Monza (Italy), Sunday 8 May 2011 – Monza lived up to its reputation for thrills and excitement yet again as a crowd of 116,500 watched Eugene Laverty win both 18-lap races in sun-kissed conditions. Laverty was a clear winner in race one, upsetting the pre-race form that had Max Biaggi down as a strong favourite for a double race victory. In race two Biaggi was on for the win at his home track but in making a misjudgment and cutting the first chicane he did not follow the rules about keeping to a certain line and re-entering the track only at permitted areas. For this infringement he was given a ride through penalty. His hopes of the win were over after losing significant amounts of time because of his ride-through, and he ended up eighth.
Biaggi’s misfortune allowed the two Yamaha World Superbike riders Marco Melandri and Laverty to fight it out right to the flag, with Laverty winning and Melandri second after an audacious pass into the Parabolica. Michel Fabrizio was third in race two, on his Alstare Suzuki. World Championship leader Carlos Checa also had a dramatic day, as he scored points in each race, but was lucky to finish the second as he went from sixth to tenth when his machine developed a sudden technical problems and a trail of blue smoke was visible from its exhaust. He had been ninth in race one.
Behind the podium places, Melandri, Fabrizio and Rea filled the top six in race one, with Noriyuki Haga, Troy Corser and a jubilant Ayrton Badovini inside the top six in race two.
Sylvain Guintoli was seventh in race two for his Effenbert Liberty Ducati Team, the top single race Ducati finisher on the day. Checa is still the leader of the championship, but the riders immediately behind him also had changeable fortunes after Monza. Leon Haslam was a podium man in race one, but a faller in race two, along with Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus. Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) was on course for a podium but fell at high speed in race two.
In the championship standings Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) has 145 points, Melandri 118 and Biaggi 117. Rea is fourth with 89 points and Laverty is now fifth, on 85.
Race 1
A close race at times was turned into a cool-headed race win for Laverty as he stretched his rivals to breaking point in the final laps. Biaggi and Haslam took the other podium places, after some tough passes and fights between that duo and fourth place rider Melandri. Fabrizio had a strong ride on his Suzuki Alstare machine and set the fastest lap on his way to fifth place. Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) held off Troy Corser to earn himself a top six finish, 12 seconds from the winner.
Eugene Laverty: “That was a great race, definitely not one of the easiest but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I just kept pushing to the top and my first win couldn’t have come at a better place, the Yamaha team is based at Lesmo and everyone’s here to celebrate!”
Max Biaggi: “Second place is better than nothing but I was hoping to do a bit better. I got a good start but made some mistakes and then I was bothered with Leon, Eugene started to go away then I made another mistake so at the end of the day I settled for second place.”
Leon Haslam: “We didn’t get the best of starts and made a few mistakes. I felt like I could run the pace, and then I got into a battle where me and Max were passing each other a few times. We were holding each other up a bit which meant that Eugene got away. It was a tough race, the last part I was defending from Marco but I’ve got a lot more feel out of the BMW now and I’m actually looking forward to the races in the future.”
Results: 1. Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF R1 31’09.584 (200,232 kph); 2. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1.575; 3. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 3.078; 4. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R1 3.255; 5. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 11.812; 6. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 12.371; 7. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 13.280; 8. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 17.419; 9. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 17.569; 10. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 18.420; etc.
Race 2
Laverty won a last corner battle with his team-mate Melandri in the second 18-lap race at Monza but the bigger drama was the award of a ride-through penalty for long-time race leader Biaggi, for cutting a chicane in an incorrect fashion. He recovered to finish eighth. Third was Fabrizio, but only after a massive fight with Pata Aprilia rider Noriyuki Haga, who went fourth.
Fifth with a strong ride was Corser, Badovini a brilliant sixth and only ten seconds from Laverty, with the luckless Biaggi eighth. Joan Lascorz recovered from a race one crash to give Kawasaki ninth in race two, the best result of the day for the guys in green.
