Submitted by Jared Earle on
World Superbike race one at Magny-Cours started dry, and was planned for 23 laps.
Tom Sykes took to the front ahead of Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri but as Guintoli tried to pass Sykes, Davide Giugliano overtook Melandri and left him within reach of Eugene Laverty. On the second lap, it looked like Guintoli could pass Sykes into turn one, but the Kawasaki rider was better on the brakes, retaining the lead. Laverty and Melandri swapped places throughout the lap, with Laverty passing Melandri and being followed by Chaz Davies. Unfortunately, Davies lost the front, crashing out and returning the fifth place to Melandri.
As Davies rode his damaged bike back to the pits, Laverty put a move on Giugliano, sweeping round the outside and switching back to the inside to pass him neatly, only to see the duel between Sykes and Laverty was over four seconds ahead of him.
Tom Sykes extended his lead by a tenth a lap as Sylvain Guintoli was left to see the lead escape from him with Eugene Laverty, able to extend his gap from Giugliano, has to watch as his gap ahead just kept extending.
Further back, Toni Elias and Vincent Philippe duelled, but Elias, leading the Frenchman, lost adhesion in a corner, all his own doing, sliding the bike into the gravel and collecting Philippe’s front wheel with his rear. As the two picked themselves up, Elias charged at Philippe, gesticulating wildly, inexplicably blaming the Suzuki rider for his crash. Philippe was able to get back and finish in thirteenth place, while Elias retired from the race.
Tom Sykes kept the pace up and, in what he described as a fast race, he was leading with eighteen laps completed when Mark Aitchison high-sided his Kawasaki that exploded into flame in the middle of the track, ending the race with a red flag and a victory by over two seconds for Sykes ahead of a dour Sylvain Guintoli and equally displeased Eugene Laverty. Sykes takes a 29 point lead over Guintoli to the second race.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | Speed |
| 1 | 66 | T. SYKES | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'38.345 | 291,9 | |
| 2 | 50 | S. GUINTOLI | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 2.146 | 1'38.436 | 288,8 |
| 3 | 58 | E. LAVERTY | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 10.643 | 1'38.961 | 295,9 |
| 4 | 34 | D. GIUGLIANO | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 15.687 | 1'39.104 | 291,1 |
| 5 | 33 | M. MELANDRI | BMW S1000 RR | 23.573 | 1'39.562 | 287,2 |
| 6 | 51 | M. PIRRO | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | 33.848 | 1'40.175 | 281,3 |
| 7 | 84 | M. FABRIZIO | Honda CBR1000RR | 37.599 | 1'40.347 | 279,1 |
| 8 | 91 | L. HASLAM | Honda CBR1000RR | 37.903 | 1'40.041 | 276,2 |
| 9 | 86 | A. BADOVINI | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | 38.181 | 1'40.221 | 270,0 |
| 10 | 57 | L. LANZI | Ducati 1098R | 51.604 | 1'40.664 | 278,4 |
| 11 | 44 | D. SALOM | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 54.742 | 1'41.171 | 276,9 |
| 12 | 23 | F. SANDI | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'03.442 | 1'40.717 | 274,8 |
| 13 | 52 | V. PHILIPPE | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'07.176 | 1'40.104 | 275,5 |
| 14 | 32 | F. LAI | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | 1'24.850 | 1'41.996 | 282,0 |
| 15 | 31 | V. IANNUZZO | BMW S1000 RR | 2 Laps | 1'43.422 | 272,7 |
| RET | 8 | M. AITCHISON | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 59.718 | 1'41.126 | 271,4 |
| RET | 24 | T. ELIAS | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 3 Laps | 1'39.949 | 282,0 |
| RET | 16 | J. CLUZEL | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 16 Laps | 1'40.039 | 276,2 |
| RET | 19 | C. DAVIES | BMW S1000 RR | 16 Laps | 2'26.501 | 271,4 |
Comments
Elias
His reaction was as funny as disappointing. He is really trying hard and nerves came out the wrong way, I guess. Other than that it seemed as if there was no grip at all, everybody sliding everywhere. Hoping for a good 2nd race!