This is the season finale for the 2012 FIM World Superbike Championship. The Circuit de Nevers in Magny Cours, France, will be the venue.
This is the grand finale. The weather is not good at all. It's going to be a cold, cloudy race. Two races will happen. 23 laps will be run. Max Biaggi has a 30 point lead. Tom Sykes and Marco Melandri still have mathematical chances. Biaggi has recovered well from earlier in the season. It started raining in qualifying. Magny Cours also in the home of the 24 hour Bol D'or. Jorge Lorenzo is at this race to watch. Biaggi wants a dry race to finish in the top six. Sykes and Melandri both will need wet races.
Max Biaggi is looking for his sixth world championship. Claudio Corti (Moto 3 rider), comes in with Kawasaki, replacing David Salom for these last two races. The race is ready to get underway. Heading into the off season with a win, will be an advantage. At the start, Carlos Checa and Eugene Laverty get great starts. Johnny Rea also gets a good one. Marco Melandri is fifth as Loris Baz slides off through Estoril, into Adelaide. Johnny Rea is right up there, too. This race is 23 laps. Maxime Berger could do well in the wet. Into the 180, the track gets really slick in the rain. The tight corner is Chateau D'eau. Max Biaggi runs right behind Laverty and here comes Sylvain Guintoli. Guintoli passes Leon Haslam.
Tom Sykes runs a 1:55 flat in the lead. Into Adelaide another time, Sykes has the advantage. Johnny Rea is doing OK. He was injured last year. Max Biaggi passes Eugene Laverty. Chaz Davies crashes out. Eugene Laverty will still with the factory Aprilia team next year. Where will Biaggi go? Sykes is into the 1:54s. Carlos Checa is behind Biaggi, ahead of Guintoli. Marco Melandri runs tenth, behind Leon Camier, into Estoril. Max Biaggi dumps his bike, just like the Nurburgring!
Tom Sykes leads it. Kawasaki management will tell him, "Biaggi, out". Leon Haslam carves through the field. So does Maxime Berger. Marco Melandri is still hurt. Will he be competitive? There's a yellow flag. Leon Haslam has problems with his BMW. He went down the escape road. Sykes and Rea battle. Do you go for the win if you're Johnny Rea? Yes. Sykes doesn't have to win, because there's another race. But... Rea gets the lead now. Sykes will have to fly in order to win the championship. Marco Melandri is fifth, with Sylvain Guintoli ahead on the Ducati.
Carlos Checa runs behind. He might turn it on later in the race. Johnny Rea has been racing a lot between Superbike and MotoGP. He knows what he's doing. Marco Melandri passes Michele Fabrizio. Fabrizio is not doing too well. Melandri passes Guintoli. Guintoli is taking advantage, because Melandri pushes too hard. Lorenzo Zanetti crashes his bike, similar to how Biaggi did. Next yeae, Zanetti will move down a class, to Supersport. Oh no! Carlos Checa has crashed! Tom Sykes is in the catbird seat. Checa high sides and it hurts. A wallop indeed. Six laps are completed. Rea has a three and a half second lead.
Rea slides his Honda slightly. Rea really wiggles the bike! Whoa! That Honda CBR was loose! If yours truly was the team manager, the thing to tell rider is, "ease up, sunshine!" Tom Sykes honors his team mate Joan Lascorz, with a specially designed helmet. All the proceeds go to Lascorz. Fifteen laps left in race one. Leon Camier crashes. He was trapped under the bike. Thankfully, he's walking away. Sykes needs to keep the championship alive. But, Guintoli and Melandri are coming. Melandri runs his best lap at 1:54.1. Guintoli won't give up. This position is for the podium as they go through 180 and uphill to Imola.
Guintoli pulls away from the BMW. The BMW can't really get through the tight stuff. It's better on the straights. Melandri does pass down the front straight. He holds the spot, running slightly wider than Guintoli. Rea picks up the pace to 1:53.7. Johnny Rea crashes out now! Tom Sykes is safe. He's seen the wreck. The bike is fine. So, he'll get back in the race. He loses the rear tire, going over the top of the bike. Ten laps remain in race one. It's game over for Johnny Rea in race one. There's too much damage to the bike.
Rea parks it. The gap between Sykes and Melandri is 1.8 seconds. He needs to pull something out of the hat. Into Lycee, Sykes continues to lead. But, Melandri and Guintoli are still in it. Tom Sykes is a sitting duck now. Melandri and Guintoli have caught him. Melandri is right on Sykes. Guintoli has taken a spot from Melandri! Yikes! Guintoli wants to win. He'll throw caution to the wind! Guintoli and Melandri pass Sykes in one corner. But, Sykes gets back by Melandri for P2! Wow! Melandri passes Sykes in the 180. Eight laps to go. Guintoli leads, the crowd goes nuts! Sykes has lost two seconds over Guintoli. Sykes will be behind Biaggi and so will Melandri, should the order remain as is.
The Ducati is the easiest bike to ride in the wet. Guintoli runs fastest lap at 1:53.1. Through Adelaide, Nurburgring, and 180, Melandri tries to get on terms with Guintoli. Can he close in? Four laps remain. Guintoli runs 1:53.2. Melandri is slower. Guintoli has this one in the bag. Eugene Laverty battles with Ayrton Badovini for sixth and seventh. Two laps left now. Guintoli is cruising. Can the Ducati 1198 bike do the double in it's last race? We'll see.
Tom Sykes runs a 1:56.4. He's three seconds off Guintoli, running in a conservative mode. Maxime Berger will get one of his best results of the year. Badovini wants by Laverty. The Aprillia is a rocket in a straight line. This is the last lap of race one. Guintoli cruises. He's got six seconds on Marco Melandri. The championship is not clinched yet. There's 14.5 points between Biaggi and Sykes, going into race two, the season finale. Sylvain Guintoli wins the race at Magny Cours for the Pata snack company, who will sponsor Honda in 2013.
Race 1: #50 Sylvain Guintoli FRA Ducati 1098R
Race two is on deck.
Magny Cours in the Loire Valley of France, has been around for six decades. The conditions have improved. It should be totally dry for race two, allowing teams to run the bikes on slick tires. John Hopkins is not in this season finale, like he has been, appearing for most of the races this year. Tom Sykes has pole for race two. The FIM World Superbike championship has been running at Magny Cours for over two decades, having run their first event there, in 1991.
The race is ready to start. This is the last race of 2012. At the start, Tom Sykes takes the hole shot as Carlos Checa might have jumped the start. Eugene Laverty is second. Max Biaggi sinks like a stone, with Loris Baz, his competitor. Eugene Laverty and Sylvain Guintoli get good starts. Hiroshi Aoyama is right at the back of the field. Offline, it's still wet. Into Chateau d'Eau, Eugene Laverty passes Tom Sykes, and then, Sykes gets the lead back. 23 laps scheduled. Max Biaggi is now tenth. Checa didn't have a jumped start. Laverty wants second back. Guintoli passes. David Giugliano is running well. He was nowhere in race one.
Sykes is in the pound seats now. He must win to win the title since Biaggi is back a ways. Marco Melandri is currently sixth. Biaggi needs one spot to win the title. Johnny Rea runs fast lap at 1:39.5. Loris Baz is actually leading now. He needs a good result. Sykes runs fastest lap at 1:39.3. Biaggi is right on top of Loris Baz. He's giving it everything. Biaggi can't be goofing around mid field, battling Baz. He does pass Baz. Carlos Checa is the next target. Haslam is looking at Laverty through Lycee. Davide Giugliano runs a 1:39.2.
Sykes has a three and a half point gap in the championship. This will go down to the wire. Max Biaggi needs to pass three riders. Sykes almost crashes! But, he stays on the bike. Baz and Melandri crash! That's a huge high side. BMW management can't believe it! Melandri seems like he's hurt. The last thing needed is a red flag and there won't be one. Phew! Haslam slides onto the wet runoff. He stays on the bike. Eugene Laverty has to back down his pace or he'll be a sitting duck. Laverty MUST let Biaggi through. Giugliano is really fast, too.
Sykes has the points lead by 1/2 a point! Incredible! Seven laps into the race. Sykes runs a 1:39.5. Biaggi runs wide! He loses spots. That changes things. He can't help himself on this. Can Tom Sykes win the title? Could Biaggi have just thrown away his chance? Michele Fabrizio crashes. There's a damp spot, with moisture coming through the pavement. It's what is called a weeper. The moisture boils through the pavement, somehow. Leon Haslam is now behind Max Biaggi. Johnny Rea wants to pass Eugene Laverty under braking in Adelaide.
Biaggi runs a 1:40.2. It's almost halfway through race two. Will Guintoli battle Sykes if he gets farther up? Hmmm. Four manufacturers battle each other into the Adelaide hairpin. Johnny Rea battle Eugene Laverty. Aprilia are now in trouble. He hits a damp patch and really wiggles. He was close to crashing. Biaggi passes Giugliano into Adelaide. Ten laps remain. There's a half a point gap between Biaggi and Sykes. Melandri is out of contention for the title.
Will Biaggi move into Adelaide? Sykes leads. Ten laps to go in 2012. Biaggi is looking to pass Carlos Checa. Checa is losing rear grip. Aprilia tries to outfox the Ducati. But, Checa has none of it, passing Biaggi. Tom Sykes runs a 1:39.5 and he's quicker than Guintoli, chasing. Eight laps left in the season. The top six all run 1:39s. Leon Haslam crashes out. He was going to try stopping Biaggi. But, that challenge has ended. Eugene Laverty just has to slow down by ten seconds, leaving Biaggi to go by. Sylvain Guintoli runs slightly wide. If Guintoli passes Sykes, he will not be champ.
Eugene Laverty is falling. Guintoli shoots sparks through Lycee. Sykes is pulling away. Johnny Rea tries to get by, but Sylvain Guintoli won't let up. The Honda team watches Johnny Rea. He's pushing. Four laps remain in the season. This is it. Max Biaggi is coming, fast. Max Biaggi is going to win the title as Laverty will let him by. He fell off in race one. Que sera sera. Biaggi will win the title by half a point. Sykes can win the race. But, he'll lose the war.
Max Biaggi, at age 41, will win his sixth motorcycle World Championship title. Johnny Rea gets second, passing Sylvain Guintoli. Rea is going to come after Sykes. The Guintoli/Rea battle will rage to the flag. Biaggi will overtake Eugene Laverty, and win the championship. It's half a point, just like the 1994 contest between Carl Fogarty and Scott Russell. It's the final lap now. Kawasaki will be beaten by half a point. But, they've had a great year this year. Biaggi wins the title by one and a half points! Wow! This has been a great 25th anniversary WSBK season.
Tom Sykes wins the last race of 2012, but doesn't win the title.
#66 Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki ZX10R
Max Biaggi wins his second WSBK championship, and the sixth motorcycle racing championship of his career!
#3 Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia RSV4 Factory
So, the silver anniversary season of World Superbike, is in the books. Stay tuned for what happens in 2013. Should be another awesome season! For now, WSBK 2012 is in the history books.
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