Laverty Doubles In Italian World Superbike
Cycle News Staff | May 8, 2011
Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty took advantage of a penalty to Aprilia Alitalia’s Max Biaggi to sweep both legs of the World Superbike doubleheader at the famed Autodromo Nazionale di Monza not far from the Yamaha’s World Superbike headquarters in the suburbs of Milan, Italy.Biaggi had led from the start and enjoyed nearly a six-second lead when he was penalized for cutting a chicane with seven laps out of 18 remaining. Biaggi ran long at the first chicane, a common occurrence, but when he rejoined the race he illegally crossed a white line. After serving his ridethrough penalty on the 14th lap, he recovered to finish eighth.Biaggi’s exit put Yamaha’s Marco Melandri narrowly in front of teammate Laverty, the pair well clear of the battle for third.Melandri was on the way to a home World Superbike victory when he made a mistake in the final Parabolica corner, allowing Laverty to get a better drive and beat his teammate to the line by .327 sec.It was Yamaha’s first one-two finish since then Yamaha rider Nori Haga beat teammate Troy Corser by .15 of a second at the Nurburgring in 2008.Alstare Suzuki’s Michel Fabrizio held off PATA Racing Aprilia’s Haga by a tenth of a second in the fight for the final podium spot. BMW Motorrad’s Corser was alone in fifth.
The podium was composed of all Japanese motorcycles for the first time since last year’s second race at Silverstone, when Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha), beat Jonathan Rea (Honda), and Leon Haslam (Suzuki).BMW Motorrad Italia’s Ayrton Badovini narrowly held off Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing’s Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati) for sixth. Biaggi, whose penalty cost him 19 seconds was eighth.Joan Lascorz won the three-way fight for ninth from Althea Racing’s Carlos Checa (Ducati), with Tom Sykes 11th on the second Kawasaki.Checa had arrived with a 43-point lead on Biaggi, but after the worst weekend of his season, the lead has shrunk to 27 points. Instead of Biaggi, who dropped from second to third, it’s Melandri who’s now closest to Checa after four of 13 rounds. Biaggi is one point further behind and trails by 28.The series now has two weekends off before traveling to America for the combined AMA/World Superbike Championship rounds at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah on Memorial Day weekend. The final races are on Monday, May 30.
Race Two:
1. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha)
2. Marco Melandri (Yamaha)
3. Michel Fabrizio ( Suzuki)
4. Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia)
5. Troy Corser (BMW)
6. Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
7. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)
8. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
9. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki)
10. Carlos Checa (Ducati)
