Fourth time lucky, the World Supersport race was reduced to a ten-lap dash at the end of the day.
Sam Lowes was riding with an injured wrist, an earlier injury angered by his crash, and Michael Van Der Mark didn't start due to what turned out to be a broken foot. Fabien Foret didn't start.
Florian Marino got the hole shot, but Kenan Sofuoglu made quick work of him on the first lap. Sam Lowes was relegated to sixth place but he was able to barge through fourth place, behind Sofuoglu, Marino and Lorenzo Zanetti. As the scrap heated up, Zanetti messed up Della Roggio, letting Lowes pounce on third place.
Sofuoglu made use of his Kawasaki's superior power and broke from the clutches of the hounding pack led by Marino. Unfortunately, Kenan Sofuoglu overcooked the exit to the Lesmo pairing and lost the front, crashing out of the race. Lowes dealt with Marino and took to the front.
For the next few laps, Lowes led out of the Parabolica, was passed by Marino on the straight and had to play the brakes to take his lead back.
Eventually, after Lorenzo Zanetti and Riccardo Russo joined with Marino to trouble Lowes, Marino took the lead as Zanetti took advantage too push Lowes to third. As the lap progressed, Lowes took second drifting round Curva Grande and first on the brakes into Lesmo 1.
On the penultimate lap, Lowes was passed by Zanetti, Russo and Marino by the first chicane, but in an incredible drive on the slowest bike of the bunch, Lowes passed all of them on the brakes into Della Roggia. Lowes maintained his lead out of the Ascari and throughout the Parabolica.
On the last lap, Lowes and Zanetti duelled, swapping places back and forth until Zanetti drove through Della Roggia too fast, causing a tangle Lowes was able to thread through and maintain his lead, gifting him a small gap that he was able to use to drive to a perfect finish, winning the second race in a row and grabbing the championship lead as his competition floundered from a bad weekend.
Florian Marino, as a stand-in rider for the injured David Salom, took second position while PATA Honda's Lorenzo Zanetti took the podium his bike deserved.
Sam Lowes, riding injured on a bike that is ill-suited to the track, won a race with such skill that his rivals should take note.
Results:
Monza - FIM Supersport World Championship - Race
1. Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport) Yamaha YZF R6 18'09.799
2. Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) Kawasaki ZX-6R 18'10.597
3. Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport) Honda CBR600RR 18'10.788
4. Riccardo Russo (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) Kawasaki ZX-6R 18'11.141
5. Kev Coghlan (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini Team) Kawasaki ZX-6R 18'11.286
6. Sheridan Morais (PTR Honda) Honda CBR600RR 18'18.060
7. Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport) Yamaha YZF R6 18'20.843
8. Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) Kawasaki ZX-6R 18'20.968
9. Vladimir Ivanov (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini Team) Kawasaki ZX-6R 18'20.998
10. Luca Marconi (PTR Honda) Honda CBR600RR 18'21.052
11. Roberto Rolfo (ParkinGo MV Agusta Corse) MV Agusta F3 675 18'23.918
12. Mathew Scholtz (Suriano Racing Team) Suzuki GSX-R600 18'24.321
13. Christian Iddon (ParkinGo MV Agusta Corse) MV Agusta F3 675 18'24.763
14. David Linortner (Team Honda PTR) Honda CBR600RR 18'24.878
15. Raffaele De Rosa (Team Lorini) Honda CBR600RR 18'24.922
16. Matt Davies (Team Honda PTR) Honda CBR600RR 18'25.112
17. Alex Baldolini (Team Lorini) Honda CBR600RR 18'30.108
18. Roberto Tamburini (Suriano Racing Team) Suzuki GSX-R600 18'31.909
19. Gabor Talmacsi (Prorace) Honda CBR600RR 18'31.913
20. Nacho Calero Perez (Honda PTR) Honda CBR600RR 18'40.915
21. Dino Lombardi (Pata by Martini Team) Yamaha YZF R6 18'47.032
22. Balazs Nemeth (Complus SMS Racing) Honda CBR600RR 18'47.565
23. Imre Toth (Racing Team Toth) Honda CBR600RR 18'54.812
24. Yves Polzer (Team MRC Austria) Honda CBR600RR 19'07.894
25. Mitchell Carr (AARK Racing) Triumph 675 R 19'08.163
26. Eduard Blokhin (Rivamoto) Honda CBR600RR 19'24.246
RT. Alex Schacht (Racing Team Toth) Honda CBR600RR 15'03.170
RT. Stefano Cruciani (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) Kawasaki ZX-6R 12'50.980
RT. Jack Kennedy (Rivamoto) Honda CBR600RR 11'02.880
RT. Kenan Sofuoglu (MAHI Racing Team India) Kawasaki ZX-6R 7'53.473
RT. Andrea Antonelli (Team Goeleven) Kawasaki ZX-6R 5'37.357
Comments
Lowes
wow, he rode the wheels of that Yamaha
and as you said from 4th to first at Della Roggia , crazy cool
In reply to Lowes by dude163
That move drifting
Round the outside of three riders and then out braking them to take first was awesome. The coolness he showed in not being pushed into making a mistake trying make up for an obvious speed disadvantage is the mark of a champion. Great win Sam. Hope the wrist heals up quickly.
Too bad for Michael.
Escaping two pile-ups unscathed and then breaking a foot at the third, a real shame. Get well soon!
Marino/Marconi
I think you mean Florian Marino rather than Luca Marconi, the latter had a solid race but wasn't in the front bunch.
In reply to Marino/Marconi by patnicholls
Shorthand Error
You're absolutely correct. That's a result of transcribing my own daft shorthand into longhand before the next race started. Of course it was Marino, and luckily I got it right at the top and tail of the article. Thanks for spotting that one. :)