World SBK 2011 – Round Seven – Aragon – Melandri and Biaggi cut into Checa’s championship lead at Aragon A hot afternoon of racing in every way saw Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) and Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) trade wins and second place finishes to squeeze the title leader Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) in the overall points standings. The Spanish rider fell in race one at his home track and then took a well-deserved podium place, third, in race two. Checa, desperate to make amends for sliding off as he chased the leading duo in race one, had to work hard to keep Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare) behind him for much of the race and Checa’s 16 points for third place mean that Biaggi is still 43 behind and Melandri is 66 adrift as the season clicked past its mid-point today. Spanish riders had some good and the occasional not so good results all round, with Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) posting seventh in race one then finishing an season best equalling fifth in race two. Irish rider Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) put in a fourth and a sixth place today, to remain fourth overall. This weekend WSB legend Noriyuki Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia) took part in his 300th race and left with strong results of sixth and seventh to his credit. Tom Sykes equalled fellow Kawasaki rider Lascorz’ prowess with fifth in race one, but a fall in race two spoiled an otherwise consistent and competitive weekend, as the whole Kawasaki effort took another step up with their new bike. Once more it was a tough weekend for the BMW riders, this time from both official and satellite teams, with Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) scoring two ninth places and Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) was eighth and tenth. The worst experience of all came for the luckless Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) as an entirely accidental collision between him and Maxime Berger caused Troy’s left radius and ulna to fracture, putting him out of action in race two. He had been tenth in race one. Race 1 Marco Melandri: “It’s been an awesome race for me. Max was strong and consistent at the start and it was difficult to follow him. But in the end it was going to be tough for me to pass him so thanks to him that he made a mistake! Otherwise it would have been difficult. The team has been working very hard and I was very confident all weekend.” Max Biaggi: “I cannot say I am super-happy for the result but I had a good rhythm and just at the end the bike was a little more difficult to ride. We need to work more on the bike to improve it towards the end of the race, and hopefully we can do that for race 2.” Leon Camier: “I was struggling a bit at the beginning to get into the rhythm, but I’m happy with the result and happy for Aprilia, everyone’s worked hard this weekend. It’ll now make me try and go better at the beginning of the next race really.” Race 2 Max Biaggi: “I’m very happy of course, this is my first win of 2011. I didn’t get one before because the other guys did a better job than me. This win came after a very strong race, I had a good pace all the way to the end, so the changes we made to the bike’s suspension made it work better than race 1. We should have done it before for race 1 but I’m happy with today’s results.” Marco Melandri: “The conditions were a little bit different to race 1 and Max had a bit better pace. I was braking so hard to recover what we lost in acceleration, so I lost the front, the tyre locked and I lost the position on the bike and went off. I’m disappointed, it wasn’t easy to try and pass like in race 1, but I’m happy anyway.” Carlos Checa: “What a weekend with a crash in race 1 and struggling to catch Marco and Max in race 2, but it was impossible. After reaching third I felt it was the best situation to stay in third. Honestly, it was quite acceptable and I am quite satisfied for race 2, it was a shame because it was my home race, we wanted to be at the top but here was not the place.” World Supersport Results: 1. Davies C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 37’06.751 (155,514 kph); 2. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 0.564; 3. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 4.645; 4. Roccoli M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 10.984; 5. Tamburini R. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 23.792; 6. Rea G. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 24.009; 7. Foret F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 24.297; 8. Harms R. (DEN) Honda CBR600RR 33.850; etc. Points (after 6 rounds of 12): 1. Davies 105; 2. Parkes 85; 3. Salom 71; 4. Scassa 70; 5. Foret 65; 6. Lowes 63; 7. Harms 59; 8. Roccoli 39; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Yamaha 135; 2. Honda 108; 3. Kawasaki 101; 4. Triumph 16. Superstock 1000 Results: 1. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 24’25.762 (157,502 kph); 2. Zanetti L. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1.078; 3. Petrucci D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2.785; 4.Canepa N. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2.790; 5. Barrier S. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 8.806; 6.Antonelli A. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 16.656; 7. Reiterberger M. (GER) BMW S1000 RR 16.881; 8. Staring B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 20.834; etc. Points (after 4 of 10 rounds): 1. Giugliano 95; 2. Petrucci 69; 3. Zanetti 68; 4. Barrier 40; 5. Canepa 37; 6. Antonelli 28; 7. Magnoni 26; 8. Massei 26; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 95; 2. BMW 77; 3. Kawasaki 39; 4. Honda 36; 5. Yamaha 9. Motorland Aragon also hosted the third round of the European Junior Cup, which saw a second successive win for Matt Davies. The Australian took the flag ahead of Germany’s Tom Busch and Spain’s Ruben Fenoll. Busch leads the table with seven points advantage over Davies.
