Biaggi wins Aragon thriller
Max Biaggi extended his lead in the riders Championship as he claimed a thrilling victory ahead of Marco Melandri in Race One at Aragon.
The race got under way with pole-sitter Tom Sykes leading into the first corner ahead of the Aprilia duo of Biaggi Eugene Laverty, who soon swapped positions as the latter overtook his teammate.
It was game over at that first corner for Jonathan Rea, who was second in the Championship arriving in Aragon, and Jakub Smrz, who were involved in a crash with other riders.
Laverty made short work of Sykes as he used his Aprilia's superior power to take the Kawasaki into the first corner at the start of lap two. Biaggi followed suit a lap later before hunting down his teammate and easily taking his teammate.
Melandri was the next to pass Sykes before taking Laverty. The trio fought over second place, allowing Biaggi to pull away and Carlos Checa to close up, bring Chaz Davies and Ayrton Badovini with him.
Halfway through the 20-lap race Melandri caught Biaggi with the duo a comfortable six seconds up on their nearest rival which was now Sykes with Laverty fourth ahead of Badovini, Checa and Davies. The five fighting for the final podium place swapped positions several times allowing Biaggi and Melandri to pull away even more.
Having caught Biaggi, Melandri found it wasn't so easy to pass his fellow Italian until the Aprilia rider made a mistake, running a bit wide. That cost him momentum and the lead. But a wobble from Melandri a lap later put Biaggi back into the P1 slot.
As the duo continued to tussle for the victory, Melandri put in a block pass to etch ahead again only to lose out to Biaggi before once again overtaking the older Italian. On the penultimate lap, though, Biaggi finally made a move stick and raced to his second victory at Aragon with the Melandri in second place.
Checa completed the podium after Badovini, fighting Sykes for third place, lost the front end of his bike and took out himself and the Kawasaki rider. Davies was fourth.
After Race One, Biaggi is leading the Championship by 60 points over Melandri, who moved up from fourth to second. Rea drops to third ahead of Checa and Sykes.
RESULTS
1. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 39'51.188
2. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 39'51.466
3. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 40'00.650
4. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 40'02.015
5. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 40'06.896
6. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 40'18.785
7. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 40'20.220
8. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 40'30.562
9. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 40'32.075
10. Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 40'32.628
11. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 40'33.244
12. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 40'33.557
13. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 40'33.857
14. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 40'39.198
15. John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 40'40.940
16. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 40'45.778
17. Norino Brignola (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 41'50.841
RT. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 37'59.942
RT. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 38'00.256
RT. David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 37'42.556
RT. Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 20'25.914
RT. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 17'07.882
RT. Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R
