Leon Haslam took race one in round 3 of the 2010 WSBK Championship today at Valencia, Spain.
The team Suzuki Alstare rider won comfortably, after early leader Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati) had to retire with a technical problem, and Italian veteran rider Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) could not make up the ground to get into winning contention. James Toseland finished third on his Sterilgarda Yamaha, making his first podium appearance this season, while Troy Corser placed fourth and gave BMW Motorrad Motorsport their best ever SBK finish since entering WSBK last year. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) finished in fifth.
Race two saw Haga, last year’s championship runner-up, take his first World Superbike victory of the season, overcoming a poor start and an aggregate deficit to win.
After a crash on lap four, involving Simon Andrews and Vittorio Iannuzzo, brought out the red flags, the race was restarted under aggregate conditions meaning the final result would be decided by combining the racer’s times up until the red flag with their stats at the end of the race. So, while Haga was comfortably ahead on the track, the margin between himself and Carlos Checa – who led on aggregate at the restart but finished third at the checkered flag – was considerably closer.
The timesheet calculations revealed Haga edging the Spaniard by only 0.025 seconds, while Max Biaggi settled for third, only 0.0299 seconds away from what would have been his third victory of the year, and allowing Haslam, who finished fourth, to remain in top spot in the overall standings. Jonathan Rae finished fifth.
2010 WSBK Valencia Race 1 Results
1 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 36’47.723 (150,206 kph)
2 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1.757
3 52 Toseland J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 3.621
4 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 4.209
5 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 4.378
6 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 9.834
7 35 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 10.466
8 57 Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 16.080
9 50 Guintoli S. (FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 18.382
10 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 18.589
11 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 22.903
12 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 25.203
13 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Honda CBR1000RR 25.676
14 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 26.606
15 88 Pitt A. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 43.797
16 95 Hayden R. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 48.094
17 15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 48.190
18 17 Andrews S. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 52.863
RET 31 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR
RET 2 Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
RET 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R
RET 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R
RET 7 Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R
RET 123 Resch R. (AUT) BMW S1000 RR
2010 WSBK Valencia Race 2 Aggregate Results
1 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 36’51.500 (149,95 kph)
2 7 Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 0.025
3 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 0.299
4 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 10.100
5 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 12.811
6 50 Guintoli S. (FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 13.459
7 52 Toseland J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 14.845
8 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 14.861
9 35 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 15.202
10 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 18.071
11 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 25.179
12 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 26.116
13 57 Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 30.189
14 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 30.387
15 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 35.741
16 88 Pitt A. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 43.244
17 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Honda CBR1000RR 43.540
18 123 Resch R. (AUT) BMW S1000 RR 47.145
19 95 Hayden R. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 48.502
20 15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 51.838
RET 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R
RET 2 Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
RET 17 Andrews S. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R
RET 31 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR
2010 WSBK Championship Standings
Leon Haslam Suzuki 123
Max Biaggi Aprilia 105
Carlos Checa Ducati 80
Noriyuki Haga Ducati 79
Jonathan Rea Honda 60
James Toseland Yamaha 50
Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki 50
Michel Fabrizio Ducati 46
Troy Corser BMW 46
Cal Crutchlow Yamaha 41
Shane Byrne Ducati 33
Leon Camier Aprilia 32
Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati 26
Jakub Smrz Ducati 20
Ruben Xaus BMW 19
Tom Sykes Kawasaki 13
Max Neukirchner Honda 8
Luca Scassa Ducati 4
Andrew Pitt BMW 3
Joshua Brookes Honda 2
