Tom Sykes runs away with race 1 at Moscow

World Superbikes race 1 at the Moscow Raceway began on a wet, but drying circuit and all the rider but two decided to start on slicks and Tom Sykes - who renewed for another season with Kawasaki -dominated from start-to-finish to take his second victory of the season, in an action packed and eventful race with unexpected Marco Melandri and Max Biaggi taking the second and third spot on the podiums after Eugene Laverty - probably on team orders - conceded his position to his Aprilia team mate at the final turn of the last lap.

The Grinner got the holeshot followed by Leon Haslam and Eugene Laverty and poleman Carlos Checa, and notwithstanding the treacherous asphalt there were several risky and spectacular overtakes on the first lap with Haslam taking the second spot while Sykes started to put a massive amount of space between himself and the rest of the field. On lap three Jonathan Rea put a move on Checa and touched the Althea Ducati’s handlebars sending the Spaniard tumbling into the gravel pit - and the reigning World Champion’s hopes to fight and retain the title seems to be definitely over.

Chaz Davies started a devilish charge up the field and caught the second group of riders and caught Leon Haslam who previously ran off track and found himself in fourth behind Laverty and an aggressive Davide Giugliano and Jonathan Rea but the Honda rider’s race for the podium finished on lap 11 when he crashed out.

With Sykes always the leader and on a track that was almost completely dry, Melandri who was riding in a distant sixth began sensibily lowering his lap times with a Max Biaggi even further behind also started to speed up. Giugliano who was riding in third lost two spots to Davies and Haslam and just a few turns later crashed out probably to a worn out rear tire.

With 9 laps left, Davies with a spectacular overtake on Eugene Laverty which made him lose two spots because Haslam and Melandri also took advantage of the situation. Two laps later the BMW rider attacked Davies and the two bashed fairings losing positions and crashed but both were able to rejoin in fourth and sixth, as Melandri suddenly found himself second ahead of Laverty, Davies, Biaggi and Haslam.

On the third and final lap Davies retook the third spot only to run wide and touch the wet grass and crash out while Michele Fabrizio caught a struggling Haslam.

Sykes would cross under the chequered flag with more than an eight second margin followed by Melandri and Biaggi who continues to lead in the standings, albeit by just 6.5 points, while Laverty who lost 1,4 seconds in one turn was fourth. Michel Fabrizio finished in fifth ahead of Leon Haslam. Niccolò Canepa ended up as the best Ducati rider in 7th ahead of Lorenzo Zanetti who out performed his new team mate Sylvain Guintoli -who DNF), while John Hopkins and David Salom closed out the top ten.

WSBK Moscow Race 1 Results:

1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 41’07.852
2. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 41’16.730
3. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 41’20.455
4. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 41’20.879
5. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 41’37.434
6. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 41’38.439
7. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 41’40.022
8. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 41’42.556
9. John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 41’48.218
10. David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 41’48.995
11. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 41’52.215

with http://www.twowheelsblog.com

Marco Melandri wins Race 2 at Moscow and takes standings lead

If World Superbike’s race 1 at the Moscow Raceway was eventful, race 2 proved to be even more dramatic as Marco Melandri won the race, his sixth this season, and Max Biaggi crashed out and taking a hapless Leon Haslam with him - leaving the BMW rider to take the lead in the standings with a very important 18 point advantage after starting race 2 with just 6.5 points separating the two Italian rivals.

Once again race 1 winner Tom Sykes got the holeshot with Eugene Laverty, Leon Haslam, Marco Melandri and Jonathan Rea following while polesitter Carlos Checa dropped back to 7th only to have Max Biaggi overtake him almost immediately.

However this time the Kawasaki rider wasn’t able to use the same escape tatics as before as the tightly knit group raced after him, as Melandri began to put Laverty and Haslam in his sights and on the fifth lap the three battled for the positions letting Sykes gain an short respite and more than a one second lead, while Biaggi moved into fifth and found himself behind Melandri who had lost the first battle between his team mate and the Aprilia rider

Going into lap eight Melandri passed both Haslam and Laverty to gain the second position, while Biaggi ran wide and fell behind to seventh behind Jonathan Rea and Carlos Checa, but the Aprilia rider committed the fateful and costly mistake on lap ten when trying to pass Rea on the brakes he touched the Honda rider, bouncing wide and letting go of the his brakes and ran directly into the back of an unsuspecting Leon Haslam and the two would go down.

