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World Superbike
WSBK: Checa Bins, Melandri Wins Race 2
Marco Melandri scored BMW's second WSBK victory after Carlos Checa threw away his MMP triple double.
BMW Motorrad Motorsport's Marco Melandri and Honda World Superbike's Jonathan Rea (Photo: Evan Williams)
BMW Motorrad Motorsports' Marco Melandri got his revenge in MMP Race 2 -- both for his close loss in Race 1 to Carlos Checa and for his final corner Donington Race 2 disaster at the hands of Jonathan Rea.
At one point, Checa looked destined to repeat his earlier dominance, storming off at the front -- twice. The race was halted due to a oil spill early while Checa had just cleared a two-second gap at the front. After a lengthy delay to clean the surface, the Althea Ducati man again escaped at the front and a MMP triple double seemed all but certain until the Spaniard spectacularly crashed from the lead while holding a second near-two-second advantage.
Checa's mistake handed the lead over to Race 1 runner-up Melandri, but the Italian's victory was far from decided at that point.
Melandri found himself under fire first from a very racy Chaz Davies, the former AMA star chasing down Melandri on the ParkinGo Aprilia RSV4. His place was then taken by Rea, the Honda World Superbike star who bumped down Melandri's teammate, Leon Haslam, (who in turn took out Melandri) for the win at the series' previous stop in England.
Meanwhile, Aprilia Racing's Max Biaggi came charging up from behind, turning what had once looked to be a one-sided Checa benefit into a four-way scrap for the lead.
Rea and Davies stormed past Melandri in successive corners on lap 10 of 18, but Melandri regrouped and dropped Davies back down to third two laps later.
The Honda and BMW entries then shook free of the Aprilias with Rea looking capable of eking away for the win, opening his gap to more than a half-second at the front.
The former MotoGP star found a third wind, however, and closed back in for a final-lap strike. He rushed past Rea's CBR1000RR aboard the fleet BMW S 1000 RR off the front straight and held the spot into Turn 1. Rea took several looks for a way through in response, but Melandri defended the spot to hand BMW its second-ever World Superbike win.
“It was such a difficult race for me; I was lucky for sure when Carlos made a mistake," Melandri admitted. "I was struggling a little bit with a full fuel tank but after 50% of the race it was getting better. When Johnny passed me he was much faster than me, and I lost a bit of concentration, so Max passed me and then Chaz Davies did as well. So I tried to stay calm, take my rhythm and try to get a good feeling to catch Johnny. I was very lucky because my engine was so strong so I could pass him on the straight. Otherwise for me it would have been really difficult to pass him. So a podium in race one and a win in race two is really unbelievable.”
Rea said, “Marco made some mistakes in the middle of the race and then I was making some mistakes at the end of the race. He was really strong but I am just so happy to come out of Miller with a fourth and a second. It is so nice to be here on the podium in America. I grew up watching AMA motocross and it was my dream to come to America and race. My team did a fantastic job. We have been lacking a little bit in a straight line but it is unbelievable everywhere else and I could really push to the maximum.”
Biaggi outlasted Davies and delayed the reigning World Supersport champ's maiden WSBK podium to another day.
Biaggi said, “To come all the way to Utah and finish on the podium twice is not so bad, but my dream was to win a race. But there were some other guys who did a better job than me so third position is not so bad. I am not super happy, but not so bad.”
Kawasaki Racing Team's Tom Sykes came home fifth, just ahead of Biaggi's teammate, Eugene Laverty, while Checa's teammate, Davide Giugliano, finished seventh.
Melandri's teammate, Leon Haslam, was eighth, followed the Liberty Racing Team Effenbert runners Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli.
SPEED.com Motorcycle Racing Editor Chris Martin saw Eddie Lawson win aboard a Kawasaki the first time he attended an AMA Superbike race and witnessed Ben Bostrom win a World Superbike race aboard a V&H Ducati the first time he worked one. He has written about AMA SBK, WSBK, and MotoGP for SPEED.com since 2003. Chris is now on Twitter.
At one point, Checa looked destined to repeat his earlier dominance, storming off at the front -- twice. The race was halted due to a oil spill early while Checa had just cleared a two-second gap at the front. After a lengthy delay to clean the surface, the Althea Ducati man again escaped at the front and a MMP triple double seemed all but certain until the Spaniard spectacularly crashed from the lead while holding a second near-two-second advantage.
Checa's mistake handed the lead over to Race 1 runner-up Melandri, but the Italian's victory was far from decided at that point.
Melandri found himself under fire first from a very racy Chaz Davies, the former AMA star chasing down Melandri on the ParkinGo Aprilia RSV4. His place was then taken by Rea, the Honda World Superbike star who bumped down Melandri's teammate, Leon Haslam, (who in turn took out Melandri) for the win at the series' previous stop in England.
Meanwhile, Aprilia Racing's Max Biaggi came charging up from behind, turning what had once looked to be a one-sided Checa benefit into a four-way scrap for the lead.
Rea and Davies stormed past Melandri in successive corners on lap 10 of 18, but Melandri regrouped and dropped Davies back down to third two laps later.
The Honda and BMW entries then shook free of the Aprilias with Rea looking capable of eking away for the win, opening his gap to more than a half-second at the front.
The former MotoGP star found a third wind, however, and closed back in for a final-lap strike. He rushed past Rea's CBR1000RR aboard the fleet BMW S 1000 RR off the front straight and held the spot into Turn 1. Rea took several looks for a way through in response, but Melandri defended the spot to hand BMW its second-ever World Superbike win.
“It was such a difficult race for me; I was lucky for sure when Carlos made a mistake," Melandri admitted. "I was struggling a little bit with a full fuel tank but after 50% of the race it was getting better. When Johnny passed me he was much faster than me, and I lost a bit of concentration, so Max passed me and then Chaz Davies did as well. So I tried to stay calm, take my rhythm and try to get a good feeling to catch Johnny. I was very lucky because my engine was so strong so I could pass him on the straight. Otherwise for me it would have been really difficult to pass him. So a podium in race one and a win in race two is really unbelievable.”
Rea said, “Marco made some mistakes in the middle of the race and then I was making some mistakes at the end of the race. He was really strong but I am just so happy to come out of Miller with a fourth and a second. It is so nice to be here on the podium in America. I grew up watching AMA motocross and it was my dream to come to America and race. My team did a fantastic job. We have been lacking a little bit in a straight line but it is unbelievable everywhere else and I could really push to the maximum.”
Biaggi outlasted Davies and delayed the reigning World Supersport champ's maiden WSBK podium to another day.
Biaggi said, “To come all the way to Utah and finish on the podium twice is not so bad, but my dream was to win a race. But there were some other guys who did a better job than me so third position is not so bad. I am not super happy, but not so bad.”
Kawasaki Racing Team's Tom Sykes came home fifth, just ahead of Biaggi's teammate, Eugene Laverty, while Checa's teammate, Davide Giugliano, finished seventh.
Melandri's teammate, Leon Haslam, was eighth, followed the Liberty Racing Team Effenbert runners Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli.
SPEED.com Motorcycle Racing Editor Chris Martin saw Eddie Lawson win aboard a Kawasaki the first time he attended an AMA Superbike race and witnessed Ben Bostrom win a World Superbike race aboard a V&H Ducati the first time he worked one. He has written about AMA SBK, WSBK, and MotoGP for SPEED.com since 2003. Chris is now on Twitter.
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