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Tom Sykes and Eugene Laverty share wins as Biaggi extends his championship lead at Penultimate WSBK Round

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Tom Sykes and Eugene Lavery have shared a win a piece at the Portugal round of the World Superbike championship overnight, while Max Biaggi extended his championship lead.

Sykes was able to win the opening race of the day in a race of two parts after the first attempt was red flagged on lap six due to oil being dropped on the track.

The restart paid dividends for Sykes who won the second attempt at the race, while his championship rival Biaggi who was leading the first attmpt when the race was red flagged finished in fourth place.

The win for Sykes moved him to within 15 points of Biaggi, however disaster struck for Sykes in the race two when a bike failure seen him unable to finish the race.

‰ÛÏWe had some good luck today and also some bad luck,‰Û
Laverty secured his first WSBK win in the second race in Portugal Credit: Graeme Brown
Redemption came for Aprilia in Race 2 with two RSV4s on the podium. The victory went to Laverty who led all 22 laps of the race.

"My first win with and for Aprilia came on my favourite track with a lot of my fans trackside, who I'd like to thank." Laverty enthused.

"Grip in Race 2 wasn't perfect. I tried to push hard right away to gain an advantage and then I was able to maintain it to the end." he added.

"This year we had some difficult moments, like we had in Race 1 today, but we're finally showing our potential with some good progress at the end of the season". Laverty concluded.

Biaggi battled hard for the podium with Leon Camier and the 16 points he earned with third place give him a 30.5 point advantage over the nearest contender Sykes and 38.5 over Melandri who crashed out of the first race of the day.

Melandri suffered a bruised kidney in the incident and took no further part in the day‰Ûªs proceedings, striking a seemingly irreversible blow to his title ambitions.
Max Biaggi increases his championship lead in Portugal.Credit: Graeme Brown
The weekends results see Biaggi all but wrapping up his second World Superbike title in three years after yet another wild round at the Portimao circuit in Portugal.

Skyes and Melandri are now the only riders capable of denying Biaggi the World Championship in the final round at Magny-Cours in France from October 7.

"Today we had two really hard and stange races from certain points of view." said Biaggi

"In Race one the conditions were completely different from the practice sessions and even in Race two on a dry track the grip wasn't the best.

"Considering these difficulties and a lot of contact with the other riders, I'm happy with a fourth and third place which reconfirm my lead in the standings.

"Now we'll begin preparations for the last round in Magny Cours, as always putting forth our best effort." Biaggi concluded.

Portimao - Race one results
1. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 31m 42.011s
2. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R +0.300s
3. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Ducati 1098R +2.732s
4. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +11.564s
5. Brett McCormick CAN Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +11.771s
6. Jonathan Rea GBR Honda WSBK CBR1000RR +11.792s
7. Loris Baz FRA Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +28.683s
8. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Honda WSBK CBR1000RR +29.581s
9. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia Goldbet S1000RR +31.507s
10. Michel Fabrizio ITA BMW Italia Goldbet S1000RR +31.587s
11. Leon Camier GBR Crescent Fixi Suzuki GSX-R1000 +31.710s
12. John Hopkins USA Crescent Fixi Suzuki GSX-R1000 +33.167s
13. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +37.843s
14. Alexander Lundh SWE Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +37.993s
15. Matteo Baiocco ITA Red Devils Ducati 1098R +39.397s
16. Lorenzo Zanetti ITA PATA Ducati 1098R +39.667s
17. Norino Brignola ITA Grillini Progea BMW S1000RR +42.434s
18. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA Liberty Effenbert Ducati 1098R +1m 00.356s
19. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +1 lap
Not Classified
20. David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 4 laps completed
Unable to start
Marco Melandri ITA BMW Motorrad S1000RR
Chaz Davies GBR ParkinGO MTC Aprilia RSV-4
Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Ducati 1098R

Portimao - Race two results
1. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV-4 38m 35.105s
2. Jonathan Rea GBR Honda WSBK CBR1000RR +0.162s
3. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +3.786s
4. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Ducati 1098R +10.440s
5. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R +20.153s
6. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia Goldbet S1000RR +23.152s
7. Loris Baz FRA Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +27.314s
8. Michel Fabrizio ITA BMW Italia Goldbet S1000RR +35.682s
9. Brett McCormick CAN Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +35.786s
10. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA Liberty Effenbert Ducati 1098R +38.311s
11. John Hopkins USA Crescent Fixi Suzuki GSX-R1000 +47.814s
12. Lorenzo Zanetti ITA PATA Ducati 1098R +57.539s
13. David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1m 11.035s
14. Alexander Lundh SWE Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1m 28.197s
15. Norino Brignola ITA Grillini Progea BMW S1000RR +1m 42.589s
Not Classified
16. Leon Camier GBR Crescent Fixi Suzuki GSX-R1000 21 laps completed
17. Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Ducati 1098R 10 laps completed
18. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Honda WSBK CBR1000RR 9 laps completed
19. Matteo Baiocco ITA Red Devils Ducati 1098R 8 laps completed
20. Chaz Davies GBR ParkinGO MTC Aprilia RSV-4 4 laps completed
21. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 3 laps completed
22. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR 2 laps completed
Did Not Start
Marco Melandri ITA BMW Motorrad S1000RR

2012 eni World Superbike Championship rider standings (After round 13 of 14)
1. Max Biaggi Aprilia Racing 347 points
2. Tom Sykes Kawasaki Racing 316.52 points
3. Marco Melandri BMW Motorrad 308.5 points
4. Carlos Checa Althea Ducati 278.5 points
5. Jonathan Rea Honda WSBK 255.5 points
6. Eugene Laverty Aprilia Racing 241.5 points
7. Leon Haslam BMW Motorrad 189 points
8. Sylvain Guintoli Effenbert Liberty Ducati/PATA Ducati 172.5 points
9. Chaz Davies ParkinGO MTC Aprilia 156.5 points
10. Michel Fabrizio BMW Italia GoldBet 133.5 points
11. Davide Giugliano Althea Ducati 125 points
12. Loris Baz Kawasaki Racing 116 points
13. Ayrton Badovini BMW Italia GoldBet 116 points
14. Leon Camier FIXI Crescent Suzuki 109.5 points
15. Jakub Smrz Liberty Effenbert Ducati 92.5 points
16. Maxime Berger Effenbert Liberty Ducati 74 points
17. Lorenzo Zanetti PATA Ducati 65 points
18. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda WSBK 59.5 points
19. John Hopkins Crescent Fixi Suzuki 44 points
20. Niccolo Canepa Red Devils Roma Ducati 42.5 points


Top Image: Tom Sykes put himself in championship contention in race one only to have all the good work go down the drain in race two.
Credit: Graeme Brown

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