WSBK – Biaggi scores his first double in Portimao! – Supersport race

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Biaggi scores his first brace in Portimao !

WSBK - Biaggi scores his first double in Portimao! - Supersport race

The second round of the World Superbike yesterday in Portugal saw Biaggi and his Aprilia win over the two Superbike rounds. But Haslam remains at the top of the provisional ranking while in Supersport, Sofuoglu leads the dance. Report.

Supersport Race

Eugene Laverty took advantage of his pole position and a good start to take command of the race ahead of Joan Lascorz, Michele Pirro, Katsuaki Fujiwara, Kenan Sofuoglu, Gino Rea, Chaz Davies and Miguel Praia…

From the second corner, we deplore a first fall: that of Mathieu Lagrive and his new mount, the Triumph Daytona 675, which hit the rear wheel of a competitor….

"I am very disappointed because despite my lack of driving, I had a good start and I am convinced that I could have had a good race and played a good place", declared Matthieu Lagrive, replacing the new retiree Seb Charpentier at short notice. !

"It would have allowed me to gain points from my first participation. It’s racing and there’s nothing we can do about it. No chances !", concludes Matt, already focused on his next mission: the 24 Hours of Le Mans !

At the end of the first loop, Eugene is almost a second ahead of the peloton. But young Michele Pirro reacted by overtaking Joan Lascorz and closing the gap to two tenths in the following lap !

The Kawa ‘n ° 26 took a little longer to react but in the 4th lap, the Ninja and its Spanish rider regained "their" 2nd place, at Laverty’s aspi. Meanwhile, another Ninja is training at the gymkhana: it is Fabien Foret !

Starting from 5th place on the grid, the Charentais unfortunately ended up in 11th position after the first lap. Then begins for the Kawasaki n ° 99 a slow but constant rise until the 7th place in the 4th lap.

For this, Fabien had to successively overtake Roccoli, Rea, Harms and Praia. On the 5th lap, our only representative on the track was 8 seconds behind the leading group made up of Laverty, Lascorz and Pirro, 6.5 seconds on Sofuoglu, 5 seconds on Chaz Davies and 3.5 seconds on Fujiwara…

At the forefront, Laverty finds a second wind and takes advantage of the fight between Lascorz and Pirro to stick a new second. The fight between the Spanish and the Italian also benefits Turkey’s Sofuoglu, who goes on the attack shortly before halfway past his young teammate Pirro..

"My plan didn’t work and at first I struggled a bit with the full tank. I took the lead of the race so I tried to widen the gap and used a good part of my tires to escape but Lascorz and Sofuoglu came back", explained Eugene Laverty.

Indeed, from the 10th lap, the Irish lead begins to melt and disappears completely … Eight laps from the end, Laverty is accompanied by Lascorz, soon joined by Sofuoglu. The fight for victory intensifies, Pirro is definitively dropped in 4th position.

At the start of the 15th lap, Sofuoglu engaged the overdrive. The Honda n ° 54 slips in front of the Kawa ‘n ° 26 at the end of the straight line and, the next lap, does not even wait for the braking to pass its cousin n ° 50: in full straight line, Kenan dislocates Eugene . The suction phenomenon also benefits Lascorz, who hoists his ZX-6R in front of Laverty’s CBR600RR.

There are still four laps left and the Parkalgar team rider intends to make up for it … Unfortunately for the Portuguese team, his rider bites very lightly on a vibrator and loses the front … "Youdjine" picks up his bike and leaves full of courage, but an empty front brake master cylinder.

"I was lucky that the race ended a few laps later and I am happy to have taken 11th place", will admit Laverty who still leaves big points…

Kenan Sofuoglu pushes his rear tire almost to the limit: his Honda slips hard but the Turkish man manages wonderfully. As always in Supersport, there is no shortage of background battles – but of first choice -: Foret and Fujiwara are fighting for 5th place, Roccoli, Salom and Rea for 8th, Laverty and Di Salvo for 11th…

Even the last point is bitterly disputed between the two members of the Honda Kuja Racing team: Paola Cazzola – yes she is a girl! – and Danilo Dell’Omo

The last lap was marked by a superb sprint from the two leading men! Lascorz seizes the reins of the race at the start of the loop, Mas Sofuoglu deprives him of the victory at the cost of authoritative braking in a very closed left.

"I spent the race fighting with my main opponents and I finished second, not far from winning, so it’s a good day, although I think I could have won", summarizes Joan Lascorz.

Kenan Sofuoglu is delighted: after a difficult 2009, the Turkish rider finds an ultra competitive CBR 600 RR: "yesterday in qualifying, my team asked me how I found the bike and I told them there was only one problem: I was not good enough for it !"exclaims pilot Ten Kate !

The 2007 world champion pocketed the 25 points for victory and took the lead in the provisional ranking: Sofuoglu totaled 41 points, against 40 for Lascorz! Laverty is 3rd (30 points) ahead of our favorite Fabien Foret (22).

On the constructor side, Honda is flawless (two wins so 50 points) but is followed by Kawasaki two second places so 40 points). Third and last manufacturer in contention – Suzuki and Yamaha are not represented this year! – Triumph has 26 points, thanks to two 4th places from Chaz Davies.

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