Australia’s young gun, Taree’s Josh Hook, is unlikely to race at the opening round of the 2016 Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island after dislocating his left shoulder and suffering a small break* in testing this afternoon.

In sweltering afternoon heat, Hook crashed his Kawasaki at turn two and was transported to the circuit medical centre where he was declared unfit to race — a sour start to his rookie WorldSBK season. 

However, the determined Hook, keen to make his debut for his new

Grillini Kawasaki team, plans to see a specialist in Melbourne tomorrow (Weds). He will still need clearance from the circuit’s Chief Medical Officer later in the week to be allowed to compete in the weekend’s two 22-lap races.

Hook was 20th fastest in today’s sessions, while the other Australians in the international field, Josh Brookes (BMW Motorrad) and wildcard Mike Jones (Ducati). completed the two-day test at Phillip Island in positions 15th and 16th respectively.

Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes was fastest across the two days with a 1:31.097 set in Monday’s cooler afternoon termperatures, with teammate and current world champion Jonathan Rea second quickest (1:31.249).

The next nine riders on the timesheets were all well within a second of Sykes, as this year’s WorldSBK season shapes up as a battle royal. Davide Giugliano (Ducati) was third followed by Honda’s Michael van der Mark, Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha), Jordi Torres (BMW Motorrad), Nicky Hayden (Honda), Alex Lowes (Yamaha), Xavi Fores (Ducati), Chaz Davies (Ducati) and German Marcus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad).

In another casualty, Italian Fabio Menghi crashed his Ducati in today’s morning session and was transported to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital by air ambulance.   He has a fracture to his left pelvis and is out for the season-opener. 

The majority of riders set their best lap times in the cooler day one conditions, with the ambient temperature climbing well into the 30s today.

The WorldSBK riders will now take two days off before round one kicks off on Friday. The 22-lap WorldSBK races will be held at 3:00pm on Saturday and Sunday, and the world supersport race starts at 1:30pm on Sunday.

There will also be back-to-back support racing in Aussie superbikes, supersport and Moto3/125GP, as well as historics.

For information on this weekend’s (Feb 26-28) opening round of the 2016 Motul  FIM Superbike World Championship, Yamaha Finance round, at Phillip Island GP circuit go to www.worldsbk.com.au   Tickets on sale via www.ticketek.com.au till Wednesday Feb 24 at 4pm; then at gate.

*Hook has suffered a greater tubercle fracture to his left shoulder, a small fracture often associated with shoulder dislocation

Download Monday & Tuesday Combined WorldSBK Times Here

Rider Nat Team Bike FP 1 FP 2 FP 3 FP 4 Time Gap Rel. Laps

1 66 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.284 1’31.097 1’31.885 1’32.283 1’31.097 98

2 1 J. REA GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’31.945 1’31.293 1’31.249 1’32.090 1’31.249 0.152 0.152 108

3 34 D. GIUGLIANO ITA Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’32.606 1’31.810 1’31.400 1’32.881 1’31.400 0.303 0.151 81

4 60 M. VAN DER MARK NED Honda World Superbike Team Honda CBR1000RR SP 1’31.510 1’31.763 1’31.458 1’32.721 1’31.458 0.361 0.058 123

5 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 1’32.540 1’31.583 1’31.473 1’31.940 1’31.473 0.376 0.015 71

6 81 J. TORRES ESP Althea BMW Racing Team BMW S1000 RR 1’32.308 1’31.526 1’32.202 1’32.789 1’31.526 0.429 0.053 83

7 69 N. HAYDEN USA Honda World Superbike Team Honda CBR1000RR SP 1’32.952 1’31.558 1’31.585 1’32.879 1’31.558 0.461 0.032 116

8 22 A. LOWES GBR Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 1’32.802 1’31.620 1’31.958 1’32.106 1’31.620 0.523 0.062 110

9 12 X. FORES ESP Barni Racing Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’31.795 1’31.661 1’32.109 1’32.801 1’31.661 0.564 0.041 72

10 7 C. DAVIES GBR Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’32.186 1’31.678 1’31.938 1’32.802 1’31.678 0.581 0.017 97

11 21 M. REITERBERGER GER Althea BMW Racing Team BMW S1000 RR 1’33.353 1’31.928 1’32.272 1’32.699 1’31.928 0.831 0.250 106

12 40 R. RAMOS ESP Team GoEleven Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’33.325 1’32.500 1’32.478 1’32.824 1’32.478 1.381 0.550 103

13 32 L. SAVADORI ITA IodaRacing Team Aprilia RSV4 1000 RR/RF 1’34.731 1’32.892 1’32.587 1’32.986 1’32.587 1.490 0.109 105

14 2 L. CAMIER GBR MV Agusta Reparto Corse MV Agusta 1000 F4 1’34.127 1’32.707 1’32.702 1’33.387 1’32.702 1.605 0.115 81

15 25 J. BROOKES AUS Milwaukee BMW BMW S1000 RR 1’32.714 1’32.859 1’32.903 1’33.554 1’32.714 1.617 0.012 93

16 46 M. JONES AUS Desmo Sport Ducati Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’37.277 1’33.051 1’33.420 1’33.242 1’33.051 1.954 0.337 64

17 20 S. BARRIER FRA Pedercini Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’33.598 1’33.147 1’33.314 1’34.182 1’33.147 2.050 0.096 100

18 61 F. MENGHI ITA VFT Racing Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’35.639 1’33.251 1’33.622 1’33.251 2.154 0.104 69

19 15 A. DE ANGELIS RSM IodaRacing Team Aprilia RSV4 1000 RR/RF 1’33.979 1’35.161 1’33.882 1’33.323 1’33.323 2.226 0.072 90

20 16 J. HOOK AUS Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’35.839 1’33.792 1’33.850 1’36.657 1’33.792 2.695 0.469 77

21 17 K. ABRAHAM CZE Milwaukee BMW BMW S1000 RR 1’34.706 1’34.062 1’34.456 1’34.062 2.965 0.270 49

22 9 D. SCHMITTER SUI Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’38.001 1’35.640 1’35.038 1’34.664 1’34.664 3.567 0.602 90

23 11 S. AL SULAITI QAT Pedercini Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’38.099 1’36.121 1’34.942 1’35.922 1’34.942 3.845 0.278 90

24 56 P. SEBESTYEN HUN Team Toth Yamaha YZF R1 1’38.925 1’37.927 1’35.541 1’35.647 1’35.541 4.444 0.599 82

25 10 I. TOTH HUN Team Toth Yamaha YZF R1 1’37.483 1’36.463 1’36.150 1’36.355 1’36.150 5.053 0.609 108

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