Magny-Cours, France – Thanks to a win and a second in two wet races in the penultimate round of the 2014 World Superbike, local hero Sylvain Guintoli narrowed the gap to leader Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) to just twelve points.
His works Aprilia team-mate, former 250cc World Champion Marco Melandri, who was second and first in the two races, took his sixth win in 12 races while Sykes did his best to contain the damage by finishing fourth in each race after taking an impressive pole position the day before in the dry with the outright fastest lap yet recorded at the circuit.?
South African Sheridan Morais struggled in the treacherous conditions, coming home 17th in Race 1 and unable to finish Race 2, while David ‘McFlash’ McFadden did rather better in the Superstock 1000 race, coming home ninth in a race of attrition that saw only 16 finishers from 27 starters.
RACE 1
Because of the weather the race distance was reduced to 19 laps and after a number of riders fell in the warm up session the opening laps were very tentative for a number of riders.
Jonathan Rea (Honda) led the way in the early laps, with the spray making it extremely difficult for the mid-field riders. Behind him Guintoli gave chase after passing Sykes at the end of lap 1.
Guintoli was soon ahead of Rea and began to ease away to the delight of the 75 000 French fans who braved the conditions to cheer their man on.
By lap seven Melandri had moved up into second ahead of Loris Baz (Kawasaki) who had also passed his team-mate Sykes, and Rea, who began to lose touch with the leaders.
With five laps to go Melandri had closed to within a second and the Aprilia duo were left to decide the outcome, with the win going to Guintoli after it seemed that Aprilia team orders intervened.
Rea completed the podium with Sykes, Baz and Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate Leon Haslam rounding out the top six.
BMW’s Sylvain Barrier was the first Evo rider home in 10th overall, closing the gap to Evo points leader David Salom (Kawasaki) who elected not to ride in the miserable conditions.
RACE 2
Rea took the early lead in similar conditions to the first race, only to crash out in spectacular fashion on lap 11; he kept the Honda going and remounted but the bike was too damaged to continue and he cruised round to the pits.
That left the Aprilia duo to decide matters between them again, with Melandri getting the better of his French team-mate this time.
Haslam put in a superb ride to pass Sykes in the closing stages for his first podium finish since Misano in 2012 and his first since joining the Honda World Superbike team. Ducati privateer Lorenzo Lanzi and his 3C team-mate Max Neukirchner completed the top six.
Top honours in the Evo category went to Niccolo Canepa (Ducati) when Barrier gave up after his second crash of the race.
The race was run in difficult conditions over a reduced distance of 17 laps but cut short after 12 laps after a number of riders crashed. Local rider Jules Cluzel on the works MV Agusta put in a superb ride to take his third win of the year by more than 18 seconds.
Newly crowned champion Michael van der Mark (Honda) finished second after falling, remounting and passing several riders to move back into second on lap 10.
Kawasaki’s veteran Roberto Rolfo (he’s 34) started 17th and fought his way to the front of a four-way battle for third with Lorenzo Zanetti (Honda), Florian Marino (Kawasaki) and Kev Coghlan (Yamaha) who completed the top six.
Former European Junior Cup champion Matt Davies (Honda), in his second wildcard appearance of the season, claimed a brilliant 13th to secure his first world championship points.
SUPERSTOCK 1000
Leandro Mercado (Ducati) became the 2014 Superstock 1000cc champion after finishing fourth in the final race of the series. Arch-rival Lorenzo Savadori (Kawasaki) led from the start and even after he was demoted to second by Matthieu Lussiana (Kawasaki) looked odds-on to finish second in the race and steal the crown - until he crashed spectacularly on the final lap.
Lussiana took his first Superstock race win in front of a delighted partisan crowd, while Savadori’s team-mate Romain Lanusse made it French 1-2 with Australian Jed Metcher (Ducati) completing the podium.
Mercado finished fourth, ahead of Federico Sandi (BMW S1000RR) and a despondent Savadori who remounted to round out the top six. McFadden’s ninth in the final race of the season secured him fifth in the championship, in his first full season.