In addition to AMA Road Racing, the Big M Weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, was also host to Round 6 of the World Superbike FIM World Championship. This was the series’ only race in the United States and it gave stateside fans the opportunity to see the prestigious event first hand.
Carlos Checa won the first race of the day, but wasn’t able to repeat his 1-1 performance from last year. Instead, the second race went to Marcos Melandri who picked up his second win of the season.
Race 1
The first race kicked-off with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) taking the lead, which he would hold onto until the fourth lap. At that point, he faltered in the back section and dropped to fifth as Melandri (BMW) and Checa (Ducati) passed him up. Melandri assumed the lead momentarily, but it didn’t take long for Checa to find his way around the BMW rider.
From then on, Checa maintained a solid lead ahead of Melandri. The race for third came down to Max Biaggi (Aprilia) and Jonathan Rea (Honda, who kept it close for most of the race. Biaggi was able to fend of Rea’s attempts to pass him and took third place just a fraction of a second ahead of the Irishman.
Unfortunately, the Americans had some trouble staying on their bikes in front of their home crowd. John Hopkins (Suzuki) lost his GSX-R1000 in the tenth lap, while Jake Holden (BMW) dropped his S1000RR just a few laps later.
Race 2
The second race of the day got off to a bumpy start. After Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) crashed in the early laps, the race was red-flagged due to oil spilled on the track. It would take an hour-and-a-half before the race was restarted.
Once the race was restarted, Checa took control of the field early on, but any hopes of winning both races were soon dashed when he crashed out with 13 laps to go. This opened things up for Melandri who then took the lead in the race.
It wasn’t an easy win for Melandri, however, as Rea, Biaggi, and Chaz Davies (Aprilia) all gave him a run for his money. All three passed him at one point, but he kept his cool and steadily worked his way back into the lead. Melandri credits his S1000 RR with helping him overtake Rea.
“I was very lucky because my engine was so strong so I could pass him on the straight," said Melandri. "Otherwise for me it would have been really difficult to pass him.”
Once Melandri got back in front of Rea, he was able to hold him off until the checkers. Biaggi finished out the day with a 3-3 record, followed by rookie Chaz Davies who earned his best finish of his first Superbike season. Sykes, who always starts out strong, fell back to fifth by the end of the race.
Biaggi holds onto a solid lead in the standings with 160.5 points. 18 points below him, Melandri and Sykes are tied for second with 142.5 each.
2012 World Superbike Miller Race 1 Results:
- Carlos Checa (Ducati)
- Marco Melandri (BMW)
- Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
- Jonathan Rea (Honda)
- Eugene Laverty (Aprilia)
- Jakub Smrz (Ducati)
- Chaz Davies (Aprilia)
- Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
- Michel Fabrizio (BMW)
- Leon Haslam (BMW)
- Davide Giugliano (Ducati)
- Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)
- Leon Camier (Suzuki)
- Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
- Loris Baz (Kawasaki)
- Maxime Berger (Ducati)
- Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda)
- Shane Turpin (Ducati)
- Jake Holden (BMW)
- RET Leandro Mercado (Kawasaki)
- RET Lorenzo Zanetti (Ducati)
- RET John Hopkins (Suzuki)
- RET David Salom (Kawasaki)
- RET Niccolo Canepa (Ducati)
2012 World Superbike Miller Race 2 Results:
- Marco Melandri (BMW)
- Jonathan Rea (Honda)
- Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
- Chaz Davies (Aprilia)
- Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
- Eugene Laverty (Aprilia)
- Davide Giugliano (Ducati)
- Leon Haslam (BMW)
- Jakub Smrz (Ducati)
- Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)
- Leon Camier (Suzuki)
- Michel Fabrizio (BMW)
- Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
- Loris Baz (Kawasaki)
- Maxime Berger (Ducati)
- John Hopkins (Suzuki)
- Leandro Mercado (Kawasaki)
- Jake Holden (BMW)
- Shane Turpin (Ducati)
- RET David Salom
- RET Carlos Checa
- RET Niccolo Canepa
- RET Lorenzo Zanetti
- NS Hiroshi Aoyama
