Max Biaggi took the lead after the first meeting in the FIM World Superbike Championship (Aprilia Racing Team). (Aprilia Racing) won the first race of the year by seven seconds from Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) and third was a closely following Sylvian Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) after a dramatic contest held over 22-laps. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) crashed out of the race while leading, suffering a fast high-side fall on the final corner early in the race. Spots of rain appeared at two separate stages but to no real effect for the majority of the riders and it continued as a dry race. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) took fourth place after leading early on, with Jakub Smrz fifth on his Liberty Racing Team Effenbert Ducati. Checa recovered from his big race one crash to post his first win of the year but arguably an even greater performance came from second place finisher Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing). Checa hit the front early on but Biaggi had run of track on lap one, kept his bike upright and restarted last, then fought through to take a second place and a clear championship lead with a total of 45 points.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) overhauled a slowing Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) in a breathtaking final lap to get his first dry weather Kawasaki podium.
The injured Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) put in a gritty ride to secure fifth place while his team-mate Marco Melandri was one place behind.
Melandri is second in the points to Biaggi with 30, one point ahead of Sykes in overall third. Checa is fourth with 25 points.
Race 1 : 1. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 34'13.963 (171,397 kph); 2. Melandri M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 7.104; 3. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 7.378; 4. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 12.189; 5. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 16.424; 6. Fabrizio M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 20.200; 7. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 20.223; 8. Aoyama H. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 24.108; 9. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 28.072; 10. Staring B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34.232; 11. Zanetti L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 34.450; 12 Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 35.648; 13. Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 36.392; 14. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 41.500; 15. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 42.086; etc.
Race 2 : 1. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 34’26.728 (170,339 kph) ; 2. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 5.707 ; 3. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 12.521 ; 4. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 12.665 ; 5. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S 1000 RR 18.179 ; 6. Melandri M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 18.831 ; 7. Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 18.939 ; 8. Laverty E. (IRL) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 19.478 ; 9. Aoyama H. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 19.554 ; 10. Canepa N. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 26.289 ; 11. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 26.479 ; 12. Camier L (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 29.145 ; 13. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 38.482 ; 14. Zanetti L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 38.113 ; 15. Brookes J. (AUS) Suzuki GSX_R 1000 43.234 ; etc.
Standings (after one of the 14 meetings) : 1. Biaggi 45 ; 2. Melandri 30 ; 3. Sykes 29 ; 4. Checa 25 ; 5. Rea 22 ; 6. Guintoli 16 ; 7. Smrz 16 ; 8. Haslam 15 ; 9. Aoyama 15 ; 10. Berger 12 ; etc.
Classement des constructeurs: 1. Aprilia 45 ; 2. Ducati 41 ; 3. BMW 31 ; 4. Kawasaki 29 ; 5. Honda 22 ; 6. Suzuki 4.
Supersport
Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini) returned to the Supersport World Championship in the best form possible as he took the race win from his old rival Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step Racing).
The leading fight had up to seven riders in it for most of the 15-lap race distance, until Sofuoglu stretched out a lead that Foret could not quite run down on the final lap.
Slow staring pole man Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) battled to third, ahead of impressive rookie Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) and Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda). Sofuoglu's team-mate Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini) was six