Race 2 at Nurburgring was so conditioned by the weather that you were left wondering why the Race Direction didn’t decide to red flag it much sooner, taking into consideration the riders safety, instead of waiting for usual three fourths of the race to be over before putting a halt to the whole thing.
The Superbike riders rode in horrendous conditions, pouring rain, the track unable to drain the copious amounts of water falling and almost zero visibility and only the wet weather specialists were able to make something of it and even they signaled for the race to end as the riders began dropping like flies under the intense showers.
In this atrocious situation, it was Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes who took his first maiden win in WSBK’s, inheriting the spot after Noriyuki Haga who had lead the entire race from the beginning and had built up an impressive advantage of over ten seconds before sliding out just two laps before the race was finally stopped.
Effenbert-Liberty Ducati duo Sylvain Guintoli and Jakub Smrz completed the podium, and suprisingly Jonathan Rea came in fourth despite a high speed crash, limping across the finish line.
Eugene Laverty took fifth after an intense and almost race long battle with team mate Marco Melandri.
Following the Yamaha duo was BMW Italia’s Ayrton Badovini, while Carlos Checa had a horrible start and ended up in 12th, however with all the crashes from riders in front of him he salvaged a very safe 8th spot.
Leon Haslam also crashed out, but managed to rejoin and finish in 9th ahead of Maxime Berger.
WSBK Nurburgring Race 2 results:01- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – 13 laps in 29’49.
33702- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 4.
06303- Jakub Smrz – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 22.
75904- Jonathan Rea – Castrol Honda – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 28.
49705- Eugene Laverty – Yamaha World Superbike Team – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 38.
37406- Marco Melandri – Yamaha World Superbike Team – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 45.
32607- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 47.
03008- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 50.
03209- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 53.
58610- Maxime Berger – Supersonic Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 55.
26111- Joan Lascorz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1’12.
80512- Troy Corser – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 1’15.
46813- Roberto Rolfo – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1’40.
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