WSBK – WSBK Rep. Czech: Melandri concrete, Baz and Foret hit –

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WSBK Rep. Czech: Melandri concrete, Baz and Foret hit

WSBK - WSBK Rep. Czech: Melandri concrete, Baz and Foret hit -

Marco Melandri is the new lord of Brno! Author of the double, the BMW driver took advantage of Biaggi’s absence on the two podiums to move up the provisional classification. The French also distinguished themselves on the Czech track…

Marco Melandri is the new lord of Brno! Author of the double, the BMW driver took advantage of Biaggi’s absence on the two podiums to move up the provisional classification. The French also distinguished themselves on the Czech track…

Indeed, stopped by the violent fall of a competitor four laps from the end, the Supersport race crowned a Fabien Foret for once very well started! Kenan Sofuoglu and Broc Parkes follow him very closely on the podium.

This afternoon, the World Superbike riders – who set off on a barely dry track – delivered a magnificent spectacle in Brno … Our two Frenchmen were also present: Maxime Berger completed four laps in the lead and Loris Baz even finished on the podium behind Sykes and Melandri !

First Superbike race

Tom Sykes takes advantage of his dry stretch to keep the lead in the race ahead of Marco Melandri, Jonathan Rea, Carlos Checa, Davide Giugliano, Leon Haslam, Loris Baz, Chaz Davies, Eugene Laverty and Jakub Smrz. From the first turns, the English Ninja runs away alone in the lead and leaves the rest of the peloton to argue !

Some riders – Sykes in particular – prefer to take the outside of the curves in order to stay dry. The end of the first lap is greatly animated by our two French people (as a reminder, Guintoli no longer has a handlebar …): Berger and Baz are fighting for the gain of fourth place! In front of them, Giugliano and Checa post their Ducati on the podium…

Melandri is only sixth, almost five seconds behind the No.66 leader. Biaggi is in a worse position still: the Emperor of Brno occupies the 13th place in the second round. The 2010 champion is preceded by Laverty and Fabrizio.

In front, Giugliano seizes his chance and passes Sykes at the end of the second loop. However, the Italian did not stay first for long … Indeed, Maxime Berger seized the reins of the race at the start of the 3rd lap! Giugliano takes the wheel of Ducati No.121 as Sykes relentlessly gives up ground.

Just two seconds behind our Mad Max, Loris Baz is in fourth place ahead of Carlos Checa. The ideal trajectory is more and more drier and allows you to gradually increase the pace. Our national "Bazooka" also took the opportunity to take the lead in the peloton. !

At the start of the 5th lap, however, Sykes regained the initiative: nearly three seconds behind Berger, then alone in the lead, the Englishman seemed to benefit from a second wind. Just like Rea, who conscientiously nibbles on the ground. Johnny is fourth in the 6th lap, while Giugliano joins the pits and retires.

Sykes nibbles Berger’s lead: at the end of the sixth loop, the Dijonnais only has half a second ahead. The rest of the peloton, towed by Tom, is made up of six pilots: Baz, Rea, Melandri, Checa, Smrz and Haslam. The two official Aprilia of Laverty and Biaggi complete the Top 10 a little further.

Tom Sykes steals first place from Maxime Berger in the next lap. The Briton is ahead of two Frenchmen: Berger and Baz. Only the Frenchie Guintoli is missing … On the track, Jonathan Rea passes Loris Baz shortly before the end of the seventh lap.

Marco Melandri, who plays the championship against Sykes, Checa, but above all Biaggi then 10th in the race, is on the lookout … Careful and discreet at the start of the race, the S1000RR n ° 33 is however surprised by the Ducati n ° 7: the world champion climbs to 5th position.

Johnny Rea, rid of his two pursuers, tries to get back on his compatriot placed a good second in front of him. Max Biaggi’s mission turns out to be more robust: the Italian is the fastest on the track but has in front of him a group of furious who will certainly not be easy to overtake !

At the midpoint of the race, Melandri tries braking and almost mows Berger! The peloton is dispersed: behind Sykes, Rea is now ahead of Baz, Checa, Laverty, Haslam, Melandri, Berger, Smrz and … Fabrizio who further complicates Biaggi’s task !

A superb fight began between the two BMW officials: better on the brakes, Melandri was caught in the curves by his teammate Haslam. The Italian emerges victorious from this beautiful game and sets out to hunt for Checa, 4th ahead of Laverty !

Eight laps from the end, the # 66 Ninja still dominates the race, a good half a second behind Rea. Baz did not give up despite the pressure submitted to him by Checa and his 1198. Melandri quickly joined Laverty’s backsplash: a group of six pilots formed at the front of the race. !

Meanwhile, Maxime Berger continues to lose ground and points to tenth place on the 15th passage in front of the pits. At the same time, under braking on the straight line, Rea won against Sykes. But the Kawa rider recovers "his" 1st place a few turns later.

