After a record-breaking day that gave Joan Lascorz the top spot on the grid and the best time on the track, the winner of the first race of the World Supersport season seemed almost pre-determined.

But Eugene Laverty, who had an unimpressive time during free practice and the qualifying rounds, dominated race one and finished four seconds ahead of Lascorz for his fifth WSS career victory.

Joan Lascorz won his second career World Supersport pole position on opening day at Phillip Island, and he did it by smashing the track record by nearly a half second.

The record was set last year by Kenan Sofuoglu, who started the day in the provisional pole position, but dropped back to second place behind Lascorz.  

Sofuoglu and Lascorz have been switching between first and second throughout the qualifying rounds, but Lascorz earns the top spot by running 1’33” laps. Lascorz’s lap times were two seconds faster than the Pedercini Kawasakis in the Superbike category.

Michelle Piro comes in at third place just 4 hundredths of a second behind fellow Ten Kate Honda teammate Sofuouglu. Eugene Laverty moved up to fourth place with a late surge, knocking Katsuaki Fujiwara down to fifth.

The top five spots are claimed by Honda and Kawasaki, but Ducati has made some improvements and has taken spot six and seven with riders David Solomon and Chaz Davies.

2nd Qualifying Session

1  26 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'33.847
2  54 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 1'34.116
3  51 Pirro M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1'34.156
4  50 Laverty E. (IRL) Honda CBR600RR 1'34.300
5  37 Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'34.494
6  25 Salom D. (ESP) Triumph Daytona 675 1'34.873
7   7 Davies C. (GBR) Triumph Daytona 675 1'34.939
8 127 Harms R. (DEN) Honda CBR600RR 1'34.999
9  55 Roccoli M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1'35.051
10  99 Foret F. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'35.072
11 117 Praia M. (POR) Honda CBR600RR 1'35.398
12  40 DiSalvo J. (USA) Triumph Daytona 675 1'35.623
13  16 Charpentier S. (FRA) Triumph Daytona 675 1'35.860
14   4 Rea G. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 1'35.904
15   5 Lundh A. (SWE) Honda CBR600RR 1'36.936
16   9 Dell'Omo D. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1'37.055
17  33 Cazzola P. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1'38.213

The 2010 World Supersport season kicks off this weekend in Phillip Island, Australia. The World SuperSport Championships are typically a showcase for Honda and their CBR600RR, but last year Carl Crutchlow ripped the trophy from Honda’s hands on top of his Yamaha YZF R1.

Crutchlow won’t be back to defend his title, and neither will Yamaha. Both the rider and the manufacturer have graduated in class to the World Superbike Championship, leaving a field of just 17 riders to participate in the WSS, and only three manufacturers.

Battle for Supersport Title

World Superbike Title

The battle for the Supersport title has been thrown wide-open again as a result of a crash by points leader Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport), while he was heading towards his sixth win of the season. The British rider crashed out at the Acque Minerali, and his lead in the table is now two points over Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda), who finished runner-up. 

The win went to Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) for the third time this year, while the final podium slot went to Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport), who closed up on Laverty in the final stages but was unable to take away precious points. Chaz Davies put in an excellent performance on his Supersport debut with Triumph, bringing the British three-cylinder machine home in fourth place in front of team-mate Garry McCoy. 

Crutchlow wins again, taking the win by 10 seconds

Press Release

Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport) scored another undisputed win in the 11th round of the championship at the Nurburgring. The points leader appeared to have an extra gear over his rivals right from the start of the weekend and showed it during the race when he immediately pulled away at the start and went on to take the checkered flag by 10 seconds.

The next men to finish were Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda)and Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Motocard.com), who engaged in a terrific scrap for the runner-up slot. Thanks to his second place Laverty keeps Crutchlow's lead down to 22 points with three rounds remaining. Massimo Roccoli (Intermoto Czech Honda) put in a good run to fourth place, the Italian holding off the attacks from Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport). 

World Supersport: Kawasaki Supersport makes major progress

Press Release

With an all-new bike for the 2009 season and a new team in Provec Motocard.com to run it, the official Kawasaki WSS effort was very much an unknown quantity in most regards in the early season. Two things were certain however, the prowess of the riding line-up of Joan Lascorz and Katsuaki Fujiwara and the determination to shine in the results.

There have been unlucky moments in the season, one DNF for Lascorz and three for Fujiwara, but the rate of progress of the new bike has been very noticeable, most recently taking Lascorz to his second runner-up spot of the season, at Donington. Lascorz is now a clear fourth in the championship, behind only the two human dynamos of Cal Crutchlow and Eugene Laverty, and 2007 World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu.

World Supersport: Donington Park

World Superbike
Press Release

Coventry man Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport) had a terrific homecoming race at the Donington circuit as he shrugged off the broken ankle he suffered in qualifying to take a dominant fourth win of the year. His chief rival in the title battle Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda), together with Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Provec) tried to counter him in the early stages, but the Irishman crashed at the Melbourne Hairpion and the Spaniard had to take second best after Crutchlow upped the pace in the final part. Laverty rejoined and worked his way back up the field from 22nd place to fifth overall.

World Supersport: Crutchlow edges out Laverty in Supersport thriller

World SBK
Press Release

Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport) got the better of Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) in an exciting Supersport clash at Misano. The points leader just had the edge on the day in a two-part race, which was red-flagged due to oil on the track, beating his rival in a sprint to the line.

With his third win of the season Crutchlow has a 14 point lead over Laverty, and the title fight now looks to be between these two seeing as Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) picked up a DNF after crashing out of third place.

World Supersport: Last Lap Win for Sofuoglu

Press Release

Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) emerged the winner from the thrilling final lap of a race-long battle between four riders and three different makes: Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki.

With just one lap to go the 2007 champion first passed points leader Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport), and then three turns from the chequered flag made a decisive move on Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda), who had led from the start.

World Supersport: Laverty takes his third win

Press Release

Eugene Laverty stormed to a third win of the year at Kyalami after a dominating performance on his Parkalgar Honda machine. The Irishman pulled out a commanding four second lead in the early laps and from that moment on could administer his advantage until the flag. With this win, Laverty managed to gain five points in the championship battle on Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport), whose lead has been cut to 13 points.  Crutchlow was held up by a six-rider battle in the early laps and was unable to latch onto Laverty, then when he finally broke through he had to settle for second as the two were lapping at the same pace in the final laps.