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WSBK race two results.
Marco Melandri has taken a hard fought second World Superbike Championship win of the season at Miller Motorsports Park after capitalising on
Carlos Checa crashing out of a comfortable lead and making the straight-line speed of his BMW count on the final lap.
An absorbing race that was thrown wide open when Checa crashed out of the lead on lap five, Melandri and Rea were just half of an exciting four-way tussle for victory between themselves,
Max Biaggi and Chaz Davies, the satellite Aprilia rider putting in a magnificent ride to run at the front of the Superbike race for the first time.
Prior to that though, victory looked to be heading the way of Checa for the second time today, the Spaniard shrugging off an hour-long red flag period - to clean up fluid spilled by Hiroshi Aoyama's stricken Honda three laps into the first race two start - to assume a fairly comfortable lead.
However, his 1.7secs advantage meant little when a costly mistake sent both himself and the Althea Ducati down on lap five, a fourth non-score of the season that undoes much of his hard work in race one.
The consequence of his demise, however, would be a revitalised battle for the lead, with Melandri initially assuming the advantage. Indeed, the Italian had taken full advantage of starting third on the reformed grid (which was decided by the positions at the end of lap three when the first start was halted) to run up the front from the start, even if he was unable to break away from the chasing pack.
That pack was made up of Rea and Davies, the latter complementing his excellent start by putting some bold moves on
Max Biaggi and Tom Sykes to run third. With Biaggi quickly catching up to broaden the lead group to four, the battle for victory was well underway.
Indeed, Melandri was struggling to establish an advantage over Rea, but while the Honda rider certainly looked feistier in the bends, the superior straight-line speed of the BMW repeatedly prevented the Ulsterman from getting through.
Undeterred, Rea kept up the pressure and was rewarded on lap 11 when he dived into the lead for the first time at Demon. With Melandri flustered by Rea's pass, a determined Davies also forged his way through into second place, dropping the Italian into the clutches of Biaggi.