It was a good day for the Irishman at the Italian track. Eugene Laverty claimed his maiden World Superbike victory today, beating out Max Biaggi and Leon Haslam.
Laverty would be challenged by Biaggi at the beginning of the race, but theYamaha rider would eventually pull away to take the win by more than two seconds.
Laverty got off to a good start, and battled with Biaggi throughout the first half of the race. Biaggi had the advantage heading down the long straights, but Laverty was able to reclaim some track during the turns.
The stare down between the two riders lasted until there were 7 laps remaining. Biaggi blinked and made a mistake, giving Laverty some much needed space up top. Biaggi would be able to recover to claim second place, but his chance for the race win was gone.
Behind the top two riders, Leon Haslam and Marco Melandri battled for third. But in the end it was the BMW that climbed up to the podium.
Season leader Carlos Checa was able to limit the damage done by Biaggi’s second place finish by claiming a top 10 finish of his own. Checa was able to claim 9th place today, an improvement from what he showed during qualifying.
World Superbike - Race Results - Monza
- Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) 31'09.584
- Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) 31'11.159
- Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 31'12.662
- Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) 31'12.839
- Michel Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare) 31'21.396
- Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) 31'21.955
- Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 31'22.864
- Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) 31'27.003
- Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 31'27.153
- Jakub Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) 31'28.004
