A wet track at Silverstone has brought a mixed bag of results with Kawasaki Racing team rider Loris Baz finishing the day with a victory and second place across the two races.
Race 1
Kawasaki Racing team rider Loris Baz won his first SBK race after weather conditions played an ever-changing role in the first 18-lap race of the day. The first attempt to run it was halted after two separate crashes, and the restart was declared wet, but with a mostly dry track surface visible over the length of the circuit. Light rains came and went as the lead changed a bewildering number of times, but with a few laps to go the rains got even heavier and riders movements forward and back got even more frenzied.
Over the line for the last time, Baz won by 0.383 seconds, with BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet duo Michel Fabrizio and Ayrton Badovini second and third respectively and Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) was fourth. As Badovini crossed the line he fell on the edge of the track and the following Rea also crashed into Badovini’s machine, but after each had crossed the line. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) was fifth, but championship leader Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) was a late faller and he no-scored.
Race 2
Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Racing Ducati) was declared the winner of an eight lap second Superbike race after the rain fell so hard that three riders fell on the same part of the track. Half points were awarded to the top 15 riders. Baz had been in the lead on the lap that the flag was shown but he had fallen shortly before, so on the count back he was credited with second.
Third went to long time second place rider Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) with Aprilia Racing rider Eugene Laverty, who was 16 seconds behind rain master Guintoli when the flag went out, fourth. Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing Ducati) was fifth, Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Aprilia) was eventually classified seventh, one place behind late crasher Checa. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) was eighth, with Biaggi 11th. The championship table leaving has Biaggi on 274 points, Melandri on 263.5 and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) on 222.5, two points ahead of Checa.
