Jules Cluzel had two very impressive performances today as he brought his FIXI Crescent Suzuki home comfortably inside the top-10 in both races. Starting from the middle of the third row, Cluzel was ninth at the end of lap-one in the first race and struggled to find a rhythm early on as he was relegated to 12th, but the Frenchman re-grouped and made his way back up to ninth on lap-11, a position he held until the 20th-lap when he passed Carlos Checa to move into eighth and hold that place until the chequered flag. In race two Cluzel’s team made some setting changes to help the rider, and his performance and lap-times improved as he held a consistent pace throughout. He gave chase to race-one winner Melandri and passed the Italian on lap-14 to move up to seventh, after which the FIXI Crescent Suzuki man was under pressure from Davide Giugliano, but Cluzel managed to put some space between him and the Aprilia and brought his machine home in a creditable and impressive seventh.
Both of today’s races were held in cloudy conditions with track temperatures reaching a high of 27°C during the first race. Melandri took victory in race one by one of the smallest margins in Superbike history, as he led Championship leader Sylvain Guintoli over the line by just 0.007 seconds. Race two saw Laverty make amends for his race one retirement by racing to the win ahead of his team-mate Guintoli.
FIXI Crescent Suzuki will now head back to the UK before it prepares to travel to the next round of the series, which is scheduled for Imola in Italy on Sunday 30th June.
Portimao – eni FIM Superbike – Race One:
1. Marco Melandri (BMW) 38’12.447: 2. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) +0.007: 3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) +4.224: 4. LEON CAMIER (FIXI CRESCENT SUZUKI) +9.479: 5. Loris Baz (Kawasaki) +12.057: 8. JULES CLUZEL (FIXI CRESCENT SUZUKI) +22.337:
Portimao – eni FIM Superbike – Race Two:
1. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) 38’02.051: 2. Guintoli +4.107: 3. Jonathan Rea (Honda) +5.853: 4. Baz +15.306: 5. Chaz Davies (BMW) +17.552: 7. JULES CLUZEL (FIXI CRESCENT SUZUKI) +29.392: DNF. LEON CAMIER (FIXI CRESCENT SUZUKI):
Championship Classification:
1. Guintoli 213: 2. Sykes 185: 3. Laverty 174: 4. Melandri 156: 5. Davies 133: 10. JULES CLUZEL (FIXI CRESCENT SUZUKI) 72: 11. LEON CAMIER (FIXI CRESCENT SUZUKI) 62:
