MotorLand Aragon - statistics
QUALIFYING
• With his sixth season pole, Tom Sykes took his tally to eight, equalling Giancarlo Falappa, Scott Russell, Aaron Slight and Carlos Checa in the tenth all-time spot. The latter hasn't started from pole since last year's Imola races. On his own, Tom has been able to equal the season record of poles for Kawasaki, six, scored only once in the manufacturer's history. This was nearly twenty years ago, in 1993, thanks to four poles by Scott Russell (Brands Hatch, Hockenheim, Zeltweg and Monza) and two by Aaron Slight (Albacete and Estoril);
• First season front row for Eugene Laverty, third: with Biaggi second, two Aprilias were able to start from the front row for the first time in exactly one year, in the same spots. Last year in Aragon, Biaggi was second and Camier third. Eugene in the last three race weekends has always improved his grid position: he was eighth in Miller, seventh in Misano and third in Aragon;
• Carlos Checa missed the front row in successive weekends for the first time since Imola and Magny Cours, 2010;
• Best career performance for Chaz Davies, for the first time in the top-10 in eighth place;
RACES
• Twentieth career win for Max Biaggi: the Italian is already in the all-time top-10 (ninth), his next target is Raymond Roche, on 23. Max, after becoming the first (and only, to date) rider to win after his 40th birthday, ups the bar a notch and becomes the first one to win at 41;
• 47 career podiums for Carlos Checa, the same number as Fabrizio Pirovano: they share the eleventh all-time spot;
• 21 podiums for Melandri after Aragon: Marco is the 28th rider in history with at least 20 podiums to his name;
• For the first time in history, Italian riders have been able to nail five consecutive wins: since Miller, race two, there have only been wins by Biaggi (3) and Melandri (2);
• Maiden career podium for Chaz Davies, 20th British rider to finish among the top-three. A historic podium for Great Britain, the first country to reach 350 podium placements, while Italy passed the 300 mark, reaching 302. Between these two, Australia is on 329;
• After the Imola weekend, for the second time this year Carlos Checa was able to score points in both races. Carlos has scored points ten times out of fifteen this year, while last year he missed out only once all year, when he crashed in Aragon, race one;
• Best season result for Eugene Laverty: he wasn't able to finish second since the final race of last year (Algarve).
Compiled by Michele Merlino
