ROUND 8/JULY 21, 2013
MOSCOW RACEWAY/MOSCOW, RUSSIA
WORLD SUPERBIKE
P94
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
TRAGEDY STRIKES
RACING IS SECONDARY AS THE
SERIES LOSES ONE OF ITS OWN
BY GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
T
he loss of 25-year-old Italian rider Andrea Antonelli in
what was an ultimately cancelled World Supersport contest
at Moscow Raceway brought the
meeting to a premature close, as
a mark of respect to the popular
and fast privateer rider.
His loss made all sporting con-
siderations secondary but there
was one race at Moscow, the
first Superbike contested over
25 laps that made it to the record
books.
It was a bizarre event, in almost
all ways, except for the fact that
BMW Motorrad GoldBet's Marco
Melandri would win it, his third
race victory of the year, and a
very lucky 13th of his career.
"For sure Chaz [Davies] had
very good style and was so fast
in the first part of the race," Melandri said. "It was difficult for me
to catch him up. I think it is experience that helps me on race day
and today it was also a bit of luck.
If it was not raining hard enough
for a wet tire I had no chance to
beat Chaz, that's sure."
The threatening rain clouds
were moving across the skies as
the race started, on time at noon,
