chad reed crash: 2011 Brno World Superbike Race 2 Result: Scintillating Battle Settled On Last Lap

Sunday, July 10, 2011

2011 Brno World Superbike Race 2 Result: Scintillating Battle Settled On Last Lap

Results and summary of World Superbike race 2 at Brno:

Max Biaggi has won the second World Superbike race at Brno, after a thrilling duel with Marco Melandri in the final laps of the race. With the victory, Biaggi closes the gap to Carlos Checa to 30 points in the championship race.

The race started out as almost a carbon copy of race 1: Max Biaggi led into the first corner, followed by the two Yamahas, Marco Melandri ahead of Eugene Laverty, while Carlos Checa followed in 4th. The two Yamaha riders swapped places a couple of times, Melandri coming out on top, then Checa following the Italian past Laverty.

The three championship leaders then edged away at the front, despite Laverty and Alstare Suzuki’s Michel Fabrizio putting up stiff resistance early. Biaggi led for most of the race, Melandri stalking the Aprilia closely, while Checa could do nothing more than follow the two Italians. Melandri was not content to merely sit and wait for a mistake by Biaggi, however. The Yamaha man barged past the Aprilia at the start of lap 8, Biaggi coming back round the infield section of the Czech circuit. Two laps later, Melandri passed again, at his favorite passing spot on the way into Turn 3. Two laps later, Biaggi was back, once again at the rear of the track.

But Melandri was not yet done. After sitting in the reigning World Champion’s wake, poking his wheel beside Biaggi as much as possible to try and force an error. But Biaggi would not be tempted, and so Melandri tried it once more on the way into Turn 3. His lead would once again last just a few corners, Biaggi back in the lead before they made their way back up the hill. Try as he might – and he tried, pushing so hard he even had his boot slip off a footpeg – Melandri could not make his way past, and Max Biaggi went on to take a hard-fought victory. Melandri settled for 2nd, while Checa came home in 3rd.

Biaggi’s win cuts the gap to Checa back to 30 points in the Championship, with Melandri 53 points behind the championship leader. The title will come down to the two Italians and the Spaniard, but Checa will be happy to leave the Czech Republic having conceded just 13 points to Biaggi at the Italian’s favorite circuit. The World Superbike circus now heads to Silverstone, another high-speed circuit where the Ducati will suffer, but after that, the class returns to circuits where the Ducati has a better chance of competing.

Results:

Pos	No.	Rider	Country	Bike	Diff
1	1	M. BIAGGI	ITA	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	�
2	33	M. MELANDRI	ITA	Yamaha YZF R1	0.222
3	7	C. CHECA	ESP	Ducati 1098R	3.558
4	84	M. FABRIZIO	ITA	Suzuki GSX-R1000	7.863
5	58	E. LAVERTY	IRL	Yamaha YZF R1	8.534
6	86	A. BADOVINI	ITA	BMW S1000 RR	18.085
7	91	L. HASLAM	GBR	BMW S1000 RR	21.650
8	17	J. LASCORZ	ESP	Kawasaki ZX-10R	21.862
9	50	S. GUINTOLI	FRA	Ducati 1098R	25.306
10	41	N. HAGA	JPN	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	27.366
11	44	R. ROLFO	ITA	Kawasaki ZX-10R	33.716
12	8	M. AITCHISON	AUS	Kawasaki ZX-10R	36.549
13	57	L. LANZI	ITA	BMW S1000 RR	37.468
14	66	T. SYKES	GBR	Kawasaki ZX-10R	46.878
15	13	V. KISPATAKI	HUN	Honda CBR1000RR	1’38.074
RET	121	M. BERGER	FRA	Ducati 1098R	5 Laps
RET	2	L. CAMIER	GBR	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	6 Laps
RET	96	J. SMRZ	CZE	Ducati 1098R	8 Laps
RET	15	M. BAIOCCO	ITA	Ducati 1098R	11 Laps
RET	22	A. LOWES	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	15 Laps
NS	77	C. VERMEULEN	AUS	Kawasaki ZX-10R	