Pirelli notes from the Moscow Raceway
Giorgio Barbier (Racing Director Pirelli Moto) analyzes the eleventh round of the year, held at the Moscow Raceway circuit in Russia.
"The eleventh round of the World Superbike Championship held today for the first time in history in Russia, on the brand new Moscow Raceway circuit, was marked by some particularly exciting races, once again shuffling the cards and upsetting the overall standings. Before analyzing the races I would like to offer my compliments to Infront and the Russian organisation for their hospitality and the quality of the circuit and its infrastructure: asphalt with a lot of grip, good drainage and a layout which even the riders liked a lot.
"Regarding the Superbike races, from the Superpole sessions on Saturday we could see how the tyres Pirelli brought for this round were capable of placing all the riders in condition to be able to battle for the podium and victory: in fact, the first six spots on the starting grid went to six riders on bikes from different manufacturers. In particular, the rear SC1 mid-soft R302 solution confirmed the excellent performance which had already been seen on many other circuits where we've raced this season. This is why it was chosen by just about all the riders for both races, even in Race 1 which had been declared a wet race.
"My sincere compliments go to Tom Sykes who quite deservedly won his second race of the year, doing justice to his 7 Superpoles of the season, as well as to Marco Melandri who, by winning Race 2, is now the new ranking leader, although with three rounds left to go in the Championship anything could still happen with 4 riders still very much in contention for the world title. Congratulations also go to Vladimir Leonov and the Yakhnich Motorsport team for the excellent podium earned in their home race and all the participants in the Two Nations Cup who gave us a hard-fought and thrilling Championship which Denis Sacchetti deservedly won."
Pirelli BEST LAP Awards
SBK Race 1 - Leon Haslam (BMW Mottorad Motorsport) 1'36.729 (Lap 13)
SBK Race 2 - Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 1'35.794 (Lap 10)
Total BEST LAP: Checa (Althea Racing) 6; Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) 4; Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 4; Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) 3; Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) 1; Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) 1; Badovini (BMW Motorad Italia Goldbet) 1; Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
WSS - Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) 1'38.167 (Lap 12)
Total BEST LAP: Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) 2; Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step) 2; Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products) 2; Cluzel (PTR Honda) 2; Lanzi (Prorace) 1; Morais (Kawasaki Lorenzini) 1.
