2007 World Superbike - Phillip
Island
Text and Photos Courtesy Kawasaki
Racing, Suzuki
Racing, Yamaha Racing and World Superbike.
Edited by webBikeWorld.
Race Results
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra Max
Biaggi and his GSX-R1000K7 raced to
third place in the first World Superbike
race at Phillip Island today and was on
course for another podium in the second
before losing out on the very last lap.
Biaggi leaves the Australian circuit
in second place in the Championship, 16
points behind leader James Toseland
(Honda).
Biaggi's team mate Yukio Kagayama was
a non-starter today due to a heavy fall
yesterday, but the Japanese rider should
be fit for the Valencia tests on March
18th and 19th.
Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Toseland
battled it out for victory in the first
race, with Bayliss taking the win in
front of his home fans by just over two
seconds. Biaggi took third after a
tremendous charge up the field in the
closing laps after disposing of both
Troy Corser and his Yamaha team mate
Noriyuki Haga.
The second race saw yet another
Toseland v Bayliss fight, but this time
it was Toseland who took the honours by
a narrow margin. Biaggi had fought
both Corser and Yamaha again in the
closing laps and was about to take
third, until Haga muscled past on the
last lap and held on by less then a
tenth of a second.
Max Biaggi - Race 1: 3rd, Race 2:
4th: "I enjoyed the racing again
today, especially getting a podium in
the first race. From Friday until
today, I never really got a good feeling
with the front end of the bike and that
probably prevented me from getting two
podiums here. Tire wear is always
a problem at Phillip Island and I think
I was more aggressive in race two and
tire went off more - certainly more then
in race one. Our bike was pretty
close today and now we will work more on
set-up details and getting it working
better for the next race at Donington.
I am not unhappy today, though it
would've been good to take that second
podium."
2007 World Superbike Round 2 -
Phillip Island, Australia - Race Results
Race 1: 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati), 2
Toseland (GB-Honda), 3 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra), 4 Haga (J-Yamaha),
5 Troy Corser (Aus-Yamaha Motor Italia),
6 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 7 Xaus (E-Ducati), 8
Neukirchner (D-Suzuki), 9 Nieto
E-Kawasaki), 10 Martin (Aus-Honda).
Race 2: 1 Toseland, 2 Bayliss,
3 Haga, 4 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra), 5 Troy Corser (Aus-Yamaha
Motor Italia), 6 Xaus, 7 Lanzi, 8
Fabrizio (I-Honda), 9 Neukirchner, 10
Rolfo (I-Honda).
Championship Points: 1
Toseland 90, 2 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra) 74, 3 Bayliss 64, 4
Haga 50, 5 Troy Corser (Aus-Yamaha Motor
Italia) 45, 6 Lanzi 44, 7 Xaus 32, 8
Neukirchner 31, 9 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra) 23, 10 Nieto 20,
Yukio Kagayama (from the Alfred
Hospital in Melbourne):
"According to the doctors here, I am
recovering very well. I have had a lot
of X-rays and checks and maybe there is
one more check to come. The good
news is that I haven't broken anything!
When I crashed, I was sure that I had
broken my collarbone and maybe some
ribs, but I have escaped those injuries.
My crash was a high-side at the second
corner and I went up into the air before
coming back down onto the bike. I
must have banged my chest on the fuel
tank and that's when the damage was
done. Then I fell down and my
first feeling was that I had hurt my
lung or chest in some way because I had
the same type of pain as when I crashed
at Paul Ricard circuit in 1999.
That time I damaged a lung and this time
I felt the same - that is a problem with
breathing."
"At the moment my shoulder joint is
very tender and the doctors here are
advising some sort of surgery - not
immediately, but some time in the
future. But I do not want this
now, so I will have to wear very heavy
strapping when I am on the bike again,
at the Valencia tests. As for my
lung; there had been some tubes in
yesterday, but this morning only one
small tube and that will come out later
today, followed by some more checks. If
everything is OK, I can leave the
hospital this evening.
