Yamaha World Superbike riders encountered a challenging and eventful race day at the Nurburgring today as the dramatic second race was performed in treacherous conditions on extremely wet asphalt.
Melandri and Laverty completed the first race of the day, held on a dry track, in second and fourth places respectively. The opening laps of the race saw the two Yamaha WSB riders interchange their third and fourth positions on several occasions. An error on Laverty’s behalf at the “Warsteiner bend” on lap 6 caused him to go wide, allowing Melandri to take possession of third place, before closing in on Haga and climbing to second. Two laps later on the same corner Melandri made a similar mistake, causing him to fall back to fourth place and preventing him from battling for the victory. The Italian put his head down and battled it out with Laverty and then Haga to re- claim second place by the 16th lap. Determined, he fought hard to keep his Japanese competitor at bay before crossing the finish line and claiming a spectacular second place on the podium.
The second race of the day was held in treacherous conditions. A difficult start from front row on the grid saw Melandri fall back to seventh place while team-mate Laverty sat in fourth. As heavy rain drenched the German circuit rendering poor visibility and an extreme lack of grip, six riders; Fabrizio, Toseland, Aitchison, Camier, Tamada and finally race leader Haga, crashed out of contention. The Yamaha World Superbike riders prudently completed a race that seemed like a battle to remain standing. Despite the adverse track, the race was not red flagged until the 14th lap. Eugene Laverty successfully reached the finish line in fifth place with his team-mate close behind in sixth.
Marco Melandri leaves the Nurburgring having jumped up to second place on the championship standings with 302 points, 74 behind Checa in the lead and holding a 21 point advantage over Biaggi, who was unable to race today due to injury. Laverty has maintained his fourth position with a total of 232 points. With this weekend’s impressive results, Yamaha are still second in the Manufacurer’s standings having further extended the gap from third place by 15 points and the Yamaha World Superbike Team have confirmed the lead in the Team standings and hold a 99 point advantage.
Marco Melandri
Yamaha World Superbike Team – 2nd, 6th
“Race 1 wasn’t easy so I’m very happy with my podium. I got off to a good start but I wasn’t so fast for the first few laps. I made a mistake and lost the front while braking and went wide so I lost a lot of time. I then caught Eugene and eventually Noriyuki but Carlos was too far ahead. I have to thank my team, they worked hard again and did a great job all weekend! I tried to keep going and finish without crashing. I had an issue with the electronics on the bike and the display wasn’t working well so I was extra cautious in order to stay up. I feel it was an incorrect judgment of the rider’s safety to complete two thirds of the race in these conditions. I am very disappointed, in my opinion the race should have been stopped at the beginning for safety reasons.”
Eugene Laverty
Yamaha World Superbike Team – 4th, 5th
“I was unfortunate in race one because my pace was good all weekend. I didn’t have as good a feeling on the bike as I had yesterday and the low track temperature didn’t’ help to improve the grip on the rear tyre. The second race was treacherous and on safety grounds I think it should have been stopped. I got the impression there was oil on the track after Rea came off his bike and re-joined so everyone was crashing out. We did well that all the riders are coming away without major injuries but I’m upset that we had to risk so much.”
Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“Marco did really well on this track which he was unfamiliar with before now. He achieved an important podium but it’s a shame that an error on lap 8 prevented him from battling with Carlos for the victory, a target which he could have reached. Eugene was also on top form even if he could not display his full potential in the race. He did not have the same feeling with the bike that he had yesterday. The second race was dramatic. The riders completed 14 laps over the limits of security. From the 11th lap onwards the weather got worse and as a consequence it was even riskier for the riders. I’m relieved that both riders managed the dangerous situation so well without getting injured and gained important points for the championship. For the future we need to find a way to avoid these risks for the rider’s safety. I am satisfied to be leaving Nurburgring in second place in both the riders and manufacturers standings and have further increased our advantage in the team standings.”
2011 World Superbike Germany
Nurburgring 04/09/2011 14 Laps
race I
1 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 38’59.779
2 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 0’01.855
3 Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 0’02.322
4 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 0’07.789
5 Leon Haslam BMW GBR 0’09.727
6 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 0’10.113
7 Joan Lascorz Kawasaki ESP 0’17.226
8 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0’17.228
9 Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 0’18.166
10 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0’19.457
11 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0’22.136
12 Mark Aitchison Kawasaki AUS 0’25.346
13 James Toseland BMW GBR 0’31.617
14 Roberto Rolfo Kawasaki ITA 0’31.796
15 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0’33.320
race II
1 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 29’49.337
2 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 0’04.063
3 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0’22.759
4 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0’28.497
5 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 0’38.374
6 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 0’45.326
7 Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 0’47.030
8 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0’50.032
9 Leon Haslam BMW GBR 0’53.586
10 Maxime Berger Ducati FRA 0’55.261
11 Joan Lascorz Kawasaki ESP 1’12.805
12 Troy Corser BMW AUS 1’15.468
13 Roberto Rolfo Kawasaki ITA 1’40.323
Best Lap
Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 2’14.619
World Superbike World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 10 of 13
1. Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 376
2. Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 302
3. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 281
4. Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 232
5. Leon Haslam BMW GBR 176
6. Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 154
7. Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 141
8. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 139
9. Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 134
10. Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 115
11. Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 114
12. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 113
13. Joan Lascorz Kawasaki ESP 111
14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 109
15. Troy Corser BMW AUS 67
16. Ruben Xaus Honda ESP 44
Circuit Length:
4556
Weather:
Very Wet
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’54.595
(Max Biaggi, 9/5/2010)
Last Years Winner:
Noriyuki Haga
Manufacturer Standings
04/09/2011
1 Ducati 400
2 Yamaha 351
3 Aprilia 336
4 BMW 214
5 Kawasaki 171
6 Suzuki 158
7 Honda 132
Another Spectacular Victory for Davies at the Nurburgring
Chaz Davies performed spectacularly in today’s race at the historic German circuit to deliver his fifth victory and eighth podium of the 2011 World Supersport Championship.
