Round eight of the FIM World Superbike is at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. There was a lot of rain in the morning, but it is sunny now. A lot of the circuit is damp. The formation lap is going to be key, and the bikes are still needing wet tires right now. It won't rain, but, it's windy. This is officially declared as a wet race and it will go the whole distance. Sylvain Guintoli is out of the championship. He has been sacked by the team. He's looking to get another chance. But, he's not in this race. BMW will not have a factory team in World Superbike next year. Instead, BMW Italia will be the official team. That's kind of a shock.
On pole, it's Tom Sykes. With the wet and drying track, the first laps will be interesting. Here we go.
At the start, Leon Haslam gets a jump and so does Max Biaggi. Tom Sykes runs wide onto the dry line and he gets the lead, opening a gap. Marco Melandri is second and Davide Giugliano passes Leon Haslam. Johnny Rea is up there. Lawrence Baz is up there, too, as are Jakub Smrz and Maxime Berger. Davide Giugliano is up to second and Berger is making his way through, too. Max Biaggi is taking it easy as the track dries out. Tom Sykes has a good cushion. This race is 20 laps. Sykes still leads and Marco Melandri is also moving up. No one has fallen yet.
Baz tries to get by Berger. Baz rode in the B'ol D'or 24 hour motorcycle race at Magny Cours earlier in the year. Alex Pileda (a guest rider) also is doing well. Pardon if the name is misspelled. He's a guest rider. Giugliano is going for the lead over Sykes. He shoots out around Sykes and gets the lead. It's not known what front tire he is using. Giugliano might have an intermediate level front tire. Sykes passes again, but Giugliano won't give up. But look, Maxime Berger gets seconjd and then, goes to the lead. Wow! He's riding a Czech bike.
Lawrence Baz takes over from Carlos Checa and Jakub Smrz is coming, too. Berger resets fast lap at 2:13.9, but Leon Haslam is sixth tenths quicker at 2:13.3 down the order in the back of the top ten. Loris Baz is Sykes' Kawasaki team mate. Baz passes Sykes on lap three. Davide Giugliano goes down! He was going so well. He lost thr dront wheel and went down. Leon Haslam sets fast lap. Cannot see the time. The TV graphics are printed small. Johnny Rea, Tom Sykes and Carlos Checa are all doing well. Berger runs a 2:10.5. He's flying! It's lap four. Johnny Rea has a new, more powerful motor for his Honda.
Marco Melandri is riding well, but Davide Giugliano, is out of race one. Sykes is reeling in Berger. Sykes runs a 2:05.2 and is a second quicker than Berger. Michele Fabrizio runs fast lap at 2:05 flat. Fabrizio will be all over Max Biaggi like a rash. Lawrence Baz holds off Johnny Rea. Sykes passes Berger again. He runs a 2:04.5. Johnny Rea is now hounding Loris Baz. Eugene Laverty is now in the top ten, too, on the second Aprilia. Fabrizio gets fast lap at 2:03.6.
Johnny Rea wants by Maxime Berger. Rea may do that, as the privateer Ducati is slower than the Honda. It's now Sykes vs. Rea. Carlos Checa runs a 2:02.6. Max Biaggi is in the house. He's coming, fast! This is lap eleven, so, the race is half over. Loris Baz is getting better with each race. Michele Fabrizio runs behind Baz. Mearco Melandri runs really wide and loses spots. He's run wide twice. Moving back in the pack, Leon Camier and Hiroshi Aoyama battle. Berger is falling back as the track dries. Max Biaggi and Michele Fabrizio battle. Leon Haslam passes Berger. Biaggi hounds Jakub Smrz.
Aoyama crashes and so does Leandro Mercado who gets hung up on a rivals bike and has a long, painful slide! Ouch! Max Biaggi got squeezed. There are yellow flags. Tom Sykes still leads over Johnny Rea with Loris Baz third. Marco Melandri passes on Leon Haslam. The two BMW team mates are tussling. Tom Sykes is still ahead. Nine laps left. Biaggi passes Berger and is working on Michele Fabrizio as Eugene Laverty is running fastest at 2:01.5. John Hopkins passes David Salom on the Pedercini Kawasaki.
Johnny Rea has taken the lead. Cosworth is building Honda's SBK motors. This is some race! Wow! Marco Melandri gets around Eugene Laverty. Checa passes Loris Baz. He's coming as well. Five laps left. Max Biaggi passes Leon Haslam. He's seventh. Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri scrap. This will come down to tire conditions as Melandri slides by Baz on the inside. Johnny Rea catches right up to Tom Sykes.
