World Superbike Rookie, Eugene Laverty, put on a sensational display of race craft today to take a well earned double victory on his team’s home track in Monza. Today’s success signified not only Laverty’s maiden win but also his first podium finish to date in the 2011 World Superbike Championship.
Laverty got off to a perfect start from second position on the grid to immediately take the lead in race one. The World Superbike rookie temporarily surrendered the lead in lap six on entering the “ Prima Variante” but hastened to repossess first place on exiting the “Biassono curve”, leaving Max Biaggi second. Race two saw a masterful display of race craft. Laverty initially fell back to ninth position after encountering a three rider collision in the early stages of the first lap. Putting his head down, he got straight to work, making his way through the bunch of riders ahead to sit behind team-mate Melandri until the final lap where he snatched the chequered flag.
Marco Melandri was also on flying form in the hot temperatures the historic track in Monza had to offer. The Italian completed the first race of the day in fourth position just missing out on a podium by 0.009 of a second. In race two, a good start off fifth position on the grid saw Melandri push up to third place by lap seven. The determined Italian gradually closed in on fellow contenders ahead, until mid race when the leader, Biaggi made a mistake at the first chicane resulting in a ride through penalty by the race direction. This gave Melandri the lead on the 14th lap. The final laps of the adrenalin filled second race saw the two Yamaha World Superbike riders battling it out for the win. Melandri completed the race crossing the finish line in second place, while Laverty just beat him by three tenths of a second. Both Yamaha riders, Melandri and Laverty, scored the fastest speed of the second race reaching a high of 333Km/h.
Eugene Laverty leaves Monza with a total of 85 points having jumped up from ninth to sixth place in the Championship standings after today’s impressive performance. Marco Melandri is now sitting second in the classification with 118 points, just 27 points behind the current leader, Carlos Checa.
Eugene Laverty - Yamaha World Superbike Team - 1st, 1st
“I can’t believe I got a double victory today. I came here aiming for a podium and now I’m coming away with two incredible race wins. It’s fantastic. I didn’t get off to a good start in the second race. I had to avoid a collision on the first corner, causing me to lose time. I also struggled a little with the tyres in the hot conditions. When it came to the last few laps, I couldn’t believe my luck that it was just me and Marco in the lead. This double victory was particularly special to me, being the team’s home track.”
Marco Melandri - Yamaha World Superbike Team - 5th, 2nd
“It’s been a tough but still quite a good weekend. I had difficulty finding the right set-up in order to provide more stability. We made progress before the second race but the bike was still quite agitated towards the end. In the last corner I struggled with the gears and the rear tyre locked causing me to go slightly wide. I’m really pleased to be on the podium and I really enjoyed riding the track. We have gained some important points but I’d like to get more next time!”
Andrea Dosoli - Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“It was a pretty amazing weekend. We knew after the two qualifying sessions that we had a good race pace with both riders and could definitely get a good result today. What we saw today is also the result of the hard work the team has done in the last month. I’d like to say a special thanks to everyone who made this happen! Eugene did a great job especially in race two. He initially lost time coming into the first chicane but he still managed to come back and win the race. We expected some difficulty for Marco seeing as the track was new to him but he proved to be extremely competitive. Both riders had some challenges with the set-up of their R1’s over the weekend, especially Marco. Even though we got a double victory here we still know there is plenty of work to be done. We are heading to Aragon for tests this week and hopefully we will come back even more prepared for the upcoming race in Miller.”
Race one report and results available here, race two results available here
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