Spectators at the eighth round of the Superbike World Championship really had something to see. After exciting battles, two Italian racers, Max Biaggi and Marco Melandri, ended up at the top.

Just a glance at the results of the last two motos in the Superbike World Championship shows how tight the race was. In the first moto, Max Biaggi (Aprilia) was the first to cross the finish line only 0.278 seconds ahead of Marco Melandri (BMW). However, Melandri won the second moto barely 0.042 seconds ahead of Eugene Laverty, Chaz Davies, and Max Biaggi (who crossed the finish line just 0.484 seconds behind Melandri!). The Akrapovič exhaust system thus triumphed in all four top places!

The winner of the second race, who joined the BMW factory team this year, was thrilled about the outcome: “It’s just amazing. To win here is beautiful. I just want to say thanks to my guys because we made another small step with the bike. In race one we had a good battle and I just missed a little bit of speed in the end to try to beat Max. He was faster than me and on the last lap it was hard for me to follow him. It’s always nice to be on the podium, but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed after race one. So in race two I put in all my effort to get the win. It wasn’t easy because the wind was very strong and the Aprilia guys were pushing hard. For the last lap I had no plan because when you race against those guys you can’t think about a plan because they try to pass you at every corner, so I just tried to find a good place for braking at the end of the straight. To win was so amazing.”

The outstanding Biaggi maintains his overall lead, with a 48-point advantage over Melandri. Things are going to stay hot!

Another BMW racer triumphed in Spain: Lorenzo Baroni, a member of the BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet team. He took third place, whereas his teammate and the current overall leader Sylvain Barrier dropped out.

The next race will take place on 22 July in Brno.

Photo: Aprilia Racing, BMW Motorrad Motorsport