WSBK – WSBK San Marino: Biaggi returns to winning ways! –

Posted on by admin

WSBK San Marino: Biaggi returns to victories !

WSBK - WSBK San Marino: Biaggi returns to winning ways! -

Max Biaggi may have started from tenth place on the grid, he made short work of his competitors this afternoon on the Misano track. Author of an impeccable double, the Aprilia rider moves away from the championship…

Max Biaggi may have started from tenth place on the grid, he made short work of his competitors this afternoon on the Misano track. Author of an impeccable double, the Aprilia rider moves away from the championship…

Badly qualified and overwhelmed by the four-cylinder in-line at the start of the first round, Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa made the experience speak and climbed on the podium this afternoon in front of the impressive rookie Davide Giugliano.

Four hours later, Max Biaggi was back on the top step, this time followed by Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam. With the two Ducati Althea riders at fault, a horde of BMWs completed the Top 6. Another rookie stood out in the second round: Loris Baz !

Finally, in Supersport, Kenan Sofuoglu masterfully managed the pressure of "beginner" Jules Cluzel, the Frenchman having been the only driver to be able to keep up with the infernal pace of the Turk. Fabien Foret could have played for the win, but was the victim of a double penalty following an exit from the track at the very start of the race … Caramba, still missed !

First Superbike race

Jonathan Rea got off to a very good start and took the lead ahead of Tom Sykes, Davide Giugliano, Leon Haslam, Arton Badovini and Max Biaggi (started from 10th place!), Eugene Laverty, Marco Melandri, Carlos Checa and Jakub Smrz. Sylvain Guintoli is lost halfway through and is in 17th place.

Rea keeps the lead but seems to be blocking his opponents, especially in the last "rolling" portion of the circuit. Giugliano opens hostilities by attacking Sykes but cannot join the rope and returns behind Kawa ‘n ° 66. The Italian was even passed by Haslam a few laps later. Leon aims his two compatriots in the lead.

In front of the pits, Biaggi attacked Badovini in the nose but in no way impressed, Badovini answered tit for tat in the paf! Melandri took the opportunity to pass Aprilia n ° 3. Checa and his Ducati n ° 7 try to do the same but stay behind Max. Marco continues his ascent by overtaking Ayrton Badovini: the BMW n ° 33 is 1.5sec behind Giugliano.

In front, Johnny Rea sets his pace and has a few lengths over Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam: the podium is 100% British for the moment! Our French are less varnished and roll beyond the Top 10: Loris Baz is 12th, Sylvain Guintoli 15th and Maxime Berger 17th.

"Maxime" Biaggi grew impatient behind Marco Melandri, attacked again but could not finish his attempts. Too much force, the 2010 champion ends up being surprised by Badovini and Checa, he finds himself in 8th place..

In the sixth lap, the leading quartet still rolls together. But the fastest on the track is Melandri on his S1000RR (5th), so that the Hedgehog of Ravenna is only half a second behind the Ducati n ° 34.

Behind the BMW n ° 33, another BMW – the n ° 86 of Badovini – does not let go either and takes in its wake the two champions Checa and Biaggi who did not ask for so much. Eugene Laverty and Jakub Smrz complete the Top 10.

Carlos Checa took advantage of Ayrton Badovini’s small gap to shift into the next turn and emerge inside the Italian. The maneuver is good but takes the Spaniard to the outside of the curve: the Ducati n ° 7 momentarily leaves the track and starts again in 8th place, a big second behind Max Biaggi !

In the same 7th lap, Johnny Rea gained a small second ahead of Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam. Unfortunately for them, their pace is lower than that of their pursuers: the two British are joined by the two Ritals Giugliano and Melandri !

Further down the track, the spectacle is also beautiful: the "old" Biaggi must use all his enthusiasm to pass young Badovini! At the same time, the fight intensified at the forefront: Haslam and his BMW "double R" still come up against Sykes and his Ninja. Giugliano even took the opportunity to temporarily climb the podium !

Meanwhile, Carlos Checa applies and makes up for his blunder by going up on Badovini. The Spaniard passes the BMW more easily than Biaggi had fatal a few laps earlier. Carlos finds himself a good second from Biaggi, and there are still 14 laps to go.

