Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport celebrates another podium in the FIM Superbike World Championship. In the fourth round of the 2011 season at Monza (ITA), works rider, Leon Haslam (GBR), finished third in race one. In the second race Leon was involved in a crash involving several riders in the first chicane, and was forced to retire. His team mate, Troy Corser (AUS), finished the races in seventh and fifth respectively. In the riders’ championship Leon Haslam is now sixth (84 points), while Troy has moved up to 11th (46 points). In the manufacturers’ standings BMW has moved up to fourth with 101 points.
In race one, Leon fought his way up to third after starting from sixth. He had thrilling battles with Marco Melandri and Max Biaggi and defended his podium position until the chequered flag. His second race ended in the first chicane. Another competitor crashed and hit Leon’s bike. Leon fell off and hurt his right foot. Troy had an excellent start in both races and was actually leading both of them. In the first race he had issues with tyre wear and fell back. In the second race he was overtaken by a competitor and struggled to make up the gap. However, he crossed the finish line only 4,5 seconds behind Eugene Laverty, who won both races.
BMW Motorrad congratulates Team BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock and its rider Lorenzo Zanetti (ITA) for their victory, and the other customer teams for their successes in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup race. With Michele Magnoni (ITA / third) from the Baru Racing Team also on the podium, Fabio Massei (ITA / fifth) from the Team Piellemoto and Markus Reiterberger (GER / sixth) from the the Garnier Alpha Racing Team four BMW S 1000 RR riders were placed in the top six.
Leon Haslam: Result Race 1: 3rd, Gap to 1st: 00:03.078 min / Fastest Lap Race 1: 1:43.361 min Result Race 2: DNF
“To be honest, in race one I didn’t get the best of starts. I also made a few mistakes in the early laps, which meant I had some work to do to catch the leading bunch. Still I felt like I had the pace to run with the leading guys. Max and I held each other up slightly, which saw Eugene get away at the front, but on the whole I was happy with the race and the bike. In race two I was hit from behind at the first corner on lap one. I am not a hundred per cent sure what happened, but I crashed out of the race after getting a much better start. Following the crash I was taken to the medical centre where it was confirmed that I have broken a toe on my right foot. I don’t see it being a problem for our forthcoming test or the races in Salt Lake.”
Troy Corser: Result Race 1: 7th, Gap to 1st: 00:13.280 min / Fastest Lap Race 1: 1:43.589 min Result Race 2: 5th / Gap to 1st: 00:04.502 min / Fastest Lap Race 2: 1:44.040 min
“On one hand I am happy with the way the two races have gone today, but on the other hand I am slightly frustrated. I got a great start in both races and led the early laps. The bike felt good on the whole. We had a few tyre issues in race one, which saw me slip back, and in race two I was pretty happy until I was squeezed out at the first corner by Marco Melandri. From there I lost some time and I just couldn’t get that back. The pace we showed this weekend suggested we could push for the podium, but sadly that didn’t happen today. We have a test now before Salt Lake so hopefully we can continue to improve on what we have done already.”
Bernhard Gobmeier (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director):
“On the whole we are happy with today. We are glad we could achieve our second podium of the season. Obviously we were expecting a little bit more, but unfortunately Leon’s second race was finished early. With Troy we had some issue with the tyres as they seemed to wear quite quickly, but still we are happy. It was clear in both races that we were able to do similar lap times and be as strong as the Yamahas. This means we have the speed. We just need to be a bit more consistent and fine tune some of our race strategies. Now we are looking forward to the next races in the USA. I also want to congratulate Team BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike for their sixth position with Ayrton Badovini. This is a strong performance.”
Race one report and results available here, race two results available here
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