World Superbike Rookie, Eugene Laverty, put on a sensational display of race craft today to take a well earned double victory on his team’s home track in Monza. Today’s success signified not only Laverty’s maiden win but also his first podium finish to date in the 2011 World Superbike Championship.
Laverty got off to a perfect start from second position on the grid to immediately take the lead in race one. The World Superbike rookie temporarily surrendered the lead in lap six on entering the “ Prima Variante” but hastened to repossess first place on exiting the “Biassono curve”, leaving Max Biaggi second. Race two saw a masterful display of race craft. Laverty initially fell back to ninth position after encountering a three rider collision in the early stages of the first lap. Putting his head down, he got straight to work, making his way through the bunch of riders ahead to sit behind team-mate Melandri until the final lap where he snatched the chequered flag.
Marco Melandri was also on flying form in the hot temperatures the historic track in Monza had to offer. The Italian completed the first race of the day in fourth position just missing out on a podium by 0.009 of a second. In race two, a good start off fifth position on the grid saw Melandri push up to third place by lap seven. The determined Italian gradually closed in on fellow contenders ahead, until mid race when the leader, Biaggi made a mistake at the first chicane resulting in a ride through penalty by the race direction. This gave Melandri the lead on the 14th lap. The final laps of the adrenalin filled second race saw the two Yamaha World Superbike riders battling it out for the win. Melandri completed the race crossing the finish line in second place, while Laverty just beat him by three tenths of a second. Both Yamaha riders, Melandri and Laverty, scored the fastest speed of the second race reaching a high of 333Km/h.
Eugene Laverty leaves Monza with a total of 85 points having jumped up from ninth to sixth place in the Championship standings after today’s impressive performance. Marco Melandri is now sitting second in the classification with 118 points, just 27 points behind the current leader, Carlos Checa.
Eugene Laverty – Yamaha World Superbike Team – 1st, 1st
“I can’t believe I got a double victory today. I came here aiming for a podium and now I’m coming away with two incredible race wins. It’s fantastic. I didn’t get off to a good start in the second race. I had to avoid a collision on the first corner, causing me to lose time. I also struggled a little with the tyres in the hot conditions. When it came to the last few laps, I couldn’t believe my luck that it was just me and Marco in the lead. This double victory was particularly special to me, being the team’s home track.”
Marco Melandri – Yamaha World Superbike Team – 5th, 2nd
“It’s been a tough but still quite a good weekend. I had difficulty finding the right set-up in order to provide more stability. We made progress before the second race but the bike was still quite agitated towards the end. In the last corner I struggled with the gears and the rear tyre locked causing me to go slightly wide. I’m really pleased to be on the podium and I really enjoyed riding the track. We have gained some important points but I’d like to get more next time!”
Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“It was a pretty amazing weekend. We knew after the two qualifying sessions that we had a good race pace with both riders and could definitely get a good result today. What we saw today is also the result of the hard work the team has done in the last month. I’d like to say a special thanks to everyone who made this happen! Eugene did a great job especially in race two. He initially lost time coming into the first chicane but he still managed to come back and win the race. We expected some difficulty for Marco seeing as the track was new to him but he proved to be extremely competitive. Both riders had some challenges with the set-up of their R1’s over the weekend, especially Marco. Even though we got a double victory here we still know there is plenty of work to be done. We are heading to Aragon for tests this week and hopefully we will come back even more prepared for the upcoming race in Miller.”
2011 World Superbike Italy
Monza 08/05/2011 18 Laps
race I
1 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 31’09.584
2 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0’01.575
3 Leon Haslam BMW GBR 0’03.078
4 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 0’03.255
5 Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 0’11.812
6 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0’12.371
7 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0’13.280
8 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0’17.419
9 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0’17.569
10 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0’18.420
11 Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 0’20.031
13 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0’26.693
14 Maxime Berger Ducati FRA 0’38.429
15 Ruben Xaus Honda ESP 0’40.164
16 Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 0’49.081
race II
1 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 31’19.948
2 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 0’00.327
3 Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 0’02.466
4 Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 0’02.583
5 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0’04.503
6 Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 0’10.865
7 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 0’11.038
8 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0’18.724
9 Joan Lascorz Kawasaki ESP 0’20.093
10 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0’20.376
11 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0’21.111
12 Ruben Xaus Honda ESP 0’28.608
13 Roberto Rolfo Kawasaki ITA 0’33.459
14 Mark Aitchison Kawasaki AUS 0’42.810
15 Fabrizio Lai Honda ITA 0’55.759
Best Lap
Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 1’43.023
World Superbike World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 4 of 13
1. Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 145
2. Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 118
3. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 117
4. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 89
5. Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 85
6. Leon Haslam BMW GBR 84
7. Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 74
8. Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 58
9. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 55
10. Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 47
11. Troy Corser BMW AUS 46
12. Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 35
13. Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 34
14. Joan Lascorz Kawasaki ESP 33
15. Ruben Xaus Honda ESP 31
16. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 29
Circuit Length:
5.777
Temp:
30 degress
Crowd:
116.500
Weather:
Sunny
Lap Record:
1’42.937
(Cal Crutchlow, 1/1/2010)
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’41.745
(Max Biaggi, 5/8/2011)
Last Years Winner:
Max Biaggi
Manufacturer Standings
08/05/2011
1 Ducati 152
2 Yamaha 147
3 Aprilia 139
4 BMW 101
5 Honda 93
6 Suzuki 74
7 Kawasaki 53
Four out of Four for Yamaha ParkinGO Team
Chaz Davies and Luca Scassa put in sensational performances in the melting sunshine in Monza to take the second one two podium of the season on their Yamaha R6 machines and secure a four out of four race victory for the Yamaha ParkinGO Team in the 2011 World Supersport season.
