-
Home
- TV Shows
- TV Schedule
- NASCAR
-
Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Games
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
- Home
- TV Shows
-
TV Schedule
-
SPEED Showcase
-
- NASCAR
- Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
World Superbike
WSBK: MMP Race Day Ticker (Updated)
Team notes and quotes following the USA Round of the Superbike World Championship.
BMW Motorrad Motorsport's Marco Melandri (Photo: BMW Motorrad)
BMW Motorrad Motorsport
An amazing performance by Marco Melandri on the works S 1000 RR at today's Superbike World Championship round at Miller Motorsport's Park saw the Italian rider take a win and a second place to catapult him into second place in the points, just 18 behind leader Max Biaggi.
Race 1 saw Melandri burst through from ninth on the grid up into third place. The Donington Park race winner passed Carlos Checa at the beginning of lap two and took the lead on lap five, passing Tom Sykes in the process. With the now familiar sight of a BMW S 1000 RR leading a WSBK race, Melandri knew his main threat would come from Miller specialist Checa, already a four-times race winner at the American circuit.
True to form, Checa went to the front on lap seven and was able to pull a slight gap on Melandri, who was conscious of Max Biaggi and Jonathan Rea closing fast. By half race distance, Melandri had shaken off the challenges of the two behind him and stuck to his task of trying to stay in touch with Checa. Visibly pushing hard, the Italian RR rider narrowed the gap considerably, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process, but after making a couple of mistakes in the closing laps, he decided to play it safe and settle for the vital 20 championship points that another second-place podium finish brings.
Teammate Leon Haslam, who had started from 13th on the grid, finished the first race in tenth, just behind BMW Motorrad Italia Goldbet SBK Team rider Michel Fabrizio.
In glorious conditions and temperatures nudging 30 degrees, Race 2 saw Melandri work himself up into second position again before the red-flags came out after several laps. After a lengthy delay to safely prepare the circuit for racing again, a restarted 18-lap race saw Melandri get the holeshot but Checa forced his way past on the first lap. However, the reigning WSBK champion crashed out of the race on lap 5 leaving Melandri leading the race.
Before long Melandri had Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies for company, with Max Biaggi joining the battle several laps later. A four-rider thriller followed with Melandri losing the lead on lap 10 and slipping down to third before regrouping and retaking second place back from Davies. With Rea back in his sights, Marco upped the pace, setting his fastest lap of the race as he targeted his second WSBK victory of 2012 on the RR.
It took until the 18th and final lap for Marco to take the lead again, which he then successfully defended in a thrilling battle with Rea. It was the race of the season so far and an extremely successful outing for Melandri, who collected 45 points out of a maximum 50 and moved up into second place in the points. Leon Haslam rounded off a difficult weekend at Miller Motorsports park with an eighth place finish in Race 2.
Marco Melandri: “It is amazing. My team and BMW did an awesome job. Here in Miller it was my worst weekend last year, and it was the worst for BMW, too. So going home with two podiums, a win and a second place, is like a dream. In Race 1, I was pushing like in qualifying from the first lap until the end. The tire was working very well until the end. Yesterday we were struggling a bit too much, but today fortunately the weather was better for us. And I was feeling even more comfortable on the bike with less fuel in the tank. I tried to make the life not easy to Carlos, but in some corners, I could not go his line with the four cylinder bike. I tried to catch him, but on the last lap I tried not to push too much because it was easy to make a mistake, and a second place and the podium was good after such a tough qualifying.
In Race 2, for sure I had a little bit of luck in this race with Carlo crashing. I was struggling a little bit in the beginning, and when Johnny passed me I lost the concentration. It took me some time to catch him. But again, when the fuel dropped down I felt so much better on the bike and fortunately I could pass Johnny on the straight because my engine was so strong. Otherwise it would have been very difficult for me to try to make a pass. I am happy because the bike is working well on different types of tracks. But now we have to be focused, we cannot think that we are going to be on the top every Sunday so we have to keep working. But my team made a great job, thanks to everyone, to all the guys back in Germany. I am so happy and proud to be with BMW. This is the best team I ever worked with.”
