The show at Donington Park today was one to remember

As foreshadowed by the practice sessions, which were characterised by extremely tight times, the two English races found the riders at the front battling for the podium right down to the last curve.Max Biaggi, looking to be in grand form straight from the warm up sessions this morning, stuck to the front pack in Race one despite a less than perfect start. In a race marked by close times, the Corsair crossed the line in fifth place, earning important points for the championship.In Race 2 Max rocketed out as the red lights went off, skilfully fending off a furious pack made up of Sykes, Melandri and Haslam. A recovery by Rea in the last part of the race brought to life the umpteenth battle which came to an end only at the last curve: Haslam and Melandri took a wide line, clashing in a pileup which allowed Rea and Max to shoot through, crossing the line in that order. The 20 points for second place strengthen the leadership position for Max, now leading the rider rankings with a 5 length lead over the nearest rival.
"Two thrilling races - confirmed Max Biaggi after the heated races - In the first race I had a bit more difficulty. We were losing ground to BMW and Kawasaki coming out of the curves even though we were fast in the straight stretches. In Race 2 things went better. I rode well and was fighting for the podium. The last few laps were just mad.All of the electronic calibrations were out of phase around the circuit.With tyres worn everyone was trying to gain positions, shooting through at every braking zone. The last curve gave us second place which is an important result: now we'll go to Miller to confirm our performance, but we need to improve on acceleration".
Eugene Laverty finished out the weekend in the worst possible way, with a crash in Race 2. The Northern Irish rider struggled a lot on this track, also forced to deal with a technical problem in the first race that prevented him finishing any better than fifteenth place. The crash in Race 2 came as Eugene was pushing hard not to lose contact with his rivals and it leaves the rider with a bitter taste in his mouth."The crash was the worst possible way to end this weekend. After struggling in Race 1 with a technical problem and finishing fifteenth, in the second race I didn't want to lose contact with the lead pack. Just as I was pushing hardest I lost the back end, demolishing my RSV4. Physically I'm fine, so all we can do is take a lesson from these problems and get back on track with the next round in America".