Staring a chance for 2012 Superstock 1000 title

Staring, whose early good form was undone by a series of crashes in recent rounds, scored an impressive victory on the Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R at the Portuguese circuit, overtaking Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet STK S1000RR) late in the race to score his third victory of the season.

Staring had qualified in second place behind Barrier, with the pair sharing the front row of the grid with Eddi La Marra (Barni Racing Team Italia Ducati 1199 Panigale) and Christoffer Bergman (BWG Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R).

The race didn't start until almost 5:00pm, due to heavy morning rain that forced a major reshuffle of the schedule. La Marra was the early leader, before Barrier passed the Italian on lap three. Staring then hung off the back of Barrier for much of the race, and waited for the final lap to make his move. At the chequered flag, Staring's winning margin was 1.722 seconds, with Frenchman Jeremy Guarnoni third behind Barrier. La Marra eventually finished fifth.

The season finale at Magny Cours will likely be a battle between Barrier and La Marra, who are only separated by three points in the championship. Staring is 22 points adrift of the lead, so is a mathematical chance to take the championship, but needs both La Marra and Barrier to DNF or finish out of the points in order to do so.

The final round of the European Superstock Championship is at Magny Cours, France, on October 5 - 7.