BMW star Marco Melandri, Aprilia factory rider Eugene Laverty and Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes dominated the fourth round of the World Superbike series, delivering incredibly close racing in both legs.
The World Supersport race was red-flagged no fewer than three times and was finally postponed until after the second World Superbike race.
Both South African riders survived the carnage, however, and rode to very creditable results in the shortened race.
RACE 1
Melandri’s 11th WSB race win – his first at his home circuit - was a perfect display of racecraft; he started the final lap in third, immediately passed Sykes in Turn 1, then made a successful move on Laverty for the lead.
The works Aprilia rider struck back at the Ascari chicane but Melandri went up the inside of Laverty at the final corner, while Sykes tried to go round the outside of both of them.
The three riders crossed the line almost in line abreast, with Melandri taking the win by 0.085 seconds from Eugene Laverty, with Sykes a further 22 thousandths of a second behind!
Championship leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) was part of the battle for the lead throughout most of the race but lost ground in the closing stages to finish fourth, less than two seconds off the pace.
He retained his lead in the standings however, 21 points ahead of Sykes and 25 ahead of Laverty.
Melandri’s team mate Chaz Davies came home fifth after a tight finish with Aprilia privateer Michel Fabrizio, who fought his way up to sixth after difficult start, while Loris Baz (Kawasaki), Jonathan Rea (Honda) and Leon Camier finished within 1.1 seconds after a race-long dice for seventh.
The race also saw a new average speed record for the series at 201.814km/h; the previous mark (210.330km/h) was set in 2000 during Race 1 at Hockenheim.
RACE 2
Laverty got his revenge on Melandri, grabbing the lead on the penultimate lap and holding off a determined challenge from the BMW rider, who set the fastest lap of the race (1min42.379) on the final tour.
Sykes completed the podium ahead of Guintoli, who lost out again – by less than second! - after a race-long four-way battle for the lead.
With his third race win of 2013, Laverty closed the gap to championship leader Sylvain Guintoli to just 13 points, with Sykes third 18 points down.
Fabrizio took fifth after an epic dice with Davide Giugliano (Aprilia) and Chaz Davies (BMW) and a hard-charging Leon Camier (Suzuki), which became a three-way fight when Davies lost the front end at Turn 5 on lap 12.
RESULTS – RACE 1
1 Marco Melandri (Italy) BMW S1000 RR – 30min54.925
2 Tom Sykes (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-10R +0.085sec
3 Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +0.107
4 Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +1.844
5 Chaz Davies (Britain) BMW S1000 RR +7.629
6 Michel Fabrizio (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +8.407
7 Loris Baz (France) Kawasaki ZX-10R +15.555
8 Jonathan Rea (Britain) Honda CBR1000RR +16.465
9 Leon Camier (Britain) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +16.668
10 Davide Giugliano (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +26.820
11 Ayrton Badovini (Italy) Ducati Panigale 1199R +38.908
12 Max Neukirchner (Germany) Ducati Panigale 1199R +38.951
13 Fabrizio Lai (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-10R +52.788
14 Kosuke Akiyoshi (Japan) Honda CBR1000RR +55.888
15 Federico Sandi (Kawasaki ZX-10R) +56.006
16 Mark Aitchison (Australia) Ducati 1098R +56.827
17 Jules Cluzel (France) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +59.545
RACE 2
1 Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 30min59.653
2 Marco Melandri (Italy) BMW S1000 RR +0.143sec
3 Tom Sykes (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-10R +0.725
4 Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +1.619
5 Michel Fabrizio (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +9.965
6 Davide Giugliano (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +10.068
7 Leon Camier (Britain) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +12.241
8 Loris Baz (France) Kawasaki ZX-10R +29.771
9 Ayrton Badovini (Italy) Ducati Panigale 1199R +38.005
10 Max Neukirchner (Germany) Ducati Panigale 1199R +41.757
11 Fabrizio Lai (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-10R +52.579
12 Vittorio Iannuzzo (Italy) BMW S1000 RR +1min28.772
13 Federico Sandi (Kawasaki ZX-10R) +1 lap
POINTS (after 4 of 14 rounds)
1 Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 137
2 Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 124
3 Tom Sykes (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-10R – 119
4 Marco Melandri (Italy) BMW S1000 RR – 96
5 Chaz Davies (Britain) BMW S1000 RR – 94
6 Loris Baz (France) Kawasaki ZX-10R – 75
7 Michel Fabrizio (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 74
8 Jonathan Rea (Britain) Honda CBR1000RR – 71
9 Davide Giugliano (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 49
10 Leon Camier (Britain) Suzuki GSX-R1000 – 46
WORLD SUPERSPORT
The race was red-flagged for the first time when several of the leading riders crashed out on oil left from an earlier crash at Variante Roggia.
Then the red flags came out again when part of the air-fence at the Ascari chicane was damaged in another crash.
At the third attempt Honda rider Lorenzo Zanetti was taken out from third by another rider at the Prima Variante – Monza’s infamous first chicane – with team mate Michael van der Mark crashing on the resulting debris.
The 20-year-old Dutchman sustained four broken bones in his left foot and was forced to miss the final re-start.
Then Sam Lowes (Yamaha R6) pulled off an almost impossible overtaking manoeuvre on the last lap to take his second win of the season and become the new championship leader.
He got a fantastic drive out of Turn 4 to pass all three riders ahead of him at the following chicane, and quickly pulled a small margin on the chasing pack to cross the line first, less than a second ahead of Florian Marino ( Kawasaki), Zanetti, Riccardo Russo (Kawasaki) and Kevin Coghlan (Kawasaki) after a superb cut-and-thrust contest throughout the 10 laps.
South African rider Sheridan Morais (Honda) put in a superb ride to finish sixth while compatriot Mathew Scholtz chased veteran Roberto Rolfo all the way to the line to come home 12th and collect four valuable points
Reigning champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) lost the front in Turn 8 on lap four and crashed out of the lead, while team mate Fabien Foret didn't make the start after being involved in the multiple crash at Turn 1 that brought out the red flags.
RESULTS
1 Sam Lowes (Britain) Yamaha R6 – 18min09.799
2 Florian Marino (France) Kawasaki ZX-6R +0.978sec
3 Lorenzo Zanetti (Italy) Honda CBR600RR +0.989
4 Riccardo Russo (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-6R +1.342
5 Kevin Cochlan (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-6R +1.487
6 Sheridan Morais (South Africa) Honda CBR 600RR +8.261
7 Vladimir Leonov (Russia) Yamaha R6 +11.044
8 Luca Scassa (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-6R +11.169
9 Vladimir Ivanov (Russia) Kawasaki ZX-6R +11.199
10 Luca Marconi (Italy) Honda CBR600RR +11.253
11 Roberto Rolfo (Italy) MV Agusta F3 675 +14.119
12 Mathew Scholtz (South Africa) Suzuki GSX-R600 +14.522
UPDATE
Capetonian David ‘McFlash’ McFadden did not ride at Monza; he and the Ten Kate Honda team agreed on 6 May to part ways after a string of mediocre results, with neither side seeing much hope for improvement.
However, McFadden said during the week that he was in negotiations with alternative teams and hoped to be racing at the Portimao round of the World Superstock series.