Laverty wins the SBK double at Monza

World SuperBikes. As the Television Commentators said Monza is about speed, braking and slip streaming. James Toseland was out having broken a wrist practicing at the Aragon circuit in Spain. Chris Vermeulen's road to recovery took another hit when he went down in practice and hurt his elbow.

Mother's Day in Europe also and Troy Corser had a message to his mum hand written on the front his bike.

Milan is the style capital of the world and the grid was 'decorated' with many of the long legged ladies from the north.  Mrs Milandri was holding Marco's umbrella as the cameras showed us several times ... for obvious reasons.

Superpole: Reigning champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing - pictured left) reasserted himself at his home circuit of Monza with a spectacular display in Superpole qualifying, setting a lap of 1 minute 41.745 seconds to take his first pole position of the 2011 season.
Biaggi used a qualifying tyre to set his new best lap of the 5.777km circuit and an all time fastest lap average in WSBK history of 204.405kmph. Second in Superpole was Eugene Laverty (Yamaha Superbike Racing Team) then Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) and Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) completed the front row, with four different bikes in the top four places.

Race 1:  A close race at times was turned into a cool race win for Irish rider Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike - pictured left) as he stretched his rivals to breaking point in the final laps. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing) and Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) took the other podium places, after some tough passes and fights between that duo and fourth place rider Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike). Michel Fabrizio had a strong ride on his Suzuki Alstare Machine and set the fastest lap on his way to fifth place. Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) held off Troy Corser to earn himself a top six finish, 12 seconds from the winner.

Race 2:  Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike - pictured left) won a last corner battle with his team-mate Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike) in the second 18-lap race at Monza but the bigger drama was the award of a ride-through penalty for long-time race leader Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia), for cutting a chicane in an incorrect fashion. He recovered to finish eighth. Third was Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare) but only after a massive fight with Pata Aprilia rider Noriyuki Haga, who went fourth. In the championship standings Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) has 145 points, Melandri 118

1. Carlos Checa       Ducati       145
2. Marco Melandri    Yamaha     118
3. Max Biaggi          Aprilia        117
4. Jonathan Rea       Honda         89
5. Eugene Laverty    Yamaha       85 
6. Leon Haslam        BMW          84
7. Michel Fabrizio     Suzuki        74
8. Leon Camier         Aprilia         58
9. Jakub Smrz          Ducati         55
10. Noriyuki Haga       Aprilia         47
    
    

Race 1:  Chaz Davies (Yamaha ParkinGO Team - pictured left) ) won his second career WSS race in succession by leading home his team-mate Luca Scassa (Yamaha ParkinGO Team) after 16 laps of the Monza circuit. Behind the flying duo from the Italian based Yamaha team, Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) had an eventually lonely but impressive third place finish, some 7.9 seconds from Davies. Behind the podium places, a race-long fight between four riders saw Broc Parkes (Kawasaki Motocard.com), Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda), Roberto Tamburini (Bike Service RT Yamaha) and Florian Marino (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) complete the top seven places. In the championship Davies and Scassa are tied on 70 points each, with Parkes third on 60.

Race 2: Lorenzo Zanetti (BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock) took a close win by only 0.065 seconds at Monza ahead of Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati) in a stopped and restarted race cut to only five laps duration. Michele Magnoni (Baru Racing Team BMW) was third and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Racing Team Ducati) fourth. It was Zanetti's first race win in this class. A blown engine in the first race start, from Sylvain Barrier BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock) machine, saw several riders crash at high speed on the spilled oil, with none seriously injured. In the championship, Giugliano has 45 points, Petrucci 33 and Zanetti 32.

Copy and photos courtesy of World SuperBikes.