Sylvain Guintoli. With a few laps to go Guintoli took the lead, and Haslam was forced back to the third as Fabrizio capitalized as Leon was forced wide . But Haslam was back leading as the pack started the last lap, now joined by Carlos Checa on another Ducati. The veteran Spaniard had been quick in testing, and he had the beating of the field on the brakes. First he took Fabrizio at Honda corner, then Haslam down the hill into MG. Getting out of the slow turn clean, Checa had it won and Haslam settled for second, leaving him comfortably on top of the points table for the next month, until the circus goes to Portimao.

It was a dire day for Yamaha and the other Brits. There were no R6s in the Supersport race at all, which Laverty won comfortably. He looks head and shoulders above the rest, now Crutchlow has gone to SBK. Rea could only manage a couple of top ten finishes, which was better than Shakey Byrne and Tom Sykes. The Kawasakis look well outgunned, with Vermeulen crashing out of both races on his return to WSB, the second crash looked very nasty, when Chris slammed into the tyre wall. Having been checked over, he was suffering from nothing more than bruising and a hurt finger - see below for details.

Heres how Yamaha described their efforts...[report - Pete Morrison]


Challenging start to the season for Yamaha Sterilgarda at Phillip Island

It wasn't an easy start for Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland today at the season opening race in Phillip Island Australia. Race one saw both riders crash out, Crutchlow losing the front having run wide on onto a dirty section of track on lap two and Toseland highsiding on the fifth lap.

Race two saw a fiercely contested battle for points with both riders fighting off riders including Biaggi, Corser and others to stay within the top ten. Combined with a less than perfect set up on both bikes and struggling for grip the riders put in an incredible ride to bring their bikes home in the points, Crutchlow in ninth and Toseland tenth.

Crutchlow moves on to round two in Portimao in 12th position in the championship on seven points, team-mate Toseland sits just behind in 13th with six points.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (DNF, 9th)

"Race one was unfortunate, I felt we had good pace and were running up in the top five quite comfortably, I just made a little mistake. I was a bit better than Rea into the hairpin so had to run wide to avoid him and lost the front on the dirt. The second race was hard, I felt like I had no grip from the start and still some chattering. If we had better grip we could have pulled more out of it. We need to go back to the drawing board and work some stuff out."

James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (DNF, 10th)

"I really needed to finish the second race after the crash in the first. To only finish 14 seconds from the front with the issues we've had this weekend is not so bad. I was really disappointed with the first race, with my injury on Friday I wanted to have two good finishes today. Full credit to the team they've tried so hard but unfortunately we haven't had the software here to solve the issue. We know what the problem is and I've given enough feedback and input to give the guys a direction to go in. We've got a lot of work to do, no doubt, but even with all the problems we're not actually that far away. The package, the power, the balance and the suspension have come on leaps and bounds. On to Portimao now, it's a long season so we can do it."

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager

"It was definitely a really tough weekend for us. We solved some problems, and some we still have to work on. As we spent the two day test and the first day of the race weekend resolving the chatter issue, qualifying and race day was our first opportunity to really test the 2010 bike set up. We've seen that we have the potential to do well so we will go home and start working on the solutions to be ready to fight for the Portimao races. The team have worked really hard over the last few days to try and solve the issues and both Cal and James have given 100% to meet the challenges."

Circuit Length: 4.445

Weather: Windy

Lap Record: 1'32.402 (Troy Bayliss, 01/01/2006)

Fastest Lap Ever: 1'31.069 (Ben Spies, 01/03/2009)

Last Years Winner: Ben Spies

Race 1 results

1 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 34'13.435

2 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'00.004

3 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'00.769

4 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'10.201

5 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'10.782

6 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'11.079

7 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'11.208

8 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'16.522

9 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'20.291

10 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'26.352

11 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'29.775

12 Max Neukirchner Honda GER 0'30.155

13 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0'31.951

14 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'31.957

15 Andrew Pitt BMW AUS 0'55.082

Race 2 - 22 Laps

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time

1 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 34'16.428

2 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'00.307

3 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'00.434

4 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'00.837

5 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'03.453

6 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'11.530

7 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'12.026

8 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'13.068

9 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 0'14.401

10 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'14.707

11 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'14.743

12 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'14.851

13 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'15.143

14 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'30.947

15 Andrew Pitt BMW AUS 0'41.855

Best Lap

Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time

Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 1'32.193

Rider Standings 28/02/2010

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points

1. Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 45

2. Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 36

3. Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 34

4. Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 27

5. Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 23

6. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 23

7. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 19

8. Troy Corser BMW AUS 16

9. Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 10

10. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 9

11. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 8

12. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 7

13. James Toseland Yamaha GBR 6

14. Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 6

15. Max Neukirchner Honda GER 4

Manufacturer Standings 28/02/2010

Pos. Manufacturer Points

1. Ducati 45

2. Suzuki 45

3. Honda 23

4. Aprilia 19

5. BMW 16

6. Yamaha 7

7. Kawasaki 3

Yamaha Racing Communications

Kawasaki Suffer at Phillip Island
Sykes Scores In First Race Of 2010 Season

Kawasaki Racing Team riders Tom Sykes and Chris Vermeulen found the opening race weekend a challenging one, but Sykes got into the points in the first leg after qualifying on row three.

Sykes was a fighting 13th in the 22-lap race, but Vermeulen fell while trying to move forward from seventh, crashing out on lap four. Tom was forced out of the second race when a small technical issue caused him to enter the pits, restart, and finally retire.

Chris fell in race two after being in fourth for a period of time, sliding off at high speed at the Hayshed corner on lap eight.

Chris was checked over by the track medics, and was found to have suffered heavy bruising to his right leg and had also damaged a finger.

The team now goes to Portimao for the next round knowing that it has made great progress in real terms on track, and hoping for a change in raceday fortunes. The team has previously tested at Portimao, which will help their pre-race preparations greatly.

Tom Sykes: "In race one we made some changes to the set-up and but it didn't suit the tyre we used. In race two we got a good launch, but got boxed in and pushed out on to the dirty stuff, along with another couple of riders. So I went from thinking I would be sixth to being 15th. The bike was feeling good but when I went into the final two corners it felt like someone was pushing me from behind. I came back in and checked the bike, then went back out again before retiring. It was just a ten cent o-ring for the steering damper, causing the steering to feel strange sometimes. Otherwise, the bike was very good and giving me a strong race pace in race two. This whole Australian experience has been a good test period for us and I know that we go to Portimao having learned a lot. I would like to thank Kawasaki and the team for the amount of effort they have put in."

Chris Vermeulen: "I was feeling positive for the race after our two-day test and qualifying sessions. In both races I had really good starts but in the first race I lost the front early on when lying 7th and in race two I had a problem that resulted in a high-speed crash. I'm bruised and battered but am feeling OK, considering the speed of the crash. I had heavy impact on my lower right leg and my finger is pretty smashed up. The preliminary X-rays have shown no breaks but for a precaution I am heading to Melbourne for a more detailed MRI scan. I'm glad we have a month before Portimao, so I can ensure that I am back to full fitness."