Advised that Biaggi was out, Melandri began to to hunt down Sykes as the battle for third went into overdrive between Jonathan Rea, Eugene Laverty with Carlos Checa and Chaz Davies joining the fray. Melandri reached Sykes on lap fifteen and at the end of the straight passed the Kawasaki rider on the brakes and sped away leaving Sykes in the clutches of the hard charging Honda and Aprilia riders.

Going into the final lap Sykes was still hanging on to his second spot shadowed by Laverty and Rea with Checa hanging on the edge the three rider group, but disaster struck when Laverty suffered a highside going into the second to final turn and went down and Rea followed as he slammed into the fallen RSV4, Carlos Checa managed to avoid the downed machines and riders by riding off track, but in the confusion Davies went through and gained the third spot on the podium while Checa ended up fourth and thanking his lucky stars that he wasn’t involved in a crash again.

Leon Camier who picked the wrong tire in race 1 rode from 18th on the grid to take fifth ahead of Davide Giugliano. Rea was able to re-join - minus a few pieces from his Honda and he finished seventh ahead of Ayrton Badovini, Loris Baz and Lorenzo Zanetti.

With only 14 riders able to cross the finish line in a crashfest, Sylvain Guintoli took 11th, ahead of John Hopkins, David Salom and Alexander Lundh. Michel Fabrizio crashed out on the opening lap when he hit Hiroshi Aoyama’s Honda that suffered a technical issue at the start and just a few turns later would cause the Japanese rider to crash and this time involving Pedercini’s David McFadden.

WSBK Moscow Race 2 Results:
01- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – 25 laps in 40’14.677
02- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.976
03- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 4.213
04- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 5.954
05- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 13.568
06- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 15.173
07- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 23.125
08- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 23.696
09- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 23.884
10- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 24.096
11- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 24.881

Dani Pedrosa beats Jorge Lorenzo in last lap thriller at Brno

Today’s MotoGP race at Brno was a two rider affair between championship title contenders Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, with the two rivals sustaining a race pace untouchable for the rest of the field and in a battle of perfectly balanced machinery and almost perfectly matched laps.

For half the race distance polesitter Jorge Lorenzo lead the race, while Pedrosa stuck to the Yamaha rider, never letting him out of his sights and never letting him escape, and on the 11th lap Pedrosa in perfectly executed pass overtook him while Lorenzo played the shadow and the two were always separated by only one or two tenths of second and then the race really began, with both riders giving it all they had in two spectacular and breathtaking overtakes with hard braking and defensive race lines.

Lorenzo made his move at the Stadium and grabbed the head of the race as the two touched, but it was Pedrosa’s overtake at the Horizont which would be the final and decisive move as Lorenzo could no longer find a place to insert his Yamaha and Pedrosa crossed under the chequered flag with a margin 0.178s to win his second consecutive race and his third of season, and more importantly reduce Lorenzo’s lead in the standings to just 13 point.

Cal Crutchlow rode to a safe third and scoring his maiden podium and his position never came under attack by team mate Andrea Dovizioso who came home in fourth.

Stefand Bradl and Alvaro Bautista were 5th and 6th respectively, while Valentino Rossi fell back to seventh after trying to stick with Dovizioso for a couple of laps. The Italian’s Ducati threw out puffs of scary white smoke twice on the first two laps and another time, later which left everyone remember unlucky Ben Spies at Indianpolis and wondering if the Italian had the same engine issue, but he continued to race but his lap times rose and Bradl and Bautista both easily caught him.

Ben Spies had another torrid race after a bad start he found himself behind Dovizioso and Rossi and he probably was startled by the smoke coming out from the Ducati, and dropped to 11th and then 14th and when he charged back through the field and regain 8th he then lost the front on a right hander and crashed out, collecting another zero points.

Randy de Puniet finished the race in 8th and four seconds ahead of Ducati satellite rider Karel Abraham and his team mate Aleix Espargaro who closed out the top ten. Toni Elias subbing for injured Hector Barbera in Pramac was 11th.

MotoGP Brno Race Results:

01- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 22 laps in 42’51.570
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.178
03- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 12.343
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 18.591
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 25.582
06- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 29.451
07- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 34.514
08- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1’04.285
09- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1’08.278
10- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1’09.972

with http://www.twowheelsblog.com

photos from Johnny Doome