Alone in the lead, Rea takes his lead to just over two seconds: a real abyss in Superbike! After resisting a first attack, Sykes was threatened a second time in the same turn by Haslam and accelerated again. In the following sequence, however, Haslam manages to lock in 2nd place, finally !

Seeing Haslam move away, Giugliano passes Sykes with authority and opens the way for Melandri: Sykes is only 5th at the halfway point, and Biaggi and Checa are lodged in his aspiration! The Italian Pirate passes in front of the English Ninja at the start of the 13th lap. The Spanish Toro also passes, very easily a few turns later…

Giugliano climbed to 2nd place ahead of Haslam, and Max in 4th place ahead of Melandri. The profile of the race suddenly changes: the 4-cylinders in line seem in serious difficulty. Thus, Biaggi quickly crunches Haslam and Checa devours Melandri … Even "Kuba" Smrz goes up on Badovini posted in 9th position !

Giugliano nibbles the advance of Rea and his CBR1000RR equipped with a … in-line 4-cylinder too! With 10 laps to go, Carlos Checa passed Leon Haslam with disconcerting ease. The 2011 world champion is 1.5 seconds behind Biaggi, who is only half a second behind Giugliano and Rea !

After leading the majority of the race alone, poor Rea cannot prevent the two Italians from coming back up. They will certainly have to give up control of the race. With the energy of desperation, the No. 65 of the Honda Ten Kate team retains the lead and blocks Giugliano and Biaggi. Checa can thus get back on the top three !

Davide runs over Johnny in the quick break out of the comeback. Max jostles Jonathan slightly while passing him and almost collides with Carlos while jostling towards the inside of the turn! Not letting go, the n ° 3 remains in second place. Behind, Sykes returned to 5th position ahead of the three BMWs of Haslam, Melandri and Badovini. The latter is threatened by Smrz.

Sandwiched by the Ducati Althea, Biaggi struggles but does not find the fault on the rookie! There are six laps to go and Rea is long overdue. Supported by the crowd, and without pressure from the championship, the reigning Superstock champion continues to dominate the two Superbike champions !

At nearly four seconds, Rea prepares to fight again, this time to defend his fourth place against his compatriot Sykes. Laverty is 6th at 10 seconds, Smrz, Davies and Haslam follow at one second, and Melandri came out of the Top 11 by Badovini !

Four laps from the end, the young Roman is still holding out against his Emperor. But old Max goes on the attack at the start of the 22nd lap, imitated by Carlos who does not want to let Biaggi go without a fight! Further, Sykes overtakes Rea and thus grabs two points that could be decisive at the end of the season.

The two world champions Biaggi and Checa slowly move away from Giugliano for the final. Melandri does not even finish the race and returns to the pits.

Checa is still in Biaggi’s wake on the last lap, but not quite in his wheel, so he cannot initiate an attack and must escort his enemy No.3 to victory. The Ducati Althea team sets up its two 1198s on the podium, far ahead of the ZX-10R and CBR1000RR of Sykes and Rea.

The other two Aprilia on the field – Davies’ private and Laverty’s official – cross the finish line in 6th and 7th place. Guintoli finished in an unexpected 8th place, ahead of his teammate Jakub Smrz. In the BMW camp, it is consternation: Badovini and Haslam finish behind Leon Camier 10th…

 

Supersport Race

Poleman Sam Lowes took the lead ahead of Sofuoglu, Cluzel, Cruciani, Roccoli, Foret – out in the chicane! … -, Morais, Iannuzo, Baldolini, De Rosa and Tamburini. The Turk takes the lead in the first lap, followed by Frenchman Jules Cluzel and Stefano Cruciani !

Lowes lost his footing and quickly found himself in sixth position behind Foret. The French attacked Cruciani at the start of the 3rd round and climbed to third place. But at the same time, in the paddocks, the race management is looking into case n ° 99…

On the track this time, Roccoli is the victim of a technical problem on his R6 and must abandon the race in a huge plume of white smoke !

Kenan Sofuoglu prints his rhythm, but is followed like his shadow by Jules Cluzel. Fabien Foret is the only driver in the peloton to turn faster than the two leading men: the 2002 champion finds himself in the wheel of the Honda n ° 16 in the 5th lap.

