WSBK – Videos, statements and analysis of the WSBK in Monza – Analysis of the World Superbike in Monza

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Videos, statements and analysis of the WSBK in Monza

WSBK - Videos, statements and analysis of the WSBK in Monza - Analysis of the World Superbike in Monza

The fourth round of the World SBK 2011 took place yesterday in Monza. To complete our live reports, here are the statements of the SBK riders, our analyzes and the video summaries of the Superbike and Supersport races..

Analysis of the World Superbike in Monza

This morning, many bookmakers in Great Britain undoubtedly regretted not having a Delorean – the one from Back to the Future, of course – to go back to Sunday morning and put all their savings on rookie Eugene Laverty…

Because well before the opening of hostilities in Monza on Friday, a majority of observers and specialists – Site included! – had already decided on the outcome of this 4th 2011 event: "it is written – or almost -: Biaggi will win at Monza !", we wrote the day after the Assen ordeal (read)…

Against all expectations, it is the young Yamaha rookie who has won twice on the super fast Italian track! Qualified in second position on the starting grid at the end of the Superpole event, the leprechaun and his Yamaha n ° 58 held high against the Roman Emperor and his Aprilia n ° 1 in the first round.

Unlike Max, Eugene didn’t make any errors in the trajectory. He even avoided a highside in the last curve – the superb parabolic! – and was thus able to register his very first victory in Superbike, a category that he is only discovering…

Entered in GP 125 in 2004 then in English Supersport the two following years, Laverty rode two seasons in GP 250 – without great exploit – before shining in World Superport, taking the "titles" of vice-champion in 2009 and 2010 . But he had never raced a 1000 cc before this year !

During winter testing, Laverty also reported that he sometimes had trouble separating himself from his reflexes and automatisms acquired in 600 cc (read our). After confusing speed and precipitation during the first two rounds of the championship, the rookie therefore perfectly led his YZF-R1 in the first Italian round … and was able to take advantage of a triple dose of luck in the second !

Indeed, it was in the very last corner, following a slight muddle by his teammate Melandri in the downshift, that Laverty was offered his second consecutive victory in World Superbike on a plateau. And a few laps earlier, it was Max Biaggi’s blunder that allowed him to jump from 3rd to 2nd place !

Finally at the very start of the race, just seconds after the lights went out, it was very near for the young rookie of the Yamaha team to lie down alongside his compatriots Haslam and Rea. !

This clash, fortunately not serious compared to that of 2009 (reread), also stopped poor Jakub Smrz and proves that it is extremely difficult – and a little stupid, it must be admitted – to make 21 furious pass in a same chicane only a hundred meters after having released them from a starting grid…

Two of the favorites for the title this year – Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam – stupidly saw very big points soar for the championship on Sunday. A lesser evil, of course, alongside the months of hospitalization that Max Neukirchner had to undergo – also a great broke hope – in 2009, but all the same !

The controversy still swells about these Italian chicanes when we talk about the multiple all rights made by the pilots this weekend … Passed by the loopholes, Checa and Haslam saw their times canceled during the Superpole event !

In the race, however, some optimists were able to avoid the fall by taking these exits and then resume their race – crazy – without being penalized! The conditions for not being out of the game? The pilot must get behind the opponent who preceded him before the foul … but must also respect the course marked by two white bands on the ground !

"We held a briefing on Thursday for the attention of pilots of all categories in order to explain to them the procedure of reintegration on the track. And Biaggi was not there !", hammered the director of the WSBK championship, Paolo Ciabatti on Sunday evening..

"We had to cancel 320 lap times on Friday alone because of the drivers not respecting this rule", recalled in particular the Italian boss:"we also warned the drivers that they could only cut through these areas three times per heat, otherwise they would be penalized by a passage through the pit lane. This is what happened for Haga in the first round.".

But the Biaggi case attracted much more attention than that of Nitro Nori … Installed at the head of the second race with a little more than 5 seconds in advance, the Pirate missed the braking of the first chicane and preferred to take the shortcut – which is not logically !

"As the TV footage clearly demonstrates, it ended up outside the white marks", observes the intractable director,"which was already enough to penalize him. But the data also showed that he also gained three tenths in the operation.".

If the time saving is debatable – MNC has peeled the timesheets and the supposed advantage of 0.3 seconds is not striking – the violation of the marking is it perfectly incontestable. Max Biaggi did well to do so !

The memory of his disqualification at Donington Park was certainly still vivid and the world champion, who was due to win 50 points this Sunday, could not risk losing another handful of precious points. Set off on the track in 11th position, Max finally finished 8th in "his" second run..

Thus, by making the second best card of the weekend (4th then 2nd), the enemy n ° 33 of Biaggi again seized the second place of the provisional classification! With 118 points, Melandri is ahead of Biaggi by a tiny point and is only 27 lengths behind Checa…

Carlos knew full well that he would lose feathers at Monza and the Aprilia, BMW and Yamaha effectively forced him to wring out the right grip! So much so that the twin-cylinder of his Ducati almost did not see the checkered flag in the second round….

While he was running regularly under 1’45, the Spaniard saw his times suddenly plummet: a big extra second in the 16th lap, 4 seconds in the penultimate and 6 in the last: the end of the race was took on the air of Corrida for "El Torro", Checa moving from 6th to 10th place !

Seventh in this second race, Sylvain Guintoli therefore signs the best 2011 result for a Ducati at Monza … at the same time as his this season! Without his Australian injury, our favorite No.50 would have done better. On tracks more favorable to Bolognese two-cylinder engines, Sylvain should therefore be able to integrate the Top 5 without difficulty … or even better ?!

Michel Fabrizio, who is replacing Sylvain in the Suzuki Alstare team, must also be given a blow. At the controls of his aging GSX-R 1000 – or almost! -, the local of the stage managed to turn faster than anyone else in the first run.

Fifth in the first round and on the third step of the podium alongside the two Yamaha rookies, "Hurricane Mich" singlehandedly manages to dominate the armada of brand new ZX-10Rs! And in the manufacturers’ standings, Suzuki is actually in 6th place ahead of Kawasaki !

Opposite the standings, the author of an almost perfect weekend – Yamaha, who else? – double Aprilia and get closer to Ducati. The three manufacturers are separated by only 13 points and have widened a slight gap on BMW and Honda. The rest of this thrilling battle? Monday, May 30 in Salt Lake City: stay tuned !

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