Donington Park World Superbikes 2011 – Sunday Report

We were promised great racing and we got it. We had thrills, spills and repair bills while Max Biaggi learned about a little thing called Karma.

Race one was an exciting affair with local hero Leon Haslam taking the lead at the beginning until Jakub “only good at qualifying” Smrz decided he was fed up of that nickname and treated us to a great display of hotlapping until the magnificent Marco Melandri put on a show and reeled him in to get his first victory in the series. It’s great to see Melandri at the front of races again, and he’s a serious contender for the title, along with the third-place finisher Carlos Checa.

The World Supersport race didn’t go as planned for one of the favourites Sam Lowes. From a second-place start, he got swallowed up by the crowd and had to fight to get to the front while Luca Scassa and Chaz Davies ran away with it in a show of Yamaha perfection ahead of Ellison, Harms and Gino Rea. Lowes eventually took third only to have his Honda break down on him. Parkalgar Honda’s bad luck continued as James Ellison’s CBR600 also died, leaving Rea to dispatch Robbin Harms to take a podium. Gino’s first words to his team as he got into Parc Fermé were “I don’t know how that happened!” Scassa proved he really was the favourite for the title with a dominant win and once again, his team-mate Davies was right behind him.

Race two was a flag-to-flag domination by Carlos Checa with Melandri showing again that he is really well-suited to the R1 Superbike. Max Biaggi, the other former MotoGP winner, jumped the start and was dished a karmic black flag for not coming in to take his ride-through. On top of a €3,000 fine for slapping Melandri, I think it’s fair to call this a bad weekend for Superbikes’ own Dick Dastardly. To make matters worse, Biaggi’s team-mate Leon Camier was able to secure third place, giving the Brits a home win at the last gasp. Lascorz was fifth on a Kawasaki even Tom Sykes can’t get on the podium. Leon Haslam got fourth place in both races to keep his title chances open.

What a weekend. Surprises from the front to the back. Fan-favourite and Superbike rookie Eugene Laverty had a bad crash in qualify and walked away from it and then had a bad crash in race one he had to be carried from. He raced in race two though, so it was obviously not serious. I don’t think this is the last time Smrz will be seen on the podium and that’s not Checa’s last win, proving Ducati don’t need a factory team to do well. oh, and it’s funny but I’m sure some of those Althea people were wearing Xerox jackets last year.

Last bit of info? All the riders had cameras fitted to their bikes, but not all of them where real. See the photo above for what they look like.