BMW's Marco Melandri took victory in the second Mscow World Superbike race this afternoon and was gifted the championship lead when a braking mistake by Max Biaggi saw the Aprilia man wipe himself and Leon Haslam out.
The Roman Emperor was looking for a way past Jonathan Rea, clipped the Honda man which caused him to miss his braking marker. He went straight on into the left-hander after the long straight just as Haslam turned in and the pair hit the deck, fortunately neither were hurt.
And if that wasn't enough drama, Eugene Laverty and Rea were dicing with Tom Sykes' Kawasaki for second until, on the final lap, the Aprilia man highsided off his RSV4 and took Rea with him. Reigning champion Carlos Checa was forced to take to the grass and Chaz Davies nipped through for his second podium of the year behind Sykes.
Sykes, who signed a one-year extension to his Kawasaki deal yesterday, moves closer to Biaggi in the title stakes and is now less than a race win behind the Italian.
Fixi Suzuki's Leon Camier put in a consistent performance with some fast laps at the end to take fifth place with Davide Guigliano in sixth. Rea managed to ride around with no right footpeg for some points in seventh place with Ayrton Badovini, Loris Baz and Lorenzo Zanetti rounding out the top ten ahead of team-mate Sylvain Guintoli.
