In cricket terms, "rain stopped play" at the fourth round of the 2012 World Superbike Championship at Monza on Sunday. The deluge made a disappointing end to a weekend that had started out so well Friday for the BMW riders.
Rain caused the first race to be abandoned on Sunday, and the second race to be shortened, the grid only going half the distance, and scoring only half the points.
In the "half-race", Kawasaki Racing Team's Tom Sykes took his first win of 2012 World SBK, and his second with the team (Nurburgring, 2011). However BMW's Leon Haslam was second place, with Marco Melandri fourth.
When the race began, Sykes immediately set an unmatched pace on the drying track. When the race was red flagged at the half-way point, Sykes took the win by 9.709 seconds ahead of Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) and Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team).
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) was a close fourth and another local great, Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team), was fifth, followed by Honda World Superbike's Jonathan Rea and Althea Racing Ducati's Carlos Checa. The distance between second to seventh place was covered by just over a second in a close contest behind Sykes.
With four of 14 rounds complete, Biaggi continues to lead the 2012 World SBK Championship with 97.5 points. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) has 95.5, with Sykes in third by 91.5.
2012 Monza World Superbike Results (shortened race 2):
1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 14'08.800
2. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 14'18.509
3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 14'18.919
4. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 14'19.094
5. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 14'19.327
6. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 14'19.438
7. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 14'19.699
8. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 14'20.995
9. Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 14'21.999
10. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 14'28.172
11. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 14'33.351
12. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 14'33.455
13. Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 14'33.462
14. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 14'33.468
15. Leon Camier (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 14'33.610
16. Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 14'33.735
17. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 14'34.078
NS. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR
NS. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R
NS. Sergio Gadea (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R
NS. Mark Aitchison (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR
