Tom Sykes pulled off a classic double in Round 7 of the World Superbike series at Imola to move to the top of the points standings, while fellow Kawasaki star Kenan Sofuoglu showed why he is still the class of the Supersport Class and defending champion Sylvain Barrier (BMW) dominated the Superstock 1000s.
South African riders suffered mixed fortunes at Imola; Sheridan Morais (Honda) scored a heard-earned 10th in the two-part Supersport race while Suzuki rider Mathew Scholtz crashed out. Greg Gildenhuys finished 10th in the Superstock 1000 race, but Capetonian David McFadden, also BMW-mounted, crashed.
RACE 1
Superpole winner Sykes dominated Race 1 to score his ninth career win and his fourth this year. He carefully moved up from fourth to the lead and then pulled away from Ducati’s Davide Giugliano in the second half of the race to come home more than seven seconds clear.
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) finished a solid third, ahead of works BMW rider Marco Melandri, who put in a late charge on his home circuit that very nearly got him a place on the podium.
Laverty and Melandri mixed it with recovering Jonathan Rea (Honda), who got the hole shot at the start but ran wide in Turn 6 and rejoined in 11th, until the Ulsterman crashed out of fourth in Turn 19 on lap 19.
Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia) finished fifth after a great dice with BMW’s Chaz Davies and Suzuki rider Leon Camier, while a technical gremlin sidelined championship leader Sylvain Guintoli’s Aprilia after only six laps.
RACE 2
Sykes led every lap of Race 2 to take the 10th win of his World Superbike career and move ito the championship lead with 235 points to Guintoli’s 229. After the disappointment of the first race, Rea redeemed himself to end up a lonely second ahead of Guintoli.
Melandri edged his works BMW team mate Chaz Davies for fourth on the final lap while Loris Baz (Kawasaki) got the better of Camier and Fabrizio managed to pull away at the end from a still recuperating Leon Haslam (Honda) and fellow Italian Ayrton Badovini (Ducati) for eight.
The second race saw two contenders out of the running early on as Giugliano crashed out of second in Turn 7 on the second lap and Laverty came off at Turn 18 on lap six.
RESULTS – RACE 1
1 Tom Sykes (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-10R – 37min52.860
2 Davide Giugliano (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +7.198sec
3 Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +9.484
4 Marco Melandri (Italy) BMW S1000 RR +10.323
5 Michel Fabrizio (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +30.817
6 Chaz Davies (Britain) BMW S1000 RR +19.531
7 Leon Camier (Britain) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +23.412
8 Ayrton Badovini (Italy) Ducati Panigale 1199R +29.142
9 Loris Baz (France) Kawasaki ZX-10R +36.828
10 Leon Haslam (Britain) Honda CBR1000RR +37.507
11 Carlos Checa (Spain) Ducati Panigale 1199R +39.239
12 Max Neukirchner (Germany) Ducati Panigale 1199R +43.334
13 Federico Sandi (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min12.069
14 Vittorio Iannuzzo (Italy) BMW S1000 RR +1min30.685
15 Noriyuki Haga (Japan) BMW S1000RR +1min30.773
RACE 2
1 Tom Sykes (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-10R – 37min51.947
2 Jonathan Rea (Britain) Honda CBR1000RR +5.032sec
3 Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +10.201
4 Marco Melandri (Italy) BMW S1000 RR +13.120
5 Chaz Davies (Britain) BMW S1000 RR +13.630
6 Loris Baz (France) Kawasaki ZX-10R +23.949
7 Leon Camier (Britain) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +25.420
8 Michel Fabrizio (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory +36.511
9 Leon Haslam (Britain) Honda CBR1000RR +40.184
10 Ayrton Badovini (Italy) Ducati Panigale 1199R +41.100
11 Jules Cluzel (France) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +47.888
12 Carlos Checa (Spain) Ducati Panigale 1199R +52.182
13 Max Neukirchner (Germany) Ducati Panigale 1199R +56.352
14 Federico Sandi (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min15.992
15 Noriyuki Haga (Japan) BMW S1000RR +1min25.210
POINTS(after seven of 15 rounds)
1 Tom Sykes (Britain) Kawasaki ZX-10R – 235
1 Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 229
3 Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 190
4 Marco Melandri (Italy) BMW S1000 RR – 182
5 Chaz Davies (Britain) BMW S1000 RR – 154
6 Loris Baz (France) Kawasaki ZX-10R – 136
7 Jonathan Rea (Britain) Honda CBR1000RR – 125
8 Michel Fabrizio (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 120
9 Davide Giugliano (Italy) Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 98
10 Leon Camier (Britain) Suzuki GSX-R1000 – 80
WORLD SUPERSPORT
Kawasaki star Kenan Sofuoglu showed just why he is a multiple World champion as he dominated proceedings. He and Yamaha rival Sam Lowes were half a second apart, five seconds clear of the pack, by lap six when Valentin Debis’ Honda CBR600RR spat its dummy and laid a huge oil slick on the circuit.
