Max Biaggi, Emperor of Monza in the World Superbike
The Mondial Superbike made its first Tour of Italy this weekend. At home, Max Biaggi and his Aprilia RSV4 took the opportunity to achieve a second double this season while in Supersport, Eugene Laverty won ahead of his two rivals.
Supersport race
When the red lights went out, Eugene Laverty seemed the quickest to react, but from the first few meters Kenan Sofuoglu irresistibly rose to the front of the race. Joan Lascorz gets inside to pass the Turkish driver on the first corner but Eugene surprises everyone with a superb exterior on his two championship rivals … the tone is set !
Suddenly, Sofuoglu and Lascorz lost a few lengths, but remained posted in front of Chaz Davies, Fabien Foret, Katsuaki Fujiwara, Michele Pirro, Robbin Harms, etc. Matthieu Lagrive again made an average start: he was in 13th place on the first lap.
While Laverty tries to widen the gap on Lascorz and Sofuoglu, Chaz Davies makes his show on the handlebars of his Daytona: let’s hope he doesn’t get too carried away, Fabien Foret is just ahead of him in 4th position! Before the end of the 2nd lap, it’s Robin Harms who gets off the track and must retire.
Kenan Sofuoglu passed Joan Lascorz before going through the parabolic for the second time. The Honda Ten Kate rider does not want to let the Honda Parkalgar escape … But the n ° 50 is already more than a second ahead !
Behind, Foret manages to move away from bulky comrades: Davies, Fujiwara, Pirro, Rea and Roccoli are riding in a very close formation … The fight is superb but our national No. 99 did well to isolate himself. He escapes discreetly – but surely – and tries to run to the podium !
In front, "You-djin" is leading the way. In the 7th lap, the young Irishman has two full seconds ahead of the Sofuoglu trick and almost three over the Spaniard Lascorz. And despite a lower top speed (283 km / h against 287 for his two pursuers), Laverty established the lap record in the race in 1 ‘47.767.
In this same lap unfortunately, Fabien Foret was forced to retire due to a technical problem. For the second time in a row, his Ninja prepared by Team Lorenzini deprived him of a good result. Hard !
Fortunately on the track, our second representative caused the powder! After Eugene, Kenan and Joan – the three leading men – Matt ‘Lagrive is the fastest rider on the track. Halfway through the race, the Frenchie and his Triumph make their way through the peloton: in the 8th lap, they jump from 9th to 6th place !
In this same 8th lap, Sofuoglu accelerates and separates from Lascorz. Warned of the sudden return of the Turkish, Eugene recovered and maintained his lead above the second and a half. Joan for her part lets it go and quickly takes one, then two seconds into the sight.
More than 12 seconds behind the leading men, Matt ‘Lagrive took his 6th place from Fujiwara, then lodged in Pirro’s wheel. But the French bump into the young Italian and the Japanese have not said their last word! The Honda, the Kawa ‘and the Triumph then began a thunderous end of the race…
On the contrary, the last five laps of Laverty, Sofuoglu and Lascorz are calmer: the two Honda and the Kawasaki are certainly roughed up, but the lengths between them prevent any overtaking..
With three laps to go, Matthieu Lagrive briefly loses contact with Fujiwara and Pirro. But the French does not give up and continues to attack, so that the Japanese posted in front of him does not distance him more than half a second.
At the end of the penultimate lap, Sofuoglu emerges far too strongly from the break to the left which precedes the parabolic and loses any chance of climbing to the top step of the podium. Lascorz, on the other hand, sees the second step suddenly approaching…
The Spaniard, who posted his best personal time two laps before, is excited. So much so that when braking in the second chicane, he thought he could come back to Sofuoglu’s level, but had to go straight ahead. The Spanish Ninja reached the track without a hitch but could not try his luck again, Sofuoglu defending himself extremely well at the end of the course.
Eugene Laverty is therefore flying to a third victory this season. "This is the first time that I have won two consecutive victories", the Irishman will notice when getting off a rinsed CBR …"I used the rear brake a little too much, I ended up boiling the fluid and I got some on my boot at the end of the race", unveiled Eugene, decidedly unfazed !
Kenan Sofuoglu and Joan Lascorz passed under the checkered flag three short seconds later. The Turkish is a bit disappointed, certain that his Honda could lead him to victory: "I was really held back by Joan at the start of the race and that allowed Eugene to widen a slight gap", will regret the Turkish, who will admit having taken too long to launch his attack.
Lascorz for his part, realizes that the races are harder and harder in this category"! Still leader, the Spaniard will have to spit in the gloves to contain the two Honda riders !
You have to wait almost twenty seconds to see Pirro, Fujiwara and Lagrive tumble down. "Apart from my departure, I had a very good race", will observe our national No. 14."At the end of the race, I tried to pass Fujiwara and Pirro but I almost lost my balance"… The Frenchie pockets big points and will have marked the spirits again !
The gaps are tightening seriously in the provisional classification! Lascorz is only four points ahead of Sofuoglu and ten over Laverty: the three men have 101, 97 and 91 points respectively. In the Top 10, the French note the departure of the unlucky Fabien Foret, but the arrival of Matthieu Lagrive !
Among manufacturers, Honda firmly maintains its leadership: the winged brand has 120 points in total (out of 125 maximum), against 101 for Kawasaki and 65 for Triumph. As a reminder, Yamaha, Suzuki and Dcati are absent from the competition. Too bad no ?!
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