Max Biaggi kept a low profile this weekend working hard with his completely renovated team and it payed off as the Roman Emperor conquered the first race of 2012 World Superbike season at Phillip Island.
Tom Sykes sitting in pole position got the holeshot, but it took Carlos Checa just one lap to catch him followed up by Max Biaggi.
The Aprilia rider was riding hot on the tail of Checa’s Ducati, but on lap 6 the reigning World champion’s Ducati baulked at Swans corner highsiding him and crashing down hard, leaving a stunned, but relatively uninjured Spaniard.
With Checa no longer in the race, Biaggi would then just cruise away to take the victory with a seven second margin.
Behind the lonely Italian, the battle for the final two spots on the podium was left to Tom Sykes, Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri.
The BMW Motorrad rider’s race was the highlight of the event, as he came through the field from his 13th spot on the grid to take ninth on lap 1 and then began picking off riders one by one until reached first Smrz, then Sykes and then carved past Effenbert Liberty’s Guintoli on lap 18, however the Frenchman stuck to his guns and continued to nose around and disturb the Italian rider who managed to resist him for the final two laps.
Sykes came through with a solid fourth, followed by Jacub Smrz in a distant fifth.
Michel Fabrizio dragged out the sixth spot from Jonathan Rea at the finish line.
Hiroshi Aoyama who struggled in the back field for most of the weekend came in eighth in his World Superbike debut after fending off Althea’s Davide Giugliano who previously ran off track Leon Camier when he couldn’t get his bike to stop at the MG corner ,which demoted Camier down to 17th.
Pedercini replacement Bryan Staring rounded out the top ten and he was followed Pata Ducati’s Lorenzo Zanetti.
The injured brigade, lead by the recentely operated on Leon Haslam rode to a very respectable 12th followed by Maxime Berger and David Salom, while Joan Lascorz took the final point with his 15th spot.
WSBK Phillip Island 2012 Race 1 Results:1.
Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34′13.
9632.
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 34′21.
0673.
Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 34′21.
3414.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34′26.
1525.
Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 34′30.
3876.
Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 34′34.
1637.
Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 34′34.
1868.
Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 34′38.
0719.
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 34′42.
03510.
Bryan Staring (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34′48.
19511.
Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 34′48.
41312.
Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 34′49.
61113.
Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 34′50.
35514.
David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34′55.
46315.
Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34′56.
04916.
Joshua Brookes (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 34′56.
56817.
Leon Camier (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 34′57.
32918.
Mark Aitchison (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 34′59.
18819.
David Johnson (Rossair AEP Racing) BMW S1000 RR 35′22.
74520.
Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 35′24.
403RT.
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 30′29.
484RT.
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 22′10.
214RT.
Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 7′47.
279RT.
Raffaele De Rosa (Team Pro Ride Real Game Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 1′31.
785