Misano WSBK: Melandri scores first win since return

The 34-year-old Italian went from 10th to first in the race where he was the only representative of the works Ducati team, after Chaz Davies was ruled out of the weekend in a Saturday last-lap collision with Jonathan Rea.

A Superbikes frontrunner between 2011 and 2014, Melandri – who stepped in for Davide Giugliano at Ducati this year – has now added a win with the Italian marque to his triumphs with Yamaha, BMW and Aprilia.

At the start, Barni Ducati rider Xavi Fores stormed past pole-sitting compatriot Torres on the run down to T1, as Saturday race winner Tom Sykes charged from ninth on the grid to fourth.

Sykes was soon up to third, overtaking Aprilia's Eugene Laverty at Turn 9, with teammate Rea following through.

But further progress would prove much difficult for the pair of works Kawasakis, as Torres kept the pair at bay. Holding off Sykes for a number of laps, the Althea BMW rider then went on the attack instead, picking off Fores at Turn 12 on the fifth lap.

Fores followed the new race leader close over the rest of the tour, but his Ducati bike gave out the next time around, leaving Torres at the helm of a four-bike pack.

Melandri was running third at that point already, having overtaken Rea, and when Sykes got too close to Torres under braking at Turn 8 and ran wide, the Ducati works rider was up to second.

He was briefly gapped by Torres, but was soon right on the rear wheel of the Althea BMW, making his first serious attempt on lap 10 at Turn 8 and managing to complete the pass at the very same corner three laps later.

But instead of dropping into the clutches of the Kawasakis, Torres managed to keep in touch with Melandri and was even bringing the gap down when his Althea BMW slowed with a mechanical issue with four laps to go.

This promoted Rea up to second, the championship leader having passed Sykes at Variante del Parco on lap 15 and withstanding a late charge from his teammate to hold on to the runner-up spot.

Yamaha's Michael van der Mark, who led much of the Saturday race but crashed out with a suspected rear-wheel issue, bounced back with a fourth-place finish.

Van der Mark followed teammate Alex Lowes for much of the race, but got past the Brit when Lowes ran wide trying to pass Laverty.

While Aprilia man Laverty slipped behind both Yamahas, he eventually managed to score his first top-five finish of the season after Lowes crashed out ahead.

Torres' Althea BMW teammate Raffaele de Rosa scored his season's best result so far in seventh, ahead of Randy Krummenacher, Leandro Mercado and the sole factory Honda of Stefan Bradl.

Race results

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	33	Marco Melandri	Ducati	21	33'40.896
2	1	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	21	33'42.009	1.113
3	66	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki	21	33'42.181	1.285
4	60	Michael van der Mark	Yamaha	21	33'54.260	13.364
5	50	Eugene Laverty	Aprilia	21	34'00.813	19.917
6	32	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	21	34'06.915	26.019
7	35	Raffaele De Rosa	BMW	21	34'10.620	29.724
8	88	Randy Krummenacher	Kawasaki	21	34'11.079	30.183
9	36	Leandro Mercado	Aprilia	21	34'18.343	37.447
10	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	21	34'23.547	42.651
11	86	Ayrton Badovini	Kawasaki	21	34'38.420	57.524
12	37	Ondrej Jezek	Kawasaki	21	34'51.550	1'10.654
	81	Jordi Torres	BMW	17	4 laps	4 laps
	2	Leon Camier	MV Agusta	14	7 laps	7 laps
	22	Alex Lowes	Yamaha	11	10 laps	10 laps
	15	Alex de Angelis	Kawasaki	6	15 laps	15 laps
	12	Xavi Fores	Ducati	6	15 laps	15 laps
	61	Fabio Menghi	Ducati	6	15 laps	15 laps
	40	Roman Ramos	Kawasaki	3	18 laps	18 laps