HAGA AND REA
World Superbike Championship spoils were shared on Sunday as Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) each got back to winning ways this weekend in front of a 45,000 crowd at the Nurburgring.
It was Rea’s fourth and Haga’s second win of the 2010 championship campaign.
But it was a frustrating weekend for the two top riders at this 11th round of 13 in the championship.
Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) had his championship lead over Leon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare) cut, despite Haslam suffering a dislocated thumb and knee injuries.
Biaggi now leads the series by a slightly trimmed 58 points, with two full rounds to go.
Rea’s win and then a second place, combined with a luckless race two for Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) sees the Honda man in third overall, 64 points ahead of the Spanish rider.
Rea also took a new lap record, 1min55.392sec, in race one.
Yamaha Sterilgarda’s MotoGP-bound Cal Crutchlow is only seven points behind Checa, in fifth place, having scored a third and a fourth place in Germany.
Haga’s win sees him sixth, 15 points clear of James Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda) who fell in race one and was only eighth in race two.
Strong rides from Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki Alstare) put him eighth overall, ahead of injured rider Leon Camier and Michel Fabrizio.
In race one, Rea took an early lead in the re-started first race, and rode at full pace to head Checa home.
Third place went to Crutchlow, ten seconds back on Rea. Championship leader Biaggi was fourth, and Kawasaki Racing Team rider Tom Sykes was a more than creditable fifth.
Haslam, one of the riders involved in the crash that caused the race to be stopped and then completely re-run, was sixth. Ruben Xaus was first BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider home in Germany, seventh.
Haga, a race one faller, was an impressive winner of race two, the Japanese rider shining strongly in the German sunshine, finishing more than 3sec ahead of Rea.
Haslam rode through the pain barrier to go third, with Crutchlow fourth.
Biaggi managed to keep Guintoli behind him at the flag for fifth.
RESULTS:
Race one:
1. Jonathan Rea GBR Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 20 Laps
2. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1198 +1.126s
3. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 +10.006s
4. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +10.716s
5. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +17.391s
6. Leon Haslam GBR Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +19.301s
7. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR +19.613s
8. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +19.880s
9. Shane Byrne GBR Althea Ducati 1198 +21.176s
10. Luca Scassa ITA Supersonic Ducati 1198 +29.752s
11. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Ducati 1198 +30.156s
12. Ian Lowry GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +53.622s
13. Roger Lee Hayden USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +58.820s
14. Matteo Baiocco ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 25.906s
Not classified
15. Fabrizio Lai ITA Echo-CRS Honda CBR1000RR 19 laps completed
16. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198 12 laps completed
17. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198 8 laps completed
18. Jakub Smrz CZE PATA B&G Racing Aprilia RSV-4 6 laps completed
19. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 6 laps completed
20. Max Neukirchner GER Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 6 laps completed
21. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 1 lap completed
Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 DNS
Race two:
1. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198 20 Laps
2. Jonathan Rea GBR Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +3.061s
3. Leon Haslam GBR Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +8.060s
4. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 +8.457s
5. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +9.392s
6. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +9.556s
7. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +16.819s
8. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 +20.564s
9. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR +21.040s
10. Shane Byrne GBR Althea Ducati 1198 +21.168s
11. Jakub Smrz CZE PATA B&G Racing Aprilia RSV-4 +21.734s
12. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +22.746s
13. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Ducati 1198 +24.526s
14. Luca Scassa ITA Supersonic Ducati 1198 +28.218s
15. Max Neukirchner GER Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +38.406s
16. Roger Lee Hayden USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 08.039s
17. Matteo Baiocco ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 21.294s
18. Fabrizio Lai ITA Echo-CRS Honda CBR1000RR +1min 21.362s
19. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198 +1min 38.427s
Not classified
20. Ian Lowry GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 11 laps completed
21. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1198 9 laps completed
Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 DNS
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1 Max Biaggi 397.0
2 Leon Haslam 339.0
3 Jonathan Rea 288.0
4 Carlos Checa 224.0
5 Cal Crutchlow 217.0
6 Noriyuki Haga 202.0
7 James Toseland 187.0
8 Sylvain Guintoli 169.0
9 Leon Camier 164.0
10 Michel Fabrizio 160.0
11 Troy Corser 159.0
12 Shane Byrne 136.0
13 Ruben Xaus 85.0
14 Jakub Smrz 76.0
15 Tom Sykes 70.0
16 Luca Scassa 61.0
17 Lorenzo Lanzi 54.0
18 Max Neukirchner 41.0
19 Chris Vermeulen 10.0
20 Roger Lee Hayden 10.0