Melandri impresses with Maiden World Superbike Podium at Phillip Island

Yamaha World Superbike Team rider Marco Melandri ended his podium drought this afternoon, stepping up to take third position in the second World Superbike race, his first podium since 2009. The World Superbike rookie started well from his second row position, closing in on defending World Champion Max Biaggi and pushing him to the race finale, interchanging for second position a number of times before finally settling for third at the line, less than 1.5 seconds from double race winner Carlos Checa. The first race of the day saw both Melandri and his teammate Eugene Laverty start well, Laverty impressing by leading the first two laps of his first ever Superbike race, before dropping back to swap positions with Melandri several times. Laverty claimed fourth and Melandri fifth at the line. Both riders had struggled a bit for rear grip in the first race, and Laverty also from arm pump, problems which were rectified by team set up changes and help from Clinica Mobile prior to race two. Laverty’s second race began with the young Northern Irishman pressing on and holding sixth position until lap eight when a false neutral caused him to run wide, losing valuable time and positions. The same issue was repeated on lap 11, dropping him to 20th position by lap 15. Despite the setback Laverty fought back, pushing back up over seven laps to claim 15th at the line. As they head to Donington in the UK for the second round of the championship, they do so with Melandri sitting in third in the overall standings with 27 points, his teammate Laverty sits in ninth with 14 points, 13 behind Melandri.

Marco Melandri, Yamaha World Superbike Team 5th, 3rd “I’m pretty happy with the end results of today, although I wasn’t too happy about race one. We’ve been struggling all week with a rear grip issue, which could be seen in race one. I think we made a good job before race two, changing our set up to deal with it and we were a little bit more aware of our potential afterwards. The bike was a lot better and I felt a lot more comfortable. It’s nice to be back on the podium! I wanted to challenge Biaggi for second but in the end my body was slower than my mind at the end of the race, it felt a bit dangerous to make some passes so I was happy to settle for third.”

Eugene Laverty, Yamaha World Superbike Team 4th, 15th “In the first race I had problems with arm pump and had just to sit there, I had the possibility to go third but didn’t want to risk my arms. I got it fixed at Clinica, it was just really stiff after five days riding on a Superbike this week! Marco upped the pace in second race; it would have been tough to beat, but there was a definite fourth there for me. Unfortunately two false neutrals killed the race leaving me with one point. On the plus side I’m very positive for Donington, we’ve clearly got a very competitive package and under race conditions we can see that our competitors aren’t as fast as the practice sessions suggested.”

Yamaha ParkinGo rider Luca Scassa made it a day to remember this afternoon, enjoying an adrenalin filled battle in the top five for the duration of the World Supersport race. The Italian World Supersport rookie made good use of the R6’s superior performance to charge through the pack, leading for some laps before dropping back again. He then passed Sam Lowes on the final straight for a photo finish, claiming victory by just 0.009 seconds. Scassa’s teammate Chas Davies had a less fortunate afternoon. Having found a perfect setup for the Phillip Island circuit, Davies had been in contention for the podium for the majority of the race, fighting alternate for second and third position until a flat tyre forced early retirement on lap 18. Scassa heads to the next round at Donington in the UK leading the championship with a full 25 points, teammate Davies goes keen to get off the points mark and catch up to his Italian stablemate. Today’s victory marks the first race for the officially supported Yamaha R6 since it won the World championship in 2009 with Cal Crutchlow. An impressive result for the Yamaha ParkinGO Team considering the collaboration with Yamaha was started just six weeks ago.

1. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 34mins 16.503s 2. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +4.365s 3. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +10.719s 4. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +11.266s 5. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +11.293s 6. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 +12.039s 7. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +20.294s 8. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R +20.742s 9. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 +22.421s 10. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +25.822s 11. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +29.270s 12. Jonathan Rea GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +31.059s 13. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +31.721s 14. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR +36.389s 15. Bryan Staring AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +36.470s 16. Ruben Xaus ESP Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +41.928s 17. James Toseland GBR BMW Italia S1000RR +55.239s 18. Josh Waters AUS Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1min 00.312s 19. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 00.316s 20. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R +1min 30.125s

1. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 34mins 15.041s 2. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +1.188s 3. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +1.406s 4. Jonathan Rea GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +10.563s 5. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +10.885s 6. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +16.914s 7. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 +17.558s 8. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 +17.679s 9. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R +18.070s 10. Ruben Xaus ESP Castrol Honda CBR1000RR +19.053s 11. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +19.060s 12. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +23.771s 13. Josh Waters AUS Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 +23.956s 14. James Toseland GBR BMW Italia S1000RR +28.713s 15. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 +32.673s 16. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +33.226s 17. Bryan Staring AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +42.598s 18. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R +51.819s 19. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +55.738s

1. CARLOS CHECA DUCATI 50 2. MAX BIAGGI APRILIA 40 3. MARCO MELANDRI YAMAHA 27 4. LEON HASLAM BMW 27 5. MICHEL FABRIZIO SUZUKI 18 6. JONATHAN REA HONDA 17 7. NORIYUKI HAGA APRILIA 16 8. TOM SYKES KAWASAKI 15 9. EUGENE LAVERTY YAMAHA 14 10. JAKUB SMRZ DUCATI 14 11. LEON CAMIER APRILIA 13 12. ROBERTO ROLFO KAWASAKI 9 13. RUBEN XAUS HONDA 6 14. TROY CORSER BMW 6 15. JOSHUA WATERS SUZUKI 3 16. JAMES TOSELAND BMW 2 17. AYRTON BADOVINI BMW 2 18. BRYAN STARING KAWASAKI 1