WSB Moscow: Melandri takes race two win and championship lead

Marco Melandri stormed to his sixth race win of the season with a brilliant ride in race two at Moscow Raceway. The 29 year old Italian made his way up through the field and although unable to pull away at the front held on for victory onboard his factory BMW.

His win sees him move to the top of the WSB standings by 18.5 points after arch rival Max Biaggi crashed out of the race in dramatic fashion at the end of the back straight taking unlucky Brit Leon Haslam with him.

Melandri said: “I made a change for race two and from the beginning I felt very confident. With around six laps to go the rear tyre started sliding a lot but my bike was still working perfectly. I could see that the guys behind were catching me but I was able to hold on.  My team did a great job and we are very motivated for the rest of the season.”

Tom Sykes claimed a strong second position after finishing less than a second behind Melandri. The factory Kawasaki rider had to fight hard with both Eugene Laverty and Jonathan Rea in the closing stages but after his two rivals crashed out on the last lap he was unchallenged on the run to the line.

Sykes’  win and second place see him maintain third in the championship standings but he is now 41 points behind Melandri and only 18.5 behind Biaggi.

Third place went to Chaz Davies onboard the ParkinGO Aprilia. The 25 year old was in the mix especially in the closing stages of the race and capitalised on Laverty’s crash which subsequently took out Rea and ran Checa wide to secure his second podium of the year.

Moscow – FIM Superbike World Championship – Race 2

1. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 40’14.677
2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 40’15.653
3. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 40’18.890
4. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 40’20.631
5. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 40’28.245
6. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 40’29.850
7. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 40’37.802
8. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 40’38.373
9. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 40’38.561
10. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 40’38.773
11. Sylvain Guintoli (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 40’39.558
12. John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 40’54.320
13. David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 41’16.126
14. Alexander Lundh (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 41’51.273
RT. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 38’39.475
RT. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 14’32.025
RT. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 14’32.916
RT. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 1’47.409
RT. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 
RT. David McFadden (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 
RT. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR