Rea and Haga on top in Germany
Added on Sunday, September 5th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Rea on top in race one
Jonathan Rea and Noriyuki Haga shared the spoils at the Nurburgring this afternoon, as the World Superbike Championship headed to Germany.
After the first race of the day was restarted, Rea got the jump on the rest of the field to take the lead from the off. After fending off Carlos Checa, the Brit crossed the line to take his fourth victory of the season, whilst Checa was left to accept a strong second place finish.
Behind, Cal Crutchlow rode to third place at the chequered flag, after starting towards the back of the top ten, whilst Max Biaggi exchanged his pole position start into a fourth place finish. After having a successful outing, Tom Sykes was able to secure a fifth place finish, just ahead of Leon Haslam in sixth.
Ruben Xaus salvaged a seventh place finish, on what was a difficult day for the BMW Motorrad Motorsport outfit, with Sylvain Guintoli eighth, Shane Byrne ninth and Luca Scassa tenth. With drama taking hold of the first race, a number of big names were lost in retirement, with James Toseland, Troy Corser, Jakub Smrz, Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio all sucummbing to the chaos. Elsewhere, Max Neukirchner and Fabrizio Lai were also forced to sit on the sidelines.
Looking back over his win, Rea told the official WSB website: “A great race and a great weekend for the team. Already on Friday we were right on the pace, we came out with a bike that was good, really pushed hard, I felt comfortable on it and turned it into a good result so I’m really proud of my team.”
Race two was a different story, with Haga edging out a gap to ensure he crossed the finish line first. Completing a double podium finish, Rea this time took to the second step, after managing to hold onto second until the flag. Fellow Brit Haslam defied the pain barrier in this second outing, to overcome a dislocated right thumb and damaged knee to secure a third place finish, as he broke down the gap the championship rival Biaggi.
Further back, Crutchlow was the man in fourth place, with Biaggi crossing the line fifth, just inches ahead of a charging Guintoli in sixth. Sykes completed another top ten finish in seventh, with Toseland in eighth. The remainder of the top ten saw Xaus in ninth, while Bryne swept passed the chequered flag in tenth.
Commenting on his victory, Haga told the official WSB website: “I’m very happy with this result and very sorry for the first race. When I had a crash, I wasn’t getting information from the front tyre and for race 2 I made just a little modification for the front suspension and that was working much better. I was able to keep a high pace until the flag. Next round is Imola, our home track and I have much pressure but I hope to do my best.”
Biaggi is still in control of the championship, however his lead has been reduced to 58 points over Haslam with two more rounds remaining.
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