After the marshals had cleaned up the mess Sofuoglu went out and led every one of the remaining 14 laps to come home four seconds ahead of Lowes, who made an outstanding recovery after a difficult start, to finish ahead of team mate Vladimir Leonov (who showed renewed confidence after a tough first half to the season) after a kamikaze last-corner pass.
Honda team mates Lorenzo Zanetti and Michael van der Mark finished fourth and fifth respectively, while Luca Scassa got the better of a spectacular battle for sixth with position over fellow Kawasaki rider Andrea Antonelli.
An incredible seven-way dogfight (with South African Honda rider Sheridan Morais in a starring role) saw Scassa's team mate Florian Marino edging out six rivals to finish eighth (Morais was 10th, less than a second adrift), while former champion Fabien Foret (Kawasaki) found himself in the mix after running wide at Turn 11 three laps from home and eventually finished twelfth.
Fellow South African Mathew Scholtz (Suzuki), sadly, crashed out of 17th in Turn 7 on lap seven. He kept the GSX-R600 running and rejoined the race but the bike was too badly damaged to continue.
RESULTS
1 Kenan Sofuoglu (Turkey) Kawasaki ZX-6R – 26min11.297
2 Sam Lowes (Britain) Yamaha R6 +3.957sec
3 Vladimir Leonov (Russian) Yamaha R6 +4.408
4 Lorenzo Zanetti (Italy) Honda CBR600RR +6.435
5 Michael van der Mark (Netherlands) Honda CBR600RR +9.967
6 Luca Scassa (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-6R +13.437
7 Andrea Antonelli (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-6R +14.112
8 Florian Marino (France) Kawasaki ZX-6R +28.194
9 Alex Baldolini (Italy) Suzuki GSX-R600 +29.018
10 Sheridan Morais (South Africa) Honda CBR 600RR +29.137
Mathew Scholtz (South Africa) Suzuki GSX-R600 – DNF
SUPERSTOCK 1000
Works BMW rider and defending champion Sylvain Barrier put in a superb ride to win his third race of the season, taking the lead on lap four and dictating the pace as he tried to pull away from the pack.
He and Ducati team mates Niccolò Canepa and Eddi La Marra put up a good scrap for the lead until La Marra crashed out at Turn 12 on lap nine; Canepa then settled for second, coming home 2.7 seconds behind the BMW.
A solid performance by Czech rider Ondrej Jezek (Ducati) resulted in his second career Superstock 1000 podium finish (his first was at his home circuit, Brno, in 2009).
Reigning SA Superbike champion Greg Gildenhuys, now riding a works BMW, qualified 17th, three seconds off the pace, but Knocked half a second off his qualifying time in the race, picking off a rider on almost every lap to finish 10th.
Capetonian David ‘McFlash’ McFadden (BMW) qualified 14th and was running 15th in the race when he ran very wide on lap four and dropped back to 20th - at which point he pulled the pin and made up two places in one lap before crashing out on lap six.
Barrier’s win extended his lead in the standings to 12 points on Canepa and 25 on Kawasaki privateer Jeremy Guarnoni, who was sixth at Imola behind Team Pedercini Kawasaki team mates Lorenzo Savadori and Leandro Mercado.
RESULTS
1 Sylvain Barrier (France) BMW S1000RR HP4 – 22min11.090
2 Niccolo Canepa (Italy) Ducati 1199 Panigale R +2.719sec
3 Ondrej Jezek (Czech Republic) Ducati 1199 Panigale R +13.869
4 Lorenzo Savadori (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-10R +17.103
5 Leandro Mercado (Argentina) Kawasaki ZX-10R +19.879
6 Jeremy Guarnoni (France) Kawasaki ZX-10R +21.951
7 Fabio Massei (Italy) Honda CBR1000RR +23.037
8 Alessandro Andreozzi (Italy) Kawasaki ZX-10R +23.320
9 Marco Bussolotti (Italy) BMW S1000RR +23.538
10 Greg Gildenhuys (South Africa) BMW S1000RR HP4 +31.330
David McFadden (South Africa) BMW S1000RR - DNF