2010 Kyalami World Superbike Race 1 Result - Comfortable Victory Decided From The StartSubmitted by David Emmett on Sun, 2010-05-16 12:52.
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Results and summary of World Superbike race 1 at Kyalami:Michel Fabrizio took victory in the first World Superbike race at Kyalami, dominating the race from start to finish. The Xerox Ducati rider got away from the line superbly, diving into Turn 1 ahead of Sterilgarda Yamaha's James Toseland and the Althea Ducati of Carlos Checa. Checa took over 2nd before the lap was out, but by then, the Italian was over a second ahead of Checa, and the Spanish veteran faced a long hard chase. All race long, the two Ducatis were evenly matched, the gap hovering between 1 and 1.5 seconds, but Fabrizio's lead was never truly threatened, and the Xerox Ducati rider took a fairly emphatic victory.
Most of the action of the race took place behind the leading pair. In the early laps, the field had split into pairs, with James Toseland leading the Alstare Suzuki of Leon Haslam, and Leon Camier holding off his Alitalia Aprilia teammate Max Biaggi. Toseland didn't have the pace to catch Fabrizio and Checa ahead of him, but he did have the pace and the skill to hold off a charging Haslam behind. Similarly, Camier found it hard to close on Haslam, but held off his teammate until lap 9. Once past, Biaggi was free to try and chase and pass Haslam, to try and close the title race deficit even further.
Unfortunately for Biaggi, Haslam had got past Toseland at almost the same time that Biaggi had got past Camier, and by the time Biaggi arrived on the back wheel of Toseland, Haslam had already opened up a gap. Toseland then commenced to do to Biaggi what he had spent the first third of the race doing to Haslam, allowing Haslam to build up enough of a gap to secure 3rd.
Toseland's spectacular delaying tactics - his Sterilgarda Yamaha sliding everywhere as his tires went off - allowed Camier to catch once again, but Biaggi was determined to get past. The Italian tried several times to pass Toseland, his favorite tactic diving up the inside of Toseland at the Continental Hairpin, though Toseland would pass straight back getting drive off the outside of the turn, and taking back 4th place on the exit. But Toseland's valiant defense was doomed to fail eventually, Biaggi making a pass stick on lap 16, and going off to chase his title rival, who was by now too far gone to catch.
Toseland's defensive work was not yet done, however, and the Briton was left to fend with two of his compatriots, Aprilia's Camier and the other Yamaha of Cal Crutchlow. That battle also allowed Ten Kate's Johnny Rea to join the fray, the Ulsterman having gotten a poor start, but starting to really fly in the second half of the race. By the time Rea had caught the trio ahead, the Ten Kate rider had built up a good head of steam, and in a brilliant outside move around the Continental Hairpin, Rea took over 5th from both Toseland and Camier. Camier eventually passed Toseland, but Toseland managed to finally hold off his teammate Crutchlow to the line.
The biggest loser of the day was Xerox Ducati's Noriyuki Haga. While his teammate took a convincing victory, Haga struggled, dropping back through the field only to finish outside of the points. Haga's days at Ducati would appear to be numbered.
Results:
Pos No. Rider Country Bike Diff
1 84 M. Fabrizio ITA Ducati 1098R
2 7 C. Checa ESP Ducati 1098R 1.098
3 91 L. Haslam GBR Suzuki GSX-R1000 5.049
4 3 M. Biaggi ITA Aprilia RSV4 Factory 6.974
5 65 J. Rea GBR Honda CBR1000RR 13.710
6 2 L. Camier GBR Aprilia RSV4 Factory 13.848
7 52 J. Toseland GBR Yamaha YZF R1 16.064
8 35 C. Crutchlow GBR Yamaha YZF R1 16.231
9 96 J. Smrz CZE Ducati 1098R 16.580
10 50 S. Guintoli FRA Suzuki GSX-R1000 23.100
11 99 L. Scassa ITA Ducati 1098R 24.561
12 11 T. Corser AUS BMW S1000 RR 25.504
13 32 S. Morais RSA Aprilia RSV4 Factory 27.073
14 111 R. Xaus ESP BMW S1000 RR 27.273
15 67 S. Byrne GBR Ducati 1098R 30.692
16 66 T. Sykes GBR Kawasaki ZX 10R 34.008
17 41 N. Haga JPN Ducati 1098R 35.948
18 77 C. Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki ZX 10R 44.030
19 76 M. Neukirchner GER Honda CBR1000RR 48.382
20 95 R. Hayden USA Kawasaki ZX 10R 11 Laps
21 23 B. Parkes AUS Honda CBR1000RR 13 Laps
22 15 M. Baiocco ITA Kawasaki ZX 10R 18 Laps
2010 Kyalami World Superbike Race 2 Result - Penultimate Lap Pass Settles Three-Way ThrillerSubmitted by David Emmett on Sun, 2010-05-16 16:16.
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Results and summary of World Superbike race 2 at Kyalami:Leon Haslam emerged victorious from a very tight three-way scrap in the second World Superbike race at Kyalami, after an imperious pass on Johnny Rea settled the battle in his favor on the penultimate lap. Haslam had taken the lead on the first lap, deposing Max Biaggi, who had in turn bumped Carlos Checa from the lead going into the first corner, Checa getting the run off the line.