Marco Melandri needs just one attack to climb to fifth place. The number two in the provisional is found in the pots of the Ducati of the number four in the provisional. But Checa chooses precisely this moment to steal his third place from Baz !

The French rookie was overtaken a minute later by an unstoppable Melandri. Our n ° 76 is now fifth just ahead of Laverty. Biaggi is five seconds behind his Irish teammate. In the lead, Melandri continues his recovery and ejects Checa from the podium…

Three laps from the checkered flag, the first five are in the same second. Among them, Marco is undoubtedly the most incisive. The Hedgehog crushes his competitors, one by one: Rea is dispossessed of his second place in this 18th lap.

Stung to the quick, Rea widens and gives up his new third place to Checa. Melandri, him, does not take advantage of a mistake by Sykes to seize the controls of this first round. Rea recovers his third place and even aims for second in the far right at the bottom of the bowl…

Far too optimistic, JR is tugged at by Sykes. His Fireblade goes into an inevitable highside and makes his pilot fall heavily. Tom can happily continue his race without worry, unlike Checa forced to cut the throttle to avoid the Honda n ° 65…

Loris Baz takes the opportunity to infiltrate the podium! The last loop is much quieter and sees Melandri rolling towards a fourth victory this season! The two official Kawasaki of Sykes and Baz complete the podium ahead of Checa and Laverty.

Championship leader Max Biaggi finished a distant sixth place and dropped 15 precious points against his best enemy Marco Melandri. The second race should be disputed entirely in the dry … Who will benefit? Stay connected !

Supersport Race

Unfortunately, the first start is not the right one: a driver falls to the back of the grid as soon as the lights go out and causes the red flags to be raised … His comrades join the pits after a slow lap..

Second start: Kenan Sofuoglu takes the best start but Fabien Foret wins from the second corner. The n ° 99 is therefore ahead of the n ° 54, as well as Broc Parkes, Jules Cluzel, Vittorio Iannuzzo, Sam Lowes, Alex Baldolini, Ronan Quarmby, Sheridan Morais and Stefano Cruciani.

While Fabien is keeping a lead of one second ahead of the peloton from the first lap, Parkes is looking for an opening on Sofuoglu. Cluzel and Lowes are fighting for fourth place just ahead of Iannuzzo and his Triumph. Baldolini, also on Daytona, must give up his seventh place on engine failure…

Very concentrated, Fabien Foret keeps a better pace than his pursuers and gives himself an extra second on Sofuoglu and Parkes at the end of the third lap. Cluzel and Lowes continue to fight for fourth place and give themselves a second to their predecessors. South African Quarmby tries to hang on to the two Hondas…

Romain Lanusse and his Ninja close the Top 10, Valentino Debise is 12th and the new kid – although he turned last year in the prestigious Honda Ten Kate team – Florian Marino is already in the points in fifteenth position on the handlebars of ‘a Kawa’ he is just discovering !

In front, Fabien took advantage of his perfect knowledge of the ZX-6R to maintain his lead to 2.3 seconds. Kenan Sofuoglu and his Ninja n ° 54 move away very slightly from Broc Parkes, the first CBR driver on the track. Two others follow after more than two seconds: the n ° 11 of Lowes, passed in front of the n ° 16 of Cluzel.

Shortly before halfway, Sofuoglu reduced the gap on Foret to less than two seconds and pulled Parkes in his wake. But the Frenchman reacted in the following lap and regained his two second lead in the ninth lap. For safety – and habit – Fabien stealthily turns around and discovers that Kenan is not alone !

Sam Lowes is located much further, however: the Englishman is more than four and a half seconds from the Kawa ‘n ° 99. Jules Cluzel did not manage to stay in the asp of his English colleague and is just over six seconds behind his compatriot in the lead.

Lanusse is still in 10th place while Debise slipped to 14th place, just ahead of Marino. Our top driver, Foret, is struggling against the very fast Sofuoglu: at the start of the 13th lap, the Kawa ‘n ° 99 has only a small half a second ahead of the n ° 54…

The leading trio found themselves in the same second while there were still five laps to go! On the first braking, Kenan leaps into the lead of the race. Fabien grabs the Turk’s rear wheel but feels Australian Broc Parkes behind him…

A little too generous on the brakes, Foret offers a few meters in advance to the double world champion – and leader of the championship! The French Ninja does not lose the aspiration of his great rival…

Victim of a huge highside, Scholtz reaches the edge of the track but lies down there, completely stunned. His motorcycle lies in the middle of the path: the red flag is once again waved and definitively stops the race. So in the lead, Kenan Sofuoglu gets up on his motorcycle and brandishes his fists in the sky.