In the following loop unfortunately, Fabien receives a penalty: he will have to give up two places. But Sam Lowes and Alex Baldolini are respectively three and four seconds behind the Frenchie! His teammate Romain Lanusse is even more unhappy at Misano: he loses the front and abandons the race.

Signed "99 +2", Foret lifts his helmet as he passes in front of the pits but quickly plunges behind his bubble. He ends up letting Lowes pass, but still has to wait for Baldolini who is still three seconds later….

At the forefront, Cluzel follows the tempo of double world champion Sofuoglu. He turns around in the straight at halfway to analyze the situation: the victory will indeed be played between him and the French rookie. !

Fabien Foret, who was slow to let Alex Baldolini pass, gets a new penalty: this time, the n ° 99 will have to take the pit lane !

On the track, or in the gravel more exactly, Sam Lowes fell on the 12th lap! Baldolini and his Triumph therefore inherited third place. Iannuzo, also on Daytona 675, is in fourth place just ahead of the Honda of another Italian: Roberto Tamburini.

Eight laps from the end, Jules Cluzel remains firmly anchored in the Kawa ‘of Kenan Sofuoglu. Following his "Ride Through", Fabien Foret finds himself in 11th place, five seconds behind the 9th place occupied by De Rosa, and 11 seconds behind Parkes’ 7th place.

Tamburini ensures the atmosphere and delights his audience by overtaking Iannuzzo, his rear wheel blithely sweeping the track! Sheridan Morais imitates Honda rider and overtakes Triumph # 31 in next lap.

The two leading men follow the loops in a more monotonous way and increase their lead over the third to more than 15 seconds! Cluzel is careful not to attack the Turk and wisely remains a few lengths from the official ZX-6R installed in first place since the very first laps of the race..

At the end of the 19th lap, the n ° 16 tries to accelerate but cannot reach the height of n ° 54 in the straight line. : the Turk seems to have anticipated the plans of the French! Meanwhile, Foret struggles on his Ninja and is in 9th place, three seconds behind Iannuzo, just passed by Metcher and his R6..

Sofuoglu’s increase in pace continued on the penultimate lap and put Kenan ahead of Jules by a full second. Baldolini is still third, more than 20 seconds behind the leader! Tamburini is fourth, Parkes climbs to 5th place in the final loop.

Kenan Sofuoglu therefore easily won ahead of Jules Cluzel. Fabien Foret, the only driver who could possibly have fetched the Turk in the last laps, finished in a disappointing 8th place, at 34 seconds.

Kenan Sofuoglu increases his lead in the championship: he now has 106 points, out of the 125 put into play during the six rounds played. Jules Cluzel climbs to 2nd position (94 points) ahead of Lowes (76), Foret (63) and Baldolini (54).

On the manufacturers’ side, Kawasaki and Honda share the same number of points (131), far ahead of Triumph (67), Yamaha (52) and Suzuki (6).

Second Superbike race

Tom Sykes extricated himself perfectly from the grid and crossed the first chicane in the lead. Kawasaki n ° 66 is chased by Honda n ° 65 of Rea, BMW n ° 91 of Haslam quickly overtaken by Ducati n ° 34 of Giugliano, Aprilia n ° 3 of Biaggi, n ° 58 of Laverty, Ducati n ° 7 and 50 from Checa and Guintoli, then BMW n ° 33 and 86 from Melandri and Badovini.

Biaggi climbed to 3rd place in the first lap and went to attack the two Englishmen who tried to pull away. Giugliano follows his elder ahead of Haslam, Laverty and Checa. Guintoli unfortunately loses the front and gives up while chasing Carlos !

In the lead, "JR" was quickly put under pressure by Biaggi. After showing the tip of his fairing to Johnny, the Pirate made no quarter in the braking of the first chicane and was now aiming for the n ° 66 Kawasaki. Carlos Checa meanwhile is slow to move up the peloton.

