World Superbike still produces good racing and that augurs well for 2013. In the second race at Philip Island, victory went to Eugene Laverty, who finished second in the first race and Sylvain Guintoli on the other Aprilia took second place after having finished the first race as winner. Marco Melandri on the Goldbet BMW prevented a second all Aprilia podium by fighting his way to third and denying first race third position man Michel Fabrizio.
Eugene Laverty was at one point demoted to third but he came back with stunning overtaking moves on Marco Melandri and teammate Sylvain Guintoli. Sylvain Guintoli led for the greater part of the race but had to surrender the lead to the hard charging Laverty. Marco Melandri did well to take third position after having been punted out by Carlos Checa in the first race. Fabrizio took the fourth place. Tom Sykes rocketed into the lead of the race on the first lap but soon himself found going backward thanks to his injuries. But he did fight back to finish a respectable fifth on the Kawasaki ZX-10R. That makes it two fifth place for him at Philip Island despite his injuries. His teammate Loris Baz who finished sixth in the first race was punted out in race two by BMW man Chaz Davies. While Baz had to be carried off on a stretcher, Davies who suffered a puncture limped to the pits had a tyre change and went back on to the race track only to be told that he had been given a ride through penalty and that ensured that he could only finish in last place, down two laps.
There is a long gap to the second race of World Superbikes due to the fact that the Indian round which was scheduled for March 10th has now been moved to November 17th as the season finale. But if the first race is any indication then it is obvious that this season of World Superbike racing is going to be exciting and therefore something to look forward to.