Silverstone WSB: Guintoli dominates second race in torrential conditions

Pata Ducati rider Sylvain Guintoli won the second World Superbike race at Silverstone today in torrential conditions which saw the race stopped and a result taken after nine laps, with half points awarded.

The riders took to the grid on slick tyres, but the start was delayed as rain started to fall and the riders changed to wet tyres.

Brit Tom Sykes opted for an intermediate tyre, but pulled in after the warm up lap to change to a full wet. As a result Sykes had to start the race from pit lane.

Guintoli was the fastest rider off the line, leading by several seconds after only the first lap, but Jakub Smrz also got a good start and wasn’t letting his former team-mate pull away.

Race one winner Loris Baz got faster as the race went on, moving passed Smrz and into second on lap seven.

Two laps later Baz moved in to the lead but crashed seconds later. The race was red flagged almost immediately after Tom Sykes also crashed.

Other riders who crashed were Carlos Checa, Davide Giugliano, Maxime Berger and Jonathan Rea.

Baz and Smrz finished second and third respectively as the results were taken from the end of the prevous lap.

Brit Leon Camier’s bad weekend continued after a mechanical fault forced him to retire.

Aprilia rider Eugene Laverty thought he had finished in the top three but finished fourth.

1. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Ducati 1098R 19m 42.051s
2. Loris Baz FRA Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +0.881s
3. Jakub Smrz CZE Liberty Effenbert Ducati 1098R +1.671
4. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +19.045s
5. Maxime Berger FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R +22.116s
6. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R +23.736s
7. Chaz Davies GBR ParkinGO MTC Aprilia RSV-4 +24.690s
8. Marco Melandri ITA BMW Motorrad S1000RR +26.197s
9. Jonathan Rea GBR Honda WSBK CBR1000RR +26.861s
10. John Hopkins USA Crescent Fixi Suzuki GSX-R1000 +27.194s
11. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +29.243s 
12. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +30.328s
13. Michel Fabrizio ITA BMW Italia Goldbet S1000RR +32.746s
14. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Honda WSBK CBR1000RR +34.905s
15. Niccolo Canepa ITA Red Devils Ducati 1098R +35.849s

16. Lorenzo Zanetti ITA PATA Ducati 1098R +40.091s
17. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR +58.530s