31. May 2011
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At the American FIM World Superbike Championship Camier and Biaggi took second and third place in the second race.
The fifth race of the World Superbike Championship took place at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. Heavy rain dogged the proceedings, especially at the first race, where four riders were forced to drop out. The best riders with Akrapovič exhaust systems were Leon Camier (Aprilia) in fourth, Eugene Laverty (Yamaha) in fifth, Ayrton Badovini and Leon Haslam (both BMW) in seventh and eighth, and Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia) in ninth place.
The second race offered better point gains because two Aprilia riders took the podium in second and third place (Camier and Biaggi), followed by Laverty in fourth, Melandri in sixth, and Badovini in ninth place.
Eugene Laverty of the Yamaha World Superbike Team said after the race: “I managed to get a great start off the line in both races and maintain my starting position into the first curve. In race one I made a mistake changing the gears, which caused me to drop back to fifteenth. I climbed up to second by midrace but then I began to suffer from extreme tire wear. We improved the chassis setting before race two and I was a lot more cautious with the tires. I was sitting in third place from early on but I didn’t want to push too hard in on Max to ensure the tires would last to the end. I’m quite happy having finished fifth and fourth in the two races and I’m now fourth in the standings, which I’m pleased with.”
Checa leads the overall standings, followed by Melandri, Biaggi, Laverty, and Haslam. The current factory leaders are Ducati, Aprilia, Yamaha, BMW, and Honda.
Only the superbike races took place in the U.S. due to logistical and financial reasons. All other classes (supersport, superstock 1000, and superstock 600) decided to forego the trip across the Atlantic. The next race takes place on 12 June in Misano, Italy.
Photos: Aprilia, Yamaha