Race 2 at Donington Park has left BMW seething and calling for Jonathan Rea to be disqualified after he took his second victory of the season with a final corner pile-up, as the Honda rider collided with Haslam causing a domino effect which also wiped out Melandri. It was a thrilling race with a lot of hard overtaking between the same riders who starred in Race 1, Tom Sykes, Max Biaggi, Leon Haslam, Marco Melandri, but it was on the last lap that changed and made the unexpected outcome of the race.
Leon Haslam was leading into the final corner, when Melandri in a last desperate thrust tried to dive up the inside of his BMW team-mate, only to run wide which let Haslam turn into the corner only to find Rea taking advantage of the small gap, the two made contact with Haslam getting the worst of it crashing down and sliding he wiped out Melandri, and the two BMW riders ended up spitting dust and grass with a lot of anger just a few yards from the finish line, Haslam managed to re-start his bike and finish 15th.
Rea survived the close encounter inheriting the 1st place, with Max Biaggi and Tom Sykes taking second and third. Leon Camier was fourth followed by Sylvain Guintoli who had lonely ride to fifth while Ayrton Badovini, Chaz Davies, Loris Baz Peter Hickman and Hiroshi Aoyama completed the top ten.
It was another day to forget for Althea Racing who saw Carlos Checa attempt a pass on the Eugene Laverty (who would later have a spectacular crash at the Craners) at the beginning of the first lap and clipped him and in the contact wiped out Effenbert Liberty’s Jakub Smrz and his own team mate Davide Giugliano. Checa is now down fourth in the championship.
WSBK Donington Race 2 results
- 01. Jonathan Rea — Honda World Superbike Team — Honda CBR 1000RR — 23 laps in 34’31.847
- 02. Max Biaggi — Aprilia Racing Team — Aprilia RSV4 Factory — + 0.508
- 03. Tom Sykes — Kawasaki Racing Team — Kawasaki ZX-10R — + 2.029
- 04. Leon Camier — FIXI Crescent Suzuki — Suzuki GSX-R 1000 — + 4.245
- 05. Sylvain Guintoli — Team Effenbert Liberty Racing — Ducati 1198 — + 6.595
- 06. Ayrton Badovini — BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet — BMW S1000RR — + 17.469
- 07. Chaz Davies — ParkinGO MTC Racing — Aprilia RSV4 Factory — + 17.788
- 08. Loris Baz — Kawasaki Racing Team — Kawasaki ZX-10R — + 21.093
- 09. Peter Hickman — FIXI Crescent Suzuki — Suzuki GSX-R 1000 — + 21.866
- 10. Hiroshi Aoyama — Honda World Superbike Team — Honda CBR 1000RR — + 22.620
- 11. Niccolò Canepa — Red Devils Roma — Ducati 1198 — + 26.764
- 12. Lorenzo Zanetti — PATA Racing Team — Ducati 1198 — + 27.043
- 13. Michel Fabrizio — BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet — BMW S1000RR — + 28.390
- 14. Mark Aitchison — Grillini Progea Superbike Team — BMW S1000RR — + 56.618
- 15. Leon Haslam — BMW Motorrad Motorsport — BMW S1000RR — + 1’20.196
