BMW Motorrad Motorsport broke through in a big way at Donginton Park with Marco Melandri heading up a 1-2 but Race 2 had a considerably different outcome...
Media Release
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Posted May 13, 2012
Donington (GBR)
World Supersport
In winning his first ever WSS race British rider Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) became the fifth different winner in five races this season and the third in a row on a Honda machine. Having struggled on with a stomach bug of some kind since Friday, and suffering a serious finger injury in a fall on Saturday, Lowes had to work hard to resist a late push from eventual second place finisher, Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini). Lowes came within 0.003 seconds of setting a new lap record in his efforts to keep the Turkish rider behind him on the penultimate lap, and is now only six points from Sofuoglu in the championship. Third place today was taken by third ranked rider overall, Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda). Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) was in the early fight for the podium places but dropped back to fourth, while Glen Richards (Smiths Gloucester Triumph) finished fifth today and Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini) sixth.
Results: 1. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 33'43.603; 2. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Kawasaki ZX-6R 0.678; 3. Cluzel J. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 3.987; 4. Parkes B. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 8.088; 5. Richards G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 11.786; 6. Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 20.849; 7. Quarmby R. (RSA) Honda CBR600RR 23.795; 8. Debise V. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 24.094; etc.
"This weekend on English soil provided truly great and heated races for both Superbike and Supersport. The work done during the tests at Imola proved to be very important: in Superbike the R302 solution for the rear, developed from this year's standard SC1, designed to work at lower temperatures and to prevent cold tearing, was quite popular with pretty much all the riders. In Supersport as well, the R303, also a development of the SC1, was chosen by various riders. For this reason, given the excellent feedback received, we will definitely see these two solutions again in some of the future championship races. The Superbike Championship competition is very tight every year, and this year is no exception: in race two six different manufacturers crossed the finish line in the top six places, which shows just how much Pirelli's work contributes to placing all the teams in optimum conditions to be able to realistically aspire to the world title. In addition to congratulations to Marco Melandri and Jonathan Rea, respectively the winners of race 1 and race 2, my compliments go to Max Biaggi who had the best lap in both races as well as Sam Lowes, current ranking leader of the Pirelli Supersport best lap awards" - Giorgio Barbier, Racing Director, Pirelli Moto
Pirelli BEST LAP Awards:
SBK Race 1 – Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) 1'28.992 (Lap 6)
SBK Race 2 – Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) 1'28.995 (Lap 4)
Total BEST LAP (SBK): Checa C. (Althea Racing) 3, Biaggi M. (Aprilia Racing Team) 3, Sykes T. (Kawasaki Racing Team) 2, Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) 1
WSS – Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) 1'31.097 (Lap 21)
Total BEST LAP (WSS): Lowes S. (Bogdanka PTR Honda) 2, Foret F. (Kawasaki Intermoto Step) 1, Parkes B. (Ten Kate Racing Products) 1, Lanzi L. (Prorace) 1.