Sykes & Biaggi Split Wins at Portugal, Biaggi Takes Huge Lead in Championship at Penultimate Round of the 2012 eni SBK World Championship

Biaggi asserts his authority at penultimate round

Portimao (Portugal), Sunday 23 September 2012 – Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) scored a single podium for third place in race two at the eni FIM Superbike World Championship round in Portugal today, but two strong points scores saw him extend his overall lead as his other championship rivals found trouble. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) won his first race of the 2012 season in the second outing today, which went to all 22-laps duration.

 

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) started well, as he won the first race in front of 51,000 weekend spectators, but he had to retire with an engine failure in the second race. With Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) injured in the aborted first race, the Italian scored no points today.

 

The final result from Portugal, with one round and two individual races to go in France in two weeks’ time, is that Biaggi has a total of 347 points, 30.5 more than Sykes, while Melandri is 38.5 points adrift of Biaggi.

 

Race 1

 

Full wet conditions arrived on Sunday morning and they were to play a part in the race being halted because of an oil spill after a crash. A restarted race, over only 16 laps, was won by Sykes who scored his third win of the season and drew himself – temporarily - closer to championship leader Biaggi as a result. Max was fourth in the opening race after several incidents and changing fortunes as the race unfolded. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) looked like he could pass Sykes at the end but was unable to in the final two laps, and he settled for second place. PATA Racing Ducati privateer rider Sylvain Guintoli scored himself another podium finish, in third place. A collision on lap one of the first start saw Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) crash after an attempted pass on Biaggi and he was taken to hospital for scans on a bruised kidney, missing out on any further Portimao action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Sykes celebrates after surviving to take race one in Portugal today aboard the #66 Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

 

 

Tom Sykes: “I’ve got to start by thanking the team and Kawasaki, the boys made a big change in between the two parts and it was a different bike in the second rerun. I was so comfortable and much happier and was able to predict what the bike was doing. We got to the front and managed the tyres very well, racing with these guys was fantastic. It’s good for the championship but we’ll take it race by race.”

 

Results: 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 16 Laps/73.472 km in 31'42.011 average 139.063 kph; 2. Checa (Ducati) 0.300; 3. Guintoli (Ducati) 2.732; 4. Biaggi (Aprilia) 11.564; 5. McCormick (Ducati) 11.771; 6. Rea (Honda) 11.792; 7. Baz (Kawasaki) 28.693; 8. Aoyama (Honda) 29.581; 9. Badovini (BMW) 31.507; 10. Fabrizio (BMW) 31.587; etc.

 

Race 2

 

After a tense battle Laverty took his first victory of the season, and his first on an Aprilia machine, as he held off the impressive late charge of Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) by only 0.162 seconds. Eugene became the ninth rider in 2012 to win a race. Laverty had been a clear leader but in the final laps Rea put in a real charge at the undulating Portuguese circuit. Over three seconds behind the race winner, Biaggi was third and now carries a more than useful lead into the final round in France. His new main championship rival Sykes no scored.

 

Eugene Laverty: “I rode hard at the beginning to get a gap but Jonathan pushed me hard towards the end. The grip wasn’t there, which was evident in the lap time, but I just kept going towards the end. I managed to hang on. The win has been so long coming, the last time was Monza and of course this is the first for Aprilia, I’m ecstatic about it!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eugene Laverty got his first win of the season in race two today in Portugal on the #58 Aprilia Racing Team RSV4 Factory mount.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

 

 

Results: 1. Laverty (Aprilia) 22 Laps/101.024 km in 38'35.105 average 157.093 kph; 2. Rea (Honda) 0.162; 3. Biaggi (Aprilia) 3.766; 4. Guintoli (Ducati) 10.440; 5. Checa (Ducati) 20.153; 6. Badovini (BMW) 23.152; 7.Baz (Kawasaki) 27.314; 8. Fabrizio (BMW) 35.682; 9. McCormick (Ducati) 35.766; 10. Lanzi (Ducati) 38.311; etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Rea, Eugene Laverty and Max Biaggi celebrate on the podium in Portugal after their 2-1-3 finishes in race two.  Biaggi heads to the final round with a 30.5 point margin in the overall standings over Sykes and another 8 points back to Melandri, who failed to score a finish in race one or start race two due to a crash in race one, going scoreless for the third race in-a-row in the last two rounds.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