Leon Haslam: “It was a tough weekend. Everything that could have gone wrong did this weekend. Due to electrical issues and other things we missed a lot of track time. In Race 1 we were struggling with the engine pushing. For Race 2 we made good steps, the boys had worked very well, but we need to do more. Our lap time was not too bad in Race 2, but it is not where we should be. The main thing we need to work on is the engine braking.
The long break between the red flag and the restart was a positive thing for me because we could reassess the bike and make some more changes after we lost a lot of time over the weekend. I got a good feeling over the first three laps and we made some more changes for the second part which brought another small improvement. Marco rode well over the whole weekend and now I look forward to Misano where I know we can challenge for the wins again.”
Bernhard Gobmeier (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director): "What a fantastic day for BMW Motorrad Motorsport! Having in mind the extremely difficult weekend we experienced here at Miller last year, for sure we would not have expected today's results. We knew that we had made steps forward, but we would not have dreamed of winning here. Marco was with the top from the first practice session on until today. Unfortunately it did not run smoothly for Leon this weekend. He had electrical issues and only had very few laps to set up the bike. To make matters worse, he had a puncture in Superpole. I am convinced that at Misano, Leon will be among the frontrunners again.
So far we have been competitive on every circuit we raced on this season. And for Misano we again expect to be fighting for the victory. Tonight we are going to celebrate - after our one-two victory at Donington came with a bitter after-taste, the whole team has deserved a real party tonight. A big thank you to Marco and Leon, to the whole team here at the race track and in Stephanskirchen and Munich. Each of them contributed to this great result."
An amazing performance by Marco Melandri on the works S 1000 RR at today's Superbike World Championship round at Miller Motorsport's Park saw the Italian rider take a win and a second place to catapult him into second place in the points, just 18 behind leader Max Biaggi.
Race 1 saw Melandri burst through from ninth on the grid up into third place. The Donington Park race winner passed Carlos Checa at the beginning of lap two and took the lead on lap five, passing Tom Sykes in the process. With the now familiar sight of a BMW S 1000 RR leading a WSBK race, Melandri knew his main threat would come from Miller specialist Checa, already a four-times race winner at the American circuit.
True to form, Checa went to the front on lap seven and was able to pull a slight gap on Melandri, who was conscious of Max Biaggi and Jonathan Rea closing fast. By half race distance, Melandri had shaken off the challenges of the two behind him and stuck to his task of trying to stay in touch with Checa. Visibly pushing hard, the Italian RR rider narrowed the gap considerably, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process, but after making a couple of mistakes in the closing laps, he decided to play it safe and settle for the vital 20 championship points that another second-place podium finish brings.
Teammate Leon Haslam, who had started from 13th on the grid, finished the first race in tenth, just behind BMW Motorrad Italia Goldbet SBK Team rider Michel Fabrizio.
In glorious conditions and temperatures nudging 30 degrees, Race 2 saw Melandri work himself up into second position again before the red-flags came out after several laps. After a lengthy delay to safely prepare the circuit for racing again, a restarted 18-lap race saw Melandri get the holeshot but Checa forced his way past on the first lap. However, the reigning WSBK champion crashed out of the race on lap 5 leaving Melandri leading the race.
Before long Melandri had Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies for company, with Max Biaggi joining the battle several laps later. A four-rider thriller followed with Melandri losing the lead on lap 10 and slipping down to third before regrouping and retaking second place back from Davies. With Rea back in his sights, Marco upped the pace, setting his fastest lap of the race as he targeted his second WSBK victory of 2012 on the RR.
It took until the 18th and final lap for Marco to take the lead again, which he then successfully defended in a thrilling battle with Rea. It was the race of the season so far and an extremely successful outing for Melandri, who collected 45 points out of a maximum 50 and moved up into second place in the points. Leon Haslam rounded off a difficult weekend at Miller Motorsports park with an eighth place finish in Race 2.