After a less than perfect start off second place on this afternoon’s grid, Davies fell back to seventh position. The Welshman made short work of the bunch of competitors just ahead and climbed to fourth place by the end of the second lap. Driven with determination, Davies put his head down and proceeded to close in on and overtake Foret, Rea and Ellison to take the lead by lap six. Fighting hard to hold off a feisty Ellison, title contender Davies drove his powerful R6 to the finish line and snatched the chequered flag just 0.091 seconds ahead of fellow Brit.
Team-mate Luca Scassa was also on flying form today. Falling back to 10th place off the grid, the Italian gradually worked his way back up through the pack. Scassa completed the race in fourth place after a tough battle at times with Roccoli in fifth place and Fabien Foret in sixth.
Chaz Davies has a strong hold on his championship lead and leaves Nurburgring with 171 points, 59 ahead of Salom in second place, with a potential of just 75 points to be gained in the remaining three rounds. Scassa is in fifth place with 96 points, just 16 points from second. Yamaha are leading the Manufacturers standings on 201 points with a 32 point advantage.
Chaz Davies
Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 1st
“I’m extremely happy with the win. Unfortunately I got off to a bad start and lost quite a few places. I put my head down and worked my way back up and enjoyed a close battle with Gino and James. I could hear James tailing me, hoped to break away and lead the race all the way, but that wasn’t easy. I was pleased to see it was James behind me, it is his first podium of the year. I’d like to dedicate this victory to my special friend Claire Barlow, who very sadly passed away a few weeks ago.”
Luca Scassa
Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 4th
“I’m satisfied with the race because I had a good pace. Unfortunately I didn’t take the first corner well and didn’t want to collide with Chaz. I wanted to get ahead and tried to pass him on the inside, which probably wasn’t a good idea. I apologize to him for this incident. Then when I opened the throttle it was too slow and everyone passed me out. I eventually managed to put in better lap times and made up some positions. From mid race I was coming back nicely. Now I’m just 16 points from second place in the championship, so I’m satisfied and will work hard to climb back up there in the next three races.”
2011 World Supersport Germany
Nurburgring 03/09/2011 19 Laps
race I
1 Chaz Davies Yamaha GBR 38’10.466
2 James Ellison Honda GBR 0’00.091
3 Sam Lowes Honda GBR 0’03.749
4 Luca Scassa Yamaha ITA 0’06.269
5 Massimo Roccoli Kawasaki ITA 0’08.702
6 Fabien Foret Honda FRA 0’14.034
7 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 0’25.943
8 David Salom Kawasaki ESP 0’29.696
9 Florian Marino Honda FRA 0’30.886
10 Balazs Nemeth Honda HUN 0’37.555
11 Roberto Tamburini Yamaha ITA 0’37.960
12 Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA 0’39.129
13 Alexander Lundh Honda SWE 0’38.804
14 Imre Toth Honda HUN 0’44.892
15 Ronan Quarmby Triumph RSA 0’48.634
18 Marc Moser Yamaha GER 0’52.839
24 Oleg Pozdneev Yamaha RUS 2’00.000
Best Lap
James Ellison Honda GBR 1’59.795
World Supersport World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 9 of 12
1. Chaz Davies Yamaha GBR 171
2. David Salom Kawasaki ESP 112
3. Fabien Foret Honda FRA 111
4. Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 104
5. Luca Scassa Yamaha ITA 96
6. Sam Lowes Honda GBR 89
7. Gino Rea Honda GBR 62
8. Massimo Roccoli Kawasaki ITA 62
9. James Ellison Honda GBR 62
10. Roberto Tamburini Yamaha ITA 61
11. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 59
12. Florian Marino Honda FRA 58
13. Miguel Praia Honda POR 32
14. Balazs Nemeth Honda HUN 31
15. Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA 26
16. Alexander Lundh Honda SWE 24
27. Alessio Velini Yamaha ITA 3
28. Luca Marconi Yamaha ITA 3
Circuit Length:
4556
Weather:
Dry
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’57.866
(Cal Crutchlow, 9/6/2009)
Manufacturer Standings
03/09/2011
1 Yamaha 201
2 Honda 169
3 Kawasaki 145
4 Triumph 24