Chaz Davies got straight down to business, taking the lead from pole position to deliver his second victory of the season crossing the chequered flag more than 4 seconds ahead of fellow team-mate. The Brit ended a flawless weekend’s racing in perfect manner and also recorded the fastest lap time of 1’48.526. Scassa was on equally impressive form on his home track in Monza, putting in a series of consistent laps, sitting comfortably behind his companion, to complete the race in second place. The spectacular performances provided by the Yamaha ParkinGO riders this weekend demonstrates the strength of theYZF-R6 machines that powers them to victory.
Following the impressive display of racing this weekend, both Yamaha ParkinGo riders are jointly leading the 2011 World Supersport standings with 70 points, ten points ahead of Parkes in third. Yamaha is topping the manufacturers standings by 32 points.
After the race Luca Scassa was informed by the SBK race direction that his entry will be refused for the Misano round on the 10th – 12th June. Insufficiently aware of the details of the rules concerning practice restrictions, Scassa rode ten laps on a standard R1 as a riding school instructor, three weeks ago. As the Misano circuit is not the selected testing circuit of the Yamaha ParkinGO Team, unknowingly Scassa caused an infringement of the regulations.
Chaz Davies – Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 1st
“I hadn’t won a race in World Supersport and now two in a row – that’s a pretty amazing feeling. I just can’t say enough good things about my Yamaha and my team, everything has been perfect since Friday. I was pretty confident all weekend that I had the perfect race package and I’m delighted with the win. I am really happy with my bike and the results I have achieved so far.“
Luca Scassa – Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 2nd
“Chaz was just perfect this weekend. He was too fast for me to catch up with him today so I’m very pleased with my second place finish. I made a mistake in Qualifying yesterday, so maybe if that hadn’t happened I could possibly have done better today, but who knows! The team did a great job all weekend.
I sincerely want to apologize to my team, Yamaha and Infront Motorsports for making the mistake of riding the Misano circuit while not being allowed according to the rules. I didn’t get any advantage from it, but now I realize it is clearly not allowed and was a stupid mistake to make. The only thing I can do now is concentrate on race wins in the rounds to come and compensate for not being able to score points in Misano.”
2011 World Supersport Italy
Monza 08/05/2011 16 Laps
race I
1 Chaz Davies Yamaha GBR 29’05.563
2 Luca Scassa Yamaha ITA 0’04.734
3 Fabien Foret Honda FRA 0’07.977
4 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 0’19.246
5 Sam Lowes Honda GBR 0’19.882
6 Roberto Tamburini Yamaha ITA 0’20.148
7 Florian Marino Honda FRA 0’21.090
8 David Salom Kawasaki ESP 0’31.595
9 Massimo Roccoli Kawasaki ITA 0’31.599
10 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 0’35.406
11 Danilo Dell’omo Triumph ITA 0’35.564
12 Mirko Giansanti Honda ITA 0’35.946
13 Marko Jerman Honda SVK 1’00.245
14 Balazs Nemeth Honda HUN 1’00.256
15 Luca Marconi Yamaha ITA 1’00.528
20 Yves Polzer Yamaha AUT 1’45.103
21 Eduard Blokhin Yamaha RUS 2’00.000
World Supersport World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 4 of 13
1. Chaz Davies Yamaha GBR 70
2. Luca Scassa Yamaha ITA 70
3. Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 60
4. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 43
5. David Salom Kawasaki ESP 42
6. Fabien Foret Honda FRA 36
7. Sam Lowes Honda GBR 27
8. Massimo Roccoli Kawasaki ITA 26
9. Florian Marino Honda FRA 26
10. James Ellison Honda GBR 19
11. Gino Rea Honda GBR 16
12. Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA 15
13. Roberto Tamburini Yamaha ITA 14
14. Danilo Dell’omo Triumph ITA 13
15. Miguel Praia Honda POR 13
16. Alexander Lundh Honda SWE 13
26. Luca Marconi Yamaha ITA 1
Circuit Length:
5792
Temp:
27 degress
Crowd:
116.500
Weather:
Sunny
Lap Record:
1’52.635
(Chris Vermeulen, 1/1/2003)
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’47.809
(Chaz Davies, 5/8/2011)
Manufacturer Standings
08/05/2011
1 Yamaha 100
2 Honda 68
3 Kawasaki 60
4 Triumph 14