 

 

Points (after 13 of 14 rounds): 1.Biaggi 347; 2. Sykes 316,5; 3. Melandri 308.5; 4. Checa 278.5; 5. Rea 255.5; 6.Laverty 241.5; 7. Haslam 189; 8. Guintoli 172.5; 9. Davies 156.5; 10. Fabrizio 133.5; etc.Manufacturers: 1. Aprilia 422.5; 2. BMW 394; 3. Ducati 375; 4. Kawasaki 356.5; 5. Honda 270.5; 6. Suzuki 130.5.

 

World Supersport

 

Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Lorenzini) won his third world championship by finishing behind the only man who could have caught him before the Portimao round, Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda). Cluzel gave his all to keep the title alive for another weekend but with so many changes of lead and position inside the top four riders today, nothing was certain until the very last corner when he had stretched out a winning lead. Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step) was third in the race, just less than a second from Cluzel. Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) was fourth and Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) fifth. In the rankings, with one round to go, Sofuoglu has a peerless 218 points, Cluzel 185 and Foret 160.

 

Results: 1. Cluzel (Honda) 20 Laps/91.840 km in 36'05.886 average 152.651 kph; 2. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 0.645; 3. Foret (Kawasaki) 0.969; 4. Parkes (Honda) 1.035; 5. Lowes (Honda) 3.905; 6. Morais (Kawasaki) 5.936; 7. Linfoot (Kawasaki) 22.555; 8. Baldolini (Triumph) 22.595; 9. Quarmby (Honda) 23.121; 10. Scholtz (Honda) 23.740; etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kenan Sofuoglu celebrates with the Kawasaki Lorenzini team after clinching the 2012 World Supersport Championship at Portugal today with one race remaining in the season.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

 

 

Points (after 12 of 13 rounds): 1. Sofuoglu 218 (champion); 2. Cluzel 185; 3. Foret 160; 4. Lowes 152; 5. Parkes 135; 6. Morais 94; 7. Baldolini 86; 8. Quarmby 84; 9. Iannuzzo 60; 10. Leonov 52; etc.Manufacturers: 1. Honda 262; 2. Kawasaki 257; 3. Triumph 115; 4. Yamaha 102; 5. Suzuki 6.

 

Superstock 1000

 

Bryan Staring (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) pushed himself ahead of long-time race leader Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) to score the win in Portugal, his third victory of the season, with Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) pushing on to record third spot. In the championship Eddi La Marra (Barni Racing Team Italia Ducati) is now second by three points behind Barrier, after he finished fifth at Portimao. Lorenzo Savadori (Barni Racing Team Italia Ducati) was fourth today. Three riders can now win the title, Barrier, La Marra and Staring, although the Aussie rider is 22 points behind the lead.

 

Results: 1. Staring (Kawasaki) 12 Laps/55.104 km in 21'34.528 average 153.241 kph; 2. Barrier (BMW) 1.722; 3. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 3.839; 4. Savadori (Ducati) 6.249; 5. La Marra (Ducati) 6.444; 6. Bergman (Kawasaki) 12.990; 7.Massei (Honda) 16.963; 8. Mercado (Kawasaki) 19.648; 9. Reiterberger (BMW) 19.708; 10. Jezek (Ducati) 20.487; etc.

 

Points (after 9 of 10 rounds): 1.Barrier 133; 2. La Marra 130; 3. Staring 111; 4. Guarnoni 98; 5.Savadori 91; 6. Reiterberger 85; 7. Bergman 78; 8. Massei 71; 9. Coghlan 68; 10. Baroni 56; etc.Manufacturers: 1. Kawasaki 168; 2. Ducati 165; 3. BMW 161; 4. Honda 71; 5. Aprilia 17.

