In front of 77.000 people, Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) won each 22-lap race at Portimao yesterday to go second in the championship rankings, behind the rider who took two second places, Leon Haslam (Alstare Suzuki). The margin of victory for Biaggi was 0.200 seconds in race one, and 0.191 seconds in race two, as Max took his career win total to six. He scored his first SBK double win, having started the race second on the grid. Haslam now has 85 points, Biaggi 69.

Race 1

Max Biaggi held off Haslam for the race one win but only after a strong man-to-man fight throughout. Jonathan Rea went third for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, when Cal Crutchlow fell off his Sterilgarda Yamaha late in the race, remounting to go 14th.

Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati) had to work hard to keep Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) behind as he scored fourth place. Shane Byrne (Althea Ducati) rode through the pain of a big crash on Saturday to take sixth. Noriyuki Haga recovered from his fifth row start to take eighth and the first BMW Motorrad machine home belonged to Troy Corser, ninth.


Race 2

A close four-rider fight for the win went to Biaggi again, from Leon Haslam, who was not quite able to overtake Biaggi and make it stick, as Max used his superior drive out of the final corner to pass Leon when it mattered. Cal Crutchlow scored his second career SBK podium, and his first as a series regular, running his Yamaha to third. Carlos Checa was fourth - and only 1.015 seconds covered the whole top four after another tense race. In the championship Haslam leads with 85 points, Biaggi is second on 69 and Checa third with 60.


Four Manufacturers In Each Top Four

In each race today there were four different manufacturers in the top four - Aprilia, Suzuki, Honda and Ducati in race one, and Aprilia, Suzuki, Yamaha and Ducati in race two. The second race saw a vee-four, a conventional ‘screamer’ four, a cross-plane crankshaft four and a 1200cc vee-twin fill the top four places - all the engine configurations competing in SBK this year within a second of each other after 22 laps and almost 160km of close racing.


Vast Improvement

It was only last October that the previous Portimao round was run, but in those short months the progress has been amazing. Race one today was 16 seconds faster than it’s equivalent in October and race two was 13 seconds faster this year compared to last.


Rider Comments

Max Biaggi:

“It is great to get my first double win in World Superbike. The feeling is great and the first double win of anybody this year so I feel confident and we are in a good rhythm. We go to Valencia next and we will ask very much of ourselves there as well. We had good speed down the straight today but if you saw how fast we could exit the last corner then you would know it was not just the engine. Our bike is fast but other bikes are also fast.”


Leon Haslam:

“I was trying everything to pass Max and in race two I timed it so I could be in the lead with a few laps to go and make a break, but Max came back past me on the straight. It was hard racing today from lap one right to the end. We got two podiums and although I was disappointed not to get another win, we are still leading the championship. That puts a smile back on my face.”


Jonathan Rea:

“Somebody ran me a bit wide on the first turn of race one and I was held up a lot after that, so when I picked up some pace it opened my eyes to what I could do. In race one I think I made one mistake and had to catch up quite a few riders, but I still finished third.”


Cal Crutchlow:

“The places where I was losing time where the places I was using the tyre a lot, and I was making a few small mistakes as well. I had Carlos right behind me for most of the second race and that kept me on my toes. Fortunately Max and Leon made a few little mistakes running wide and that allowed me to hang on in there until the end.”



Work Superbikes – Portimao Race One Result

Pos - Rider – Team - Time
1 - Max Biaggi - Aprilia Alitalia Racing - 37'59.283
2 - Leon Haslam - Team Suzuki Alstare - 37'59.483
3 - Jonathan Rea - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda - 38'06.184
4 - Carlos Checa - Althea Racing - 38'06.740
5 - Leon Camier - Aprilia Alitalia Racing - 38'06.847
6 - Shane Byrne - Althea Racing - 38'10.703
7 - James Toseland - Yamaha Sterilgarda Team - 38'17.674
8 - Noriyuki Haga - Ducati Xerox Team - 38'17.819
9 - Troy Corser - BMW Motorrad Motorsport - 38'23.797
10 - Ruben Xaus - BMW Motorrad Motorsport - 38'31.710
11 - Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox Team - 38'34.328
12 - Lorenzo Lanzi - DFX Corse - 38'36.099
13 - Sylvain Guintoli - Team Suzuki Alstare - 38'36.124
14 - Cal Crutchlow - Yamaha Sterilgarda Team - 38'43.961
15 - Tom Sykes - Kawasaki Racing Team - 38'44.225
16 - Vittorio Iannuzzo - S.C.I. Honda Garvie Image - 38'58.418
17 - Sheridan Morais - ECHO CRS Honda - 38'59.135
18 - Roger Lee Hayden - Team Pedercini - 38'59.380
19 - Matteo Baiocco - Team Pedercini - 39'09.434
20 - Luca Scassa - Supersonic Racing Team - 39'11.616
Not Classified
RT - Andrew Pitt - Team Reitwagen BMW - 31'37.622
RT - Jakub Smrz - Team PATA B&G Racing - 27'55.288
RT - Makoto Tamada - Team Reitwagen BMW - 7'32.390
RT - Max Neukirchner - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda - 7'43.145


Work Superbikes – Portimao Race Two Result

Pos - Rider – Team - Time

1 - Max Biaggi - Aprilia Alitalia Racing - 38'06.128
2 - Leon Haslam - Team Suzuki Alstare - 38'06.319
3 - Cal Crutchlow - Yamaha Sterilgarda Team - 38'06.786
4 - Carlos Checa - Althea Racing - 38'07.143
5 - Leon Camier - Aprilia Alitalia Racing - 38'09.251
6 - James Toseland - Yamaha Sterilgarda Team - 38'15.259
7 - Shane Byrne - Althea Racing - 38'17.161
8 - Noriyuki Haga - Ducati Xerox Team - 38'19.580
9 - Sylvain Guintoli - Team Suzuki Alstare - 38'20.092
10 - Troy Corser - BMW Motorrad Motorsport - 38'22.505
11 - Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox Team - 38'32.479
12 - Ruben Xaus - BMW Motorrad Motorsport - 38'34.092
13 - Tom Sykes - Kawasaki Racing Team - 38'39.694
14 - Lorenzo Lanzi - DFX Corse - 38'39.951
15 - Max Neukirchner - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda - 38'43.500
16 - Luca Scassa - Supersonic Racing Team - 38'51.739
17 - Roger Lee Hayden - Team Pedercini - 39'02.640
18 - Matteo Baiocco - Team Pedercini - 39'05.108
19 - Makoto Tamada - Team Reitwagen BMW - 39'21.947
20 - Andrew Pitt - Team Reitwagen BMW - 39'47.800
Not Classified
RT - Sheridan Morais - ECHO CRS Honda - 21'13.800
RT - Jakub Smrz - Team PATA B&G Racing - 17'30.068
RT - Jonathan Rea - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda - 12'08.749
RT - Vittorio Iannuzzo - S.C.I. Honda Garvie Image - 12'35.375



Championship points after race two


1 - L. Haslam - 85
2 - M. Biaggi - 69
3 - C. Checa - 60
4 - M. Fabrizio - 46
5 - N. Haga - 43
6 - J. Rea - 39
7 - S. Guintoli - 33
8 - L. Camier - 32
9 - T. Corser - 29
10 - C. Crutchlow - 25
11 - J. Toseland - 25
12 - S. Byrne - 25
13 - L. Lanzi - 15
14 - R. Xaus - 10
15 - J. Smrz - 8
16 - T. Sykes - 7
17 - M. Neukirchner - 5
18 - J. Brookes - 2
19 - A. Pitt - 2