Today in Australia, for the first time in months, no new COVID-19 cases were reported, and the authorities want to keep it this way, taking no risks. A strict lockdown and closure of the borders have contributed to this result, and the Secretary of the Department of Health, Brendan Murphy, has underlined that Australia should continue to avoid all possible contact with the rest of the world.  &quot;Travel unlikely&quot;   &quot;It&#39;s unlikely that international travel to and from Australia will resume this year&quot;, Brendan Murphy told ABC News Breakfast. When asked about the likelihood of the international border reopening this year, he admitted that this was a &ldquo;big question&rdquo; and that he thinks &ldquo;the answer is probably no&rdquo;.   &ldquo;I think that we&#39;ll go most of this year with still substantial border restrictions - even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated, we don&#39;t know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus,&rdquo; he added.  Tennis players in quarantine   In the meantime, and ahead of the Australian Open, scheduled to begin on 8 February, 72 tennis players have already arrived and were immediately put into isolation in Melbourne, because four passengers travelling with them tested positive. If staff members are included in the count, there are probably more than 100 people currently in isolation.  Despite protests from the players, forced to miss their daily training sessions, the Australian authorities have stated that &ldquo;Covid doesn&rsquo;t treat you specially and so neither do we&rdquo;. And the precautions have proved necessary, as there are already seven coronavirus cases associated with the tournament, two of which are players.  MotoGP and Superbike at risk   All of this raises some legitimate doubts as to the feasibility of the Australian MotoGP, scheduled for 24 October.  The Superbike round at Phillip Island is not yet confirmed but was expected to be scheduled for immediately after the Indonesian event, taking place on 12-14 November.  It&rsquo;s impossible to make any predictions, because a lot will depend on the results of the vaccine, but for now it&rsquo;s not looking particularly likely that the two Phillip Island events will in fact run.  Translated by Heather Watson  WorldSBK, the Jerez tests &lsquo;welcome&rsquo; Tito Rabat 

<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unlikely international travel to and from Australia will resume this year&rdquo;, comments the Secretary of the Department of Health Brendan Murphy. The Australian GP and SBK rounds may not take place</p> 

Australian borders closed: MotoGP and SBK at risk

        Australia and Superbike, a strong connection that was formed back in 1988, the very first year of the production-derived championship. This coming season though, the series will not start at the legendary Phillip Island track as is now customary, the event still in doubt due to problems relating to the Covid-19 pandemic. With the Australian round still uncertain, it&rsquo;s a good time to dust off the history of the relationship between the Land Down Under and the production-derived series. History  The very first Australian WorldSBK race took place on 25 September 1988 at Oran Park. The 1988 season was marked by various &lsquo;firsts&rsquo; for the Australians, with pole for Malcolm Campbell in Austria, the wildcards of a young Robert Phillis but particularly a certain Mick Doohan. Yes, the five-time 500 world champion competed in two Superbike rounds in 1988, winning three races in four, namely one in Japan and two on home turf in Australia, at the Oran Park circuit. From 1988 to 2019 the Australian GP has always been a classic on the calendar, whether held at the start or the end of the season. Only once, in 1993, did the series fail to travel to Oceania. The most recent event took place last year, with Razgatlioglu, Rea and Lowes sharing the wins at the season-opener, before the Covid-19 pandemic put things on hold until early August. Circuits  The championship has made use of two main Australian tracks, Oran Park and Phillip Island. Oran Park, now used for the Australian championship, is a very short track, not even 3km in length and inaugurated in 1962. It hosted the first two editions of the Australian GP. Doohan dominated the 1988 edition while Goddard and Dowson shared the spoils the following year. From 1990, the event changed location, going from the short Oran park to the longer Phillip Island with its spectacular ocean views. Originally hosting the final round, and then the second event of the season, from 2009 it became stage for the season-opener and the final pre-season tests. Aprilia and the lure of the WorldSBK (fans) Riders  Australia has brought many riders to WorldSBK, with mixed fortunes. It would be too easy to name only Troy Bayliss and Troy Corser, both multiple world champions. Over the years, there have been many riders from the Land Down Under. In 1988, for example, the well-known Robert Phillis and Mick Doohan, the winner of three races. 1989 saw the arrival of Peter Goddard, Steve Martin, Daryl Beattie (wild card in 89-90 before debuting in the world championship), Kevin Magee (a former world championship rider), Mat Mladin (star of AMA Superbike), Anthony Gobert (eight Superbike wins, five of which in Australia), to name the first &lsquo;batch&rsquo;. The second &lsquo;batch&rsquo; of Aussie riders starts with Broc Parkes, Andrew Pitt (two-time Supersport champion), Chris Vermeulen (2003 Supersport champion), Garry McCoy, Karl Muggeridge (2004 Supersport champion), Josh Brookes (current BSB runner-up), Mark Aitchison, Bryan Staring, Glen Allerton, Anthony West, Mike Jones and Josh Hook (now in the EWC). Highlights  When we think of Australia, we will always refer to one particular episode, or rather Fogarty&rsquo;s accident in 2000. On 25 April of that year, the second event of the season ran at Phillip Island. In race 2, Fogarty made a poor start and was forced to play catch-up. His impatience to gain ground on what was a damp track saw him collide with Austrian Robert Ulm. The result? A fractured right humerus (exactly like Marquez), surgery, and an expected 40-day recovery time. This marked the end of the four-time Superbike champion&rsquo;s season, and career in fact, King Carl announcing his retirement on 20 September of that year. The other episode dates back to 1988, the first WorldSBK season. The Australian track was Oran Park. A young Mick Doohan (the Brisbane native was just 23) grabbed all the attention when he scored pole position and two race wins. A day to remember because in race 1, Australia monopolised the podium with Doohan joined by Dowson and Phillis. Last but not least, how can we forget Anthony Gobert&rsquo;s win with Bimota in race 1 in 2000? Bimota returned to Superbike in 2000 with the SB8R, choosing to field Australian Gobert. It was an unforgettable moment as the bike, with its #501, sped around a wet Phillip Island track in front of a passionate crowd who watched on as their local hero triumphed for an important brand like Bimota, eleven years after Giancarlo Falappa at the Paul Ricard circuit. Translated by Heather Watson Laverty: &ldquo;WorldSBK is like MotoGP, many riders can win&rdquo;       

<p>The history of the relationship between the land of the kangaroos and the production-derived series: tracks, riders and highlights from &ldquo;Down Under&rdquo;</p>

2 risultati per 'EN australia'

Australian borders closed: MotoGP and SBK at risk

Australia and Superbike, a long love story