World Superbike Gets Up And Running With Australia Test

The 2013 World Superbike season is right around the corner, and many of the riders from the motorsports series were in Phillip Island, Australia, for a few days of unofficial testing before the last official test. It was the first time back on the track for several of the 14 riders present - and it showed, as there were plenty of crashes on the newly paved surface throughout the testing period.

Eugene Laverty and Leon Camier ended with the fastest times on February 14. Despite crashing early in the day, Camier continuously improved his lap times as the testing went on and upgrades were made to his sportbike gear.

"There is still room for improvement in the bike - nothing massive - and I also feel that I can improve as well," Camier said. "... We ended up going pretty quick, which was good, and now we have to work on race-pace and concentrate on the race weekend."

Top returning riders from last season, such as Marco Melandri, Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam, also boasted good times at the end of the day.

Teams had two days to prepare machines for the official testing, which kicked off February 18 on the same track, Ultimate Motorcycling reports.