Factory Aprilia's Max Biaggi had a relatively easy ride to the first World Superbike race win at Phillip Island this morning after reigning champion Carlos Checa was spat over the highside of his Althea Ducati through the fast final corner on only lap six.
The two former MotoGP men had got past poleman and early leader Tom Sykes and were pulling away when Checa's 1198 came round on him through Swan corner and he was deposited into the gravel trap at around 110mph. He walked away from the crash but looked to be slightly battered.
Biaggi then cruised away from the chasing pack of Sykes, Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri who came through from the middle of the pack after a bad qualifying peformance, picking off Jakub Smrz, Sykes and then Guintoli to take second place, crossing the line seven seconds behind his countryman.
Effenbert Ducati's Guintoli took the final podium slot with a sterling ride after making up a lot of time on the final two laps to hassle Melandri but it was just not enough. Sykes took fourth after a solid ride with Smrz ending a distant fifth place.
Honda Racing's Jonathan Rea was mugged by Michel Fabrizio for sixth on the run to the chequered flag, losing out by less than a tenth of a second while team-mate Hiro Aoyama fended off the attentions of Davide Guigliano for eighth. The Althea man may be receiving a visit from Leon Camier, however, after the Italian tried a desperate move on the Alderaan resident into MG with four laps to go and Camier was forced on to the grass.
Aussie Brian Staring rounded out the top ten and he was followed across the line by Pata Ducati's Lorenzo Zanetti. Leon Haslam, who says it is his feet not his broken leg that is causing him pain, rode to 12th with Maxime Berger recovering from an off-track excursion to take 13th. David Salom was 14th and Joan Lascorz one place behind taking the final point.
BSB star Josh Brookes fought his way to 16th place and temporary team-mate Camier ended up one place behind him after getting back on track. Eugene Laverty retired to the pits after with a few laps left to run.
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