Garrett Gerloff finished an excellent sixth in the ten-lap Superpole Race at Phillip Island on Sunday, 22 February, equalling his best result since he joined the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team last year. This was also his 200th race start in WorldSBK since he first joined the series in 2020.
The American rider took part in two races on the final day of race action at Round One of the new season. Garrett followed up his sixth place in the dry Superpole race with tenth place in the wet 22-lap Race Two.
Gerloff found a real set-up improvement from Saturday’s Race One, thanks to his feedback and the positive work put in by his technical crew. He was able to ride with the leading group of six early in the Superpole Race and finished just 4.250 seconds behind race winner Nicolo Bulega.
The wet second race was not quite so fruitful for Gerloff, but he still scored six valuable championship points.
Having scored in all three of his Australian races on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, Gerloff leaves for round two 12th overall in the early championship rankings.
The next round for Garrett and his crew will be in Portugal, at the always popular Portimao circuit near the Algarve coast, between 27-29 March.
Manuel Puccetti
“Gerloff’s sixth place in the Superpole race, his 200th SBK race, is definitely a great result, the best he’s achieved with us since the sixth place at Donington last year. Our rider ran a very strong race, finishing half a second from the podium which appeared within which. Race 2 was complicated by rain and by the track conditions, but Gerloff confirmed both his competitiveness and that of the bike, reaching the top ten.”
Garrett Gerloff
“The weather was crazy on Sunday. Compared to how we finished yesterday, I am so much more happy with how we finished today. I am happy with our performance in the Superpole Race, mainly. I feel like we made a big step with the bike in general. I was feeling really good riding it, and in a good position for Race Two. I tried my best in the rain, and felt really good initially. Then as the pace dropped, and everybody started going faster and faster, I started having more and more ‘moments’ on the bike. I tried to keep up but was not able to. We got a top ten finish, so we will take it for now. I am really looking forward to the next round in Portimao.”
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