Melandri slides by Checa. Nope. Hold on. He's going for it past Checa. Rea and Melandri can both go for it. But, can Sykes hold them off? Rea and Melandri are all over each other and Carlos Checa flies, too. This is a real slice and dice with three laps left in race one and don't forget our buddy, Loris Baz. Rea runs wide and loses a spot to Checa. Marco Melandri slides right up inside Sykes on the brakes! Wow! BMW is shrinking for next year. But, they can't give up. Johnny Rea has a bad crash, falling right down! Rea made contact with Sykes. Two bikes on one line doesn't work, and, smash! Rea went down. It's the last lap of race one now.
Marco Melandri has the lead. Loris Baz is on the podium. Biaggi is now sixth. On one hand, BMW is doomed becaused of the loss of factory support. But, on the other, they'll be able to savor a win in this race. This will be Melandri's most important win of 2012. Marco Melandri does it!
#33 Marco Melandri ITA BMW S1000RR
Loris Baz gets his first podium of the year. Race two is on deck.
Sykes is on pole for race two. Will Loris Baz do well in this race? We'll see. The bikes are off on their formation lap.
At the start, Sykes slides across Checa at the start of another 20 lap shootout. Sykes is ahead with max Biaggi coming, fast. Here comes Laverty as he beats Sykes to the corner and has to settle for second. Chaz Davies might be coming up. Carlos Checa looks to come through. Sykes is pulling out a lead. Sykes, Laverty, Haslam are the top three. No jumped starts. Sykes runs a 1:24.7 and Jakub Smrz is languishing. Leon Haslam had a good start. Marco Melandri almost loses it and passes Leon Haslam. Davide Giugliano and Max Biaggi are also coming.
Biaggi flies past Haslam and Giugliano. Melandri passes Eugene Laverty. Carlos Checa passes on the inside. This is lap eight. He goes past Laverty. The Ducati has good cornering speed. Sykes does a 1:59.8, Melandri, a 1:59.7. Hiroshi Aoyama has a problem, pulling his Honda off course. Game over. Leon Haslam has to recover as Laverty and Biaggi (two Aprilia's) battle. Laverty goes wide allowing Biaggi to get by. This on lap five. The gap is shrinking. Biaggi dives up inside one of the Ducati's.
Less than a second separate Sykes and Melandri with six laps now done. Fourteen to go. Tom Sykes is coming back in the championship against Melandri and Biaggi. Kawasaki has not won a race at Brno since 1993 with Scott Russell riding for them. Leon Haslam passes Davide Giugliano. Melandri remains four tenths quicker than Sykes. Sykes, Melandri and Checa all run identical lap times. Chaz Davies runs eighth now and could finish in the top five, coming to halfway.
Marco Melandri is precisely pursuing Tom Sykes. He knows how he wants the bike to perform and steer. Sykes is missing apexes meaning the grip level on the tires is going down, or he's losing mechanical grip. It's the halfway point in race two. Sykes runs a 2:00.5. Melandri is on top of Sykes as Sykes is late on the brakes. Right now, it's a two bike race. Marco Melandri takes the lead but no. Sykes sweeps back on the outside. Just seven laps remain.
Loris Baz is also doing well, as is Chaz Davies. Max Biaggi will have to hurry. Laverty, Haslam and Baz are right on top of him. But, it's the lead battle to pay attention to with six laps left in the second race. Marco Melandri is closing, running a wider line into the corner, but he can really close up. Here, Melandri takes the lead. Sykes comes back but just can't do it. Can he get back on the inside through turn five? This will be a fight to the finish between these two.
This is it. Sykes is still pressuring Marco Melandri. He's got to stay with the BMW. Melandri wiggled though, running wide, and Sykes passes for the lead. The gap is 7/10 between Sykes and Melandri while the battles happen further down the order. Sykes and Melandri are the only riders in the two minute flat bracket and it'll come down to a last lap dash. Carlos Checa will be third. Sykes slides again but keeps the bike on the road.
Just two laps remain now. Melandri passes and then Tom Sykes comes right back! Melandri is throwing everything at Sykes, trying to break him. Melandri tried to dive up the inside of Sykes! Melandri gets inside of Sykes. There's nothing in it. Sykes can't get by Melandri. The Kawasaki is better in the second half of the speedway. Sykes will need to do a banzai move. Double wins by one rider are common at Brno. Here comes Sykes. No. Melandri does the double!
#33 Marco Melandri ITA BMW S1000RR
Phew! Another barn burner of a World Superbike race! The next race is in England once more at Silverstone, in two weeks.
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