Superbikes Russia 2013: Marco Melandri wins a crazy first race due to rain
Superbikes Russia 2013: Marco Melandri wins a crazy first race due to rain

Video: Superbikes Russia 2013: Marco Melandri wins a crazy first race due to rain

Video: Superbikes Russia 2013: Marco Melandri wins a crazy first race due to rain
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My God, what a madness the first race of the World Superbikes that has been disputed in the Moscow Raceway. But it is that whatever I say is little, really, it has been the craziest thing i've seen in a long time. Suffice it to say that only eleven riders have finished, that Tom sykes has (literally) blown out the engine of your Kawasaki or that it is the first time that we have seen the drivers on the grid change their tires in the middle of the test because of the rain. Well, in this horror movie setting, Marco Melandri he has known how to play his cards better than anyone else and has achieved his third victory of the year. A undoubtedly deserved victory.

In the possible Marco has been accompanied by his teammate, Chaz Davies, in second place, and who has led the race for a large part of it, basically the one that they have been running on slick tires on wet asphalt. The third place has been for Ayrton Badovini, that even in these conditions, has managed to put the Ducati 1199 Panigale R for the first time on the podium. Let's go with everything, because there is a lot to tell …

The traffic light was turned off on the dry asphalt, although the first drops did not take long to appear. Davies and Jonathan Rea, but already in the first corner we saw the first dropouts, with the fall of Carlos Checa and Jules Cluzel (although the French returned to track). Too bad for Carlos who had gone very fast in the warm up and was not doing badly at all this weekend. A few curves later were Vittorio Iannuzzo and Lorenzo Savadori those who went to the ground. We were still trying to focus when suddenly we see the poleman Davide Giugliano out of his Aprilia. Nothing has been seen in the images, but everything looks like he suffered a fall when he was already marching in the front group.

Chaz davies
Chaz davies

The raindrops weren't a big problem yet, and Chaz was pulling really hard and already putting dirt in the middle. They tried to follow Melandri, Eugene laverty and Sykes, who was coming back from his ninth position on the grid and was already fourth. Be careful because Tom had problems starting his bike on the warm-up lap, and when we were on lap number four we were going to check that it was still a serious problem. We see Sykes go off track clearly because his engine said enough, but he still had to give us a spectacular image, and that is already out and with the motorcycle almost stopped, when trying to give gas the engine literally explodes and leaves burning, having Tom to flee quickly from the place. Bad way to celebrate your renewal.

With Sykes out of the running, things were looking pretty good for a Sylvain Guintoli very physically impaired and that he could regain the leadership, as he has finally done. It seemed at this point that things were normalizing, but not much less, since Suddenly a cloud began to discharge with force in a part of the circuit. It must be remembered that since this year the Superbike races have not stopped, and if it rains they must come in to change tires whenever they want. So the problems began.

Davies kept shooting with great force, while Melandri followed him, and in third place Laverty, Guintoli and Loris baz in a delicate fight. We had half a wet circuit and a half totally dry, so the conditions couldn't be worse. The first to enter to change tires were Leon camier and Michel Fabrizio on lap number eleven. Meanwhile, the leading drivers did not dare to be the first to take that step, and it was worth seeing how they drove with dry tires on wet asphalt. Crazy to see them, reminding us of what we saw at the CEV last year in Jerez.

Ayrton badovini
Ayrton badovini

Chaz was still in the lead and Melandri was following him at a safe distance, while Laverty seemed to be clinching in third place and Leon haslam it was coming back. But of course, let's not forget the delicate conditions, so on lap number 16 of the 25 scheduled, Eugene suffered a strong fall and accompanied him in the same luck and Haslam curve, both staying out of the race. After this, with five laps to go the rain became a real downpour throughout the circuit, and the brave ones who hadn't changed tires had to do so.

With the new panorama, Melandri knew how to play his tricks very well, he entered the pits together with Davies and was soon overtaking him when getting back on track. At that time, Baz was leading, being the only one who had not entered, but it was not long before he was passed unceremoniously by the rest of the pilots. Finally he also entered. So final victory for Melandri, victory worked, fought and that without a doubt should make him very happy, because today has been crazy. Second position, and double for BMW, Davies who had a very serious race, while Badovini slipped third in a very worthy final sprint. The fourth position was for Rea, while Fabrizio entered fifth.

Sixth era Guintoli, who thanks to this position and Sykes's abandonment, is once again the leader of the general classification, now four points behind the Kawasaki rider. The seventh place was for Max Neukirchner, the eighth for Baz and the ninth for Camier. Cluzel closed the top ten and the last brave man who managed to finish the race was Federico Sandi in eleventh position.

So the racing day in Russia begins in the craziest way possible, and c Anyone dares to make some kind of forecast for the second race. We will have to be vigilant, because in addition the rain was very strong at the end of this first one, and any kind of delay in the schedules would not be surprising. We will see then. By the way, at least RTVE has deigned to put the race on delay with only a few hours difference. I prefer direct, but hey, I have enjoyed it as well.

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