Wow! Race 2 for the Superbike class at Donnington will go down as probably one of the best I’ve ever seen. I remember Fogarty and Chili at Assen many years ago; add another 3 riders and you’ve got yesterday’s race 2. Haslam, Melandri, Biaggi, Rea and Sykes all jockeying for position over the 2nd half of the race. I can’t remember how many overtakes there were but there were a lot, with passes being made at almost every turn! And while Rea might be seen as the monkey for knocking Haslam into Melandri on the last corner, Melandri needs to take responsibility for going in too hot and leaving the door open for Rea. One also has to mention Checa riding into the back of Laverty at the start of the race and subsequently taking his team-mate Guiliano and Liberty Effenberg’s Smrz out. A DNF for Checa means that things are really hotting up at the sharp end of the points table.
Melandri’s 1st race win ( with Haslam in 2nd ) is also an impressive first for the BMW Italia team. Pity they couldn’t pull it through in the second race as well.
In a slightly calmer SuperSport race, our South African boys mostly did well. Morais finished with a sixth place and Quarmby 7th. Morais had a slow start but a steady race, something he needed to get over his recent spate of DNFs. Quarmby did well to pick up a few positions on his starting place, while Matthew Scholtz unfortunately went down mid-race.
All n all, a fantastic race weekend which puts the misery of Monza well behind us.