Superbikes Australia 2012: Carlos Checa falls and Max Biaggi picks up the baton

It was early Sunday morning and the lights of the homes of thousands of fans were still shining in the middle of the night. Why? Because any good fan of the competition had an appointment today with the great Superbike championship. In that silence and accompanied by a cup of coffee to get through the day, we connected to the Eurosport broadcast. First only with the exciting ambient sound of the SBK paddock, then with the usual commentators, who we already missed. The truth is that there were many doubts surrounding this first race, from the participation of Eugene Laverty and Leon Haslam injured, going through the look of the sky to the anticipation about Tom Sykes' Kawasaki, but few would have bet on the podium today: Max biaggi in the lead followed by Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli.

The traffic light would go out after having come from a warm-up lap in some cases too effusive, and Tom Sykes shot towards the first and very fast corner of Phillip Island. He was followed without too much trouble by Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi, great opponents who again saw their faces on the track. Behind, the Honda 65 of Jonathan Rea, Jakub Smrz and Guintoli. I mean, more or less what one could expect from this race.

In the hustle and bustle, Biaggi passed Checa, but at the fourth corner of the Australian track, Carlos forced the braking and regained the place, but not before the Italian tried to defend himself by all means. It didn't take long for the Bull to surprise everyone on the next lap again and hurrying more than anyone the braking will pass to Tom Sykes. Victim of a four-tenths slower pace, the British rider was surpassed by Max and the powerful Aprilia RSV4 with a top speed that reached 318km / h.

Meanwhile, Guintoli continued his business without letting the tail of the Honda World Superbike Team's Honda CBR1000RR escape. Which allowed him to study the points on the track and then overtake Jonathan Rea when braking at turn four. Suddenly, you hear the sound of a fairing crawling on the asphalt and when you look back at the screen you see Carlos Checa and his characteristic blue Nolan circling the gravel. What may have been one of the most incredible drifts of recent years stayed in an exit by ears that even made fear for the integrity of Carlos.

With Checa out of the race the proof was left to Max Biaggi, who was far enough away to ride with some ease - with the ease that going 320km / h through Phillip Island must give). But with the first place I decided, we still had two holes in the drawer reserved for the bravest. Sykes had many ballots to be one of them but Sylvain had already caught up with him and, moreover, Marco Melandri came from behind with a crushing pace per lap. With ten laps to go, the trio was joined by Czech Kuba Smrz and his teammate attempting a getaway after having passed Tom's Kawasaki.

However Marco could not afford to leave him alone and after getting rid of Sykes he went straight for the French pilot. When he had reached his wake, no one could prevent the BMW S1000RR from ripping the stickers off the Effenbert team's Ducati 1098R. And it is not surprising because Melandri enjoyed about 12km / h more top speed and was also the fastest bike on the grid reaching 320.8km / h. Further back the cameras showed us the beautiful fight between Davide Giuliano and Leon Camier, which ended with the latter off-track after the Althea rider came down the slope of Turn 10 forcing the Suzuki straight. A gesture that favored Horishi Aoyama, placing himself just behind his teammate in the classification.

Shortly before the checkered flag Eugene Laverty was leaving due to technical problems. Max crossed the line without concern followed by Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli. Joan Lascorz finished 15th-5th, one spot behind David Salom.