Imola World Superbike 2010 Results
Results from the 2010 penultimate round of the World Superbike Championship at Imola.
World Superbike Imola 2010
A Kawasaki may have been on pole for the World Superbike round at Imola, but at the end of race 1 it was all Ducati, Carlos Checa the winner. Championship leader Max Biaggi finished in 10th, after an eventful race that saw him in the gravel several times.
Superbike Race One
Tom Sykes led on the Kawasaki for a while until he gradually sunk back into the field. Eventually Carlos Checa and Leon Haslam were at the front and battling for the win. Haslam’s efforts came undone on the last lap when he ran off the track after a do or die passing attempt.
While Haslam kept it upright and got back on track for a 5th placing, Checa took the win on the Althea Ducati from the surprising Lorenzo Lanzi, with Nori Haga coming from 14th on the grid to claim 3rd place on a podium full of Ducatis.
Max Biaggi had a heartstopper, and was on and off the track several times as he battled back in the field after qualifying in 7th. Fellow Aprilia pilot Jakub Smrz finished in a great 4th, while early leader Sykes was 6th on the improved Kawasaki.
Superbike Race Two
Max Biaggi got a much better start from his 7th grid position, with Tom Sykes again out front on the Kawasaki. Leon Haslam had his head down behind Sykes, with a win needed to keep his championship hopes alive. Those hopes ended in a cloud of oil smoke from his Suzuki on lap 8, leaving Biaggi with an early championship win.
A Ducati freight train of Checa, Haga and Fabrizio had closed on the front runners, Checa carving to the lead and pulling away with seeming ease. Fabrizio crashed out while Sykes did his best to hold onto a podium for Kawasaki, but Haga soon passed with Biaggi looking threatening. In the end, it was Cal Crutchlow who hunted down first Biaggi, then Sykes for the final podium spot behind double race winner Carlos Checa and second place Nori Haga.
Max Biaggi and Aprilia win the World Superbike Championship with his 5th place, taking an unbeatable 63 point lead to Magny Cors next weekend.
Supersport
A thrilling finish after a race long battle between Kenan Sofuoglu and Eugene Laverty ended with both riders on the ground in the final chicane of the last lap. With the championship on the line, Laverty made a desperate lunge under Sofoglou that didn’t pay off, losing the front and torpedoing the Honda rider.
Both riders scrambled to remount, but distant third place Michele Pirro got past to take his maiden win for Ten Kate, while Sofuoglou made it Ten Kate 1 – 2 with his faster remount from the gravel. Laverty was lucky to get 3rd, just in front of a fast closing Broc Parkes.
Sofuoglou takes a 16 point championship lead over Laverty into next weeks round.
To be updated after 2nd Superbike Race