Eugene Laverty: “I can’t believe I got a double victory here today. My aim coming here this weekend was to get a podium and I came away with two wins. In race 2 I made an average start and two of the guys closed me in and I had to go back. There was a big crash in front of me, it was a hectic race, I was having trouble with the front tyre, but when it came to the last few laps it was between me and Marco and I just couldn’t believe it.”
Marco Melandri: “It’s been a very tough weekend for me, we’ve been trying to find a good set-up to make the bike stable. In the second race we made a big step further but the bike was very nervous at the end so I couldn’t race for the win. I tried to do my best but at the last corner I struggled with the gearbox, the rear tyre locked and I lost.”
Michel Fabrizio: “It was a battle with Haga like the ones of a couple of years back, I wanted the podium at all costs and we would surely have deserved it. Max had already gone away from the rest of the field, so I was settling for fourth place, but in racing it often happens that you can get a podium like that.“
Results: 1. Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF R1 31’19.948 (199,128 kph); 2. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R1 0.327; 3. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 2.466; 4. Haga N. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2.583; 5. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 4.502; 6. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 10.865; 7. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 11.038; 8. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 18.724; 9. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 20.093; 10. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 20.376; etc.
Points (after 4 of 13 rounds): 1. Checa 145; 2. Melandri 118; 3. Biaggi 117; 4. Rea 89; 5. Laverty 85; 6. Haslam 84; 7. Fabrizio 74; 8. Camier 58; 9. Smrz 55; 10. Haga 47; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 152; 2. Yamaha 147; 3. Aprilia 139; 4. BMW 101; 5. Honda 93; 6. Suzuki 74; 7. Kawasaki 53.
World Supersport
Chaz Davies (Yamaha ParkinGO) won his second career WSS race in succession by leading home his team-mate Luca Scassa after 16 laps of the Monza circuit. Behind the flying duo from the Italian based Yamaha team, Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) had an eventually lonely but impressive third place finish, some 7.9 seconds from Davies.
Behind the podium places, a race-long fight between four riders saw Broc Parkes (Kawasaki Motocard.com), Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda), Roberto Tamburini (Bike Service RT Yamaha) and Florian Marino (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) completed the top seven places. David Salom took an impressive eighth despite not having his best engine available, from another Kawasaki rider Massimo Roccoli.
Results: 1. Davies C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 29’05.363 (190,651 kph); 2. Scassa L. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 4.734; 3. Foret F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 7.977; 4. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-6R 19.246; 5. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 19.882; 6. Tamburini R. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 20.148; 7. Marino F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 21.090; 8. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 31.595; etc.
Points (after 4 rounds of 12): 1. Davies 70; 2. Scassa 70; 3. Parkes 60; 4. Harms 43; 5. Salom 42; 6. Foret 36; 7. Lowes 27; 8. Roccoli 26; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Yamaha 100; 2. Honda 68; 3. Kawasaki 60; 4. Triumph 14.
Superstock 1000
Lorenzo Zanetti (BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock) took a close win by only 0.065 seconds at Monza in a stopped and restarted race cut to only five laps duration. Michele Magnoni (Baru Racing Team BMW) was third and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Racing Team Ducati) fourth. It was Zanetti’s first race win in this class.
A blown engine in the first race start, from Sylvain Barrier’s BMW Motorrad Italia machine, saw several riders crash at high speed on the spilled oil, with none seriously injured, but Andrea Boscoscuro suffered a broken collarbone.
Results: 1. Zanetti L. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 8’56.130 (193,957 kph); 2. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 0.065; 3. Magnoni M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1.728; 4. Petrucci D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 3.634; 5. Massei F. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 4.750; 6.Reiterberger M. (GER) BMW S1000 RR 9.341; 7. Bussolotti M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 9.418; 8. Antonelli A. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 10.734; etc.
Points (after 2 rounds of 10): 1. Giugliano 45; 2. Petrucci 33; 3. Zanetti 32; 4. Antonelli 18; 5. Magnoni 16; 6. Barrier 16; 7. Baroni1 3; 8. Canepa 13; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 45; 2. BMW 41; 3. Kawasaki 20; 4. Honda 18; 5. Yamaha 4.
