Brno Race Two: Biaggi!

Cycle News Staff | July 10, 2011

Marco Melandri and Max Biaggi fought it out for 20 laps again in race two of the World Superbike round at Brno in the Czech Republic, but this time Biaggi turned the tables on his countryman, beating him to the line by just .222 of a second.Biaggi led most of this one, getting the holeshot and heading Melandri for the first nine laps before Melandri took over at the front for two laps. From there it was Biaggi leading the rest of the way, but by never more than a fraction of a second. It came down to the final lap and Biaggi was able to get the job done.The win was Biaggi’s second on the season and it moved him a bit closer to championship points leader Carlos Checa, the Spaniard finishing third in race two to match his effort from race one. Checa now leads Biaggi by 30 points, 293-263. Melandri is third with 240 points.

“It’s been very tough all weekend, Carlos and Marco were very fast, but here we are again with the top three on the podium,” Biaggi said. “In this way we’re having ups and downs, winning one race and second in the other. In race one, I wasn’t really happy, I knew I could do it, but I didn’t have the moment and Marco went on to win. This time I could reply and do my pace. We made a few changes between the races but not very much, you can always learn from the details, we made the right adjustments but here it’s very difficult for tire wear and temperature.”Checa was with the lead duo throughout the race dropping off the pace in the final laps. He ended up 3.5 seconds behind.But he was well clear of fourth-place finisher Michel Fabrizio, the Italian riding the Alstare Suzuki to fourth for the second time on the day.Fifth went to Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty, the Northern Irelander less than a second behind Fabrizio at the line. Laverty in turn was some 10 seconds ahead of the first of the BMWs – BMW Motorrad Italia’s Ayrton Badovini. Badovini had a few seconds to a battle between factory BMW’s Leon Haslam and Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz. Haslam ended up taking seventh over Lascorz by just .2 of a second.Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati’s Sylvain Guintoli finished ninth with PATA Racing Team Aprilia’s Noriyuki Haga 10th.Czech Jakub Smrz crashed out of his home race; as did Jonathan Rea fill-in rider Alex Lowes on the Castrol Honda. It was a dismal day for the Honda team as Ruben Xaus didn’t start race two after crashing out of race one on the opening lap.Race Two

1.                  Max Biaggi (Aprilia)

2.                  Marco Melandri (Yamaha)

3.                  Carlos Checa (Ducati)

4.                  Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki)

5.                  Eugene Laverty (Yamaha)

6.                  Aytron Badovini (BMW)

7.                  Leon Haslam (BMW)

8.                  Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki)

9.                  Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)

10.                  Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia)