Post Race 2 Reflections, Riders Quotes and Pukka Pics from The FIM WSBK at Donington Park

Race 2 saw even more drama than the first race, but I’m happy to report it did not come in the form of any more wheels parting company with their respective bikes.

The temperature rose in the afternoon to an almost tropical 12C which is double what it had been in the morning. Perilli confirmed that this allowed Carlos Checa (Ducati), Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki), Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki), Eugene Laverty (Yamaha) and Ruben Xaus (Honda) all to start race 2 with the softer tyre compounds.

There was drama even before the green light, when an anxious Max Biaggi appeared to loose grip of clutch and break the beam on his starting block, a false start ensued, which carries a ride through penalty.  Deeply engrossed with his on track battles Max failed to see his pit board informing him of his penalty resulting in a black flag and an untimely end to his race.  A marshall from the track was heard saying “the only place that wouldn’t have been a jump start was Monza”.  This was truly the icing for the cake for Max especially after his “handbags and dawn”  or some would say “Hero to Zero” incident with Marco after Superpole on the Saturday which resulted in them both receiving fines.  Not to mention the altercation between Max and Michel, involving a lot of hand waving and gesturing in true Italian style.

Carlos was happy to wipe away memories from his 1998 crash at Craner Curves, which left him with a ruptured spleen and temporary blindness.  He was able to pass Leon after just 2 laps and after that he never looked back going on to win by a margin of 3.397s from Marco Melandri.  Carlos said after the race "We opted for the softer tyre in race two," he said. "We knew it would be very high performing although a bit less so towards the end of the race. It remained pretty consistent but towards the end I had to change my riding a little to manage the situation. My strategy was to get to the front, built up a bit of a lead and then manage that lead and today everything worked perfectly. It was great to win at Phillip Island but today meant even more to me. A lot of people may remember what happened to me here many years ago; that day I lost something here but today I can say that I found it again."

Starting from 9^th place Marco Melandri worked his way successfully through the pack to take 2^nd place ahead of Leon Camier.  He managed to pass Leon Haslam on lap 6 but had to wait until the Englishman had made a mistake at Copice a couple of laps later before he was able to make it stick. After the race Marco said "Race two was a little more difficult. I was suffering from a head cold and lost concentration a little mid-way. I am very pleased to be on the podium again. We have been working very hard in preparation for the races and we did very well. I had a lot of fun and I think we proved that we have a very good package. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.  Thanks to Yamaha, my team and my sponsors."

Leon Camier had a fantastic 2^nd race, after recovering from a bout of glandular fever, the man from Kent shrugged off his disappointment after his first race finish of 8^th and went on to collect 3^rd place and a podium finish.  Leon was quoted as saying “I can’t believe it’s happened to be honest.  At the start of the year to have the troubles with illness and go to the first race struggling was really frustrating.  So to come back from that and come to my home round and get on the podium is awesome. In the first race I had a few problems, but we changed a few things in between the two races and it worked well which was great.  I had a good battle with Marco Melandri in the second race and I was hoping I could take it to him at the end, but it didn't quite work out.  But I felt comfortable on the bike and to get a podium is awesome and hopefully we can really move on from here and keep getting on the podium.”

Leon Haslam lead for the first 2 laps of the race until he was then overtaken by Carlos Checa who went on to the win the race. Whilst Leon was in a battle for 2^nd place with Marco Melandri , he had a moment which saw him having to do a bit of grass tracking before re-joining the race, all be it much further down the pack.   Leon said "I made a mistake myself and went back to 10th place at one point.  I had a big high-side coming out of Coppice. I was thrown through the screen and I lost about eight seconds.  I was close to coming off. My head was near the front wheel as I went through the screen and I cut my neck open as well.  It was a good recovery and I was happy that I got back up to fourth."
 

 Picture thanks to @realleonhaslam

On a separate note we would like to wish James Toseland a speedy recovery back into PIT LANE, after his bone crunching crash during testing at Aragon the weekend before Donington.  I must admit to see this made me a little bit sad.

Race 2 results
1 – Carlos Checa  (Althea Racing)  Ducati 1098R 34'21.537
2 – Marco Melandri  (Yamaha World Superbike Team)  Yamaha YZF R1  34'24.93
3 – Leon Camier   (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)  Aprilia RSV4 Factory  34'27.439
4 – Leon Haslam   (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)  BMW S1000 RR  34'35.379
5 – Joan Lascorz   (Kawasaki Racing Team)  Kawasaki ZX-10R  34'35.790
6 - Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda)  Honda CBR1000RR  34'40.950
7 – Michel Fabrizio   (Team Suzuki Alstare)   Suzuki GSX-R1000  34'41.815
8 – Jakub Smrz   (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R  34'42.697
9 - Ayrton Badovini   (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team)   BMW S1000R  34'45.835
10 - Ruben Xaus   (Castrol Honda)  Honda CBR1000R  34'46.444
11 - Sylvain Guintoli   (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)   Ducati 1098R  34'53.977
12 - Tom Sykes   (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike)  Kawasaki ZX-10R  34'54.216
13 - Troy Corser   (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)   BMW S1000R  34'55.607
14 - Eugene Laverty   (Yamaha World Superbike Team)  Yamaha YZF R1  34'57.955
15 - Roberto Rolfo  (Team Pedercini)   Kawasaki ZX-10R 35'05.574
16 - Mark Aitchison   (Team Pedercini )  Kawasaki ZX-10R  35'13.949
17 - Noriyuki  Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia)  Aprilia RSV4 Factory  35'18.171
Not classified
RT - Maxime Berger  (Supersonic Racing Team)  Ducati 1098R   1'41.588
EX – Max Biaggi   (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)  Aprilia RSV4 Factory  13'50.189