Yamaha World Superbike rider, Marco Melandri powered his R1 to two extraordinary podium finishes on the new Spanish track in Aragon today. Impeccable race craft and performance was on display in both races as Melandri claimed an impressive one two under sweltering sunshine and on a hot track.

In the opening race of the day, Melandri got off to a perfect start from pole position to tuck neatly behind Biaggi in second place. Constantly on his tail, the WSB Rookie cleverly played the waiting game, in search for the opportune moment to pass and take the lead. With just five laps to go Biaggi made a mistake and Melandri grasped the chance to overtake and proceeded to power his R1 to the finish line, crossing the chequered flag with over one and a half seconds advantage on the runner up. Team-mate Eugene Laverty had a less than perfect start from his sixth place position on this morning’s grid, falling back to eight place in the first turn. Caught up in traffic the Irish Rookie held position for a further five laps before gradually working his way through the pack to cross the line in an impressive fourth place just 0.048 of a second ahead of Sykes.

Race two was almost a replicate performance for Marco Melandri . Unfortunately with just five laps to go the Italian slipped up, presenting Biaggi with the opportunity to create a significant gap. Melandri fought hard for the second victory of the day before settling for second place on the afternoon’s podium. Laverty struggled as the rear wheel of his machine locked in the first turn of lap one causing him to run wide and fall back to sixteenth place. The Irish man proved to be strong and consistent yet again as he put his head down, working his way through the bunch of riders ahead to claim a remarkable sixth place.

To add to the weekend’s list of achievements, Marco Melandri was presented with the Pirelli fastest lap of the race award having recorded a lap time of 1’59.159 in race two and reaching the highest speed of 322.1 Km/ph. Following today’s outstanding performance Melandri has reduced the gap on the leader in the World Superbike standings by 29 points. Heading to the next round in Brno on 10thJuly, the Italian is in third place on 195 points, now 66 points behind Checa in the lead. Laverty leaves Aragon with a total of 146 points and with a firm hold of fourth place in the classification, 21 points ahead of Camier.


Marco Melandri - Yamaha World Superbike Team- 1st, 2nd

"I had a pretty amazing day. Max was very strong and consistent so it wasn’t easy to pass him in either races but thankfully I managed to succeed in race one. I felt good on the bike and gained confidence which was very important. In race two the track was hotter than in race one, making it more difficult for the tyres. Towards the end I felt I was about to lose the front and while trying to avoid going wide my foot slipped on the pedal. It was a really good race though, I’m happy. I want to thank my team and Yamaha for doing a great job again this weekend."

Eugene Laverty - Yamaha World Superbike Team - 4th, 6th

"In race one I wasn’t brave enough on the first corner, which was usually my strongest point and I ended up getting bottle necked. I came through in the end and was very happy with my result. Something similar happened in race two but I felt the rear wheel locking and went wide causing me to lose sveral places. Had I gotten off to a better start, I know I could have been stronger. Considering the difficult weekend I had, I think we made a great breakthrough which will help us for every track. We’ll take the experience to the future and hopefully be stronger in Brno."

Andrea Dosoli - Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager

"Marco had a fantastic weekend, fast and consistent throughout. He played his cards well, managing the tyres to ensure they’d resist to the end and comes away with two great results. Eugene did a great job to make up so many places lost in the initial stages of both races. He has made progress this weekend but still has some more work to do especially with the steering of the bike in order to be as competitive as the top three."