Yesterday we said that only the weather could throw a wrench in the final round of the World Superbike championship and the title fight, and this morning for the first race at Magny–Cours the track was wet and treacherous and what happened gave new hope to two title rivals.
Just three laps into the race, Max Biaggi who got a good start, was running in fourth suddenly lost the front of his Aprilia at the Adelaide hairpin and crashed out, while rivals Marco Melandri and Tom Sykes cut the Italian’s points advantage after they finished second and third respectively as Sylvain Guintoli took a highly emotional win for Pata Racing (they will not be present next season) in front of his enthusiastic home crowd.
For the third time this season the La Marseillaise was played for the French rider in this drama packed, high attrition race thriller whose final conclusion will now be decided in race 2 with Biaggi still having a 14.
5 point advantage over Sykes, while Melandri is 18.
5 points adrift, and the Aprilia rider needs just a fifth place finish to win the title.
Tom Sykes took the holeshot followed by Jonathan Rea, Eugene Laverty, Carlos Checa, Melandri and Biaggi and Melandri then lost three spots to find himself down in 8th.
At the end of the first lap Sykes was leading as Laverty lost his postion to Biaggi and during the third lap the title championship changed face as Biaggi who was running in fourth crashed out and all of a sudden the race changed pace and the atmosphere became charged as Sykes and Melandri were advised of Biaggi’s crash – while Chaz Davies also binned it.
Sykes was still leading the race, but Jonathan Rea quickly caught the Kawasaki rider and on the fifth lap the Honda rider took the head of the race and began to race away with a series of impressive laps and the only rider to ride under the 1.
55 mark to gain a three second margin over the struggling Sykes as Lorenzo Zanetti and Leon Camier would both crash out in the tricky conditions.
The race again changed when Carlos Checa who was closing in on Sykes crashed out during the 7th lap leaving the third spot to a battling Guintoli and Melandri – who previously was able to pass four riders in just one corner.
Drama again struck when Rea who had several warning signs from his Honda continued to post fast laps and during the 13th lap binned it and the championship title took on another significance, with Sykes inheriting the lead, Melandri second and Guintoli third with ten laps left to go.
The three riders gave it all they had and risked serveral times, but Guintoli prevailed, as the two title rivals sagely decided to take home some precious points instead of throwing everything away, as the Pata rider raced away gaining a 1.
5 second margin in just one lap and the three positions would remain frozen until the chequered flag.
Axed Effenbert Liberty rider Maxime Berger finished fourth in home race for Red Devils Roma team replacing injured Niccolò Canepa and giving the team its best result this season.
Leon Haslam was fifth while Ayrton Badovini pipped Eugene Laverty on the final lap for sixth, Davide Giugliano finished 7th after running off track to avoid hitting Leon Camier while Claudio Corti was 9th in his World Superbike debut finishing ahead of Loris Baz who completed the top ten.
With a depleted field due to the treacherous track condtions and after John Hopkins pull-out and Alexander Lundh’s crash that resulted in fractures to his T7 and T8 vertebrae (luckily not suffering any neurological damage), Norino Brignola finished in 11th and Michel Fabrizio was 12th, after returning to track after a technical issue saw him make a pit stop.
WSBK Magny–Cours Race 1 results:01- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – 23 laps in 44’06.
299 02- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 6.
127 03- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 16.
595 04- Maxime Berger – Red Devils Roma – Ducati 1198 – + 21.
857 05- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 25.
149 06- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 32.
778 07- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 34.
311 08- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 47.
269 09- Claudio Corti – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 49.
720 10- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 50.
192 11- Norino Brignola – Grillini Progea Superbike Team – BMW S1000RR – 1 lap 12- Michel Fabrizio – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – 2 laps 13- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – 5 laps