WSBK – WSBK Australia: Guintoli wins his first race on Aprilia! –

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WSBK Australia: Guintoli wins his first race on Aprilia !

WSBK - WSBK Australia: Guintoli wins his first race on Aprilia! -

Having started very cautiously, Sylvain Guintoli gradually raised his voice during the first round at Phillip Island and took control of his official RSV4. The French rider is ahead of two other Aprilia: those of Laverty and Fabrizio.

Having started very cautiously, Sylvain Guintoli gradually raised his voice during the first round at Phillip Island and took control of his official RSV4. The French rider is ahead of two other Aprilia: those of Laverty and Fabrizio.

In the second round, "Guinters" was beaten by "Youdjine", but the two officials from Noale again climbed together on the first two steps of the podium. The third is this time climbed by Marco Melandri…

First Superbike race

When the red lights went out, Carlos Checa pulled out the fastest but his Panigale reared up and prevented him from taking full advantage of his pole position. Eugene Laverty therefore took the reins of the race ahead of Tom Sykes, Marco Melandri, Leon Haslam, Carlos Checa – who quickly passed n ° 91 -, Sylvain Guintoli, Loris Baz, Davide Giugliano, Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies. Jules Cluzel is in 17th place.

Haslam, who finds "his" Fireblade, passes Checa again when braking the "Honda" pin. Giugliano, who discovers Aprilia, doubles Guintoli. The # 91 Honda won a new place in the second lap passing Melandri. Leon Haslam is third, just behind his two compatriots Sykes and Laverty.

Giugliano must give up! His Aprilia n ° 34 unfortunately suffered from a mechanical problem. The RSV4 hit with n ° 58, on the other hand, works perfectly: Laverty is still in the lead of the race and is isolated even in the lead..

Behind "Youdjin", Tom Sykes is under heavy pressure from Leon Haslam, Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri. Sylvain Guintoli is slightly behind, in sixth position, in front of the second official BMW and Kawasaki drivers (Davies and Baz).

Sykes and his Kawasaki n ° 66 lost two places in the 5th lap: they left the podium, passed step by step by Haslam and his Honda n ° 91 then Checa and his Ducati n ° 7. In the following loop, Guintoli and his Aprilia n ° 50 in turn overtake the English Ninja !

Laverty has a good second ahead of his four direct pursuers. The chase group is then led by Panigale n ° 7 in the 7th lap. Not far, Davies now rolls in front of Melandri while at the back of the pack, Baz is caught by Fabrizio !

No doubt handicapped by his bruised wrist at the beginning of the week, Sykes says he lets the two BMWs of the "semi" official BMW Goldbet team pass….

At the forefront, Guinters goes on the attack and virtually climbs on the podium to the deficit of "Pocket Rocket" Haslam. "El Torro" Checa is therefore in the viewfinder of our favorite Frenchie! In the lead from the very first corner, Laverty is 1.5 seconds ahead of Checa..

Sylvain Guintoli takes advantage of the 10th passage in the straight line to jump to second place! Behind, Fabrizio easily got rid of the two official Kawa ‘and flies on the two BMWs: Chaz Davies is again sixth behind his teammate Marco Melandri…

At halfway point, Laverty was 1.2 seconds ahead of his teammate Guintoli. Checa, Melandri and Haslam remain on the prowl as Davies loses contact and is passed by Fabrizio. Baz and Sykes are about four seconds from Laverty.

Suddenly, Checa and Melandri find themselves on the ground! It was while braking the Honda hairpin that the Spaniard accidentally hit the Italian’s rear wheel. If Marco gets up instantly, Carlos – whose helmet has hit the tarmac violently – remains on the ground. He was quickly taken care of by the medical team.

The race continues for the other pilots … Sylvain Guintoli finds himself alone in the wheel of his teammate and takes control of the race at the start of the 15th lap. The Frenchie remains the helmet screwed behind the bubble and tries to escape.

Behind the two official Aprilia is a third "Made in Noale" motorcycle: Fabrizio n ° 84, the only machine of a private team to fight at the forefront! Haslam is half a second behind the Roman, and is threatened by Baz, Sykes and Davies.

With five laps to go, Guintoli is still leading ahead of his two Aprilia colleagues. Leon Haslam still circulates in fourth position, ahead of Tom Sykes, Chaz Davies and Loris Baz. Jonathan Rea occupies a distant eighth place ahead of Leon Camier’s Suzuki and Neukirchner’s Ducati, the only Panigale in the race – as a reminder, injured Badovini did not start.

The end of the race is led by two men: Fabrizio who puts a lot of pressure on Laverty and Davies who manages to overtake Haslam in the descent of Lucky Heights! Leon loses two new places to Ninjas No.66 and 76, but No.91 hangs on.

In front, the tone rises between Fabrizio and Laverty: the two pilots pass each other three times at the end of the 20th lap. The show is superb, the public is delighted … and Sylvain’s supporters too: the n ° 50 flies alone towards victory !

The last lap is underway and three RSV4s tumble into the lead … Fabrizio is surprised by Laverty at the end of the course and has to be content with third place behind the two official Aprilia! It’s the full box for the Italian brand.

Sylvain Guintoli has just demonstrated that he has the level and the composure required to take over from Max Biaggi. The famous n ° 50 takes the lead in the championship and impatiently awaits the second race. Just like us !

 

Supersport Race

With the Pirelli not considered safe enough to cover a full race on the hot and demanding Phillip Island circuit, Supersport riders set off for a 15-lap race….