His teammate Giugliano takes control of the chase group at the end of the 3rd lap at the expense of Rea. In the following lap, Checa finds himself on the ground, victim of a touch with Melandri. As in the United States – he fell alone this time – the Spaniard will not score a point in the second set…

Biaggi takes the reins of the race on the 3rd lap. His teammate Laverty is also noticed in the background: the Irishman, who this time is in the game, multiplies the overtaking attempts on his comrades Rea and Haslam. The fight between the three Britons benefits Giugliano: the rookie applies and goes up on the leader Sykes.

Leon Camier, who occupied a good seventh place – given his 14th place on the grid – is missing out and plunges to 21st place. Davide Giugliano is doing too much too and loses the front in the final curve of the 6th lap! Haslam therefore climbed on the podium, just ahead of Jonathan Rea.

Far from all this hustle and bustle, Max Biaggi impressed: on lap 8, Aprilia n ° 3 was more than four seconds ahead of Kawasaki n ° 66, BMW n ° 91 and Honda n ° 65. The second official Aprilia is just a second behind this 100% English group, but is closely followed by the BMWs of Badovini and Melandri.

Eugene Laverty is again a victim of his daring and momentarily leaves the track in the sequence of super fast rights. He gave up his fifth place to Badovini, and even sixth to Melandri! Leprechaun # 58 loses contact on the hunting party composed in the order of Sykes, Rea, Haslam, Badovini and Melandri.

Jonathan Rea took second place on lap 11 and left Tom Sykes to explain himself with Leon Haslam. But the BMW rider overtakes the Kawa ‘fast enough to stay in contact with the Fireblade n ° 65.

The halfway mark is approaching and Max Biaggi has a lead of almost seven seconds! Rea and Haslam move away from Sykes who now restrains Badovini and Melandri. The hot Laverty is again on the backsplash of the BMW n ° 33.

Michel Fabrizio appears in the background: he is less than a second from Aprilia n ° 58. Behind the Transalpine comes a competitor who was not necessarily expected so high in the standings: Loris Baz, replacing Lascorz at Kawasaki for only three events. !

Biaggi maintains his lead over the duo Rea and Haslam. Behind, Badovini and Melandri get rid of Sykes: 11 laps from the checkered flag, the two Italians are only two seconds from "their" podium … Sykes for his part, is soon threatened by Laverty and Fabrizio. Baz is on the lookout in ninth place !

Laverty surprised Sykes on the brakes on the 14th lap but could not stay ahead of the English Ninja on the go-around on the following curve. In front, Haslam is on Rea’s heels but cannot trigger an attack…

Laverty misses the umpteenth time and allows our Bazooka to join in the fight for 6th place occupied by his own teammate Tom Sykes! One loop later, "Youdjine" ends up biting the dust and offers 8th place to our national No. 76.

Six laps to go, Biaggi, who dutifully modeled his lap times on those of Rea, still has a seven-second lead. Haslam is still lodged in the Fireblade’s asphalt and patiently awaits an opening or a mistake from Johnny.

Melandri is in fourth place, nine seconds behind Biaggi. Marco could not relax at the end of the race, however, because Ayrton Badovini was glued to his wheel. Just behind Fabrizio, Sykes is also under pressure: the n ° 66 is chased not only by Baz, but also by Smrz !

Max Biaggi can afford to lower the pace in the last two laps. The Roman Emperor enjoys his first double of the season! Jonathan Rea crosses the finish line some five seconds after Max Biaggi and is joined on the podium by Leon Haslam.

The Italians Marco Melandri, Ayrton Badovini and Michel Fabrizio add three S1000RRs in the Top 6. Let us underline the very good performance of Loris Baz who finished eighth just one breath away from his teammate Tom Sykes. Maxime Berger is unfortunately dispossessed of his tenth place in the final loop by the local driver Baiocco.

Thanks to his 50 additional points, Max Biaggi increases his lead to 38.5 points on the second in the provisional classification … which has also changed identity! Indeed, Jonathan Rea passes in front of Tom Sykes and Marco Melandri. Carlos Checa is still fifth, but is now 60 points behind Biaggi…

In the constructors’ championship, Ducati retains a very small advantage: the Bologna Reds have 1.5 points more than their Noale cousins ​​(222.5 against 221.5). BMW downgraded to 3rd position (197) while Honda (176) overtook Kawasaki (170.5). Suzuki brings up the rear with 56.5 points.

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *