Laverty wins high-speed thrillers

Irish rookie Eugene Laverty has catapulted up to fifth place in the 2011 Superbike World Championship standings after winning both races at Monza overnight (May 8) on his factory Yamaha.

In front of over 116,000 spectators at the high-speed cathedral, Laverty produced a superb blend of defence and attack on his four-cylinder machine to become the latest to join the world Superbike winner’s list.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Troy Corser (BMW) briefly led both races before completing the day with seventh and fifth place finishes – the second outing only four seconds behind the winning bike of Laverty. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki) didn’t race after crashing in practice and hurting his elbow.

“On one hand I am happy with the way the two races have gone today, but on the other hand I am slightly frustrated,” said Corser. “The bike felt good on the whole. We had a few tyre issues in race one, which saw me slip back, and in race two I was pretty happy until I was squeezed out at the first corner by Marco Melandri.

“From there I lost some time and I just couldn’t get that back. The pace we showed this weekend suggested we could push for the podium, but sadly that didn’t happen today. We have a test now before Salt Lake so hopefully we can continue to improve on what we have done already.”

But it was Laverty who stole the show, disappointing a partisan crowd desperate for local heroes Max Biaggi (Aprilia), Marco Melandri (Yamaha) or Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki) to reward them with race victory.

“I can’t believe I got a double victory today,” said Laverty. “I came here aiming for a podium and now I’m coming away with two incredible race wins. And the victory is extra special because it’s the team’s home track.”

In race one by Laverty didn’t miss a beat despite riding shotgun with Biaggi, Leon Haslam (BMW) and Melandri for the first half of the 18-lapper.

The Irishman then reeled off a couple of sizzling laps which stretched the field to breaking point, with only Biaggi capable of going with him. Laverty’s final wining margin was 1.575 seconds over the world champion, with Haslam third from Melandri, a slow-starting Fabrizio, Jonathan Rea (Honda) and Corser.

Race two saw Rea and Haslam eliminated in a crash on lap one, and this time out Biaggi led for the opening 13 laps before he was sanctioned with a ride-through penalty for ‘cutting’ a chicane in an incorrect fashion.

Biaggi eventually finished eighth, but he’s now slipped back to third in the standings behind Spain’s Carlos Checa (Ducati) and Melandri.

Once Biaggi’s punishment kicked in, Melandri took over the running, but was then upstaged by his team-mate Laverty who came out on top in a last corner battle.

Both Laverty and Melandri reached a top speed of 332.5km/h during combat, the same warp factor that Biaggi also achieved in race one.

Fabrizio came out on top of a torrid tussle with Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia) to nail third, with Corser and Aryton Badovini (BMW) fifth and sixth.

Checa was ninth and 10th in the two races, on a circuit where his twin-cylinder Ducati was always going to fight for every inch of territory against the awesome speed of the four-cylinder brigade.

Checa’s title lead is now 27pts over Melandri, but the next round will be held at one of Checa’s most productive playgrounds -- Miller Motorsports Park in the USA.

Australia’s second rider, Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki) was 17th and 14th.

Newcastle’s Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) finished fourth in the 16-lapper after a race-long scrap with Sam Lowes (Honda), Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha) and Florian Marino (Honda).

Chaz Davies (Yamaha) won his second race in succession by leading home his team-mate Luca Scassa, with Fabien Foret (Honda) third.

In the championship Davies and Scassa are deadlocked on 70pts, with Parkes third on 60.

MONZA WORLD SUPERBIKE RESULTS
Race one: 18 laps
1 Eugene Laverty, Great Britain, Yamaha
2 Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia +1.575
3 Leon Haslam, Great Britain, BMW +3.078
4 Marco Melandri, Italy, Yamaha +3.255
5 Michel Fabrizio, Italy, Suzuki +11.812
6 Jonathan Rea, Great Britain +12.371
7 Troy Corser, Australia, BMW +13.280
8 Leon Camier, Great Britain, Aprilia +17.419
9 Carlos Checa, Spain, Ducati +17.569
10 Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic, Ducati +18.240
17 Mark Aitchison, Australia, Kawasaki +57.930
DNS Chris Vermeulen, Australia, Kawasaki

Fastest lap: Fabrizio – 1:43.275

Race two: 18 laps
1 Laverty
2 Melandri +0.327
3 Fabrizio +2.466
4 Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Aprilia +2.583
5 Corser +4.502
6 Aryton Badovini, Italy, BMW +10.565
7 Sylvain Guintoli, France, Ducati +11.038
8 Biaggi +18.724
9 Joan Lascorz, Spain, Kawasaki +20.093
10 Checa +20.376
14 Aitchison +42.810

Fastest lap: Biaggi – 1:43.023

WORLD SUPERBIKE STANDINGS (AFTER ROUND 4 OF 13):
1 Checa 145
2 Melandri 118
3 Biaggi 117
4 Rea 89
5 Laverty 85
6 Haslam 84
7 Fabrizio 74
8 Camier 58
9 Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic, Ducati 55
10 Haga 47
11 Corser 46
18 Aitchison 9

Next round: Miller Motorsports Park, USA, May 28-30