"My priority is to get back to Japan
as soon as I can, see my own doctors and
then get better quickly. But, my problem
is that sometimes, with this type of
lung injury, normally you are advised
not to fly for two weeks! I think
I will be able to fly before that time,
but I still will have to stay in
Australia for a week or so. This
means lots of rest and maybe some time
on the beach! At the moment, I am
positive that I will be at the Valencia
tests (March 18-19) and be ready to race
at Donington at the end of the month.
This is my plan."
Qualifying
Yamaha - Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team
riders Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga
will start tomorrow's second round of
the Superbike World Championship from
the front row of the grid after
impressive superpole performances at
Phillip Island today.
High winds made life difficult for
the riders at the coastal circuit today.
Haga was the first of the R1 riders to
head out on his grid-deciding qualifying
lap after finishing regular qualifying
in eighth place.
The Japanese star put together a
smooth lap of 1:32.879 to head the time
sheets with seven riders remaining.
Four men came and went without besting
the Yamaha rider until Corser, third in
regular practice blasted to a 1:32.605
lap. World champion Troy Bayliss
(Ducati) was the last man to go out on
his superpole lap and grabbed the pole
position with James Toseland (Honda)
second.
With no new parts available since
last weekend's race in Qatar, today's
testing programme focused mainly on fine
tuning the R1's chassis and suspension
to make maximum use of the front tyre in
tomorrow's 22-lap races. Both
Corser and Haga were able to make
considerable headway in their
preparations, completing race
simulations in both the morning and
afternoon practice sessions.
Troy Corser: "I almost
got blown off the bike as I rolled out
on my warm-up lap and that prepared me
for the big gust of wind that hit me as
I went into turn one on my superpole
lap. That caused me to lose the
front end and I ended up running wide
through the Southern Loop as I tried to
make up time. That's not normally
the way I would attack superpole but it
worked out fine in the end. I hope
it (the weather) is a bit more calm
because it can get a bit hectic when you
go into a corner three abreast and get
hit by a gust of wind. The bike's
going real well here and I'm pleased to
be on the front row. We just need to see
how it goes tomorrow."
Noriyuki Haga: "The wind
made the superpole lap very difficult
and I am very surprised, but of course
happy, with the result. Because of
the wind it was easy to make a mistake,
especially coming into the corners.
I took some tight lines and did not
really make mistakes. It's my best
lap time of the weekend so I am pleased.
I expect a difficult race tomorrow.
We know that the tire can work very well
for around 10 laps but we still need to
try and make it work longer. We
have already decided which tire we will
use but I still have to think about the
suspension settings, so maybe I will not
sleep so well tonight!"
Suzuki - Team Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi will the
team's sole representative in tomorrow's
World Superbike Championship races at
Phillip Island in Australia after taking
fifth in today's Superpole.
His team mate Yukio Kagayama will be
a non-starter tomorrow as he will still
be in hospital in Melbourne after his
crash yesterday afternoon.
Although Kagayama suffered no broken
bones in the fall, doctors declared him
not fit enough to take part in the
races.
Biaggi's GSX-R1000 was sliding around
during his Superpole lap and the time
lost was enough to relegate him to the
second row of the grid. Superpole
was won by Troy Bayliss (Ducati) with
James Toseland (Honda) second, Troy
Corser (Yamaha) third and Noriyuki Haga
(Yamaha) fourth.
Max Biaggi - 5th, 1:33.928: "I
experienced quite a few slides on my
Superpole lap and that prevented me from
going any faster. If it hadn't
been for the slides, I would've been on
the front row for sure. It's a
shame but it's still possible to win
from the second row of the grid here as
the first turn is a long way off.
My bike is more or less set-up ok for
the race but we'll make a few small
adjustments in the warm-up tomorrow
morning and see if we can improve it.
The bike has been suffering a little
from vibration, front and rear, and that
hasn't helped going fast in the turns.
