Max Biaggi Wins Both Races at World SuperBike Misano 2012

Max Biaggi (Aprilia) stole the show Sunday at the Misano World Circuit by taking first place in both races. The Aprilia racer dominated Round 7 of the World SuperBike Championship in Misano Adriatico, Italy, and increased his points lead in the series.

There were a couple of DNF’s that certainly didn’t hurt Biaggi’s performance, including Marcos Melandri (BMW) in the first race and Carlos Checa (Ducati) in the second. Of these two, only Checa made it to the podium after finishing second in the first race.

Race 1

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) was sitting pole position in the first race, but it was Jonathan Rea (Honda) who took the early lead. Sykes was glued to Rea’s rear tire throughout the first ten laps before he started to fall back, first to seventh before working his way back up to fourth.

Neither Biaggi nor Checa performed very well in the superpoles and they ended up pretty far back on the grid. Nevertheless, Biaggi reached sixth by the end of the first lap, with Checa trailing him before too long. In front of them, Davide Guigliano (Ducati) was charging for the lead, having caught up to Rea by the 13th lap. By Lap 16, Guigliano had overtaken Rea, who was bumped down a few more places into fifth by the end of the race.

Finally, in Lap 22, both Biaggi and Checa overtook Guigliano and finished out the race in first and second respectively. Checa certainly didn’t give Biaggi much breathing room and the difference in finish times came down to just a fraction of a second.

Race 2

In the second race of the day, it was apparent much earlier on that Biaggi would be the winner. Once again, Sykes took the immediate lead from the pole position, but by Lap 4, Biaggi had assumed the lead. From then on, he continued to open up a nice gap and would go on to take the checkers six seconds in front of Rea.

Checa went down early in the race after he bumped Melandri in an attempt to pass him. Throughout the rest of the race, we would also see Guigliano, Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati), and Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) kiss the asphalt and retire from the race.

Meanwhile, Melandri was playing it safe after being forced to retire late in the first race. He needed to pick up some points this time around, so he carefully worked his way up from ninth to a solid fourth place. He has followed closely by BMW Motorrad teammate, Aryton Badovini, but was able to fend him off until the finish line.

In the battle for second, Rea had his hands full with another BMW Motorrad rider, Leon Haslam. Having finished twelfth in the first race, Haslam was riding much better this race and kept within a half second of Rea during the second half. However, Rea never gave Haslam any openings and took second just in front of his fellow countryman. Another Brit, Tom Sykes, struggled toward the end of the race and fell from his early lead down to seventh.

Biaggi's Win

Biaggi was understandably excited about sweeping Misano. "It was an amazing weekend," Biaggi said. "After Superpole which forced me to start from the third row, I was able to stay focused and express myself well during the race. After the test sessions I chose a tyre which wasn't the fastest as far as lap times go, but the one that gave me more confidence. In any case I had to take some risks because there are very few places to overtake here, but in the end I was successful and I'm leaving Misano with an incredible double win."

2012 WSBK Round 8

After Misano, Biaggi continues to rank number one in the series with 210.5 points. He has a solid lead over Rea in second with 172 and Sykes in third at 164.5. The World SuperBike Championship returns to Spain in a couple of weeks with Round 8 at Motorland Aragon.

2012 World Superbike Misano Race 1 Results:

1. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
2. Carlos Checa (Ducati)
3. Davide Giugliano (Ducati)
4. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
5. Jonathan Rea (Honda)
6. Chaz Davies (Aprilia)
7. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia)
8. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)
9. Jakub Smrz (Ducati)
10. Leon Camier (Suzuki)
11. Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
12. Leon Haslam (BMW)
13. Maxime Berger (Ducati)
14. Michel Fabrizio (BMW)
15. Matteo Baiocco (Ducati)
16. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda)
17. John Hopkins (Suzuki)
18. Niccolo Canepa (Ducati)
19. Leandro Mercado (Kawasaki)
20. Federico Sandi (BMW)

• RET Marco Melandri (BMW)
• RET Loris Baz (Kawasaki)
• RET David Salom (Kawasaki)
• RET Lorenzo Zanetti (Ducati)

2012 World Superbike Misano Race 2 Results:

1. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
2. Jonathan Rea (Honda)
3. Leon Haslam (BMW)
4. Marco Melandri (BMW)
5. Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
6. Michel Fabrizio (BMW)
7. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
8. Loris Baz (Kawasaki)
9. Jakub Smrz (Ducati)
10. Matteo Baiocco (Ducati)
11. Maxime Berger (Ducati)
12. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda)
13. Niccolo Canepa (Ducati)
14. John Hopkins (Suzuki)
15. Leon Camier (Suzuki)
16. Leandro Mercado (Kawasaki)
17. Federico Sandi (BMW)

• RET Eugene Laverty (Aprilia)
• RET Chaz Davies (Aprilia)
• RET David Salom (Kawasaki)
• RET Davide Giugliano (Ducati)
• RET Carlos Checa (Ducati)
• RET Lorenzo Zanetti (Ducati)
• RET Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)

2012 World Superbike Points:

1. Max Biaggi, 210.5
2. Jonathan Rea, 172
3. Tom Sykes, 164.5
4. Marco Melandri, 155.5
5. Carlos Checa, 150.5
6. Leon Haslam, 123
7. Sylvain Guintoli, 103
8. Eugene Laverty, 95
9. Davide Giugliano, 80
10. Jakub Smrz, 75.5