Marco Melandri a remporté sa troisième victoire de la saison lors de la première des deux courses de la journée à Laguna Seca, où se déroule la neuvième manche du Championnat du Monde eni FIM Superbike 2014. Le pilote de l'Aprilia Racing Team a profité d'une erreur de Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), qui était en pole, dans le Corkscrew pour s'emparer de la première position dès le premier tour et a ensuite mené jusqu'à l'arrivée.
Son coéquipier Sylvain Guintoli a fait tout son possible pour le suivre mais a dû se contenter de la deuxième place, devant le Champion du Monde en titre.
Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) a été victime d'un highside dans le deuxième tour, alors que les trois premiers pilotes creusaient déjà l'écart sur Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), promu à la quatrième place suite à la chute du Gallois.
A la mi-course, le record du tour établi en 2013 avait déjà été nettement battu et les trois leaders, grâce à un rythme exceptionnel, disposaient d'une confortable avance sur leurs concurrents.
A l'approche du dernier tiers de la course, Guintoli continuait de mettre la pression sur Melandri tandis que Sykes se contentait d'un rôle de spectateur et apercevait au loin l'Italien finalement faire le break pour décrocher sa troisième victoire de l'année.
Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) a pris la quatrième place devant Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) et Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), qui complétait le Top 6 malgré une sortie de piste en début de course.
David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) a remporté la victoire dans la catégorie EVO en terminant dixième devant Niccolo Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) et Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia).
Leon Camier a quant à lui pris le point de la quinzième place pour sa première course avec le MV Agusta Reparto Corse, derrière Jérémy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki).
Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) a été contraint à l'abandon, tout comme Ayrton Badovini (Team Bimota Alstare), Aaron Yates (Team Hero EBR) et Peter Sebestyen (Team Toth BMW).
After 25 thrilling laps, Marco Melandri has won the opening race of the day at Laguna Seca.
Starting from Pole Position it was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) who initially took the holeshot into turn one ahead of the Aprilia Racing Team duo of Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli who both passed the reigning champion at the end of lap one after Sykes made a mistake at the Corkscrew.
Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) crashed spectacularly from 4th on lap two as the leading three began to edge away from the fast starting Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) who was promoted to 4th after the Ducati rider’s departure.
By quarter race distance the circuit lap record set in 2013 had been smashed and the top three riders had a comfortable gap over the chasing pack.
As the race entered the final third, the tense battle at the front intensified as Giuntoli applied the pressure to his Italian team mate with Sykes watching the action unfold in front of him before the Italian broke away.
At the flag it was a rather spread out affair with Melandri taking the win, his 3rd of the season ahead of Guintoli and Sykes who claimed the final podium place.
Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) finished a solid 4th with Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) and Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) completing the top 6.
In the battle of the EVO riders it was David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) that took the honours coming home in a solid 10th with Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) 11th and Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) 12th.
Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was classified 15th and took the final championship point on his debut for the Italian team.
Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) was a notable retirement as were Ayrton Badovini (Team Bimota Alstare), Aaron Yates (Team Hero EBR) and Peter Sebestyen (Team Toth BMW).
Starting from Pole Position it was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) who initially took the holeshot into turn one ahead of the Aprilia Racing Team duo of Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli who both passed the reigning champion at the end of lap one after Sykes made a mistake at the Corkscrew.
Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) crashed spectacularly from 4th on lap two as the leading three began to edge away from the fast starting Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) who was promoted to 4th after the Ducati rider’s departure.
By quarter race distance the circuit lap record set in 2013 had been smashed and the top three riders had a comfortable gap over the chasing pack.
As the race entered the final third, the tense battle at the front intensified as Giuntoli applied the pressure to his Italian team mate with Sykes watching the action unfold in front of him before the Italian broke away.
At the flag it was a rather spread out affair with Melandri taking the win, his 3rd of the season ahead of Guintoli and Sykes who claimed the final podium place.
Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) finished a solid 4th with Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) and Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) completing the top 6.
In the battle of the EVO riders it was David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) that took the honours coming home in a solid 10th with Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) 11th and Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) 12th.
Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was classified 15th and took the final championship point on his debut for the Italian team.
Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) was a notable retirement as were Ayrton Badovini (Team Bimota Alstare), Aaron Yates (Team Hero EBR) and Peter Sebestyen (Team Toth BMW).
