MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

World Superbike Race Two was a dry race and the temperature had risen to 18º, with a 28º track.

Marco Melandri led Sylvain Guintoli in an Aprilia charge, with Leon Haslam and Sam Lowes nipping at their heels, but Guintoli took the lead on the first lap. Davide Giugliano, trying again to recover from a missed pole opportunity, was part of a bunch of riders forced wide at the Melbourne Loop right-hand hairpin, pushing him back to eleventh.

Loris Baz and Tom Sykes pressed the advantage of the riders in front of them messing up their corner and Baz passed Alex Lowes for third while Sykes slotted into fifth, ahead of Jonathan Rea.

Loris Baz set fastest lap after fastest lap and reeled in Guintoli and Melandri, passing Melandri at the end of lap five. Melandri then cut back, closing the gap behind him without realising Alex Lowes was already in it. Lowes and Melandri both took a spill, but were able to rejoin, albeit well out of the points.

By lap six, Sylvain Guintoli, Loris Baz and Tom Sykes were as close as is safely possible, with four tenths of a second covering all three riders for five laps, but at the end of lap eleven, Baz made a pass on Guintoli at the Foggy Esses, and Guintoli tried to pass back at the Melbourne Loop, but Baz was able to switch lines and pass him back. Sykes, seeing the fight in front of him, took his wide drive line into the loop and powered past both riders into the last turn, Goddards.

Sykes led Baz and Guintoli out of Goddards and tried to make a run for it. Baz was able to keep up as both Kawasakis dropped Guintoli, but Sykes turned metronome mode on in his brain and ticked off solid lap after solid lap, building to over two seconds of lead as the lap counter ticked down.

Sylvain Guintoli, while seeing the two green bikes in front disappear, had to maintain his pace as Davide Giugliano on the Ducati looked like he could trouble him for the podium.

Tom Sykes eventually ticked all the laps off, showing that he had plenty of tyre left, the difference with race one, and won the race over three seconds clear of Loris Baz. Sylvain Guintoli took third, having put a decent gap in ahead of Davide Giugliano.

Both Bimotas finished ahead of the rest of the Evo bikes, but as they're still not homologated, David Salom took another Evo victory.

Sam Lowes was able to rescue some points from his Melandri incident and finish ninth while Melandri finished out of the points in seventeenth.

Even though only 15,353 people watched it at the track, they were treated to an exciting race one and a reassuring race two.

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