– Yamaha Report Yamaha World Superbike rider, Marco Melandri powered his R1 to two extraordinary podium finishes on the new Spanish track in Aragon today. Impeccable race craft and performance was on display in both races as Melandri claimed an impressive one two under sweltering sunshine and on a hot track. In the opening race of the day, Melandri got off to a perfect start from pole position to tuck neatly behind Biaggi in second place. Constantly on his tail, the WSB Rookie cleverly played the waiting game, in search for the opportune moment to pass and take the lead. With just five laps to go Biaggi made a mistake and Melandri grasped the chance to overtake and proceeded to power his R1 to the finish line, crossing the chequered flag with over one and a half seconds advantage on the runner up. Team-mate Eugene Laverty had a less than perfect start from his sixth place position on this morning’s grid, falling back to eight place in the first turn. Caught up in traffic the Irish Rookie held position for a further five laps before gradually working his way through the pack to cross the line in an impressive fourth place just 0.048 of a second ahead of Sykes. Race two was almost a replicate performance for Marco Melandri . Unfortunately with just five laps to go the Italian slipped up, presenting Biaggi with the opportunity to create a significant gap. Melandri fought hard for the second victory of the day before settling for second place on the afternoon’s podium. Laverty struggled as the rear wheel of his machine locked in the first turn of lap one causing him to run wide and fall back to sixteenth place. The Irish man proved to be strong and consistent yet again as he put his head down, working his way through the bunch of riders ahead to claim a remarkable sixth place. To add to the weekend’s list of achievements, Marco Melandri was presented with the Pirelli fastest lap of the race award having recorded a lap time of 1’59.159 in race two and reaching the highest speed of 322.1 Km/ph. Following today’s outstanding performance Melandri has reduced the gap on the leader in the World Superbike standings by 29 points. Heading to the next round in Brno on 10thJuly, the Italian is in third place on 195 points, now 66 points behind Checa in the lead. Laverty leaves Aragon with a total of 146 points and with a firm hold of fourth place in the classification, 21 points ahead of Camier. Marco Melandri / Yamaha World Superbike Team- 1st, 2nd Eugene Laverty / Yamaha World Superbike Team – 4th, 6th Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager – Suzuki Report Team Alstare Suzuki rider Michel Fabrizio bounced back to take a hard-fought-for fourth place after crashing in the first race of the Aragon World Superbike Championship seventh round today. The Italian started both races from the fourth row of the grid, but once again showed his ability to fight his way through the pack and challenge for the podium: In race one he moved up to seventh by lap nine and was pushing hard when he lost the front and fell. Fortunately he was uninjured, but the impact of the fall did not do his already-damaged right hand any favours. Despite this, he came out fighting in race two and began by making a good start. He was up to fourth by lap five and soon started pressing Carlos Checa (Ducati) for third spot. For a while it looked as if he would get the better of the Spaniard but had to settle for fourth. Marco Melandri (Yamaha) won the first race with the Aprilias of Max Biaggi and Leon Camier in second and third places. Race two was another battle between Biaggi and Melandri, but this time Biaggi took the win. Series leader Checa was third just ahead of the Suzuki rider. Michel Fabrizio – Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 4th: “I am happy with my performance in the second race but obviously not happy with my crash in the first. My first race start was not so good and I was pushing very hard trying to catch the leaders when I lost the front and down I went. I managed to hit my injured arm again but fortunately I didn’t do any further damage. “The crash made me all the more determined to do well in race two. I made a perfect start and was up to fourth by lap five. I saw Checa ahead and closed in on him lap by lap, but although I could get near to him, his bike’s acceleration out of the corners was better than mine and so I couldn’t pass him. It was a bit frustrating seeing the way his bike blasted out of the turns, but I kept fighting in case he made a mistake. Unfortunately for me, he didn’t so I ended fourth. “Today I am happy because my lap times were very similar to the leaders and this proves that I can run with the best. If it hadn’t been for my poor grid position, I think I would’ve been on the podium today. If I can qualify, I’m sure I can get on the podium. The next round in Brno would be a good place to do it.” – HRC Report Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) endured a tough weekend as the FIM Superbike World Championship visited the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain for the first time. The Spanish rider was out of luck and the points at his home round. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) and Marco Melandri (Yamaha) shared the honours on the day as they went 2-1 and 1-2 respectively. Xaus just failed to make superpole qualifying on Saturday and his fortunes did not improve early on race day as he finished race one ranked in 16th position, thanks to an off track excursion. He pulled out of race two with issues that affected traction from the rear and grip from the front on the extremely hot track surface, which reached 53 degrees Celsius. Much of the data the team had gathered during a short winter test at Motorland proved to be of very little use as the conditions were so different in the heat of race day. Finding workable solutions to allow Ruben to compete at the level he and his CBR1000RR are capable of were not helped by the team being without his regular team-mate, and Assen race winner, Jonathan Rea. The team now heads to Brno for the eighth round with expectations to improve the base set-up to allow Ruben to ride to the maximum and score more valuable points in the championship. Ruben is 16th overall, on 44 points. Rea, recuperating from injuries picked up at Misano, maintained his overall eighth position in the points table. World Championship leader Carlos Checa (Ducati) lost some ground to chasing riders Max Biaggi (Aprilia) and Marco Melandri (Yamaha) as each took one Aragon win and one second place respectively. Biaggi’s team-mate Leon Camier was third in race one, as Checa crashed out, but the points leader finished race two in third place. In the championship, Checa now has 261 points, Biaggi 218 and Melandri 195. Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) got to within 0.564 seconds of the Supersport race win at Motorland Aragon, but still gained 20 points for second place and moved into sixth place in the overall standings, one place behind his fellow CBR600RR rider Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda). Fabien was seventh today, finding some set-up issues holding him back, and leaving him in the same position he had qualified in. Fabien now sits fifth in the championship and the top ranked Honda rider, two points ahead of Sam. Second place was Lowes personal best so far and his third career podium. He had been third on the grid. After race long leader and pole man Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) had crashed out, Chaz Davies (Yamaha) won his third race of the year to take the championship lead with 105 points. David Salom (Kawasaki) was third in his home race and he is also now third in the championship, just behind Parkes. A solid block of Honda riders were ranged out between sixth and 13th in the race results at the 5.344km long Motorland circuit. Gino Rea (Step Racing Honda) finished sixth, his best placing since his podium finish of third at Donington Park in late March. Behind seventh place finisher Foret, privateer Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing Team Honda) battled against faster machines on the long straight to take eighth place and go seventh in the championship. Despite the continuing pain and weakness from a recent shoulder injury, Miguel Praia (Parkalgar Honda) posted ninth, only just heading off young talent from the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team, Florian Marino. Ever-improving riders Vladimir Ivanov (Step Racing Team Honda) and Balazs Nemeth (Team Hungary Toth Honda) went 11h and 12th respectively, while Pawel Szkopek (Bogdanka PTR The last point on offer went to Imre Toth (Team Hungary Toth Honda). Alexander Lundh (Cresto Guide Racing Team Honda) just missed out on scoring points, finishing in 16th place. James Ellison (Bogdanka PTR Honda) was the first rider to retire with braking problems causing him to overshoot and then lose force and feel from his brake lever. The next round for both Superbike and Supersport classes is at Brno, in the Czech Republic, on July 10th. Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) Race result: 16th / DNF Championship position: 16th – “It’s been incredibly difficult this weekend, which is, of course, very disappointing for the team and especially for me as I wanted to put on a good performance for all my family, friends and fans who have come to support me here. There has not really been one individual issue this weekend – more a combination of different problems and I can only say that we’ll work tirelessly to start and finish at Brno in a better way than we were able to here.” Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) Race result: 2nd. Championship position: 6th – “I fell in warm-up and hurt my shoulder again, but it did not affect me too much in the race. Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) – Race result: 7th. Championship position: 5th “This weekend has been pretty much like a nightmare, as we didn’t find the settings to suit the track or to suit my riding style. I thought we had found a solution in the warm-up but, maybe it is because of the heat this afternoon, the little change we made meant I had no feeling. I tried hard anyway, but I could not make it and my lap times were not so good. I just want to move on.” – Althea Ducati Report The Althea Racing team and rider Carlos Checa gave their all this afternoon at Motorland Aragon, taking a third place finish in Race 2 that was particularly appreciated by the Spanish fans at Carlos’ home track. In Race 1 Althea Racing’s rider found himself in third place through the first corners. Even though his pace in the opening laps was not