Haslam's initial lead would last little over a lap, Johnny Rea diving his way under Haslam after the Alstare Suzuki rider ran wide. Though Rea's pass was comfortable, the Ten Kate Honda rider was not able to shake off Haslam's pursuit, and a group of six riders formed early on in the race. Rea led from Haslam, with Max Biaggi close behind, while Michel Fabrizio, Carlos Checa and Cal Crutchlow had ceded a couple of tenths gap which was to prove almost impossible to bridge.
While the front three were to stick together for the duration of the race, the following trio would undergo a number of changes before the race was to end. Fabrizio had the upper hand at first, but Cal Crutchlow was on a charge, forcing his way first past Checa, then past Fabrizio, Checa passing the Xerox Ducati a couple of laps later. Fabrizio would then slide down the order, incapable of sustaining the pace that brought him victory in race 1. Checa took too long to get past Fabrizio, losing touch with the leaders, but Crutchlow was soon on the back of Rea, Biaggi and Haslam, though he could never really mix it up with the leaders.
Despite the presence of Crutchlow on their tail - later joined by Checa - it was clear that the three scrapping at the front would share the podium spoils. For the vast majority of the race, Johnny Rea seemed to have it in the bag. Rea was challenged by Haslam, and challenged by Biaggi, but held them off when attacked, and struck straight back when passed. While Rea held the lead, Biaggi and Haslam haggled over 2nd, Haslam leading first, then Biaggi taking over for the middle part of the race, Haslam then taking back 2nd for the latter part of the race.
With five laps to go, Haslam stepped up the pressure on Rea. The Alstare Suzuki dumped up the inside of Rea at the Hairpin, but Haslam ran wide, allowing the Ten Kate Honda straight back. For three more laps, Haslam breathed down Rea's neck, before making a decisive and inch perfect pass on Rea at the hairpin, this time leaving Rea with no space to come back. Having Biaggi follow behind, almost clipping Rea's rear wheel helped, Rea forced to back off, giving Haslam the space to escape.
Haslam held on to take an impressive and important victory, gaining significant points over Max Biaggi, who finished 3rd behind Rea. Haslam's advantage to Biaggi has now grown to 15 points, though with 14 races left to contend, the championship is still very much open. Johnny Rea and Carlos Checa share 3rd, but are 81 points back, and only a Spies-style comeback will bring them back into contention.
Results:
Pos No. Rider Country Bike Diff
1 91 L. Haslam GBR Suzuki GSX-R1000
2 65 J. Rea GBR Honda CBR1000RR 0.522
3 3 M. Biaggi ITA Aprilia RSV4 Factory 0.601
4 35 C. Crutchlow GBR Yamaha YZF R1 0.991
5 7 C. Checa ESP Ducati 1098R 1.479
6 52 J. Toseland GBR Yamaha YZF R1 13.324
7 11 T. Corser AUS BMW S1000 RR 13.740
8 84 M. Fabrizio ITA Ducati 1098R 14.250
9 96 J. Smrz CZE Ducati 1098R 15.190
10 41 N. Haga JPN Ducati 1098R 16.790
11 111 R. Xaus ESP BMW S1000 RR 21.101
12 99 L. Scassa ITA Ducati 1098R 22.670
13 67 S. Byrne GBR Ducati 1098R 24.506
14 66 T. Sykes GBR Kawasaki ZX 10R 31.301
15 50 S. Guintoli FRA Suzuki GSX-R1000 31.836
16 77 C. Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki ZX 10R 33.710
17 76 M. Neukirchner GER Honda CBR1000RR 35.203
18 23 B. Parkes AUS Honda CBR1000RR 55.929
19 95 R. Hayden USA Kawasaki ZX 10R 56.074
20 15 M. Baiocco ITA Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'08.481
RET 2 L. Camier GBR Aprilia RSV4 Factory 7 Laps
RET 32 S. Morais RSA Aprilia RSV4 Factory 14 Laps
Championship standings for round 6, 20101 Leon HASLAM GBR 222
2 Max BIAGGI ITA 207 -15
3 Jonathan REA GBR 141 -81
4 Carlos CHECA ESP 141 -81
5 James TOSELAND GBR 125 -97
6 Noriyuki HAGA JPN 106 -116
7 Troy CORSER AUS 105 -117
8 Michel FABRIZIO ITA 95 -127
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR 86 -136
10 Leon CAMIER GBR 82 -140
11 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA 77 -145
12 Shane BYRNE GBR 62 -160
13 Jakub SMRZ CZE 61 -161
14 Ruben XAUS ESP 42 -180
15 Tom SYKES GBR 37 -185
16 Lorenzo LANZI ITA 26 -196
17 Luca SCASSA ITA 25 -197
18 Max NEUKIRCHNER GER 23 -199
19 Chris VERMEULEN AUS 5 -217
20 Sheridan MORAIS RSA 3 -219
21 Andrew PITT AUS 3 -219
22 Roger Lee HAYDEN USA 2 -220
23 Joshua BROOKES AUS 2 -220
24 Broc PARKES AUS 1 -221
25 Matteo BAIOCCO ITA 1 -221
Jorge Lorenzo branded today's Gran Premio bwin de España at Jerez "a beautiful race" after edging out his compatriot Dani Pedrosa to take the win in front of an enthusiastic Spanish crowd.