WSBK – WSBK Monza 2011: The rookie Laverty pockets his 1st double! –

WSBK Monza 2011: The rookie Laverty pockets his 1st double !

WSBK - WSBK Monza 2011: The rookie Laverty pockets his 1st double! -

Emperor Biaggi was the fastest this afternoon, but Monza crowned a rookie: Laverty won both rounds of the World Superbike at the controls of his Yamaha R1. In Supersport, another Briton, Chaz Davies, wins in an R6.

Emperor Biaggi was the fastest this afternoon, but Monza crowned a rookie: Laverty won both rounds of the World Superbike at the controls of his Yamaha R1. In Supersport, another Briton, Chaz Davies, wins in an R6.

First Superbike race

Poleman Max Biaggi took the lead but was overtaken by Troy Corser who passed the first chicane alone at the head of his BMW, ahead of the Aprilia of Biaggi, the Yamaha of Laverty and Melandri and the second official BMW of Haslam.

Eugene Laverty took the lead at the start of the first lap ahead of Biaggi and Corser. The Australian was quickly pushed off the podium by Melandri. Noriyuki Haga leads the hunting platoon composed of Jonathan Rea, Leon Camier, Jakub Smrz, Michel Fabrizio and Sylvain Guintoli.

Biaggi takes the reins of the race under braking the long straight. Laverty and Melandri remain glued to the backsplash of Aprilia n ° 1. So much so that the Yam ‘n ° 58 took 1st place in the last chicane.

Melandri and Biaggi then fight for 2nd place and allow Eugene to widen the gap slightly. Conversely, Leon Haslam took the opportunity to get back on Yam n ° 33 … The fastest man in the race is still a little further: sixth, Fabrizio and his good old GSX-R post the best time in race in the 3rd lap !

Haslam steals Melandri’s 3rd position. The English n ° 91 will have to spit in the gloves to join the two nervous head. In full straight line, the RSV4 Factory of Biaggi dislocates the R1 and takes again the controls !

But the Irishman has resources: from the second chicane (Variante del Roggia), the rookie places his Yamaha ahead of the Aprilia. A similar battle between Corser and Fabrizio for 5th place: in the straight line, the BMW driver is faster than the Suz ‘driver, but Michel struggles in the winding parts !

At more than six seconds, Checa whips his Ducati and steals from Haga and his Aprilia their 8th place. In view of the lap times, the Spaniard will find it difficult to climb beyond this 8th place … He can now only count on race incidents..

Leon Haslam got lost when braking a chicane but rejoined the track without losing any position. He remains 3rd in front of Melandri, but is a good second behind the leading duo Laverty – Biaggi.

The halfway mark is crossed and Eugene Laverty does not weaken. Max Biaggi does not try to hoist his RSV4 in the lead in the straight line: the Roman Emperor is content to bring it back up to the level of the R1 … Too confident perhaps, Max is lost when braking the first chicane !

Biaggi is doubled in quick succession by Haslam and Melandri! Max has to drop the mask and roll in his hand. Very quickly, n ° 1 overtook n ° 33 then left n ° 91 in the straight line. Biaggi’s two opponents pass him back into the winding but the Roman overtakes them again without even waiting for the stretches !

The next lap is a copy and paste of the previous one: attacking too hard at the entrance to the second chicane, Biaggi was beaten on acceleration by Haslam and Melandri! Meanwhile, the Irishman – from the north – widens the gap: 2.2 seconds ahead on the 13th lap … The hunt is on: there are just five laps to go and Biaggi lets go of the lion horses ? – from Noale !

At over 9 seconds, a superb battle, live and fairing against fairing this time, between Corser and Rea. The two men occupy the 6th and 7th places and are 2 seconds behind Fabrizio.

Alone in the lead, Eugene Laverty continued his flawless course and managed to keep a good second and a half ahead of the big favorite of the event Max Biaggi. The third step of the podium is still the pot of two pilots: Haslam and Melandri…

A last solo lap, a little heat in the last passage in the parabolic and Eugene Laverty won his very first race in the Superbike category. Biaggi finished 2nd ahead of Haslam and two other Italians: Melandri and Fabrizio.

