After sticking his Kawasaki ZX-10R on pole, Tom Sykes proceeded to make the most of it by clearing off from the rest of
the WSB
field in race one with only old-stager Carlos Checa able to stay with the flying Brit. Which was the problem... The crafty Spaniard slipped past at the halfway point and for the rest of the race Sykes only saw his rear wheel as tyre wear screwed any chance of a fight back.
BMW-mounted Haslam showed true guts to hunt down Max Biaggi on the rocketship Aprilia, passing the Italian with a nice amount of aggression that ruffled Max's feathers a bit. The last lap promised a bit of elbow bashing, but Max obviously thought better of it and settled for fourth, giving Haslam a well-deserved podium.
Down the order Jonathan Rea and Eugene Laverty knocked lumps out of each other for sixth before Rea eventually dropped to ninth (still hurting after his enormous qualifying highside) and Laverty progressed to fifth. Leon Camier's nightmare WSB debut year continued. After a poor qualifying he was punted off on the first lap of race one.
A dominant weekend for Checa
Race two was a repeat of race of race one with Sykes again getting the holeshot with Checa right on his tail and Max not far behind. Making hay while the sun shone, Sykes stuck in a few cracking laps to break clear early in the race while Haslam caught up with Checa and Biaggi. But once again Sykes was hunted down by the Spaniard. Checa took the lead with seven laps to go and, well you know the rest...
Sykes and Haslam fought it out over the final few laps with Sykes taking second and Haslam third spot ahead of Max. Rea took a staggering fifth after being punted wide in a clash during the first few corners and a trip through the gravel after catching Laverty's wheel. Camier took a well deserved eighth.
Over in Supersport 600, Brit Sam Lowes stuck his CBR600RR on pole and spent the whole race challenging French rider Foret for the win. In the end second was a good result, especially considering the CBR is starting to show its age a bit.
Race 1:
1 Checa
2 Sykes
3 Haslam
4 Biaggi
5 Laverty
Race 2:
1 Checa
2 Sykes
3 Haslam
4 Biaggi
5 Rea
Championship Points:
1 Checa 75
2 Biaggi 71
3 Sykes 69
4 Haslam 47
5 Melandri 46
Brit watch: (Race 1, Race 2)
Jonathan Rea: (9, 5)
Leon Haslam: (3, 3)
Eugene Laverty: (5, 6)
Ton Sykes: (2, 2)
Leon Camier: (DNF, 8)
Chaz Davies (DNF,14)