Fabien Foret completely misses his start, unlike the champion Kenan Sofuoglu and the "rookie" Michael van den Mark who pass in front of Sam Lowes at acceleration! Another new kid, Jack Kennedy, takes fourth place just ahead of Roberto Rolfo and his MV Agusta. Roccoli, Salom, Antonelli, Zanetti and Coghlan complete the Top 10.

Sofuoglu and Lowes get off on their feet and move away slightly from Van den Mark. The rest of the peloton stretches out from the second lap while the leading trio take to the chase. Foret has a job: he is in 12th place.

The No. 11 Yamaha leapt into the lead on lap 4, the No. 54 Kawasaki and the No. 60 Honda on its heels. Rolfo, who is 2.5 seconds behind the three furious, leads an equally agitated peloton! Kennedy, Roccoli, Salom, Scassa and Zanetti roll in the same second…

Our favorite Ninja – Foret, the only French driver on this event – easily overtakes his opponents and enters the Top 10 from the 5th lap. The n ° 99 very quickly seizes the fifth place and is found at one second of the "six-seventy-five" of Rolfo in the following loop.

Halfway through the race, Sofuoglu regains the lead but Lowes does not leave him a sole of a Pirelli! Superstock 600 champion Van den Mark is less consistent than his two prestigious opponents and is gradually losing contact.

The Kawasaki n ° 54 and the Yamaha n ° 11 then capture all the attention with their incessant overtaking … But the spectacle within the peloton is also superb. !

Foret and his ZX6R n ° 99 climbed to fourth position and in their wake dragged Salom and his own Kawa ‘. Rolfo remains focused and takes advantage of the fight between the two Ninjas (three with Scassa!) To regain fourth place four laps from the end…

In front, Kenan gradually gained the upper hand over Sam. Michael rolled 4.5 seconds behind the leading duo, Fabien more than 10 seconds ahead of Salom, Scassa and Rolfo … who was forced to retire in the penultimate tower ! The disappointment must be great in Varese.

Kenan Sofuoglu flies off to his 32nd World Supersport victory, setting the fastest lap in the race in his final loop! Sam Lowes and Michael van den Mark accompany him on this first podium of the 2013 WSSP season, while Fabien Foret has to be satisfied with fourth place.

Second Superbike race

Tom Sykes got off to a very good start and took the lead ahead of Marco Melandri, Eugene Laverty, Sylvain Guintoli, Michel Fabrizio, Loris Baz, Jonathan Rea, Chaz Davies, Davide Giugliano and Leon Camier. Guintoli started stronger than in the first run and even missed a bit when braking the MG turn as he tried to take the lead. !

A few seconds later in the same "bowl", Chaz Davies and Loris Baz bite the dust … The BMW driver sets off again towards the pits with a flat rear tire while our "Bazooka" has to leave the track on a stretcher, hurt but conscious.

At the start of the second lap, Laverty and Guintoli take the lead ahead of Sykes! Melandri is threatened by a more incisive Rea than in the first round, but the fastest man in this second loop is Jules Cluzel, 7th! After a stop in front of his box, Davies leaves in last position with a new tire.

Sylvain took the lead at the very start of the 4th lap, at the end of the straight. Just behind Eugene Laverty, Marco Melandri has just dislocated Tom Sykes in the middle of a straight line: the BMW is healthy! Michel Fabrizio slips into the asphalt of the Kawa ‘, followed by our vice-champion of Supersport and Giugliano.

Aprilia n ° 34 passed in front of Suzuki n ° 16 during the 5th lap. Four Aprilia are therefore in the Top6! The Japanese premiere is only 5th, but her pilot Tom Sykes cannot force his cracked right wrist and lets Giugliano then Cluzel pass.

The leading trio – Guintoli, Laverty and Melandri – ride in close formation. Fabrizio is one small second away, Giugliano two seconds away, Sykes and Cluzel about 4.5 seconds away. Rea is in 8th place at the controls of his Fireblade, Neukirchner and Haslam complete the Top10.

In the outposts, no pilot seems to want to unearth the hatchet. Sylvain leads ahead of Eugene and Marco. Michel Fabrizio takes advantage of this break to get closer to the podium, just like Davide Giugliano who struggles in the background.

Seven laps to go, Leon Camier throws his compatriot Leon Haslam out of the Top10. At the same time, Melandri spices up the race even more by surprising Laverty when braking the MG turn! The Italian keeps the advantage over the Irishman in the long straight and focuses on the Frenchie placed a few lengths away.

Threatened by the famous n ° 33, Guintoli increased the pace with four laps from the end. But Laverty is even faster! After planting a superb interior on Melandri, the n ° 58 devours his teammate on braking at the end of the straight line.

While our "Guinters" remained in contact with "Youdjine" but could not trigger any attack in the last lap, Fabrizio failed to send Melandri to the mat in the Honda pin … N ° 84 attempted a final attack but had to admit defeat.

Eugene Laverty and Sylvain Guintoli therefore reverse their places on the Australian podium for this second round and share the same number of points (45) in the provisional standings! Third with 29 points, Michel Fabrizio gives Aprilia a fabulous "hat trick".

Tom Sykes injured in the wrist and Marco Melandri – weakened in the shoulder and broke in the first heat – save the furniture and settle in the Top5. Finally, congratulations to Jules Cluzel who occupies a surprising and promising 8th place !

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