Doubled in the very last meters by Leon Camier, Checa must be satisfied with 9th place: Biaggi will be able to thank his young teammate since he helps him to grab an extra point from the championship leader (139 points for the Spaniard against 109 for Italian).

Supersport Race

Chaz Davies rushes past Sam Lowes, Broc Parkes, Luca Scassa, Gino Rea and Florian Marino. Fabien Foret will have to quickly overtake Roberto Tamburini to join his young teammate and the outposts…

Davies completes a first crazy lap: the Englishman has a 1.5 second lead on the first pass in front of the pits! His teammate Luca Scassa took 2nd place ahead of Parkes and Marino. Lowes is 5th just ahead of Fabien Foret.

Our national No. 99 doubles Sam at the start of the third round and gets under the pots of our second – first on the track! – representative: Florian Marino! When it comes to diving into the parabolic, Foret overtakes his young teammate and makes short work of Parkes braking the third straight. !

In front, Davies and Scassa ride alone. Yamaha # 7 is two seconds ahead of # 9, and more than four seconds ahead of Honda # 99, Kawasaki # 23, the other Honda Ten Kate # 21 and Honda Parkalgar # 11 … The peloton, dropped by Tamburini (7th), includes a dozen pilots who roll wheel in wheel: the spectacle is beautiful, especially in the sequences of pif-paf !

Marino lost a place to Lowes shortly before halfway but did not leave the aspiration of CBR n ° 11. In Florian’s wheel, Broc Parkes threatens the 5th place of the little Frenchman. But the latter shows great courage and recovers "his" 4th place four laps from the end. !

Alone in the lead, Chaz Davies does not slow down and even sticks half a second to his teammate Scassa in each loop, thus accumulating more than four seconds in advance with three laps to go. More than 7 seconds behind the leader, Fabien Foret is content to line up the laps in 3rd place.

Behind, however, the action is much more present: Broc Parkes, Florian Marino and Sam Lowes fight like ragpickers … and are joined by Roberto Tamburini! The Australian on his Kawa ‘tries to escape in the final loops while the Italian and his R6 overtake the Englishman and aim for the Frenchman.

Passed by Lowes and Tamburini just in the entrance to the parabolic, Marino shifts under braking from the straight line but cannot lock his attack and remains behind his two opponents. At around ten seconds, other braking is carried out several abreast within the peloton: Supersport is a sacred … sport !

Chaz Davies rolls up to a second consecutive victory this season, far ahead of Luca Scassa and Fabien Foret. Broc Parkes crosses the finish line almost 20 seconds after the winner, followed closely by Lowes Tamburini and Marino, who amply deserves his 7th place.

In the championship, the two official Yamaha riders are tied on points (70). Davies and Scassa are 10 lengths ahead of Broc Parkes and 28 over Harms and Salom. Foret climbs to sixth position with 36 points, Marino in 9th with 26 points.

On the constructor side, Yamaha continues its flawless course (100/100 pts!) And, with this new double, widens the gap on its pursuers: Honda did not come down once from the podium and totals 68 points, Kawasaki 60 and Triumph only 13.

Second Superbike race

Max Biaggi took the lead in the first few meters but was again overwhelmed by Corser when braking. Follow Leon Camier, quickly overtaken by Jonathan Rea, Marco Melandri, Carlos Checa, Michel Fabrizio, Sylvain Guintoli, Eugene Laverty and Ruben Xaus. Smrz, Rea and Haslam are unfortunately victims of a collision in the first chicane and must retire.

Biaggi takes advantage of the first straight to pass Troy Corser. Haga, then third, lost his way when braking at the first chicane (Rettifilo) and went straight ahead, giving way to the third Aprilia on the track, that of Leon Camier. Nitro Nori returns to the track just in front of Melandri and Checa.

In front, Camier attacks Corser in the second straight line: the Aprilia are 9km / h faster than the BMW n ° 11 at the end of the straight line! One loop later, Laverty overtook Fabrizio to gain 6th place. His teammate Melandri imitates him by grabbing 4th place from Haga.

