The opening race weekend of the year was at a freshly-resurfaced Phillip Island, a job that's needed doing for a while that required building an asphalt batching plant on the island. This 3 million Australian dollar undertaking that required 5,000 tonnes of secret Phillip Island recipe asphalt even carried on into the weekend as support staff were seen pumping seams of epoxy resin into newly formed gaps at the edge of the track after the stresses of the first race.
Pirelli knew of the surface composition in advance, being one of the few people sworn to secrecy by the track owners, and constructed tyres accordingly. The grip levels on the track were increased, causing more abrasion than previously and in the Superbike class, the wheels were increased from 16.5" to 17", throwing two unknowns at Pirelli. Luckily, there were two tests at the island track just before the race, giving everyone the feedback necessary. Unfortunately, the proximity of the test to the race would not give anyone time to make drastic changes, if they became necessary. Going in to the race weekend, this thrust tyre talk to the forefront of any conversation, drowning out even discussions of Ducati's new race bike.
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