2012 World Superbike Video
The 2012 World Superbike Championship traveled to England this past weekend, the 25-rider grid vying for points at Donington Park.
And when both races wrapped up, two riders took their first wins of 2012 World SBK – BMW Motorrad’s Marco Melandri and Honda World Superbike’s Jonathan Rea.
In race one, pole-man Tom Sykes quickly showed the power of the Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R, and was in the lead from the beginning. But soon the BMW Motorrad duo of Melandri and Leon Haslam began challenging the Brit, all three swapping the lead various times.
And once the 23-lap race was complete, it would be a historic win for BMW; Melandri would hold off his teammate Haslam by 0.728 of a second, with Sykes taking third. In fourth was Rea, followed by Aprilia Racing’s Max Biaggi.
The second race was filled with many crashes, including one that took out the reigning World SBK Champion Carlos Checa on the first lap. The Althea Racing Ducati rider bumped Aprilia Racing’s Eugene Laverty on the first turn, and began sliding.
While sliding across the track, Checa took out Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati’s Jakub Smrz and Checa’s teammate, Davide Giugliano. The next to crash was Laverty, who hit the pavement on Craner Curves as Sykes was leading. Biaggi would soon pass Sykes, along with the BMW Motorrad duo of Melandri and Haslam.
A five-way battle ensued between with Melandri, Haslam, Biaggi and Sykes. On the last lap, though, Melandri and Haslam went wide. Rea went through the gap left open, but had some contact with Haslam.
Haslam crashed, and as he slid across the track, he took his teammate Melandri out. As a result, Rea went on to take his first win of 2012. Following 0.508 of a second behind was Biaggi, with Sykes taking the final podium position. Taking fourth was FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier, with Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati’s Sylvain Guintoli in fifth.
Attached above are video highlights of Donington World Superbike, round five of 14.
