World Superbikes

The Misano World Circuit is to be completely resurfaced. Under the direction of Studio Dromo, the engineering and circuit designing firm run by Jarno Zaffelli, the track is to receive a new layer of asphalt, especially formulated to cope with the stresses of both world championship racing and exposure to the salt sea air which blows in from the Adriatic coast. The work is due to continue until 10th March, and Studio Dromo issued the following press release describing the work in detail.

MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT: NEW ASPHALT FOR THE INTERNATIONAL RACETRACK

Works of resurfacing of 4,226 meters on the international circuit has started.

The project and site engineering is from designer Jarno Zaffelli, owner of the studio Dromo. The works will be done by specialized company Pesaresi SpA in Rimini using feeders technologies for the very first time in Italy.

Misano World Circuit, March, 1st, 2015 – Technology and safety characterize the intervention that the property of the Misano World Circuit, the Santa Monica SpA, decided to carry on the eve of the 2015 sport season. It's been a few days that the Works of complete resurfacing of the circuit has started, and they will continue - weather permitting - until March 10.

It has been a busy week for racing, with the World Superbike season opener at Phillip Island followed by the MotoGP test at Sepang, including the extra day of testing on Michelins. There has been a lot of news, but between MotoMatters.com's star WSBK reporter Jared Earle and I, we got most of it covered, with an extra bonus of photos from top Australian shooter Andrew Gosling.

But there have been one or two things we may have missed, so here's our weekly round up of racing news.

Scratching the itch: Young Gun vs Old Master

There were a lot of happy faces at the Australian round of World Superbikes. Troy Bayliss, three-time World Superbike champion and arguably, WSBK's last superstar, made a return to the series, replacing the injured Davide Giugliano on the Aruba.it Ducati Panigale. The replacement was at very short notice, Giugliano having crashed during the test which preceded the opening round and fractured a couple of vertebrae.

The WSBK season opener produced some epic battles. Haslam, Rea and Davies gave the fans their money's worth

Lorenzo Zanetti's switch to MV Agusta saw him podium at the first attempt

Michael van der Mark. Made his mark on World Superbikes alright

Press releases from the World Superbike and World Supersport teams after the thrilling opening races at Phillip Island:

Rain was showing south of the track, but luckily it didn't get close to the track and left the riders to get on with twenty two more laps of close racing.

With a high track temperature, managing tyre life was assumed to be the way to win the race, offering a potentially pedestrian race. Luckily, the tyres performed perfectly well and we got an exciting, close race instead.

Press releases from the World Supersport and World Superbike teams after qualifying at Phillip Island:

With no Evo class for 2015, an easily predicted division between Superpoles one and two isn't as clear-cut as it was last year. The weather was warm and clear and the track was hot, but red flags affected both sessions.

In the untimed session before Superpole, Michael van der Mark was quicker than Tom Sykes by a hundredth of a second. Leon Haslam was not far behind and Alex Lowes was within two tenths of van der Mark.

Results:

Leon Haslam was the quicker of the two Aprilias with Jordi Torres settling for second-best. Jonathan Rea was third quickest, but his time didn't yesterday's fastest from Alex Lowes.

Troy Bayliss continues to keep his promise of taking it easy in free practice with the sixteenth quickest time today, seventeenth overall, improving his time each session so far. Gábor Rizmayer did not take part in this session as yesterday's crash ruled him out for the weekend.

Results:

Bayliss is back

Hopes are high for #65

MV Agusta, stripped naked

Press releases from some of the World Superbike and World Supersport teams after the first day of practice at Phillip Island:

While overall times were not as quick as the morning's session, rookie Jordi Torres was quickest, with his Red Devils Aprilia teammate Leon Haslam under a quarter of a second behind him. The morning's quicker times still keep the top three qualifiers at Lowes, Torres and Sykes.

Troy Bayliss put in sixteen laps, but didn't improve his position by much. 

Results:

Alex Lowes, strong throughout last week's testing at Philip Island on the Suzuki GSXR-1000, opened with an early fast time and stayed at the top of the sheets throughout the rest of the session. Jordi Torres, a class rookie on an Aprilia RSV4, was second-quickest, recording consistent fast laps throughout the opening session.

Kawasaki ZX-10R rider Tom Sykes, 2013 champion and last year's runner up, ended the session third quickest, fending off Leon Haslam on the Aprilia and his new Kawasaki teammate Jonathan Rea. Reigning champion Sylvain Guintoli, having switched to the Honda CBR1000RR with the number one plate, finished thirteenth, behind his teammate Michael van der Mark. 

This weekend's special guest star, three-time World Superbike champion, British Superbike champion and MotoGP race winner, Troy Bayliss, managed only three laps, ending the session just over three seconds off Lowes's pace-setting lap. The Australian was sitting in on the Ducati Panigale for Davide Giugliano who was injured during testing.

Results: