WSBK: Sunshine & Motorbikes for Race 1 at MMP

Memorial Day was finally greeted with some proper racing weather at Miller Motorsports Park, and World Superbike racing was underway Monday at WSBK’s only stop in the USA. With the Ducatis lacking speed on Miller’s long front straight, the Italain contingency made up for its horsepower deficit in MMP’s many curves. Surprisingly, this lead to Jakub Smrz taking the Superpole on Sunday, and with Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano sitting on the front row, only Tom Sykes could mix things up with his #3 spot on the grid.

As the lights went out, it was Sykes who took the lead into the first turns, followed closely by Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri. Sykes’ lead would be short-lived though, as the Englishman slowly drifted back through the field. As Carlos Checa yoyo’d himself to the lead, making ground on the technical bends of Miller, and then losing pace on the track’s longer straights, the Spaniard on his Ducati 1098R finally bested Marco Melandri’s BMW S1000RRR.

Once able to get some space from Melandri, Checa rode his own race, and finished over two seconds ahead of the Italian, who had as similar gap back to third. Battling for the final podium spot was Max Biaggi and Jonathan Rea, and the pair had a good battle to the finish, which saw the former-WSBK Champion overcoming Rea’s valiant efforts.

For the American contingency, it was a forgettable race, as Jake Holden, Shane Turpin, and John Hopkins all found the gravel at their home track.

Race 1 Results from World Superbike at Miller Motorsports Park, USA:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Bike	Time	Diff.
1.	Carlos Checa	Althea Racing	Ducati 1098R	38’21.283	–
2.	Marco Melandri	BMW Motorrad Motorsport	BMW S1000 RR	38’23.596	2.313
3.	Max Biaggi	Aprilia Racing Team	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	38’26.621	5.338
4.	Jonathan Rea	Honda World Superbike Team	Honda CBR1000RR	38’26.800	5.517
5.	Eugene Laverty	Aprilia Racing Team	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	38’33.484	12.201
6.	Jakub Smrz	Liberty Racing Team Effenbert	Ducati 1098R	38’34.545	13.262
7.	Chaz Davies	ParkinGO MTC Racing	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	38’40.945	19.662
8.	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki ZX-10R	38’42.575	21.292
9.	Michel Fabrizio	BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet	BMW S1000 RR	38’42.733	21.450
10.	Leon Haslam	BMW Motorrad Motorsport	BMW S1000 RR	38’44.716	23.433
11.	Davide Giugliano	Althea Racing	Ducati 1098R	38’44.979	23.696
12.	Sylvain Guintoli	Team Effenbert Liberty Racing	Ducati 1098R	38’46.035	24.752
13.	Leon Camier	FIXI Crescent Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000	38’50.683	29.400
14.	Ayrton Badovini	BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet	BMW S1000 RR	38’52.505	31.222
15.	Loris Baz	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki ZX-10R	38’54.249	32.966
16.	Maxime Berger	Team Effenbert Liberty Racing	Ducati 1098R	38’56.692	35.409
17.	Hiroshi Aoyama	Honda World Superbike Team	Honda CBR1000RR	39’13.436	52.153
18.	Shane Turpin	Boulder Motor Sports	Ducati 1098R	38’49.456	1 LAP
19.	Jake Holden	Grillini Progea Superbike Team	BMW S1000 RR	39’00.843	1 LAP
RET	Leandro Mercado	Team Pedercini	Kawasaki ZX-10R
RET	Lorenzo Zanetti	PATA Racing Team	Ducati 1098R
RET	John Hopkins	FIXI Crescent Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000
RET	David Salom	Team Pedercini	Kawasaki ZX-10R
RET	Niccoló Canepa	Red Devils Roma	Ducati 1098R