ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER · OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
What is a modern-day novelty for PI is being the final round of the year . Many a MotoGP™ championship has been decided here in the past couple of decades or so , but normally WorldSBK is the Alpha round , the not the Omega one . How does PI and all its backers feel to be the finale this time ? “ At the back-end of 2021 when critical decisions needed to be made regarding the 2022 events dates all partners agreed that the February time slot was not without an element of risk , so the decision was made to reschedule the 2022 round to the end of the season ,” said David . “ We are excited simply to have WorldSBK back on the calendar and looking forward to hopefully crowing the 2022 WorldSBK Champion at Phillip Island .”
Now that would be a popular climax for everybody - except the big three of Bautista , Razgatlioglu and Rea , all of whom would want to wrap it all up as early as possible , of course . One thing has been slightly missing from the most recent WorldSBK weekends at PI , and that has been great numbers of potent full-time Aussie riders in all classes of the WorldSBK paddock . This year , we have Bayliss back as a full-time rider , just not the Troy one but the Oli one - the lone WorldSSP rider for the Barni Spark Ducati WorldSSP squad .
Now he must be a good ‘ sell ’ as they say , for PI , even if some people may still be a bit reticent to come to races in person after the last couple of years ? Or maybe it ’ s the opposite ? “ It ’ s fantastic to have the Bayliss name back competing in international competition ,” affirmed Bennett . “ Oli has shown some good pace this year and is improving every time he hits the track as he becomes more comfortable on the bike . He knows Phillip Island well and with Troy by his side he could surprise here . Early ticket sales have been good and we hope to achieve some strong crowd numbers over the event , fingers crossed for some good weather …”
Oh yeah , being this close to the Bass Straight is usually a blessing but nothing , nothing at all , is guaranteed when you are this close to the sea .
There will be one almost guaranteed storm in the WorldSBK paddock in 2023 , when we ( probably ) return to PI in our ‘ usual ’ late February slot . That storm is one Remy Gardner . A very human hot front moving into WorldSBK with the GYTR Yamaha squad . Remy is another with a famous dad , but who has already carved out one
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