wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
A little late, but nobody else has posted about it, so I assume responsibility for spreading the word.
Yamaha had a great weekend at Monza last week, with Eugene Laverty getting the double win, but only just. Laverty had the first race well in control for most of the day, fighting off Biaggi's Aprilia several times, which was actually expected to take a runaway double on the weekend. Biaggi did hold on to second in race 1, and Haslam brought the Bimmer home on the final podium step.
The entire race was marked by slipstreaming/late-braking duels between several pairs of riders, as would be expected with the long straights at Monza. What was not expected was anybody keeping up with Biaggi's Aprilia, which was said to have as much as a 20kph advantage in top speed. But Biaggi being Biaggi, there were mistakes here and there, missed braking points, "moments" getting on the gas, that kept him out of the lead.
The second race was an entirely different story. At the beginning. Biaggi took off and left the field for dead, pulling out several seconds over the others, including at one time his Aprilia teammate. An Aprilia 1-2 at Monza? Who'da thunk? But Camier crashed in one of the Lesmos when his front wheel slipped out on him and he was unable to rejoin.
Milandri took his Yamaha up to second, but well behind Biaggi, and Laverty spent several laps recovering from a lousy start, or perhaps he was involved or hampered by a lap-1 first-chicane incident which took out three riders: Smrz, Haslam, and Rea. Regardless, Laverty was well down for the beginning laps of the race, but was 3rd, behind his teammate with just a few laps to go, having worked past Haga and Fabrizio, both finally having stellar races in this one.
Then the stewards dicked it all up. Biaggi missed his brake point for the first chicane and straight-lined it. He's out there by himself, no traffic to judge his position by, and he clearly slowed through the bypass of the chicane, looked across the track for traffic, and rejoined smoothly. He was judged to have gained a competitive advantage, apparently because that lap was most of a second quicker than his previous lap (which itself was nearly a second slower than those pursuing) and was given a ride-through penalty, ruining his race. That put the Yammys of Milandri and Laverty 1-2, followed by Fabrizio and Haga.
Those two pairs duked it out for the remainder of the race, with Haga and Fabrizio swapping places, however brief the swaps may have actually been, and with Laverty having a look here and there but never getting in front of Milandri. Never, that is, until the last turn of the last lap. he went under Milandri on the brakes and held a tighter line out of the curve. Milandri wagged the tail a bit getting on the gas, but he'd already been passed by then, so Laverty got a truly unexpected double win for the day. Biaggi ended up eighth after his penalty, having rejoine in 12th from his ride-through. Fabrizio held onto the podium position and Haga had to settle for fourth, still his best outing of the year to date.
I haven't watched the Supersport race, yet, it's waiting for me on the DVR.
Yamaha had a great weekend at Monza last week, with Eugene Laverty getting the double win, but only just. Laverty had the first race well in control for most of the day, fighting off Biaggi's Aprilia several times, which was actually expected to take a runaway double on the weekend. Biaggi did hold on to second in race 1, and Haslam brought the Bimmer home on the final podium step.
The entire race was marked by slipstreaming/late-braking duels between several pairs of riders, as would be expected with the long straights at Monza. What was not expected was anybody keeping up with Biaggi's Aprilia, which was said to have as much as a 20kph advantage in top speed. But Biaggi being Biaggi, there were mistakes here and there, missed braking points, "moments" getting on the gas, that kept him out of the lead.
The second race was an entirely different story. At the beginning. Biaggi took off and left the field for dead, pulling out several seconds over the others, including at one time his Aprilia teammate. An Aprilia 1-2 at Monza? Who'da thunk? But Camier crashed in one of the Lesmos when his front wheel slipped out on him and he was unable to rejoin.
Milandri took his Yamaha up to second, but well behind Biaggi, and Laverty spent several laps recovering from a lousy start, or perhaps he was involved or hampered by a lap-1 first-chicane incident which took out three riders: Smrz, Haslam, and Rea. Regardless, Laverty was well down for the beginning laps of the race, but was 3rd, behind his teammate with just a few laps to go, having worked past Haga and Fabrizio, both finally having stellar races in this one.
Then the stewards dicked it all up. Biaggi missed his brake point for the first chicane and straight-lined it. He's out there by himself, no traffic to judge his position by, and he clearly slowed through the bypass of the chicane, looked across the track for traffic, and rejoined smoothly. He was judged to have gained a competitive advantage, apparently because that lap was most of a second quicker than his previous lap (which itself was nearly a second slower than those pursuing) and was given a ride-through penalty, ruining his race. That put the Yammys of Milandri and Laverty 1-2, followed by Fabrizio and Haga.
Those two pairs duked it out for the remainder of the race, with Haga and Fabrizio swapping places, however brief the swaps may have actually been, and with Laverty having a look here and there but never getting in front of Milandri. Never, that is, until the last turn of the last lap. he went under Milandri on the brakes and held a tighter line out of the curve. Milandri wagged the tail a bit getting on the gas, but he'd already been passed by then, so Laverty got a truly unexpected double win for the day. Biaggi ended up eighth after his penalty, having rejoine in 12th from his ride-through. Fabrizio held onto the podium position and Haga had to settle for fourth, still his best outing of the year to date.
I haven't watched the Supersport race, yet, it's waiting for me on the DVR.
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