Tom Sykes wins race 1 of the SBK in Portimão, with a great Checa 2nd
The World Superbike Championship has held its first race at the Portimão Circuit, undoubtedly a madhouse on the Portuguese track with Melandri's crash, a red flag and oil on the track.
The World Superbike Championship has kicked off the real action at the Portimão Circuit with the first race, undoubtedly one of the most eventful, exciting and full of changes, as always surprises and surprises in SBK.
The race began with a very strong Carlos Checa, getting a great start and overtaking Eugene Laverty on the inside to take the lead, undoubtedly our 7 showing that he is still there even though his Ducati is not the best bike, but the Aprilia rider quickly passed Checa and took the lead to start pulling away, while behind them a very fast Jonathan Rea was closing in.
Rea passed Checa and attacked Laverty, when suddenly, on that nerve-wracking first lap, the worst thing that could happen to one of the riders fighting for the championship title happened: Melandri tried to overtake Biaggi, but went down, and in that crash he took out Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano, also creating a very dangerous situation with a rider on foot on the circuit dodging bikes, very, very, very dangerous.
After that crash things changed a lot at the front, as Laverty kept pulling with Rea behind, Checa 3rd and behind them a very strong Max Biaggi pushed hard after seeing his main title rival go down, so at that point he began his comeback, overtaking the 7 and then Rea, to sit just behind his teammate.
At that moment I had doubts: would Laverty let him through… or would he stay focused on his own race? But right then the 58 signaled to his teammate, though it wasn’t what it seemed; the Aprilia was giving him problems, and he was also overtaken by Rea and Checa, just before the race was stopped by a red flag due to oil on the track after Bignola’s crash with 15 laps to go.
Finally the race restarted with a very fast Max Biaggi at the start, taking the lead, but he would not go alone: Tom Sykes attacked, fought and overtook him after a nice battle. Today the Kawasaki rider was very strong and did not want to lose the chance to get closer in the overall standings, in the title fight, especially knowing that Marco Melandri could not return to action and was heading to hospital to rule out internal injuries.
Sykes gained a few metres on Biaggi, while behind them Guintoli was 3rd, but what really began to stand out was the pace of Carlos Checa. The 7 had not got off to a good start on this restart, but he was completely unleashed, passing all his rivals, catching Guintoli with fastest lap after fastest lap, and finally attacking Biaggi too, squeezing every last bit out of his Ducati, that machine that never quite works, it lacks power.
So the last two laps of Sykes-Checa were spectacular; both showed great strength, although the power of the Kawa helped the Briton hold that position, because the pace belonged to the 7. Behind them Biaggi was having a very hard time with McCormick and Rea, but he eventually held 4th place, an important result given Melandri’s exit and the track conditions.
Closing the top 10 with McCormick 5th, Rea 6th, Baz 7th, Aoyama 8th, Badovini 9th and Fabrizio 10th. Trouble for David Salom, who had to retire, and also for Leon Haslam, who was penalised for jumping the start and then had to retire. We await information on Melandri and his condition; we know he is stable, but further tests are being carried out to rule out internal injuries.
On to race two.
Photo | WorldSBK
