Biaggi wins the duel with Melandri in SBK 1 Motorland
Rider Max Biaggi has secured victory in Race 1 of the World Superbike Championship at the Motorland Aragón Circuit, so the Italian is very strong and remains the leader.
Rider Max Biaggi secured a hard-fought victory in the first race of the World Superbike Championship at the Motorland Aragón Circuit. The Italian on the Aprilia battled Marco Melandri throughout the race, and both put on a show in a race where the positions remained fairly locked in place.
The start was very good for Tom Sykes. The superpole rider was the best through the first corners, but it was already clear that the Aprilia riders, both Biaggi and Laverty, wanted to give him a fight. The Kawasaki rider had to push hard, but today Biaggi was very strong and showed it. He overtook Sykes and took the lead, setting a strong pace. Behind them, Melandri came through like a whirlwind. After a half-decent start, he had to pass several riders and moved up to 2nd. At that point he set a great pace and reached 3rd.
With Melandri’s arrival alongside Biaggi, the duel between countrymen began. The battle for 3rd and 33rd was maximum excitement, right up to the final lap with everything still to be decided. It was at that moment that Biaggi overtook Melandri, and the rider from BMW could not follow the final push of the 2010 champion. Without a doubt, the Biaggi-Aprilia tandem is very strong at Motorland Aragón.
Behind them, Checa could not get close to the podium. He was 5th and settled for that position, but on the final lap the surprise came. Tom Sykes and Ayrton Badovini were fighting for 3rd place on the podium and both went down, which opened the way for number 7 to reach the podium. It was a better ending than expected for Checa, who had a complicated weekend at the Aragón track.
David Salom also had many problems. The Team Pedercini Kawasaki rider entered the pits several times. Initially the problems were with the bike, but he wanted to keep riding and kept going back out after each pit stop, finishing 20th. Now it’s back to work.
Completing the top 10 were Davies 4th, Laverty 5th, Fabrizio 6th, Haslam 7th, Giugliano 8th, Camier 9th and Berger 10th.
Photo | PlusMoto.com (David Gómez)
