skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Congratulations to Michel Fabrizio and Ben Spies who spilt wins in Italy at the fifth round of the World Superbike Championship, but not without a host of madness and turmoil at the historic Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Michel Fabrizio: "I don’t know what happened at the end of the first race with Ben Spies, may have been the fuel, but it was a shame. I was going well and had a bit of a problem in the middle of the race with my gearbox when I touched with Ben, but I was able to get back up and get going. To win the first and be second after is the greatest weekend I have ever had. Thank you so much to my team and all of the Italian fans. This is amazing."
Ben Spies: "It was a tough pill to swallow after Race One. But we put our head down in Race Two and got into a good rhythm in the first 12-14 laps because we knew we had an issue there and had to short-shift and slow down some at the end to make it on fuel. I took the two warm-up laps a bit differently and the last few laps of the race two, but I can't complain about the bike, it was great during the race.".
The WSBK be back racing at the next event at Road America.
Ben Spies - Yamaha World Superbike immediately made amends in race 2 by dominating from start to finish. The Texan left everyone standing after just a few laps and went on to win his fifth race of the season.
This win, together with the crash at the Parabolica on lap 3 of points leader Noriyuki Haga - Ducati Xerox, who had been hit by a bird, keeps the championship battle wide open. Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox now becomes a credible title candidate after crowning his Italian weekend with an excellent second place. Fabrizio managed to hold off Ryuichi Kiyonari in the final stages, the Japanese rider repeating his race 1 result. A superb fourth went to Jonathan Rea - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, while Max Biaggi - Aprilia, in fifth place, could have been further up the standings had he not made a mistake while fighting amongst the group and he was unable to make up the gap again. Tom Sykes took another sixth place for Yamaha, while Leon Haslam - Stiggy Racing Honda made up for his race 1 retirement with a seventh place.
Troy Corser did not take the start in race 2 after his two crashes today, but BMW honour was held high by Ruben Xaus, who again finished in ninth place. Broc Parkes again scored more points for Kawasaki in thirteenth.
The first Superbike race of the weekend saw a thrilling end to one of the best races ever seen at Monza. The race had to have two starts, after two crashes at the first chicane of lap 1 involving Tamada, Hill, Corser, Neukirchner and Roberts led to it being interrupted.
The German came off the worst with a broken right femur and dislocated right foot, while Roberts picked up various bruises. The outcome of the race was decided at the final curve. Spies was well on his way towards a fifth win of the season when in the Parabolica his Yamaha ran out of fuel just a few metres from the line. Michel Fabrizio -Ducati Xerox capitalized on Spies' misfortune to take his first win in Sueprbike. Team-mate Noriyuki Haga finished second to maintain his points lead.
The third place battle also saw a thrilling end as Max Biaggi took his Aprilia over the line, but the Italian was penalized 20 seconds for cutting the chicane, leaving Ryuichi Kiyonari -Ten Kate Honda to take the final podium position after a spectacular mid-race recovery from a poor start. Fourth went to Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki Alstare, ahead of the British pair of Jonathan Rea - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda and Tom Sykes - Yamaha World Superbike. Both BMW and Kawasaki placed riders inside the top 10, Ruben Xaus taking the German four-cylinder machine to seventh while a still unfit Broc Parkes fought hard for tenth place.
