Factory Aprilia's Max Biaggi has taken the World Superbike race one win at Brno this morning after Xerox Ducati's Michel Fabrizio sensationally wiped out championship rival Ben Spies on the fourth lap.
Fabrizio tried to go underneath the Sterilgarda Yamaha man into a tight-left hander but lost the front and slid straight into the American's YZF-R1. Spies was a passenger as he slid into the gravel trap and tapped the side of his head as Fabrizio tried to apologise.
The crash means the Italian's team-mate Noriyuki Haga, who is still injured after his Donington Park crash, extends his lead over Spies who said that he needed to make every race count ahead of this weekend.
This is the Aprilia's debut World Superbike win and Biaggi was able to cruise away from the field, keeping a 1.6s advantage for most of the race, before getting the hammer down and crossing the line more than three seconds ahead of Ten Kate Honda's Carlos Checa.
Team-mate Jonathan Rea took the last step of the podium with Shane Byrne beating BMW's Troy Corser to fourth place and home-town hero Jakub Smrz just taking the flag for sixth ahead of Stiggy Honda's Leon Haslam.
Corser, who is running a new engine this weekend, got the holeshot ahead of Rea and Biaggi but Spies was past the Italian inside a couple of corners and was followed by Fabrizio. The American then made short work of Rea as Ruben Xaus spectacularly lobbed his BMW in a massive highside which chopped the front off the S1000RR.
On lap two, Spies tried a pass on Corser but the veteran Aussie was having none of it and was straight back past as Biaggi got past Rea. Haslam managed to get from the fifth row of the grid to ninth by the middle of the second circuit.
Both Spies and Biaggi went past Corser on lap three and Fabrizio started his charge towards the front, demoting Rea a further place as Spies tried to make a break away from the pack.
With 16 laps to go, Fabrizio passed Biaggi as Tom Sykes pulled to the side of the track with a technical problem but managed to continue, but retired with one lap to go. Fabrizio's eagerness to get the front then saw the crash which removed Spies from the race as well. The Italian immediately ran to the reigning AMA Superbike Champion to apologise but Spies brushed him off before tapping his lid.
This left Biaggi to cruise away for the win as Byrne started to make inroads into Corser. With 10 laps to go, Byrne bridged the gap to the Aussie by lapping half a second faster and with seven to go, he was past the BMW.
Haslam was involved in a terrific scrap for sixth place with Kawasaki's Makoto Tamada, Haga and Smrz. He held on until three laps from the end when Smrz got past but managed to fend off Haga as Tamada suffered a technical problem and faded behind Matthieu Lagrive.
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