Editor

The Brno circuit was host to two nail-biting races under blistering sunshine, as the three championship leaders battled for podium positions in the two World Superbike races. Marco Melandri provided a masterful display of race craft in both races to claim his third victory of the season in race one and settling for second on the podium in a hard fought second race of the day.
In race one Melandri claimed second place on lap two and tucked neatly behind Biaggi where he remained for a further six laps, while Checa moved in to take third place. On lap 9, Melandri pushed into the lead and proceeded to hold off constant advances from the fellow Italian, only temporarily rendering position on the 17th lap before powering his R1 to the chequered flag, claiming his third victory of the 2011 season.


Race two was almost a replica of race one. Yet again, Melandri closely tailed Biaggi for the first nine laps before pushing ahead into first place. After just two laps, a persistent Biaggi took repossession of the lead. Melandri continued to perform impeccably, constantly on the attack and interchanging positions with Biaggi on several occasions, before settling for second place after a hard fought battle to the finish line.


Melandri produced the fastest lap times of both race one and race two recording 2'00.118 and 2'00.058 and registering the highest speed of the day reaching an impressive 292.7 km/h in race two on a track temperature of 54 degrees.


"It's a great sensation to be on my third win of the season but I still need to do a double," declared Melandri. "I'm really happy with today's results. At the beginning of race one I didn't think I'd catch up on Max, so I immediately passed Eugene in order to tail him. I was struggling to keep in front, at times Max was faster than me. Race two was also very difficult. I certainly didn't give up but it wasn't easy to keep pushing. Max and I had a nice battle which I think we both enjoyed, and I'm sure the spectators did also. I have to say thanks to the team for doing such a good job again. I'm looking forward to Silverstone."



Source: World Superbike

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Kawasaki Racing