World Superbike race two was reduced to a nineteen lap affair after Jules Cluzel gesticulated on the grid after the warm up lap, bringing out the yellow flags. The start was delayed and Loris Baz also ended up in the pit lane. With the restart, Cluzel was sent to the pits while Baz started from the last spot on the grid.
As the race started, Eugene Laverty got the hole shot and added another to the unusual proceedings at Aragon by crashing out on turn two of the first lap. Every race has now had the first place rider crashing out. Tom Sykes led the race while his teammate Loris Baz fought his way to eight place from last before running wide and starting his climb again. Sykes led race one winner Chaz Davies and Sylvain Guintoli and then ran wide on a corner, losing a place and then two more places on the fast back straight, starting the third lap in fourth place.
Chaz Davies started metronomically knocking off fast laps, gapping Sylvain Guintoli while Jonathan Rea pits in with a failing front brake, eventually relegating him to last place. Tom Sykes passes Marco Melandri and starts to break free, letting Melandri fall into the clutches of Davide Giugliano.
Midway through the race, it was clear the win was Chaz Davies's to lose and that Sylvain Guintoli would extend his championship lead if he didn't do anything daft, but the two men didn't appear to back off. In third place, Davide Giugliano closed up to Tom Sykes back wheel, and tried repeatedly to pass the Englishman, keeping him honest. Sykes was too clean into the corners before the long straight for the Italian to get close enough to use his bike's power on the back straight.
Further back, Loris Baz tried to close in to Marco Melandri and was peeling off laps over a second faster, but ran out of laps before he was able to bridge the gap. Jules Cluzel and Leon Haslam held off Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, but Ducati will be looking at where Davide Giugliano finished.
Sylvain Guintoli leaves with the title lead, something nobody would have predicted, especially the Frenchman himself, but the weekend belonged to the Welshman Chaz Davies and his BMW team.
Result:
Aragon - FIM Superbike World Championship - Race 2
1. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 37'52.691
2. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 37'57.726
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 38'00.368
4. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38'05.240
5. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 38'12.457
6. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 38'16.546
7. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 38'19.617
8. Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 38'24.284
9. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 38'27.999
10. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 38'37.188
11. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38'45.762
12. Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 38'47.914
13. Alexander Lundh (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 39'25.686
14. Ivan Clementi (HTM Racing) BMW S1000 RR 39'34.670
15. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 38'46.723
RT. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 13'31.782
RT. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR
RT. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory
NS. Mark Aitchison (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R
Comments
Great race
I'm a Davies/Melandri/Guintoli fan so a good day :O)
Anyone know why Melandri faded in R2 ? He was so stong in R1, despite a mistake..
In reply to Great race by Basketcase
probably hurting from his
probably hurting from his shoulder surgery... he'll be back ;)
In reply to Great race by Basketcase
And...
The missus comes from Wales, hence Davies.
Melandri got a bum deal at Ducati (told to see a shrink after coming 2nd one year on a Honda) despite being a fast and exciting RACER and I wish him every success.
And as for Guintoli, well he had a beer or three with one of my pals at Le Mans and toasted me when informed I was in hospital after an accident.... GO GUINTOLI !!!!!!!! :O)
2013 SBK Championship;
1st Guintoli
2nd Melandri
3rd Davies
(just sayin)
Nice race
MotoGP and WSBK, this year double treat!
I would have put all my money on Laverty .... and lost them :(
Davies
Never was much of a fan, respected him though. Met him while he raced over here in the US. Nice guy. To see him win almost makes me feel relieved for him. I know this is not his first win, but it is his first double. Wish him all the best this year, not like he needs my wishes after watching that race. You would think he had been winning for years.
Race was still entertaining. Wish Checa was up there.
On to Assen!
The third meeting of the year will be a track quite different from the first two – then we'll have a better idea of how everyone stacks up. I'm a big Chaz Davies fan but Guintoli looks like the Danger Man at the moment: If he can keep up this level of consistency (three seconds and a win so far) he'll be the one to beat for the championship. Still, Davies looked very good. Scary good. Reminded me a little bit of his Australian buddy...
In reply to On to Assen! by Sir_Bedevere
I wish it I could have seen
I wish it I could have seen it, but thanks for the reports as they go someway towards consoling me!
Davies the new Stoner....I hope so.
Cheers
Dan
THE DUCATIS
Anyone doubt the 50mm intake restrictor for twins is a terrible impost?
In reply to THE DUCATIS by TheBaron
Still?
It's still in place then? I thought it might have been eliminated with the new bike, pending evaluation of its performance, like the weight penalty.
It was always a stupid idea to penalise the engine of the slowest bike on track for being fast in the corners... but the 1199 doesn't even seem so fast in the corners :(
BMW teammates?
I will be interested to see how the relationships progress in the BMW team.
It seemed surprising how little BMW supported Haslam after Melandri's aggressive riding lost a second 1-2. Especially given Leon joined them at a time they needed him more than he needed them.
How will BMW act to each of their riders should Davies continue his results?
How will it affect Melandri if the 'new' rider continues to out-perform?