Photography by Gold & Goose
Marco Melandri helped his Aprilia teammate Sylvain Guintoli by handing him a victory in race one, but in race two at Magny-Cours Melandri ignored requests by his team to allow Guintoli by and never let off to win the race by 2.669 seconds. Leon Haslam made a late-race pass on championship leader Tom Sykes to secure the final podium spot, 16 seconds behind the leader.
As a result of the Magny-Cours races the points gap between Sykes and Guintoli closed from 31 to 12 points. It might have been just a seven-point spread had Melandri followed team orders. It will be interesting to see how Melandri’s actions play out in terms of him staying with the team next season.
It was again wet and now foggy for race two. Like in race one it was Rea leading the field into turn one, but this time it was Ducati’s Davide Giugliano coming quickly to the front. Melandri slotted in behind Rea for third. World Championship contenders Guintoli and Sykes ran fourth and fifth.
Alex Lowes fell on lap three, the attrition early not nearly as bad in race one. Then it was Giugliano crashing out of the lead while being pressured by Rea.
Once clear Rea seemed to be able to establish a gap on the Aprilia’s of Melandri and Guintoli. On lap seven Guintoli made his way by Melandri. Around mid-race the Aprilias began to close the gap on the Honda of Rea.
Sykes didn’t look his normal fluid self and seemed to be riding with a lot of tension in his shoulders, but he was still managing fourth, although he was about six seconds back from the leaders. Fellow Brit Leon Haslam was not far behind Sykes.
On lap 10 of 19 Rea was suddenly down, the rear end on his Honda coming around and flicking him off the high side through a set of esses. That opened things nicely for Guintoli, now in the lead with Melandri serving as his wingman. On lap 12 Guintoli ran wide giving the lead back to his teammate. It set up the same situation where Melandri would now probably have to slow to allow Guintoli another victory.
Meanwhile Sykes was having issues staying in front of Haslam in what was now a battle for the final podium spot.
On lap 16 Eugene Laverty crashed the Suzuki out of sixth.
In the closing laps it Haslam, having probed time and again, finally found a way around Sykes. Sykes made a couple of efforts to get it back, before realizing it was too risky in terms of the championship an settling for fourth.
Aprilia signaled Melandri in the final laps to drop back to let Guintoli go by, but Melandri’s lead was so big that he would have practically had to stop to let his teammate past, so he continued to the checkered flag and the win.
Behind the top four, Lorenzo Lanzi (3C Racing Ducati), and his team mate Max Neukirchner completed the top six.
In the EVO fight, top honours went to Niccolo Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati). Best classified EVO rider in race one Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) crashed twice, the second signalling the end of his race. He was uninjured.
For Team Toth BMW it was a race for real celebration as both of their riders scored points in the same race for the first time in their short WSBK career.
Melandri s conveyed that it was too much to ask for him to hand two victories away.
“It was a good race for me, the bike was awesome, the team did an unbelievable job,” said Melandri, who moved past Rea for third in the championship. “For me to try to work like in race one, was no meaning because he (Guintoli) can win anyway in Qatar. And giving the double was not enough for my personal sponsor, so today I think I was pretty strong and one victory was a good result for me. We will see in Qatar what is going on, but to be third in the championship after such a difficult start to the season is very good for me. Seeing my speed now I could’ve won the championship, so it’s frustrating. But anyway this is the race and I think Sylvain has made an awesome season.”
Guintoli seemed upbeat and not bothered by his teammate not pulling over, instead focusing on the season finale.
“For us it was a great weekend,” Guintoli said. “And for the championship we are massively back in the race now. I’m very excited. I’ll be focusing on Doha now. It’s a track I really like and I’m really pumped up. Well done also to my teammate Marco, he rode really well. I think today we showed we are on top with the wet conditions. Very positive. I can’t wait to race in Qatar. I wish it were tomorrow.”
For Haslam it marked a return to the podium. It was his first since Misano in 2012.
“It’s been a tough two seasons will the leg breaks and a few problems that I’ve been having,” Haslam said. “A big thanks to the team, Pata Honda, they’re still by me and managed to repay them with a podium. I’m over the moon and we can go to Doha in a month’s time a bit happier.”
The 2014 WSBK series will come to a conclusion at the next round in Qatar on Nov. 2.
World Superbike Race 2 Results from Magny-Cours – Oct. 15, 2014
1 6 33 M. MELANDRI ITA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory
2 5 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory
3 10 91 L. HASLAM GBR PATA Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR
4 1 1 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R
5 15 57 L. LANZI ITA 3C Racing Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R
6 12 27 M. NEUKIRCHNER GER 3C Racing Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R
7 7 76 L. BAZ FRA Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R
8 18 71 C. CORTI ITA MV Agusta Reparto Corse MV Agusta F4 RR
9 4 7 C. DAVIES GBR Ducati Superbike Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R
10 16 59 N. CANEPA ITA Althea Racing Ducati 1199 Panigale R EVO
11 20 9 F. FORET FRA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO
12 26 16 G. RIZMAYER HUN BMW Team Toth BMW S1000 RR EVO
13 25 10 I. TOTH HUN BMW Team Toth BMW S1000 RR
————————————————–Not Classified————————————————–
RET 23 67 B. STARING AUS IRON BRAIN Grillini Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO
RET 9 58 E. LAVERTY IRL Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-
RET 11 212 X. FORES ESP 3C Racing Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R
RET 21 11 J. GUARNONI FRA MRS Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO
RET 3 65 J. REA GBR PATA Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR
RET 13 52 S. BARRIER FRA BMW Motorrad Italia SBK BMW S1000 RR EVO
RET 19 32 S. MORAIS RSA IRON BRAIN Grillini Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-10R
RET 2 34 D. GIUGLIANO ITA Ducati Superbike Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R
RET 28 99 G. MAY USA Team Hero EBR EBR 1190 RX
RET 8 22 A. LOWES GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000
RET 24 20 A. YATES USA Team Hero EBR EBR 1190 RX
RET 14 24 T. ELIAS ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 Factory
RET 27 74 N. SALCHAUD FRA Dream Team Company MV Agusta F4 RR
NS 22 21 A. ANDREOZZI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO
