2007 World Superbike Motorcycle Racing

20th Anniversary Round at Donington Park

This weekend sees the third round of the World Superbike Championship come to Donington Park for the first of three rounds in the UK.

Donington hosted the very first championship round on 3rd April 1988 and it is returning to the circuit for the first time in six years to mark the championship's 20th anniversary.

The track is known for its two-faced character -- fast sweeping corners combined with slower first gear sections.

Race Results
James Toseland took a commanding lead of the 2007 World Superbike Championship today after race leader and pole sitter Troy Bayliss crashed about half-way through Race 1.  Bayliss appeared to have hurt is right hip and did not participate in Race 2 but his condition remains unclear.

Noriyuki Haga gave Yamaha their first race win of the season by winning Race 2, which was made all the sweeter for the Yamaha team by Troy Corser's third place at the same time.  Haga took fourth and Corser second in Race 1, a good day for Yamaha.

In race one Corser made good progress from eighth place and charged through the field to take second place by only lap six.  Haga's start was marred by his tire struggling to warm up in the first few laps.  As the tire warmed up, Nori worked his way through the field taking fourth.

A comfortable gap between the top four riders saw little change with Toseland (Honda) taking the win, Corser second and Biaggi (Suzuki) third.  Bayliss failed to finish after a nasty high-side at Coppice corner in which he took injuries that made him fail to take part in race two.

Race 2 was virtually a dream race for the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team.  Haga took the leading place on the first lap after a great start but was swiftly overtaken by Toseland to put him in second.  Corser moved from eighth place to third within the same lap due to better drive off the start line.

The team mates rode shotgun in second and third until a technical problem forced leading man Toseland to stop suddenly, resulting in a near miss as both Haga and Corser shot past the Honda rider - one either side.

With Biaggi making up third place in the group, the front pack started to break away from the rest of field.  All three riders diced with each other in a very close race with all the positions changing frequently.

Biaggi put in several passes on lead-man Haga but only made it stick at the Old Hairpin.  Haga stayed on Biaggi's tail, though and took it right to the wire, passing him on the last corner of the last lap.  Corser remained in a comfortable third position throughout the lead battle.

Today's results mean the teams go into the fourth round at Valencia in two weeks with Toseland in 1st place (115 points) and Biaggi second (110 points).  Haga lies in third place after this weekend's excellent results with 88 points and Corser is just behind on 81 points.

Suzuki Report - Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi raced to two podiums at Donington Park today aboard the new GSX-R1000 as team mate Yukio Kagayama was forced to sit out the event due to injury.

In mostly sunny, but very cold, conditions, the Italian took a hard-fought-for third in the opening race after being ninth at the end of the first lap. But better was to come in the second race; he made a better start this time and fought Yamaha team mates Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga throughout the 23-lapper after early leader James Toseland (Honda) went out with a mechanical problem after two laps.

Biaggi charged into the lead after 14 laps and looked on course for victory until he made a small error exiting the final corner on the last lap, allowing Haga to take the checkered flag instead. But his points tally today moves him to just five points behind series leader Toseland with third-placed Haga 12 points behind.

Max Biaggi:  "I'm pretty happy in one way - I got two podiums - and a little bit disappointed because I should've won the second race.  I led going into the final turn but then ran a little wide and that was just enough for Haga to slip through and into the lead.  The finish line is very close to the exit of the corner so there was no chance of me being able to out-drag him to the line.  We all make mistakes and although it cost me the victory, I still got second place and that, together with my third in race one, means that overall it was a good day.

"We didn't make any changes to the bike from the first race to the second - apart from fresh tires of course.  In the first race I didn't make a good start so I had a lot of work to do to catch up the front three.  It was about half race distance by the time I did that and then I had to try and catch James and Troy.  James was too far away but I did get pretty close to Troy by the end, but not close enough to get past.

"Race two was a great race.  Luckily the weather was much better today and the fans that were here saw some great racing.  I had a big battle with Nori and Troy and nobody knew who was going to win.  I took the lead and I'm not saying that it was an easy lead, but I felt pretty comfortable.  I knew that Nori was very close and that Troy was not far behind either but I was happy to be in front going into the last lap.  Then a bit of a mistake by me in the final corner and victory became a second!  But that's racing!  I'm really enjoying my life here.  I like the racing and I like the atmosphere off the track because it is much more human and also more relaxed.  On the track we riders fight as hard as we can, but afterwards it's good that we can smile together."

2007 World Superbike - Round 3 - Donington Park Results

Race 1: Toseland (GB-Honda), 2 Corser (Aus-Yamaha Motor Italia), 3 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 4 Haga (J-Yamaha), 5 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 6 Nieto (E-Kawasaki), 7 Laconi (F-Kawasaki), 8 Neukirchner (D-Suzuki), 9 Rolfo (I-Honda), 10 Smrz (CZ-Ducati).

