2009 Imola World Superbike Race 2 Results - Surprise Podium And Closer Title Race Yet

Results of World Superbike race 2 at Imola:

Michel Fabrizio took a comfortable win in race 2 at Imola, leaving his team mate Noriyuki Haga unable to match his pace. But despite Fabrizio's fantastic victory, the limelight went to Marco Simoncelli, the Italian 250 rider taking a podium on his debut in the World Superbike riders as a wildcard.

The Ducatis got away from the start, Haga taking over the lead from Fabrizio. Aprilia's Max Biaggi followed early, but could not match the pace being set by the Xerox Ducati team. Behind the leaders, Shane Byrne fought a long but doomed fight to cling on to 4th, holding up Ben Spies, Marco Simoncelli and Jonny Rea for long enough to allow the front three to escape. Simoncelli eventually got past Byrne, quickly followed by Spies, and the pair started to chase down Max Biaggi, who dropped a couple of seconds with a minor problem.

Once the Simoncelli and Spies had caught the Roman, Simoncelli put a highly risky move on his team mate, forcing Biaggi wide and into the path of Spies, who was forced off the track and lost another place to Shane Byrne.  Simoncelli went on to close on Haga and Fabrizio, but was not to catch them. 

At the front, Fabrizio clearly had the better pace of the two Ducatis, and passed his team mate with just less than half the race to go. To their credit, the team issued no team orders, and Fabrizio walked away to take victory.

With Ben Spies coming home in 5th position, Noriyuki Haga takes over the championship lead, and now holds a 3 point advantage over the American in the championship.