 

Superstock 600

 

An early fight between UEM European Superstock 600 Championship rivals Michael van der Mark (EAB Junior Team Honda) and Riccardo Russo (Team Italia FMI Yamaha) was effectively over when Russo ran wide at mid race distance. Van der Mark now has a seven-point championship lead, with one round remaining in France. He has scored five race wins so far while Russo has scored four. Adrian Nestorovic (MTM Racing Yamaha) was a strong third in front of his team-mate Gauthier Duwelz at Portimao. In the championship, van der Mark has 194 points, Russo 187, Duwelz 91 and Nestorovic 74.

 

Results: 1. Vd Mark (Honda) 10 Laps/45.920 km in 18'19.861 average 150.303 kph; 2. Russo (Yamaha) 5.992; 3. Nestorovic (Yamaha) 6.055; 4. Duwelz (Yamaha) 7.133; 5. Morbidelli (Yamaha) 7.401; 6. Schacht (Honda) 10.991; 7. Gamarino (Kawasaki) 10.998; 8. Cecchini (Honda) 11.478; 9. Vitali (Yamaha) 11.779; 10. Mulhauser (Yamaha) 11.790; etc.

 

Points (after 9 of 10 rounds): 1.Vd Mark 194; 2. Russo 187; 3. Duwelz 91; 4. Nestorovic 74; 5. Vitali 66; 6. Schacht 65; 7. Morbidelli 63; 8. Calero Perez 59; 9. Gamarino 58; 10. Chesaux 50; etc.

 

 

Official Tyre Supplier   "Before analysing the Superbike races, Pirelli would like to congratulate Kenan Sofuoglu (on his return to the category) and team Kawasaki Lorenzini on their victory in the World Supersport Championship which rewards the rider’s excellent performance and the team’s consistent work throughout the season. But the Portimão round, the penultimate of the World Championship, was first and foremost an extremely important weekend in the Superbike class main feature which, despite the uncertain weather conditions, provided fans with two very heated and exciting races. In particular race1 was ridden on rain tyres by all the riders for both the first start, when the track was actually still quite wet, and for the restart after the race was red flagged to clean up oil left on the track by Brignola’s unfortunate crash. For the latter case, in spite of the track being almost completely dry and therefore not in ideal performance conditions for the wet solution, the tyres performed superbly and surpassed all expectations, allowing the riders not only to finish the race without problems but even to improve lap times as the race went on. Clear evidence of this is the best lap, realised by Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) during the last lap, at a time when the track had already quite completely dried off. Race2, on the other hand, was run on slicks. More specifically, almost all the riders opted for the oversized profile SC0 R874 solution which proved to be a valid alternative to the SC0 solution which was the standard selection here, as well as at Brno, Misano and Phillip Island. With a 30.5 advantage over the closest contender (Tom Sykes) and 38.5 over Marco Melandri, Max Biaggi has staked a strong claim on the title, but on several occasions Superbike has demonstrated just how unpredictable the races can be, so we will have to wait and see what happens during the final round which will be held at Magny-Cours in two weeks." -Giorgio Barbier, Racing Director Pirelli Moto     Pirelli BEST LAP Awards:   SBK Race 1 – Carlos Checa (Althea Racing), 1'56.477 (Lap 16) SBK Race 2 – Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team), 1'44.578 (Lap 5) Total BEST LAP (SBK): Checa C. (Althea Racing): 8, Biaggi M. (Aprilia Racing Team): 5; Melandri M. (BMW Motorrad Motorsport): 4; Sykes T. (Kawasaki Racing Team): 3; Guintoli S. (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing): 1; Baz L. (Kawasaki Racing Team): 1; Ayrton Badovini (BMW Mottorad Italia Goldbet): 1; Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport): 1; Laverty E. (Aprilia Racing Team): 1     WSS – Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda), 1'47.416 (Lap 6) Total BEST LAP (WSS): Lowes S. (Bogdanka PTR Honda): 3; Cluzel J. (PTR Honda): 3; Foret F. (Kawasaki Intermoto Step): 2; Parkes B. (Ten Kate Racing Products): 2; Lanzi L. (Prorace): 1; Morais S. (Kawasaki Lorenzini): 1     STK1000 – Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS), 1’47.031 (Lap 6) STK600 – Michael VD Mark (EAB Ten Kate Junior Team), 1'49.028 (Lap 7)

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