As Americans celebrated Memorial Day, the World Superbike Championship rolled into Utah and Miller Motorsport Park for round 6 of the 2012 season. With the likes of Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi favourites to win around the fast circuit, few expected it to be the Ducati of Jakub Smrz that started on pole in race one.
The Czech rider took his place at the front of the pack ahead of Checa, Tom Sykes and another Ducati surprise in Davide Giugliano. Checa made a blistering start to race one, but it was Yorkshireman Sykes who lead into the first corner and held onto his position for the first ten laps.
Sykes has been startlingly quick in recent rounds but can’t quite find his way to the top step of the podium and this would be another example. Checa fought his way past Sykes, as did Biaggi and Jonathan Rea, which seemed to rock Sykes and he began heading backwards through the field.
Marco Melandri produced a strong ride, coming through the field having started in 9th, and he won the battle of the Italians, pipping Biaggi for second but it was Checa who took the win, finishing 2.313 seconds ahead of the pack. Rea came home in fourth, Eugene Laverty a strong fifth, with Smrz, Chaz Davies, Sykes, Michel Fabrizio and Leon Haslam completing the top ten.
It certainly wasn’t a memorial day to remember for home favourite John Hopkins, as he lost his Suzuki in turn eight forcing him out of the race.
Race two got off to an almost tedious start as Checa bolted off the line and opened up a six second lead. However, as is so often the case in Superbike racing, a crash threw everything into chaos – to the misfortune of Checa – with Hiroshi Aoyama losing his Honda and spilling fluids across the track forcing the race to be red flagged.
After more than an hour’s delay, the race resumed with an 18-lap dash and Checa again lead off the line, only to crash out with seven laps remaining to ruin the highly realistic chances of yet another double at Miller Motorsport.
Marco Melandri took advantage of Checa’s misfortune to record his second win of the season on the BMW Motorrad machine, and he was joined on the podium by Rea and Biaggi with another impressive ride from Chaz Davies, with the Briton finishing in fourth, ahead of Sykes, Laverty, Giugliano, Haslam, Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli.
Miller Motorsport (Round 6) Result:
Race One:
1 C Checa (Althea Racing)
2 M Melandri (BMW Motorrad)
3 M Biaggi (Aprilia Racing)
4 J Rea (Honda WSBK)
5 E Laverty (Aprilia Racing)
6 J Smrz (Liberty Racing Team)
Race Two:
1 M Melandri (BMW Motorrad)
2 J Rea (Honda WSBK)
3 M Biaggi (Aprilia Racing)
4 C Davies (ParkinGO Racing)
5 T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
6 E Laverty (Aprilia Racing)