Italian engineering ruled during race one of the WSBK Championship at Imola.
The podium saw Noriyuki Haga on Ducati take first, Max Biaggi on the Aprilia RSV4 take second and Haga’s team mate Michel Fabrizio, third place.
Max Biaggi led most of the 21 lap race, with the Ducati riders exchanging second and third, until Biaggi made a small mistake on lap 18 and Haga went past and opened the throttle putting a wide margin over Biaggi.
Michel Fabrizio, who was complaining of shoulder pain before the race, overtook the Aprilia and looked like he would take second place, but Biaggi wasn’t having it.
On the last lap and on the final variante, Biaggi dived up the inside of Fabrizio and held his place to the finish line.
Points leader Ben Spies was fourth, only at times being able keep up the pace that the three front runners were doing and would finish a full 5.
4 seconds from Haga, losing 12 points and bringing his championship advantage down to six points.
Ryuichi Kiyonari took an excellent fifth from 14th on the grid, beating out Leon Haslam on the the final corner.
Jonathan Rea lost control on lap 3, coming in hot at the top of crest and headed full speed into the gravel trap before stopping on the air fence and laying down his Honda.
Rea was able to rejoin the race in last place but finished in seventh place.
Jakub Smrz took eighth position ahead of Yamaha’s Tom Sykes, while Broc Parkes on the Kawsaki closed out the top ten.
Marco Simoncelli in his first Superbike race despite starting in eighth on the grid on the found himself in eleventh place at the end of the first lap, but was to remount to fifth place, but on lap 10 low sided and wasn’t able to restart.
Imola Race 1 Results:1 41 Haga N.
(JPN) Ducati 1098R 38′32.
199 (161,388 kph)2 3 Biaggi M.
(ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2.
0743 84 Fabrizio M.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 2.
1904 19 Spies B.
(USA) Yamaha YZF R1 5.
4385 9 Kiyonari R.
(JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 14.
4706 91 Haslam L.
(GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 14.
6857 65 Rea J.
(GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 26.
8228 96 Smrz J.
(CZE) Ducati 1098R 32.
6949 66 Sykes T.
(GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 33.
81710 23 Parkes B.
(AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 34.
80111 11 Corser T.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 35.
28612 111 Xaus R.
(ESP) BMW S1000 RR 36.
44213 31 Muggeridge K.
(AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 38.
69814 15 Baiocco M.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 42.
14715 71 Kagayama Y.
(JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 46.
51016 99 Scassa L.
(ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 46.
62817 94 Checa D.
(ESP) Yamaha YZF R1 1′16.
12118 25 Salom D.
(ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′16.
398RET 77 Iannuzzo V.
(ITA) Honda CBR1000RRRET 58 Simoncelli M.
(ITA) Aprilia RSV4 FactoryRET 67 Byrne S.
(GBR) Ducati 1098RRET 7 Checa C.
(ESP) Honda CBR1000RRRET 10 Nieto F.
(ESP) Ducati 1098RRET 100 Tamada M.
(JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10RRET 124 Conforti L.
(ITA) Ducati 1098RRET 14 Lagrive M.
(FRA) Honda CBR1000RRRET 57 Lanzi L.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R
