Melandri and Laverty win at Portimao

Marco Melandri (BMW) and Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) scored victories in the 22-lap races at round six of the 2013 Superbike World Championship in Portugal on June 9, while Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) increased his title lead to 28pts over Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes after another solid performance.

Melandri was the race one victor following a close battle in the closing stages with Guintoli that culminated with just a 0.007-second gap between the two -- the fourth smallest winning margin in WSBK history. Sykes -- the only first row starter to finish the race -- completed the podium from Leon Camier (Suzuki), Chaz Davies (BMW) and Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia).

“To win in race one was not easy because at the beginning I was struggling a lot with the traction but after lap 10 this improved and it was easier for me so I got closer to the front again,” said Melandri. “When I was leading, it was very difficult, because it was very windy so it was hard to stay in front. When Tom (Sykes) passed me, he closed the line. Maybe he thought he was in front of me but he just pushed me out of the track.

“When I came back, I did not have any plan so I just pushed as much as I could. I tried to overtake Tom very quickly because Sylvain was very fast and tried to pull away. When I caught Guintoli I took the opportunity to pass him. The last lap is very difficult to explain, it was just very close and I pushed as much as I could.”

Earlier, Laverty had retired on lap 12 while leading, felled by a technical problem. Other DNFs included Honda pair Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam – the former with a technical problem, while 30-year-old Haslam lost feeling in both arms trying to compensate the lack of strength in his injured left leg.

In race two, Sykes clipped a kerb on his sighting lap and fell heavily. He was able to restart from pitlane, but then had an issue with a broken sensor on the electronics system damaged in the crash, eventually retiring.

With Sykes not a factor, Laverty produced his fourth victory of the year and seventh in his WSBK career. The only rider able to keep up with the winner, at least in the first half of the race, was Rea, and the Ulsterman was only edged out of second place in the closing stages by Guintoli, with Baz, Davies and 2011 world champion Carlos Checa (Ducati) finishing in positions 4-6. Melandri suffered from excessive tyre wear and was a lowly 12th.

Thanks to his ninth podium finish of the year, Guintoli now leads the championship on 213pts ahead of Sykes (185), Laverty (174), Melandri (156) and Davies (133).

In world supersport, a thrilling and spectacular four-way finale was the highest point of an incredible race, won by Sam Lowes (Yamaha) over Kawasaki duo Fabien Foret and Kenan Sofuoglu. Thanks to his fourth consecutive win of the season, the Brit extends his championship lead to 39pts over Sofuoglu. Rookie and potential podium finisher Michael van der Mark (Honda) completed proceedings in fourth place.

All four riders waited for the closing stages to give everything they had, but Lowes' last move at turn 11 on Foret proved to be a successful one as the pole-sitter managed to stay on the lead up to the chequered flag, while the Frenchman and Sofuoglu kept contesting the remaining podium positions.

Australians Matt Davies (Honda) and Mitchell Carr (Triumph) were 17th and 22nd respectively.

For full results and standings, visit www.worldsbk.com. Round seven will be held at Imola, Italy from June 28-30.