Moto GP: Max Biaggi squeezes home by historic half point

MAX Biaggi made history yesterday by winning the 2012 World Superbike Championship by half a point from Tom Sykes – the smallest-ever margin – following a dramatic afternoon of racing at Magny-Cours.

The Aprilia rider fell during the first race, allowing rivals Sykes (Kawasaki) and Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) to close the points gap to 14.5 and 18.5 points respectively.

But the Italian’s fifth-placed finish in the second race was enough to ensure his second World Championship success by a margin of just 0.5 points.

Sykes did all he could to win his first championship, winning the final 23-lap race by two seconds from Jonathan Rea (Honda), but it was not enough to overcome Biaggi’s tally of 358 points.

Sylvain Guintoli (PATA) won the first race by over six seconds from Melandri but could only place third in the second race while Melandri crashed out of contention in the second race, but finished the season third overall, with 328.5 points.