Marco Melandri: “It is amazing. My team and BMW did an awesome job. Here in Miller it was my worst weekend last year, and it was the worst for BMW, too. So going home with two podiums, a win and a second place, is like a dream. In Race 1, I was pushing like in qualifying from the first lap until the end. The tire was working very well until the end. Yesterday we were struggling a bit too much, but today fortunately the weather was better for us. And I was feeling even more comfortable on the bike with less fuel in the tank. I tried to make the life not easy to Carlos, but in some corners, I could not go his line with the four cylinder bike. I tried to catch him, but on the last lap I tried not to push too much because it was easy to make a mistake, and a second place and the podium was good after such a tough qualifying.
In Race 2, for sure I had a little bit of luck in this race with Carlo crashing. I was struggling a little bit in the beginning, and when Johnny passed me I lost the concentration. It took me some time to catch him. But again, when the fuel dropped down I felt so much better on the bike and fortunately I could pass Johnny on the straight because my engine was so strong. Otherwise it would have been very difficult for me to try to make a pass. I am happy because the bike is working well on different types of tracks. But now we have to be focused, we cannot think that we are going to be on the top every Sunday so we have to keep working. But my team made a great job, thanks to everyone, to all the guys back in Germany. I am so happy and proud to be with BMW. This is the best team I ever worked with.”
Leon Haslam: “It was a tough weekend. Everything that could have gone wrong did this weekend. Due to electrical issues and other things we missed a lot of track time. In Race 1 we were struggling with the engine pushing. For Race 2 we made good steps, the boys had worked very well, but we need to do more. Our lap time was not too bad in Race 2, but it is not where we should be. The main thing we need to work on is the engine braking.
The long break between the red flag and the restart was a positive thing for me because we could reassess the bike and make some more changes after we lost a lot of time over the weekend. I got a good feeling over the first three laps and we made some more changes for the second part which brought another small improvement. Marco rode well over the whole weekend and now I look forward to Misano where I know we can challenge for the wins again.”
Bernhard Gobmeier (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director): "What a fantastic day for BMW Motorrad Motorsport! Having in mind the extremely difficult weekend we experienced here at Miller last year, for sure we would not have expected today's results. We knew that we had made steps forward, but we would not have dreamed of winning here. Marco was with the top from the first practice session on until today. Unfortunately it did not run smoothly for Leon this weekend. He had electrical issues and only had very few laps to set up the bike. To make matters worse, he had a puncture in Superpole. I am convinced that at Misano, Leon will be among the frontrunners again.
So far we have been competitive on every circuit we raced on this season. And for Misano we again expect to be fighting for the victory. Tonight we are going to celebrate - after our one-two victory at Donington came with a bitter after-taste, the whole team has deserved a real party tonight. A big thank you to Marco and Leon, to the whole team here at the race track and in Stephanskirchen and Munich. Each of them contributed to this great result."
WSBK: Monza Race 0513
LATEST HEADLINES: MOTO-RACING
-
AMA MX: Villopoto Leads Into Thunder Valley
Ryan Villopoto rolls into Lakewood, Colorado for Round 2 of the '13… -
AMA FT: Series Prepares For Springfield Mile
Round 4 of the AMA pro Flat Track Championship will take place this… -
WSBK: Title Battles Arrives At Donington Park
The British contingent is preparing to defend its home turf this… -
AMA MX: Hangtown Ticker (UPDATED)
Notes and quotes following this past weekend's Lucas Oil Pro Motocross… -
VIDEO: AMA MX - Hangtown Classic Highlights
Ryan Villopoto kicked off the '13 Lucias Oil Motocross season in… -
AMA DSB: Westby Back In Action
Dane Westby was back on a bike after his Daytona injury to test at… -
AMA DSB: Heirs To The Throne
AMA Pro's second offseason is finally coming to an end and with it… - More News
