Scott signs off 2022 season with a sixth at Phillip Island

Overall, it proved to be a difficult final weekend for BMW Motorrad Motorsport in southern Australia. Constant weather changes made getting the right set-up and tyre selection a real challenge. Having rained beforehand, conditions were dry for the Superpole at noon on Saturday. Scott Redding (GBR) from the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team was the best-placed BMW rider in twelfth.

The track was wet for the start of race one on Saturday afternoon but dried quickly during the race, with the entire field pitting to change tyres. Scott was 16th at the chequered flag.

Conditions were similar for the Superpole Race on Sunday morning. Scott, who lined up on wet tyres, came into the pits to switch to intermediates after the warm-up lap. This meant he had to start from the pit lane, but the tyre selection proved to be the right one. Starting from the back of the field, he had climbed into sixth place by the end of the ten-lap sprint.

Race two on Sunday afternoon began promisingly with Scott sprinting to the front at the start and running second over the opening laps before the race was red flagged after Eugene Laverty’s accident. Scott came home sixth.

Scott Redding

“Today was a bit different from the previous days, the weather was again interesting. In the Superpole Race, I gambled on coming in on the warm-up lap and switched to the intermediates which was not bad idea but meant I needed to work my way back through the field. As I started from the pit lane, I lost a lot of time so was probably not the best option, but it was good enough to claim sixth which gave me a second row start for race two. In the second race it was again raining slightly, but we all started with slicks. I got a very good start and was battling at the front for the first five laps but then I had a few tyre issues and managed to take sixth. The race was overshadowed by Eugene’s accident, and I wish him all the best for a speedy recovery!”