2012 WORLD SUPERBIKES - ROUND 5 - JUST BIKES

2012 World Superbikes - Round 5

In qualifying, Kawasaki Racing Team's Tom Sykes was once again the quickest, setting a time of 1'27.716 in Superpole. BMW Motorrad Motorsport's Haslam and Melandri were next best, with Aprilia Racing Team's Max Biaggi completing the front row of the grid. Effenbert Liberty Racing's Sylvain Guintoli, the revelation of recent rounds, qualified his Ducati 1098R fifth, followed by Honda's Jonathan Rea, FIXI Crescent Suzuki's Leon Camier and Jakub Smrz (Effenbert Liberty Racing). Mark Aitchison (Grillini Progea BMW) was 21st quickest, qualifying ahead of the Team Pedercini Kawasaki's Gary Mason and Leandro Mercado.

RACE 1
In dry conditions, BMW were strong from the start, with Haslam taking the lead from polesitter Sykes on the opening lap, but it was a close affair, with less than a second separating the top four for most of the race. Sykes wrested the lead back on lap four, but couldn't put a gap on the chasing BMWs. Biaggi was also in the mix, as well as Rea, but the BMWs were proving to be the class of the field.

Haslam fought back to take the lead on lap 12, but Melandri's cracking pace in the last few laps proved to be the difference. The Italian gained the lead on lap 19 and held it to secure a 0.729-second win over Haslam, who himself had slipped past Sykes on the penultimate lap. A fast-finishing Rea gobbled up Biaggi on the last lap to finish fourth, but this race was all about BMW's debut win. The German marque is now the eighth manufacturer to win a World Superbike race, joining the four Japanese brands, Ducati, Aprilia and Bimota on the honour board.

"It is an awesome feeling for me to put my name in the history books of a factory like BMW Motorrad," said Melandri. "I could not have dreamt of this when I was young. I just want to say thank you to BMW Motorrad in Germany, to the team at the track and to everybody involved in the project."

Aitchison had a wretched opener at Donington, pitting on three separate occasions, the third seeing the Aussie's retirement from the race with two laps remaining.

RACE 2
Race two was incident-strewn from the start, with eight separate retirements, most caused by crashes. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) jumped the start and was penalised with a ride through. Checa and Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) touched on turn one of the opening lap. The Spaniard went down, taking out his teammate Davide Giugliano and the Ducati of Smrz in the process. Guigliano managed to rejoin the field, albeit well behind.

Clear of the carnage, Sykes led the way from Biaggi, but as in race 1, it was a close affair. Both Haslam and Melandri were right behind the leading pair, with Rea also in the mix. Laverty crashed out midway through the race, with Maxime Berger (Effenbert Liberty Racing) retiring soon after.

The BMWs made their move on lap 17, with both Melandri and Haslam passing Sykes. The final laps became a five-way war again, with a healthy dose of overtaking and some over-exuberance. Haslam and Melandri were on track to make it another BMW 1-2 until the Brit ran wide in the last corner of the last lap, falling and taking Melandri with him. Rea took advantage of the chaos, pushing inside the slidign BMWs to take the win by just over half a second from Biaggi.

Sykes finished third from Camier and Guintoli. Haslam remounted to finish 15th and last, salvaging one championship point. After a lacklustre start to the season marked by an arm injury at Phillip Island, ParkinGO MTC Aprilia's Chaz Davies recorded one of his best finishes so far, claiming seventh behind Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet).

Mercado, Mason and Guigliano had joined the retirement list by race 2's completion. Their disadvantage proved to be Aitchison's advantage, as he finished 14th and secured his second batch of championship points, the first coming at Assen's round 3.

"I am disappointed with the result of the second race," Melandri said afterward. "I was trying to pass Leon in the final corner, although I knew it would be difficult, but I am a racer and I had to try. I ran a little wide and expected Leon to pass me back - finishing second would have been okay for me.

"Then Leon was hit and he crashed. His bike hit me and I crashed too. I feel sorry for both of us but that's racing. We now have to keep our heads up high and look forward to Salt Lake City where we hope to be fighting for wins again."

At the conclusion of round 5, Biaggi retains the championship lead, while both Sykes and Rea have leapfrogged Checa in the standings. Despite his race 1 win, Melandri has dropped back to fifth, followed by Haslam.

DONINGTON WORLD SUPERBIKE RESULTS

Race one: 23 laps
1 Marco Melandri BMW 34:26.736
2 Leon Haslam BMW +0.728
3 Tom Sykes Kawasaki +1.609
4 Jonathan Rea Honda +1.819
5 Max Biaggi Aprilia +2.102
6 Carlos Checa Ducati +4.820
7 Davide Giugliano Ducati +7.520
8 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati +7.927
9 Leon Camier Suzuki +15.144
10 Michel Fabrizio BMW +16.065
DNF Mark Aitchison BMW +2 laps
Fastest lap: Biaggi - 1:28.992

Race two: 23 laps
1 Jonathan Rea Honda 34:31.847
2 Max Biaggi BMW +0.508
3 Tom Sykes Kawasaki +2.029
4 Leon Camier Suzuki +4.245
5 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati +6.595
6 Ayrton Badovini BMW +17.469
7 Chaz Davies Aprilia +17.788
8 Loris Baz Kawasaki +21.093
9 Peter Hickman Suzuki +21.806
10 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda +22.620
14 Mark Aitchison BMW +56.618
Fastest lap: Biaggi - 1:29.995

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (AFTER FIVE OF 14 ROUNDS):
1 Biaggi 128.5
2 Sykes 123.5
3 Rea 108
4 Checa 105.5
5 Melandri 97.5
6 Haslam 89
7 Guintoli 85
8 Laverty 65
9 Giugliano 50
10 Smrz 44.5
26 Aitchison 3

The next round of the 2012 World Superbike Championship will be at Miller Motorsport Park, America on May 28th.