Biaggi takes championship lead

A remarkable day of unpredictable final outcomes and drama on track finally delivered two 21-lap race victories to Max Biaggi (Alitalia Aprilia) in Salt Lake City on Monday.

Biaggi now has a 15-point lead over Leon Haslam (Alstare Suzuki) but he may not have won a single race on Monday had Althea Ducati privateer Carlos Checa not had his machine quit twice on him while leading. Checa had to content himself with two Pirelli awards for the fastest lap of each race and a new lap record of 1'48.045, set on lap four of race one. Biaggi got his third double win of the year, after similar feats at Portimão and Monza.

Race One

A two-rider fight for supremacy in race one suddenly became a clear victory for Max Biaggi (Alitalia Aprilia) as early race leader Checa was forced to stop with a technical problem on lap 19 of the 21 laps. Almost five seconds behind Biaggi, championship leader Haslam was second, and the final podium place was secured by the rejuvenated Noriyuki Haga (Xerox Ducati). Leon Camier was in a podium position on his Alitalia Aprilia V4 for most of the race, but could not keep Haslam and Haga behind on the final laps. Troy Corser was fifth for BMW Motorsport, Shane Byrne a brilliant sixth on his Althea Ducati, having fought back from a very lowly position at the start. Luca Scassa, Sylvain Guintoli, James Toseland and Ruben Xaus rounded out the top ten finishers.

Max Biaggi: "Very lucky. I think Checa deserved that race because he rode very hard. Honestly speaking he deserved it but racing is racing and sometimes these things happen. This time it was our turn. We had a very good pace and I am happy for me, my team and Aprilia."

Leon Haslam: "I didn't get the best of starts I think I was about tenth away, and I got stuck behind Jakub Smrz when his engine blew and I was covered in quite a lot of oil, so I didn't want to follow too close. I got a gift of second with Carlos breaking down, but we will take it."

Noriyuki Haga: "I have not had a good result at this track in the two previous years so I am happy to take third place. From the first lap my tyre feeling was not so good and I adjusted my riding style and I was happy to be able to finish third."

Race Two

With his main championship rival Haslam crashing out of race two, Max Biaggi's second win of the day put him 15 points in the lead. Checa once more stopped on the track while leading. Camier had a career-best second and Cal Crutchlow took his Sterilgarda Yamaha bike to third place. This was the first time that two Aprilias have finished on the podium in a 1-2. 

In the championship Biaggi now has 257 points, Haslam 242 and Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Honda) 151. Behind the podium battle Haga was fourth, Corser fifth and Guintoli sixth. Shane Byrne went seventh and Jonathan Rea eighth. Checa leaves America on an unchanged 141 points, in fourth place, with Haga now only six points behind him.

Max Biaggi: "We made a double win, and that was my dream. Before we came here, I was hoping and dreaming to make a double win. It is just what I need. I was also a little bit lucky because Checa had some trouble, but anyway this is 50 points, very helpful to me and my team. I'm happy for my team-mate too. This machine is only one and a half years old, and we developed the bike very, very strong. The engineers made a good job. I'm very happy for my Aprilia friends. The people understand this bike is a winning machine."

Leon Camier: "The start of the weekend didn't go according to plan, really. I had a couple of crashes, and I sort of managed to turn it around for the second one. The first race we had a bit of a bad front tyre choice and maybe a bit of a setting thing. Yeah, the second one's gone awesome, so massive thank you to Aprilia. They've done an awesome job as you can see. I think it's Aprilia's first 1-2 in Superbike. Max just had a bit more pace than me."

Cal Crutchlow: "I think we deserved that. In the first race we were unfortunate. We got caught up in somebody else's crash and just ran off the track. I think we came back strongly the second race, and all credit to Max and Leon, they rode a superb race. I think we've turned it around. Yamaha has done a good job this weekend. It was a very similar race to what Ben ran here last year, and he won by nine seconds - so it shows how fast these guys are going."

Supersport World Championship

Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Honda) extended his championship lead to six points at Miller by recording his first race win since Portimão. He also took a new lap record of 1'51.702, on lap six. Kenan has now won 16 career races in this class, extending his record number of wins again. Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) was second today, just over a second behind Sofuoglu, with Joan Lascorz (Motocard Kawasaki) third, 1.673 seconds from the win. Chaz Davies (Parkingo Triumph) won a tight battle for fourth, with Sofuoglu's team-mate Michele Pirro fifth. In the championship, Sofuoglu has 142 points, Laverty 136, Lascorz 128 and Davies 84.

-WSBK-

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