Regis Laconi is the new World Superbike championship leader following two victories in two races at Monza on Sunday, but Australian Chris Vermeulen – who wowed the crowd with a spectacular performance – was disqualified.
Regis Laconi is the new World Superbike championship leader following two victories in two races at Monza on Sunday, but Australian Chris Vermeulen – who wowed the crowd with a spectacular performance – was disqualified.
Local hero and points leader going into the race, Frankie Chili, suffered a less than desirable day as first, his engine blew up during a warm-up lap, and again in the second race.
In a perfect start to race one, Chris Vermeulen managed an early lead while Laconi and Noriyuki Haga duelled behind him. After winning that spat, Laconi passed Vermeulen and built up a substantial lead as James Toseland came in second.
After the threat posed by Haga and his Ducati went up in smoke, Garry McCoy finished third after a long battle with Vermeulen.
Surprise points for the race went to Sergio Feurtes who finished sixth after starting at nineteenth on the grid.
In the second race, Laconi blitzed to yet another easy win, while Vermeulen made his way to second unchallenged. However, he was later disqualified when a random post-race inspection found his tilt switch not to be working.
While Toseland and McCoy were engaged in another epic battle for third place, Haga once again suffered an engine failure.
Lap after lap McCoy and Toseland diced, with Toseland having the straight-line advantage, but this was hampered by problems with his rear brake and the pace of McCoy in the twisty bits.
McCoy lost it when he made a mistake on the final lap coming into the chicane and allowed Toseland an easy run to third place.
Leon Haslam came home for his second fifth-place finish of the day. Following Vermeulen’s disqualification, Troy Corser of Petronas stepped up to the fifth spot.