Race 2: 1 Haga, 2 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 3 Troy Corser (Aus-Yamaha Motor Italia), 4 Xaus (E-Ducati), 5 Lanzi, 6 Laconi, 7 Rolfo, 8 Smrz, 9 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda), 10 Neukirchner,

Series Points: 1 Toseland 115, 2 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 110, 3 Haga 88, 4 Troy Corser 81, 5 Lanzi 66, 6 Bayliss 64, 7 Neukirchner 46, 8 Xaus 45, 9 Rolfo 36, 10 Nieto 30. 12 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 23.

Superstock 1000 Results: 1 Canepa (I-Ducati), 2 Corti (I-Yamaha), 3 Van Keymeulen (NL-Yamaha), 4 Aitchison (Aus-Suzuki), 5 Baiocco (I-Yamaha), 6 Dionisi (I-Suzuki), 7 Xavier Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra).

Series Points: 1 Canepa 25, 2 Corti 20, 3 Van Keymeulen 16, 4 Aitchison 13, 5 Baiocco 11, 6 Dionisi 10, 7 Xavier Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 9.

Qualifying
Yamaha - Noriyuki Haga will start tomorrow's round of the World Superbike Championship in second place after an impressive Superpole performance today.  Troy Corser will start from eighth position after sliding off during his Superpole lap, though he had been among the top three riders all weekend.

Dry weather today allowed Haga to make the most of his wild lines and focus on getting the right race set-up. Having qualified eighth this morning Haga went on to put in a hard to beat Superpole lap time. 

Only Troy Bayliss, the last man out, could better the Japanese rider's time, pushing him to second position.  Haga goes into tomorrow's race with already 148 World Superbike race finishes in the points under his belt, dedicated to extending that number to 150 by the end of the day.

Troy Corser's fortunes were almost reversed to Noriyuki's during the day.  He battled with Bayliss for the top spot throughout the practice and qualifying sessions only to crash out on the first corner of his Superpole lap due to a severe cross-wind.  He will start tomorrow's race on the second row in eighth position.  This is in accordance with the rules stating that if a rider starts Superpole in the top eight, he cannot drop lower than eighth position.

Suzuki - Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi will start from the second row of the grid at tomorrow's third round of the Superbike World Championship at Donington Park as team mate Yukio Kagayama has been ruled unfit to ride.

Biaggi had struggled a little in qualifying, but then put in a blistering lap of 1:32.182 in the afternoon practice, over two seconds quicker than his previous best time!  He then followed that by going even faster in Superpole, but many of his rivals also went quicker and Biaggi finished seventh.

Kagayama underwent a further examination this morning before practice and, although he was eager to race, the medics declared him 'unfit' and so he took no part in today's proceedings.

Troy Bayliss (Ducati) took Superpole with a lap of 1:30.370, nearly a second quicker then his nearest rival Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha).  Third quickest is Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) with James Toseland (Honda) completing the front row of the grid.

Max Biaggi - 7th, 1:31.689:  "I was happier after my performance in the un-timed session this afternoon, but I knew Superpole would be hard.  I managed to go a bit faster on my Superpole lap, but so did some other riders and so I ended seventh.  But the second row of the grid is not so bad, especially if I can make my usual good start.  There are two very long races tomorrow and anything can happen, so we'll just have to see how it goes.  I'll be aiming for two good starts and two good results - hopefully podiums."

Yukio Kagayama - (non-starter):  "I wanted to race today but the doctors said "no!"  This morning my back was a bit sore but that was all.  I could remember everything from yesterday, no problem.  But if the doctors tell you not to race, that is that!  Now I'm looking forward to the next race at Valencia and putting these disasters behind me."

Final WSB Qualifying: 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:30.370, 2 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:31.084, 3 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:31.377, 4 Toseland (GB-Honda) 1:31.399, 5 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:31.504, 6 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:31.686, 7 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:31.689, 8 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:31.132, 9 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda) 1:32.077, 10 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 1:32.178.

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Friday Practice Report - Suzuki
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Yukio Kagayama was a victim of a wet circuit when he crashed in today's opening practice for Sunday's World Superbike Championship third round at Donington Park in England.

Both Kagayama and team mate Max Biaggi started cautiously and, although conditions improved marginally in the afternoon, the track still had several damp patches.  It was one of these that Kagayama hit towards the end of the qualifying session and which caused him to suffer a heavy fall, knocking him out for a few minutes.

He was taken to the Medical Centre for a check up and X-Rays, but luckily suffered no broken bones or any other injuries apart from a sore back.  Biaggi took today very carefully, using the two sessions to find a good base set-up for his GSX-R1000 K7, before beginning to push hard.

Troy Bayliss (Ducati) posted the day's fastest lap, over a second under the lap record. Second is Troy Corser (Yamaha) with Ruben Xaus (Ducati) third and series leader James Toseland (Honda) fourth.

Yukio Kagayama - 7th, 1:34.549:  "The conditions today were not easy and then I crashed! It happened at Craner Curves when I hit a small damp patch on the track and lost control.  I hit my head and knocked myself out for a little while but there were no other injuries.  My back is very sore but I'm sure it'll be ok after a good sleep.  I would like to race this weekend but it is not up to me. We shall see what happens in the morning."

Max Biaggi - 9th, 1:34.593:  "Today was not so easy and I used the time to try and find a good base set-up for my bike.  We had no data from here so we had to start at the beginning and work our way through quite a few things.  In these conditions it is difficult to try and choose tires for the race because conditions could be very different tomorrow or Sunday.  This afternoon, when the track was half wet and half dry, was tricky and I didn't want to push too hard and crash.  A few times today I made small mistakes breaking too hard and having to run a bit wide.  That was probably because we had some clutch problems and that was probably why I couldn't go any faster at the end of the qualifying session."

Friday Practice Report - Yamaha
Cold and wet weather conditions hampered today's free practice and qualifying sessions at Donington, adding to the Yamaha Motor Italia Team's challenge in finding the right race set up for Sunday.  With both Corser and Haga having taken double wins here previously, the riders were looking to simply remember the circuit and focus on finding the best bike set-up. But they had to wait until the afternoon qualifying to really get to work.

This is the first time Troy Corser has ridden the Yamaha YZF-R1 around Donington but that didn't stop him posting the best time in free practice and the second best time in the afternoon qualifying session.  A high-speed but minor accident in the last 18 minutes knocked him off top spot, making it hard to regain the fastest time, which he had for the majority of the session.

Noriyuki Haga spent the day working around the challenging weather conditions to try different set up options.  He achieved a best time of 1'34.553 putting him in a solid eighth position going into tomorrow's second qualifying session where weather conditions should be better.

Team YZF Yamaha rider Shinichi Nakatomi had his first on-track experience of Donington today and therefore was focused on getting to know the track and lines.  Nakatomi is no stranger to learning race tracks quickly though.  Last year was his first year in the championship and he had never ridden at any of the circuits prior to the race weekends.

The provisional front row is headed up by Troy Bayliss (Ducati) followed by Troy Corser. Ruben Xaus (Ducati) is in third and James Toseland (Honda) completes the front row.

Troy Corser (2nd - 1'32.817 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team):  "I'm pretty happy with the engine changes we've made today.  The bike is easier to ride and is pretty comfortable so now we can focus on finding the right balance and settings.  The crash was my fault, I just went in a bit too quick but I was lucky and got away lightly.  After this morning's cold session where we didn't get much opportunity to really try the tires, we got some consistency this afternoon and there was good grip."

Noriyuki Haga (8th - 1'34.553 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team):  "I remembered the track from my last ride here in 2003 in the MotoGP class so today was more about trying to finding the right set up.  This morning was very wet and too cold, though, making it difficult to push the bike too much.  The lines were drying this afternoon but some corners were still wet so I spent much of the time looking for the best lines.  Tomorrow I hope to get more time to focus on our race set up, but that depends on the weather and luck."

2007 World Superbike - Donington Park - Friday Practice

Circuit Length: 4023, Temp: 8, Weather: Changeable

Qualifying 1

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time

1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'32.333

2 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'32.817

3 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'33.646

4 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'33.692

5 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'33.729

6 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'34.203

7 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'34.549

8 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'34.553

9 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'34.593

10 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'35.363

11 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 1'35.897

12 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'35.907

13 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'36.002

14 Steve Martin Honda AUS 1'36.067

15 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'36.441

23 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'38.568

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Yamaha Team Report
The Yamaha team's technicians will have a challenging job in finding the best compromise between stability at high-speeds and agility for quick changes of direction.  The track is an ideal setting for spectators as it is a natural amphitheatre with spectator banking around most of the circuit.

After an extensive test session in Valencia last weekend, the Yamaha Motor Italia Team has gathered new data that will help them find the best setting for the upcoming race.  With the focus on tire life at race distance the riders lapped multiple race distances on their 2007 YZF-R1s.

As a result of last week's testing session the team will be looking to improve on their results in the championship so far this season.  Corser claimed the first third place podium for the team at Qatar while Haga gave the team another third position at Phillip Island.  Currently Corser lies in fifth position in the championship standings so far and Haga in fourth.