particularly quick, he improved a lot from the third lap onwards, finding his rhythm and recording very fast times, each lap quicker than the last. Chasing down Melandri and Biaggi, who had an advantage of around 1.5 seconds but a pace slightly slower than that of the Spaniard, Carlos made the quickest lap of the race overall on the seventh lap (1m58.862), a new lap record. Unfortunately in the second split of the eighth lap Checa was victim of a highside that signified the end of his race, though the rider was fortunately unhurt in the incident and able to participate in the second race of the day. In the second race, even though he lost a couple of positions off the line, he immediately made them back up by passing Camier, Fabrizio and Sykes in the space of two laps, to place himself third at the fifth lap. Unfortunately the distance between him and race leaders, Biaggi and Melandri, was too big and despite his best efforts Checa was unable to reach them. In the final stages he began to suffer from a drop in tyre performance; the bike slid around, his times increased as a result and the Spanish rider had to content himself with third position. Carlos Checa: “I am disappointed because it would have been fantastic to win here in front of the Spanish fans. We didn’t need the Race 1 crash. I was pushing hard to close the gap between me and the leader and I slipped. I was slowly catching them and so I’m sorry because it could have been a great race. I don’t know if I would have been able to win but I wanted to at least catch them. Anyway this is racing and I was lucky to be able to take part in race 2, despite some shoulder pain. This was a lesson today and I will learn from it. We changed the tyre for Race 2 and this was an intelligent decision but I wasn’t able to close the gap that opened between me and the leaders. In the final stages the bike began to move around and I couldn’t gain any more ground. I am however satisfied. We know that we’re in great shape, me, the team, the bike and we’ll go the the next round at Brno where we’ll continue to fight for race wins and for the championship.” Genesio Bevilacqua, General Manager of Althea Racing – “It was a bit of a difficult weekend, unforeseen. Unfortunately we suffered a DNF in race one when Carlos slipped and he also injured his shoulder which probably made a difference to his race 2 performance too. We made a strong choice with regard to tyres for the first race and I think we would have had a good chance. The crash came at an important point of the season but these things happen, also to our rivals. We trust that Carlos will bounce back quickly, particularly physically speaking. The season is still long but I believe that we can fight back from Brno onwards and make our best races yet because we will be even more motivated.” – BMW Report Another injury to works rider, Troy Corser (AUS), overshadows this race day at Motorland Aragón (ESP) for Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport. On the first lap of the second race, Troy was hit by a competitor and fell. As his left arm was painful, he was taken to the Medical Centre. The x-ray showed that he had broken both the ulna and radius in his left forearm. Troy will now return to the United Kingdom for further examinations and treatment. In today’s first race, the team was able to make the best of its difficult situation. After experiencing bad luck and some issues in yesterday’s Superpole qualifying, works riders, Leon Haslam (GBR) and Troy, had to start from 14th and 16th positions respectively. Troy had a very good start and made up six places so was up to tenth, while Leon improved to 12th. Both were able to do very consistent lap times with their BMW S 1000 RRs. In the latter stages of race one Leon and Troy enjoyed an exciting battle, crossing the line in ninth and tenth. In the second heat – his 100th race in the FIM Superbike World Championship – Leon made a brilliant start and moved up to seventh. This time he had a good, long fight with Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team), crossing the line in front of the Italian in ninth position. The races were won by Marco Melandri and Max Biaggi. After seven rounds of the 2011 season, Leon is currently sixth in the riders’ championship (120 points), Troy lies in 15th (55 points). In the manufacturers’ standings BMW is fourth with 153 points. BMW Motorrad congratulates BMW S 1000 RR rider Lorenzo Zanetti (ITA) for another podium in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup race. The rider from the BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock Team fought for victory until the last corner and finished second. In all, four BMW riders finished in the top ten: Lorenzo, his team mate Sylvain Barrier (FRA / fifth), Markus Reiterberger (GER / seventh) from the Garnier Alpha Racing Team and Fabio Massei (ITA / tenth) from Team Piellemoto. Leon Haslam: Troy Corser: Bernhard Gobmeier (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director): “We have to forget this weekend as soon as possible. From the first practice session on it did not work so well for us, and the race results are not as good as we had hoped for. But on a weekend like this results are secondary. After Troy’s heavy crash all that matters is now that he recovers from his injuries and returns to full fitness as soon as possible. We will support Troy during his recovery as much as we can. After two back-to-back-races we now have two weekends without racing before we go to Brno. The whole team has worked really hard and I want to thank all of them for that.” |