And yet, the ranking established at the end of the last complete lap does indeed feature Fabien Foret at the top of the ranking sheet! The Frenchie climbed to the top step of the podium, followed by Sofuoglu and Parkes. Jules Cluzel finished fifth behind Sam Lowes. The other French Romain Lanusse, Florian Marino and Valentin Debise are respectively 11th, 13th and 14th.

In the championship, Sofuoglu still occupies first place with 137 points. The Turk moves away from Sam Lowes (114) but sees Fabien Foret (108) go back to less than 30 points … Jules Cluzel (95) remains fourth but loses a handful of points against Broc Parkes fifth (82).

Second Superbike race

Very good start for Tom Sykes who took the lead in the race ahead of Eugene Laverty, Leon Haslam, Marco Melandri, Carlos Checa, Davide Giugliano, Jonathan Rea, Max Biaggi – started from 14th place on the grid! -, Michel Fabrizio and Chaz Davies. Loris Baz is 11th, Maxime Berger 16th.

As in the first run, Tom immediately moves away. He leaves his two pursuers Laverty and Melandri to explain themselves. Checa is literally glued to Marco’s rear wheel while Biaggi cannot find an opening on Giugliano and is even passed in the second lap by Haslam !

In the third round, Biaggi takes 5th position: the 2010 champion is just behind the reigning world champion! But Max’s real target is two places further … It is of course Marco Melandri, his closest rival in the championship. But the latter declares the Sykes hunt officially open !

Behind the BMW n ° 33, Checa separates from Eugene Laverty: has the Spaniard noticed that Biaggi is going up? Indeed, the n ° 3 of Aprilia now stumbles on his own teammate at n ° 58. It was not until the sixth lap to see the Italian swooping down on the Irishman at the end of the straight..

In the lead, Sykes’ lead over Melandri is almost visibly diminishing! At the end of the seventh lap, the English Ninja rolls a small second in front of Marco and his Munich missile. The most impressive on the track is nonetheless Checa which, despite its less powerful twin-cylinder and six kilograms of ballast, manages to match Melandri’s times..

Max Biaggi is still in fourth place and is two seconds behind Checa. A few lengths away, Laverty, Haslam and Giugliano ensure the show by multiplying the attacks and overtaking.

Further still, Chaz Davies must dearly defend his 8th place against Loris Baz! Maxime Berger, our second representative in this category, circulated in 17th place. Jonathan Rea, dried by his violent fall in the first set, fights in 12th place against Smrz and Hopkins.

Halfway through the race, Sykes can hear the 4-cylinder Behème screaming as it tries to grab its last few meters. In a more fluid style, Carlos Checa does not leave his two opponents in sight. Max Biaggi on the contrary remains behind: he is three seconds behind the two leaders.

The n ° 33 unleashes a first attack seven laps from the end, but must quickly return "his" first place to Sykes! Checa cannot take advantage of this to pick up the leading duo, nor Biaggi, still isolated in fourth position. Laverty is much less lonely and has to fight hard with Haslam and Baz !

A second attack, in the same pif paf, allows Melandri to take the lead in the 16th loop. But a big heat during braking forces Marco to widen … and once again give first place to Tom Sykes !

In the background, the fight intensifies: Laverty is still ahead of Haslam and Baz, again followed by Davies! The fight for 5th place in the last three laps promises to be crisp…

While we expected to see his lap suddenly drop, Tom Sykes is holding on! His Pirelli do not show any sign of fatigue. However, following a small rebound from the Kawa ‘in the attack from the straight line, Marco manages to overtake Sykes at the start of the very last lap. !

Marco Melandri made a perfect 20th lap, just like Sykes who will have nothing to be ashamed of on this point! The BMW n ° 33 therefore crossed the finish line 14 hundredths earlier than the Kawasaki n ° 66. The podium is completed by the Ducati n ° 7.

Three Aprilia riders completed the Top6: Max Biaggi finished "only" fourth at home in Brno, ahead of his team-mate Eugene Laverty and privateer Chaz Davies. Haslam finally places his S1000RR ahead of Loris Baz’s ZX-10R, which matches his best result on the "real" dry. !

In the championship, Marco Melandri (250.5 points) took advantage of his first double on BMW to get back to 21 points from Max Biaggi (271.5)! For Tom Sykes (212.5) and Carlos Checa (204.5) on the other hand, the hopes of the 2012 title are slowly evaporating. Still fifth, Rea must be wary of compatriots Haslam and Laverty…

On the manufacturer side, BMW is taking advantage of Marco Melandri’s Olympic form to jump from third to first place in the provisional! The Germans (292 pts), ahead of the Italians of Noale (290) and Bologna (276.5). Kawasaki (218.5) confirms its status as number one Japanese in WSBK, ahead of Honda (193) and Suzuki (72.5).

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