Yamaha World Superbike rider, Marco Melandri powered his R1 to two extraordinary podium finishes on the new Spanish track in Aragon today. Impeccable race craft and performance was on display in both races as Melandri claimed an impressive one two under sweltering sunshine and on a hot track. In the opening race of the day, Melandri got off to a perfect start from pole position to tuck neatly behind Biaggi in second place. Constantly on his tail, the WSB Rookie cleverly played the waiting game, in search for the opportune moment to pass and take the lead. With just five laps to go Biaggi made a mistake and Melandri grasped the chance to overtake and proceeded to power his R1 to the finish line, crossing the chequered flag with over one and a half seconds advantage on the runner up. Team-mate Eugene Laverty had a less than perfect start from his sixth place position on this morning’s grid, falling back to eight place in the first turn. Caught up in traffic the Irish Rookie held position for a further five laps before gradually working his way through the pack to cross the line in an impressive fourth place just 0.048 of a second ahead of Sykes. Race two was almost a replicate performance for Marco Melandri . Unfortunately with just five laps to go the Italian slipped up, presenting Biaggi with the opportunity to create a significant gap. Melandri fought hard for the second victory of the day before settling for second place on the afternoon’s podium. Laverty struggled as the rear wheel of his machine locked in the first turn of lap one causing him to run wide and fall back to sixteenth place. The Irish man proved to be strong and consistent yet again as he put his head down, working his way through the bunch of riders ahead to claim a remarkable sixth place. To add to the weekend’s list of achievements, Marco Melandri was presented with the Pirelli fastest lap of the race award having recorded a lap time of 1’59.159 in race two and reaching the highest speed of 322.1 Km/ph. Following today’s outstanding performance Melandri has reduced the gap on the leader in the World Superbike standings by 29 points. Heading to the next round in Brno on 10thJuly, the Italian is in third place on 195 points, now 66 points behind Checa in the lead. Laverty leaves Aragon with a total of 146 points and with a firm hold of fourth place in the classification, 21 points ahead of Camier.