Alone in the lead, Biaggi erases Fabrizio’s race record in the first round, but turns a little slower than Cal Crutchlow during the 2010 edition. Camier and Corser are working hard not to let slip – too much – the Roman Emperor: in the 4th lap, Max has a lead of more than 2 seconds.

Behind, Laverty grew impatient and made a small mistake which led him to pull straight into a chicane. The Irishman takes back the track behind Checa in 8th place. Behind them, 2 seconds (and 8 behind the leader), Sylvain Guintoli rolls in 9th position.

Determined to win this second round, Max Biaggi and his Aprilia maintain their high pace at the start of the race. Behind, Melandri attacks Corser under braking of the first chicane. Surprised, the Australian widens in the right and cannot properly exit from the left, unlike Haga and Fabrizio stationed behind him !

In the 7th lap, Leon Camier falls: the Aprilia double is not for today! Marco Melandri and his R1 inherit second position but are more than 5 seconds behind their best enemy Biaggi. The provisional podium is then completed by a third Italian – on a different machine, a Gex – Michel Fabrizio.

But this third step is coveted by two other men: Laverty on his "Italian" R1 and Haga on his "satellite" RSV4 Factory. It was also in the 10th lap that Eugene ejected Michel from the podium. Noriyuki remains on the lookout, in the Suzuki aspi.

Isolated at the head of the race, Max Biaggi in his turn misses a chicane and traces straight into the loophole. The world champion does not save time in the operation but does not lose any either: he is always 5.5 seconds from Melandri.

Marco suffered, seven laps from the finish, the pressure of the rookie Laverty. But it is in the pits that the suspense rises a notch: the n ° 1 is asked to make a passage in the pits, to which Max responds with a furious "no" in the head. !

The following lap, however, the Emperor Romain complies and passes in front of his box in slow motion while his opponents tumble down to full six in the straight line … Melandri and Laverty are propelled to the front of the race five laps from the end, Fabrizio climbs again on the podium and Biaggi starts again in 11th position.

Four laps from the checkered flag, "Yudjine" pretends to put the brakes on his team-mate "Super Macho" but prefers not to start hostilities. Fabrizio is over two seconds away: the Irishman would be wrong to rush !

Behind the two official Yamaha, the tone rises between Haga and Fabrizio. Attempting an exterior on the Gex, the RSV4 n ° 41 was forced to leave the track but managed to get back into the race without losing too much ground. There are still two and a half laps to go: the final promises !

Alone in 5th position, Troy Corser procrastinated while Carlos Checa gave up a lot of ground to the Australian and went down irresistibly in the standings. Would his Ducati have surrendered ?

The last lap is launched: Melandri and Laverty fight for first place, Fabrizio and Haga for third. Eugene furtively turns around: it’s good, the pursuers are far behind and he will be able to try everything for everything !

Near the parabolic, Laverty plants a perfect braking while Melandri widens slightly under pressure. The n ° 58 infiltrates then tumbles towards the first double of his short career – four events! – in front of his ex-Grand Prix star teammate.

Fabrizio managed to stay on the podium, to the delight of the transalpine public, and Haga signed his best result of the season (4th) on the handlebars of his new mount. Corser and Badovini offer their S1000RR 5th and 6th places.

Our national Sylvain Guintoli is the first Ducati rider to cross the finish line: he is 7th 11 seconds behind the winner, which is a very honorable performance on this circuit which greatly favors 4-cylinders. Biaggi finished in 8th place and took away from Checa (10th) only 2 points in the championship !

Max Biaggi also lost 2nd place in the provisional classification at the expense of Marco Melandri for a small point: 117 against 118. Carlos Checa therefore did not fare so badly in this Monza event by totaling 145 points.

Laverty (85 pts) is inserted between his two British compatriots Jonathan Rea (89) and Leon Haslam (84). Our favorite Frenchie, Sylvain Guintoli is in 16th place with 29 points. Despite its long straight line, the Miller Motorsport Park circuit (USA) should be more suitable for his Ducati … and that of Checa !

See you on Monday May 30 for the American World Superbike event … and from tomorrow, for videos, driver statements and MNC analysis of this 4th 2011 event at Monza. Stay connected !

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