Soomer Crashes Out Of Phillip Island WorldSSP Season Opener

Soomer & Racedays Look Ahead To Thailand After Phillip Island Opener

After the winter break, the opening round of the 2018 FIM Supersport World Championship got underway at the picturesque Phillip Island circuit in Australia last weekend, with Racedays rider Hannes Soomer making his full time World Championship debut at the venue.

Two solid days of testing enabled Estonian Soomer, the reigning Supersport FIM Europe Cup winner to learn the circuit before beginning his World Championship campaign proper with official practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday.

Gusting winds throughout the week had made riding around the undulating 2.762 mile circuit difficult for all, but when the lights went out at the start of the 16 lap encounter Soomer soon got down to business. A solid start, including several decisive overtakes resulted in the #38 fighting for points before a crash at the fast Turn 11 brought to a premature end round one of the 2018 season.

Both Hannes and the team will now regroup for another new circuit – the Chang International circuit in Buriram, Thailand for round two in three weeks time.

Mike Dickinson – Team Manager: “The race weekend was a clear reminder of how difficult the Philip Island Grand Prix circuit is for a new team. Lack of experience and knowledge of the circuit meant we were always on the backfoot with setup but the team worked tirelessly all weekend looking for that elusive setup. By Sunday we had something for the race and a great start from Hannes put him in contention for world championship points. He had just settled into a solid race pace when he crashed at turn 11 with another rider bringing out a red flag, and unfortunately our bike was too badly damaged for the restart. A tough weekend for the team but lots of lessons and knowledge gained means we can move onto round two in Thailand with a clear direction to move forward. As usual, I would like to thank the whole team for a great experience in Australia and their efforts and dedication at the track.”

Hannes Soomer – DNF: “It was a difficult weekend but we will take the positives and look forward to the Thai round. Thanks to the team for all their hard work.”