Haga comes to Donington looking to fight for race wins and to potentially repeat his double win at Donington in 1998.  His third place at Phillip Island was achieved in spite of him having a cold so he is determined of a better result, now he is back in peak fitness.  With Corser being victorious in two races during the 1996 round, both riders have proven to be winners on this venue.

"I'm looking forward to Donington very much because it is where I took part in my first European round of WSB in 1998!"  Haga says, "I won both races that time, so I'm hoping I can repeat it again this year.  It is a very exciting circuit to race at because it is demanding both technically and mentally, I like it and, with the right set up, it suits my riding style.  We tested many things at Valencia which I am sure will help with the race set up at Donington - you will be able to see for yourself from the result of the race!"

Following on from a slightly disappointing home round at Phillip Island and then a productive testing session at Valencia, Troy Corser is positive about success at one of his favorite circuits where he also managed a double win in 1996.

"I'm glad to be back at Donington Park" he says.  "Hopefully the weather will be good. Whenever I have raced there previously I have done pretty well. I like the track and, at Valencia last week, we got to try out lots of new set-up options that we hadn't tried before so I'm expecting a good result this weekend."

Suzuki Team Report
Max Biaggi and Yukio Kagayama will race their first ever World Superbike Championship event on the Donington Park circuit in England this weekend.

Although the Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders have competed at the midlands venue before (Biaggi in MotoGP in 2005 and Kagayama in British Championships in 2004), neither have gone head-to-head in the Superbike class.

And the last time the Superbike World Championship was at Donington was a tremendous occasion for Team Alstare Suzuki: In 2001, Italian Pierfrancesco Chili took runner-up spot in the first race and then followed it up with a sensational win in the second.  Since then the circuit has been off the calendar.

The event will be particular noteworthy because it will be a celebration of the 20th year of the Superbike World Championship and especially important bearing in mind that the first ever World Superbike Championship race took place there.

Max Biaggi:  "I like Donington because it is quite a fast track but now that I am on Superbike I will have to learn it all over again.  It's going to feel very different on my Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 compared to the last bike I rode there, so we will have to start the first practice trying to find a good set-up for the bike.  We did a lot of work at the recent Valencia tests and accumulated a lot of information.  Hopefully, we can put it all to good use at Donington and take some podiums."

Yukio Kagayama:  "For me the last time I raced at Donington seems a long time ago.  That was in BSB but this time it is the World Championship and it will be much harder for sure.  At our recent test, my shoulder was still very sore, but now that I have had some time to rest it I think it will be in much better condition for the race.  I will not know how strong it is until first practice, but I am hoping that it will be ok and not give me too much trouble.  I have many fans in England so I want to push hard and get a couple of podiums."

World Supersport
The Yamaha World Supersport Team hopes to improve on the mixed results at Phillip Island.  Parkes scored a good but hard fought third place at the second round, leading for all but the final three laps, when he ran out of grip.  Curtain struggled as well with rear end traction due to tire problems which saw him drop from the battle for top spot to 11th position.  In spite of the disappointing result at the last round, Curtain put in the quickest lap at last week's Valencia testing session.  Parkes came in fifth fastest, leaving the team feeling upbeat going into the third round.

Kevin Curtain states, "I haven't been to Donington since 2001, but I do like the circuit and am really happy to be back there.  I was just getting to know it when it was taken off the calendar!  During the test in Spain last week we worked on suspension settings to get more life out of the rear tire.  With the set-up alterations we made the bike showed some consistent speed during the long runs, which is a good step forward for this round."

Superstock 1000 FIM Cup
Donington also marks the first round of the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup.  Claudio Corti and Michele Pirro got some pre-season testing in at the official FGSport tire test in Valencia last week.  Corti posted the fastest time overall while youngster Pirro ended an impressive fourth quickest despite still getting to grips with the Superstock class. 

Both riders are planning to show their fighting form at Donington on Sunday, with Corti looking to demonstrate his championship winning capabilities.  Pirro is looking to focus on adapting his riding style from the 125cc machines he has ridden previously to the inline four cylinder engine of the YZF-R1. 2005 Superstock 1000 champion, Didier van de Keymeulen returns to the class for the 2007 season and will try hard to regain his championship status.

Donington Park

• Track length: 4023
• Opened: 1977 (original circuit 1931)
• Fastest lap ever: 1'32.824 (Neil Hodgson 2000)
• Race record: 1'33.470 (Troy Corser 1996)
• 2001 WSB race winner: Pierfrancesco Chilli (Suzuki), Neil Hodgson (Ducati)