BMW got its first taste of World Superbike victory Sunday in the first of two races at Donington Park in England with Marco Melandri beating his BMW teammate Leon Haslam to the line for the win. However, the second race was a different story: Haslam and Melandri collided at the last corner, when running 1-2, and both went down.
Cycle World reports that most of the first race was a four-way battle for the lead with Melandri, Haslam, Kawasaki's Tom Sykes and Aprilia's Max Biaggi going toe to toe. In the end, however, it was Melandri beating Haslam to the line by .728 of a second to give the S 1000RR its first win after three years and 89 races of trying. It was also Melandri's second career World Superbike race, his first coming at Donington a year ago on the factory Yamaha.
Haslam, meanwhile, recovered from an off-track excursion through the gravel to beat Sykes for the runner-up spot. Sykes held on for third with a battle for fourth going to Honda's Jonathan Rea over Biaggi.
Biaggi's was fifth and World Champion Carlos Checa rode to a lonely sixth, with his teammate Davide Giugliano seventh.
Effenbert Liberty Racing Ducati's Sylvain Guintoli was eighth with Fixi Crescent Suzuki's Leon Camier and BMW Motorrad Italia's Michel Fabrizio rounding out the top 10 finishers.
In the second race, Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) took his second win of the season after an incident-strewn event. On the first corner Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) and Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) touched and Checa went down, taking out Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert Ducati) and Checa's team-mate Davide Giugliano.
Then Laverty crashed down Craner Curves, as up front eventual third place man Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) led for most of the race distance. He was finally mugged by a warring faction which included eventual second place man Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) and both BMW Motorrad Motorsport Riders, Leon Haslam and Marco Melandri.
After a multitude of overtakes and riders running off track, Haslam looked to have it won until both he and Melandri ran wide at the very last corner and Rea pushed inside. They collided and Haslam fell, knocking off Melandri as he slid on the track. Rea held on to win by just over half a second from Biaggi, with Sykes two second back. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) was an impressive fourth.
In the championship, the final dramas mean that Biaggi has 128.5 points, Sykes 123.5, Rea 108, Checa 105.5 and Melandri 97.5. ––Paul Duchene
Race One
1. Marco Melandri (BMW)
2. Leon Haslam (BMW)
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
4. Jonathan Rea (Honda)
5. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
6. Carlos Checa (Ducati)
7. Davide Giugliano (Ducati)
8. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)
9. Leon Camier (Suzuki)
10. Michel Fabrizio (BMW)
Race Two
1. Jonathan Rea (Honda)
2. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
4. Leon Camier (Suzuki)
5. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)
6. Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
7. Chaz Davies (Aprilia)
8. Loris Baz (Kawasaki)
9. Peter Hickman (Suzuki)
10. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda)
