Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport suffered its most difficult weekend in its short WSBK history as neither rider managed to score a single point in today's two races at the Portimao circuit in Portugal. Furthermore, a trip to hospital as a result of a crash in race one dealt a serious blow to Marco Melandri's Superbike World Championship ambitions.
Following a positive performance in yesterday's Superpole sessions, where Marco and Leon qualified fourth and fifth respectively on the grid, both riders had high hopes for today's two 22-lap races, but it sadly wasn't to be. Melandri's day was over almost before it began in the damp conditions, as he crashed out of contention on lap one after a collision with fellow countryman Max Biaggi. In the aftermath, Marco was struck in the back by the Aprilia of Chaz Davies' who was trying to avoid crashing himself.
Melandri was taken to hospital for precautionary checks, where it was found that he has contusions to the back but no major injuries, Marco returned to the team later this afternoon, and will fly home tomorrow.
In fact, the first race was actually red-flagged on lap eight because of an oil spill. The restart saw Leon having to line up on the fifth row of the grid, as he had taken a gamble on intermediate tyres in expectation of a drying track which did not work out because of the early red flag. Knowing that he needed to get a lightning start to have any chance of a decent finish in the reduced lap restart, Leon was over eager to get off the line and unfortunately received a ride-through penalty, which effectively put an end to his chances of a decent points scoring finish.
Race two came with the news that Marco wasn't able to participate, which handed a further advantage to championship leader Max Biaggi (who had finished fourth in race one) and Tom Sykes, who had won the first race, and in doing so, had overtaken Marco in the points standings. However, the unpredictability of this year's WSBK series continued when Sykes was forced to retire from second place on lap three due to a mechanical failure on his engine.
Just prior to this, an electrical problem had brought a premature end to Leon's race, forcing him to return to the pits on his S 1000 RR. The race continued at the front and was eventually won by Eugene Laverty, who took his first WSBK victory on the Aprilia, in front of Jonathan Rea and Max Biaggi, who now holds a 30.5 point lead at the top of the points table as a result.
Ayrton Badovini was the top BMW finisher, due to his sixth place in race two, with teammate Michel Fabrizio bringing the BMW Motorrad Italia Goldbet SBK RR home in eights place.
With the final round of the 2012 series taking place at Magny-Cours in France in a fortnight's time, all focus will now turn towards the best possible preparations for the final two races of the year, where all results are still possible.
Leon Haslam: ?All weekend we felt so confident with the slick tyre and the race set-up and today it rained. Normally I like the rain, but today it was difficult. For race one I thought that it would dry up and we chose the intermediate rear tyre which was bit of a gamble. But it never dried and then it was red flagged. Before the restart the track had not dried so much so we decided to go with the same as all the other guys but then the track dried. I made a jump start; I did not plan to go this early but the clutch just dragged a little. Even before I had the ride through I had an issue with the bike in the wet so after I entered the pit lane twice the race was done for me. In race two we didn?t get the best start but the pace of the race was not so fast. It was more than two seconds slower than what I did yesterday on the same tyres. I am just disappointed. We had a technical issue; it was nobody?s fault, but it was me again. It is very frustrating.?
Marco Melandri: ?Once more it was a very bad day for me. When Max Biaggi passed me I kept my inside line and I did not really see him. I just felt somebody touch the front of my bike and I went down and I felt something hitting my back. I was very worried about my back, my kidney and liver because it hurt very bad. Fortunately everything is okay. Now it is a bit better because I took a lot of painkillers, but I still don?t feel very well.?
Bernhard Gobmeier (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director): ?It was a really disappointing day for us. It started with a gamble on the tyres which we lost on Leon?s side. Regarding Marco, it was a racing accident due to the tricky conditions, with the result that he got hurt by the heavy impact he suffered from behind. Nevertheless, we are very relieved that, according to preliminary analysis from the hospital, he did not suffer major injuries, except for some massive contusions. We are glad that he did not get severely injured. We hope that with some rest he will be fit again very soon. In the second race Leon had to retire early due an electrical issue which we now will analyse closely. It was a tough day, but we will keep our heads up high. Our focus is now on the season finale in two weeks? time at Magny-Cours. We will continue to work hard and will give our best in order to return to winning ways.?
