Phillip Island World Superbikes: Bayliss wins dramatic race 1

Troy Bayliss won the first World Superbike race at Phillip Island after two massive incidents caused the race to be red flagged and restarted before a lap had even been completed.

Bayliss’ Ducati team-mate Michel Fabrizio stalled on the grid and was hit heavily from behind by Vitorio Ianuzzo, smashing his rear wheel, ripping off the tyre and footpeg and tearing the boot off his foot.

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Fabrizio hobbled off the track but Ianuzzo had to be stretchered away and failed to make the restart.

Meanwhile as the red flags came out on the circuit Carlos Checa sat up but Russell Holland didn’t spot the slowing rider and ploughed straight in to the back of him.

Both riders came off and Keenan Sofuoglu went on an impressive high speed gravel surfing excursion to avoid the incident.

Bayliss took advantage of the restarted race to storm in to the lead and kept the front spot right to the flag 22 laps later.

The real action on track was for second place with a massive eight motorcycle battle taking up the majority of the race.

Troy Corser, Michel Fabrizio, Ruben Xaus,  Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa all took turns in second with positions constantly swapping throughout the early stages.

It wasn’t until lap eight that it started to settle down with Biaggi pulling away in leaving Xaus, Fabrizio and Corser to fight it out for third.

But that all changed when Biaggi crashed out on his own on lap 14 while trying to chase down Bayliss leaving Xaus in second.

By this time the rear tyres of all the lead men were starting to go off and Corser, Fabrizio and Xaus all had big moments, but it was Corser that managed to overcome the grip issues and hold on to second place while Fabrizio took the final place on the podium despite limping seriously round the winners enclosure.

Final positions:

1. Troy Bayliss
2. Troy Corser
3. Michel Fabrizio
4. Ruben Xaus
5. Fonsi Nieto
6. Carlos Checa
7. Max Neukirchner
8. Nori Haga
9. Ryuichi Kiyonari
10. Roberto Rolfo
11. Gregorio Lavilla
12. Karl Muggeridge
13. Lorenzo Lanzi
14. Keenan Sofuoglu
15. Shinichi Nakatomi
16. Stefan Gimbert
17. Russell Holland
18. Aoyama