The teams and riders of the FIM World Superbike Championship are back in England this weekend. The races are at the Silverstone circuit after the bikes ran at another British track (Donington Park) earlier in the season.
Race one is ready to go. The championship is a big deal. Now, the weather could be tough to figure out. Jakub Smrz has pole for this first race. Weather conditions change in England, a lot. So, we'll see what happens. Everyone is starting on slick tires. Max Biaggi has the points lead but his competition is coming including Marco Melandri, Tom Sykes, and Carlos Checa. BMW has the manufacturers championship lead. The three European makes lead the Japanese bikes. There's a wildcard rider from Australia in the race on a Kawasaki as well. Dave Johnson is the rider.
At the start, Smrz and Leon Haslam had great starts. Haslam leads through the first corner of this eighteen lap race. The bikes head through Brooklands and Woodcote corners. There is a specific Pirelli tire for the British tracks being used here. Leon Camier got a bad start. Tom Sykes flies by Leon Haslam coming through Wellington. Johnson crashes his Kawasaki. The weather is getting ugly and there's weather rolling in. Dave Johnson, Maxime Berger, and polesitter, Jakub Smrz have all crashed. Smrz went down taking Maxime Berger down as well and I think Johnson's bike was clobbered by Smrz! Ugh!
Time to hit the reset button on race one. It's been declared a wet race. Leon Camier does well in the wet. Camier? Yes. Leon Camier might have a shot at getting something here. Sylvain Guintoli has a wet tire and so does Jakub Smrz. Wow! Team Effenberg is taking a big gamble. Sylvain Guintoli of France gets the lead as Davide Giugliano and Carlos Checa are both going for it. Biaggi is charging now. He's fourth as Johnny Rea slides wide through Wellington. Checa, Haslam, Sykes, Biaggi, the top four. Carlos Checa runs on slick tires. Coming towards Copse, Loris Baz is coming now, too.
He's second. Knock, knock. Loris Baz takes the lead! Leon Camier for Suzuki is also coming, Tom Sykes now wants it into Stowe as Camier runs wide. The bikes come to Vale and Club. Checa and Camier run wide! Checa almost crashes! Yikes! Marco Melandri has sunk to eleventh. Say what! Leon Haslam slides past Sykes through Brooklands and Baz still has the fire stoked. Leon Haslam leads out of Becketts and Chapel, down Hangar Straight and into Stowe.
Johnny Rea is two seconds off the lead. But this lead battle is insane! Ten bikes are in it at least. It's lap two as the lead battle continues between Baz and Haslam. Maxime Berger is back on track. Eugene Laverty slides by another bike on the sister Aprilia to Max Biaggi. Guintoli and Smrz are falling back. Davide Giugliano sets fast lap at 2:08.293. There's a mix of sun and clouds as Leon Haslam still leads over Baz. Tom Sykes and Carlos Checa could still have a shot for the championship. But it seems less likely for them both.
Lorenzo Zanetti makes his way to twelfth place. Biaggi battles Camier through Stowe. Carlos Checa slides up the inside of Haslam. Checa is ahead now. Johnny Rea is now up to ninth spot. This is lap 13. Five laps to go in race one. Loris Baz passes the BMW's but they get him right back! Tom Sykes passes Loris Baz. Baz is no quitter. Melandri is now coming back into the picture. Max Biaggi is atching the battle in front and then comes Baz and one of the BMW's. Johnny Rea passes Ayrton Badovini. Carlos Checa flies with a gap of 2.9 seconds in hand.
He's got to judge how the pace goes if rain falls. Rain is coming. Eugene Laverty battles Davide Giugliano. John Hopkins is out of the race. Johnny Rea is trying to pass. Ayrton Badovini has his sights on Biaggi. Checa extends his lead, but Biaggi is falling like Melandri did earlier. There's still ten bikes that can win this race. Rea and Melandri are coming back while Biaggi falls. Seven laps left in race one with the #7 bike currently ahead. Tom Sykes is moving up again.
Michele Fabrizio is also getting into this scrap. He needs to know where he's going to be for next year. The gap has gone way down. Leon Haslam, Tom Sykes, Leon Camier and others could all contend for this win. Carlos Checa runs a 2:10.8 and is losing some time. Can Checa up his pace? He's slower than he was earlier as the bikes fly onto Hangar straight again. Leon Haslam flies by Checa. Checa is a sitting duck. This is real drama in England. This isn't Shakespeare. Down Wellington Straight, it's a battle between Haslam and Sykes. It's raining, so, Loris Baz turns on the afterburners again and is third.
Sykes is slowing down because of the wet pavement. Leon Haslam wants a win. But, Loris Baz makes another banzai move even though it's getting wetter out there. Conditions are getting worse. The race will run to the end. Haslam has a lead of less than a second. Leon Camier is coming and Loris Baz is third. But, Camier is the only one who can get there. But no! Camier is down at Beckett's! Loris Baz is now second. This is Assen, revisited. The wet weather and the fact that Haslam is in the lead. Max Biaggi has to get by Melandri but can't. Look at the rain! This is nuts!
Ayrton Badovini could get on the podium! Where did Baz and Badovini come from?! Checa is now fourth. Ayrton Badovini is coming quickly. Leon Haslam wants his first win of 2012. But, he's got competition. Badovini tries passing for a bMW 1-2. He does it! Baz said no. Badovini said, "not so fast, buddy". Haslam and Badovini slide. It's a three bike race, or more. Loris Baz takes the lead with two laps to go. Who dares to win? Will it be Baz? Will it be Checa? Haslam is falling.
Michele Fabrizio is now in this thing, too. Wow. Johnny Rea and Max Biaggi are sixth and seventh. Where's Haslam? He's mired behind Rea and Biaggi! Carlos Checa is coming back, too! What the... It's the last lap. Michele Fabrizio goes to the lead and Johnny Rea is now up to second with Ayrton Badovini. What happened to Baz? It's the last lap. Max Biaggi has a savage crash! It's anyone's race now. Biaggi should be OK. Who will win? Biaggi high sided on the rumble strips. Johnny Rea is up there as Fabrizio comes to the lead.
Five riders could win race one! Baz takes the lead into Stowe! Who wins it? Rea is second. Fabrizio is third. Rea crashes! But, Kawasaki wins with Loris Baz!
#76 Loris Baz FRA Kawasaki ZX 10 R
Race two is on deck. Will it be as crazy as race one? We'll see. Keep in mind, Baz was brought in to replace injured rider Joan Lascorz.
Rain, hail, wind, sleet etc, still exist for race two. Another beautiful, sunny day in England. Not! Dream on, man! Anyhow, onto race two for SBK.
After Biaggi's crash in race one, he's got less of a gap in points over Marco Melandri. Rain could come for race two. Effenberg gambled. Ayrton Badovini and Jakub Smrz are their riders of course. Jakub Smrz has pole for race two.
It's beginning to rain again as the bikes are on their warmup lap. Cal Crutchlow has the lap record at Silverstone. Crutchlow rides in MotoGP now of course. This will be a dry race even though rain could come. If it rains, the riders can change tires. But, it's a dry race. The start is delayed. No, it's now a wet race. OK.
Tom Sykes was in the pit to adjust the bike. At the start, Davide Giugliano almost got the lead but Leon Haslam gets it and Biaggi got squeezed as Eugene Laverty came up. Sylvain Guintoli gets the lead. This race is 17 laps. Chaz Davies is moving up[ as there is lightning on the track. Carlos Checa got swamped. He's in fourteenth. Watch Loris Baz. He might just do the double. The bikes head down Hangar straight. Checa languishes. Sylvain Guintoli opens a gap over Eugene Laverty. Loris Baz is on the move. Guintoli and Smrz have the proper tires now. No jumped starts. But, these cats are flying! Into Brooklands, the bikes are double file down the order.
Tom Sykes gambled on intermediate tires and changed to wets. Davide Giugliano passes another bike. John Hopkins and Leon Haslam are nearby. Giugliano passes Haslam. Sylvain Guintoli runs 2:25.3. Baz is coming, but it looks like a two bike race. Loris Baz passes Eugene Laverty as Davide Giugliano makes a pass over Marco Melandri. Baz is third and Chaz Davies is moving up. John Hopkins on the sister Suzuki to Leon Camier is moving up. Aha. The Suzuki's are doing much better than usual. The older Ducati's are running well in the rain.
Davide Giugliano passes Eugene Laverty. Then, he goes after and slides by Chaz Davies. Sylvain Guintoli still leads. Some of the heavy hitters are farther down the order. Biaggi has the championship lead to lose. He has to motor. Loris Baz has fast lap at 2:27 something. Not sure of the second numbers after the decimal point. Smrz wants by Guintoli. Baz is coming quickly. It's starting to rain hard now, too. Maxime Berger passes Marco Melandri. The rain is only getting heavier as the two Ducati's battle each other. Don't cross the white line. Leon Camier loses an engine on the Suzuki. Ka blammo! He's exploded the valves at the top end of the motor.
Loris Baz runs a 1:26.8. Davide Giugliano is on the same pace with a 1:26.9. The conditions are only getting worse five laps into the race. There are tricks for riders to defog their helmets. Wear a mask over your nose so hot air doesn't steam it up and find something to keep water out. Sylvain Guintoli gets too close to the white line. Giugliano sets fastest lap. Davide Giugliano is catching Loris Baz. Johnny Rea passes Leon Haslam. Giugliano fishtails and thank heavens he holds onto the bike! Woodcote corner is very wet right now. Loris Baz runs fastest lap now. He runs a 2:24.3. Baz brings Giugliano with him. Johnny Rea is falling behind. But, Michele Fabrizio is also coming up, passing Lorenzo Zanetti.
Six laps into the race. Melandri is eighth. Biaggi is thirteenth. The standing water on Hangar straight into Stowe is getting worse. Into Vale, it's really wet. Jakub Smrz has to get by Guintoli. But, Giugliano spills the bike. He's OK. He's just surprised that he fell off. Eugene Laverty and Chaz Davies gain spots. Carlos Checa is also moving up. Loris Baz needs to slow down slightly. He has to be very careful. Baz wants by Smrz. Baz is now second. He will now go after Sylvain Guintoli. The race is half over. The track is getting much wetter now. Johnny Rea goes down and so does Jakub Smrz! He's out!
Eugene Laverty is now third. Baz is chasing Guintoli through Maggots/Becketts. Don't aquaplane. Guintoli goes by Baz. This is going to be the lead battle. Baz is about to move on Guintoli. Guintoli wiggles. Eight laps left. This is a two man race. Eugene Laverty is farther back (sixteen seconds off the pace). Carlos Checa crashes. Same thing happened to Giugliano. Maxime Berger, down and out. Loris Baz takes the lead!
Baz crashes! Don't speak too soon. Sykes has also crashed. Stop this race! It's too wet. The red flag comes out. Johnny Rea loses his bike in replay. Also, replayed are Smrz's and Berger's crashes. Race two is now over. There's no real point in restarting. Who has won? The track is being cleaned for other races. No one is on the podium yet. Apparently, Sylvain Guintoli is the winner and Loris Baz gets fast lap.
#50 Sylvain Guintoli FRA Ducati 1098 R
The next race on the World Superbike schedule is in Moscow, Russia for the first time, at Moscow Raceway, in three weeks.
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