WSBK Malaysia (2): Melandri and Guintoli (re) double the bet
Interrupted by a red flag, the second round of the Superbike at Sepang gave rise to a new duel between Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli, the outcome of which was played in the last bend! Released in the first round by Baz, Sykes climbs on the podium and remains at the top of the provisional classification… Second Superbike race Tom Sykes takes a very good…
Interrupted by a red flag, the second round of the Superbike at Sepang gave rise to a new duel between Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli, the outcome of which was played in the last bend! Released in the first round by Baz, Sykes climbs on the podium and remains at the top of the provisional classification…
Second Superbike race
Tom Sykes got off to a very good start but it was Toni Elias who took the lead in front of the n ° 1 Kawa, overtaken by the n ° 50 Aprilia in the first sequence! Follow Marco Melandri, Davide Giugliano, Jonathan Rea, Loris Baz, Chaz Davies, Eugene Laverty, Alex Lowes. Fabien Foret is 19th, Jeremy Guarnoni 20th and Romain Lanusse 22.
Sylvain Guintoli takes the lead in the race at the halfway point. Our second representative, Loris Baz, also wins a place by overtaking Rea. The "Green Giant" n ° 76 jumps on Giugliano’s 5th place at the very start of the 2nd lap, braking at the end of the straight line.
"Guinters" still leads ahead of Elias and Sykes. Melandri tries to overtake the English champion on the brakes but widens. The n ° 33 immediately sets off again and this time locks his third place. Sykes finds himself in front of Baz … who eliminated him in the first round !
At the start of the 4th lap, the four leading men have a few steps ahead of Baz. Giugliano, Rea, Davies, Laverty and Haslam complete the Top 10. Alex Lowes rolls alone in eleventh position, six seconds ahead of the first drivers in the Evo category: Camier, Canepa, Iddon, Salom, etc..
Claudio Corti’s F4 RR, who is fighting at the point gate, loses fuel on the track and starts to catch fire! The red flags come out a few seconds later so that the marshals can clean the track … The pilots take the opportunity to catch their breath: the air temperature is 40 ° C, that of the track exceeds 60 ° and the rate humidity reaches 40% !
Second start: the pilots set off for 10 laps, and Elias once again takes the best start! The Spanish star is ahead of the two official Aprilia of Melandri and Guintoli, followed by the two official Kawasaki of Sykes and Baz. Guintoli quickly climbs to second place !
Toni finished the first lap in front of Sylvain, Marco, Tom, Loris, Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam, Davide Giugliano, Chaz Davies, and Eugene Laverty. Guinters has to do it twice to pass Elias. Melandri tries to emulate his teammate and almost takes Elias off the track! The two men widen and let Sykes pass, while Baz becomes embedded between them .
Baz attacks Melandri in turn 4 of the 3rd lap but the Italian gets back ahead on the first braking of the 4th lap! Undoubtedly diminished by his fall in the first round, Sykes does not take advantage of this fight to get away from his pursuers..
Guinters on the other hand isolated himself slightly in the lead and was 1.3 seconds ahead of Sykes at the end of the 4th lap. Melandri easily overtakes Sykes on the brakes at the end of the straight. Behind, a superb battle opposes Giugliano and Laverty, who roll half a second behind Elias and Rea … Guarnoni is 14th, Lanusse 18th.
The halfway mark is crossed and Melandri turns a little faster than his teammate. So much so that Guintoli sees his lead reduced to less than a second with three laps from the end: the Frenchie will have to sign a new Superpole if he wants to keep the Hedgehog of Ravenna at bay !
Sykes and Baz are definitely behind: the two "Kawa ‘boys" are respectively two and three seconds behind the leader. Elias is a second later, threatened by Rea and his Fireblade, often very fast at the end of the race … Laverty and Davies are fighting for 7th place, Giugliano is relegated to 9th position. Lowes completes the Top 10.
Sylvain Guintoli still prints an excellent pace at the head of the race, but the guy Marco Melandri finds himself in his backsplash two laps from the checkered flag! Faster in the curves, the Italian is a little less efficient on the exits and cannot surprise the Frenchie on the brakes.
The two RSV4s start the last turn wheel to wheel and cross in the sequence of curves 5 and 6! The n ° 33 regained the advantage in the dive towards turn 11 and attacked the back straight in the lead. Guinters gets lodged in his teammate’s aspi, puts more braking in the final hairpin … but gets out of the way !
Marco Melandri rushes towards his second victory of the 2014 season, accompanied by a Sylvain Guintoli who will have nothing to regret! Tom Sykes saves the furniture by finishing third in this second Malay race … Twelfth in the scratch, Leon Camier gets first place for Evo, ahead of Salom … and Guarnoni !
The World Superbike "Number One" retains the lead in the provisional standings with a total of 201 points. Guintoli (185) moved up to second place ahead of Rea (179) and Baz (170). Thanks to his formidable brace, Melandri (147) leapt to fifth place ahead of Davies (130).
The next points distribution is scheduled in two short weeks at the Misano circuit in Italy. Until then, stay tuned to Site: the riders’ statements and the MNC analysis of this first event at Sepang are on the program from tomorrow !
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