Marco Melandri wins Race 1 of SBK at Jerez

The World Superbike Championship has kicked off the action of its third-to-last round of the 2014 season at the Jerez Circuit, where Loris Baz was pole-sitter for the event, with Giugliano and Sykes completing the front row of the grid.

Sykes and the Aprilias got a very good start, and Guintoli took the lead and opened the action by pushing hard, with Baz and Lowes going with him. The two younger riders did not want to let the veteran Aprilia rider escape, while the rest could not let the group of three pull away, but they could not catch the leader either.

Baz took control after five laps; the young French rider did not want to hold anything back any longer and pushed hard to get into first place, followed by his compatriot, with Lowes a bit further back. At that very moment, the SBK Race Direction announced that they were investigating the number 1, Tom Sykes; the reason has not been confirmed, but it could be the start or some maneuver a bit more aggressive than usual.

After 8 laps we saw Guintoli return to the front, passing Baz and trying to make a change of pace that would leave his rivals behind, but Loris stuck to Sylvain and would not let him go. In addition, a dangerous Giugliano was coming from behind with great force and his sights set on the leaders.

Melandri is a rider who comes good in the second half of races, and today he proved it again. He pushed hard and joined the two leaders with half the race to go, so a group of three riders was fighting for the win. At that very moment we saw Giugliano crash while trying to keep pace with Marco, but he could not keep up with him.

The negative part came with 6 laps to go, when Melandri moved inside Baz, and the Frenchman went down. It was a pity for one of the reference riders of this race. Lowes also went down, although the Briton was able to rejoin the track, so everything was now in the hands of the Aprilia riders.

With 4 laps to go Melandri made the first decisive move and took the lead, making a brutal change of pace and pushing with everything he had. After that change of pace, Guintoli could not follow his teammate, and Melandri went straight to victory at Jerez, leaving Sylvain in second place and completing the podium with Davies.

The top 10 was completed by Rea in 4th, Sykes 5th, Laverty 6th, Haslam 7th, Elías 8th, Salom 9th and Barrier 10th. A great performance by our riders in this first race at the Jerez Circuit.

On to the second race.

Photo | Worldsbk and teams