Max Biaggi has won the 2012 World Superbike title by taking fifth in race 2 and by the smallest margin in the history of series, just a 0.
5 points margin over an impressive Tom Sykes who took a dominate victory in the final race of the season at Magny–Cours, to end this year’s 25th anniversary of the Superbike championship.
For the sixth time in his long career the 41-year old Roman Emperor took a world title, his second in World Superbikes, even if it wasn’t an easy round for the Aprilia rider, who could have counted on the help of team mate Eugene Laverty – who received team orders – but in the end a 5th place was more than enough after five wins and six podiums during the entire season and give Aprilia also the manufacturers title.
A crash in race 1 didn’t help Biaggi and getting bottled up in a dry race 2 – even if was declared wet – and tentitively riding around in 10th for several laps while Tom Sykes escape seemed to give some hope to the Kawasaki rider, who no doubt will be ruing the half points for his dominant win at Monza and his recent technical problem in race 2at Portimao, as Marco Melandri crashed out heavily during the sixth lap and definitely said good-bye to his title hopes.
Sykes again got the holeshot and lead the race from the lights to the chequered flag, but Eugene Laverty engaged the Grinner almost immediately and the two exchanged positions in the first turns, but Sykes was in the lead at the end of the first lap followed by Laverty, race 1 winner Sylvain Guintoli, Leon Haslam, Jonathan Rea, Marco Melandri, Loris Baz, Davide Giugliano, Carlos Checa and Biaggi.
On lap two an agressive Guintoli took over the second spot from Laverty as the race continued for the next five laps without anything changing.
On the sixth lap an already injured Melandri crashed out at the Chateaux d’Eau caught out by a damp patch and just seconds later Loris Baz also binned it, which gave Biaggi an extra two spots and the Italian was now in sixth thanks also to an error by Leon Haslam who ran off track favorito dall’errore di Leon Haslam, but then Biaggi committed his own error that let through Davide Giugliano and the Aprilia rider also had to fend off Haslam, as Michel Fabrizio closed out his last race with BMW Motorrad Italia with a crash.
Laverty had a big moment that let Jonath Rea through to take third and he was just 1.
5 seconds from Sykes and Guintoli- On the 12th lap Biaggi overtook Giugliano to take sixth and then chased after Checa and two laps later caught the now former World Champion to take the position that would safely give him the championship title, as the Althea Ducati duo could no longer keep up with him.
In the front Rea overtook Guintoli for second, Haslam crashed and Sykes crossed over the finish line to win the final battle but lose the 2012 war to Biaggi by just 0.
5 points.
WSBK 2012 Championship results:MAX BIAGGI APRILIA 358 TOM SYKES KAWASAKI 357,5 MARCO MELANDRI BMW 328,5 CARLOS CHECA DUCATI 287,5 JONATHAN REA HONDA 278,5 EUGENE LAVERTY APRILIA 263,5 SYLVAIN GUINTOLI DUCATI 213,5 LEON HASLAM BMW 200 CHAZ DAVIES APRILIA 164,5 DAVIDE GIUGLIANO DUCATI 143WSBK Magny Cours Race 2 Results:01- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – 23 laps in 38’15.
725 02- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1.
354 03- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 2.
393 04- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 13.
122 05- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 13.
955 06- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 18.
229 07- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 18.
430 08- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 26.
648 09- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 33.
809 10- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 37.
217 11- Maxime Berger – Red Devils Roma – Ducati 1198 – + 38.
871 12- Claudio Corti – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 55.
714 13- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 57.
621 14- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1’05.
487 15- Norino Brignola – Grillini Progea Superbike Team – BMW S1000RR – 1 lap2012 Manufacturers championship results:1.
Aprilia 444,5 2.
BMW 421 3.
Ducati 416 4.
Kawasaki 397,5 5.
Honda 293,5 6.
Suzuki 136,5