Also, the traction could be a bit
better, but it's another area we'll look
at in the warm-up. It would've
been good to have a bit more track time
today, but it's the same for everybody
and now it's time to think about the
race. I'm still hopeful of a
couple of podiums."
Saturday Qualifying: 1 Bayliss
(Aus-Ducati) 1:32.145, 2 Toseland
(GB-Honda) 1:32.198, 3 Corser
(Aus-Yamaha) 1:32.605, 4 Haga (J-Yamaha)
1:32.879, 5 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra) 1:32.928, 6 Nieto
(E-Kawasaki) 1:33.132, 7 Neukirchner
(D-Suzuki) 1:33.188, 8 Xaus (E-Ducati)
1:33.367, 9 Laconi (F-Kawasaki)
1:33.368, 10 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:33.969.
Race Preview
Yamaha -
After an exciting opening round in Qatar
last weekend, the Superbike World
Championship makes its only trip to the
southern hemisphere when it visits the
fast and flowing Phillip Island circuit
for the Yamaha-sponsored Australian
round.
Following a promising debut with the
2007 YZF-R1 in Qatar, Yamaha Motor Italy
WSB Team riders Troy Corser and Noriyuki
Haga are looking to build on their fine start with a
good performance on a track that should
suit the R1's sweet-handling chassis.
Corser marked his debut with the
official Yamaha team by winning the
superpole event and finishing on the
podium in race two, while both riders
demonstrated the speed of the new R1.
For Corser, the Australian round is
the one chance he will get to race in
front of his home fans this season. The
World Superbike veteran actually made
his debut at the same circuit 15 years
ago in his first stint as a Yamaha
rider.
Speaking from last Saturday's
race in Qatar, he commented: "We're off
to Phillip Island next and I think my
Yamaha will work really well there. It's
a track I really like and I think we can
bag a couple of good results there for
sure. It's a pity about the first race
today, we had a big vibration at the
rear (caused by the tire not gripping
the rim correctly) but that's how it
goes sometimes."
"It was so bad that I
thought about pulling in, but we could
still score some points. It was good to
get on the podium in the second race but
I guess that I am still a little
disappointed, because I felt we could
have been there in both races. But don't
worry, we'll make up for it in Phillip
Island!"
Haga too managed to score a fine
result in the day's second race with a
fourth position. He's due a good result
on "The Island". The Japanese rider had
his first win outside of Japan there in
1998, although to date that is his only
victory Down Under. The official Yamaha
squad, along with the nominated Pirelli
tire test teams from the other four
manufacturers, tested at Phillip Island
just over a month ago, something Haga
hopes will help them get the most out of
their bikes this weekend.
"We tested at Phillip Island in
January," he says. "We were able to do a
lot of laps and work on a setting for
the race, so I hope that this will help
us this weekend. Remember, we only had
our first shakedown at the end of last
year and we are learning more about it
with every session. We learned a lot
about the bike in Australia and,
although we could not get good life from
the front tire, it was working very well
in Qatar."
In the Supersport World Championship,
Yamaha World Supersport team rider Kevin
Curtain lies second in the championship
following his second place in Qatar. The
Australian was in spectacular form all
weekend and managed to score pole
position on Saturday.
The R6 man looked
impressive in the race too, leading the
opening laps but had to settle for
second due to a lack of rear end tire
traction. Now the veteran star has vowed
to put on a big show for his legions of
fans at Phillip Island. He said: "I
don't believe in saying 'I'm going to
win this or I'm gonna do that' because I
believe that it can bring bad luck or
bad karma."
"What I do know is that I am
really fired up for my home race and
will be giving it absolutely everything
I've got. I've ridden this track so many
times that if I'm going to win anywhere
then it will be there. Our team has made
some big progress with the bike over the
winter, not so much in terms of outright
power but certainly in terms of making
it easier to ride. We've tested at
Phillip Island earlier in the year and
we were able to run some fast laps, so
I'm really hoping for more of the same
this weekend."
Suzuki - After the sensational
start to the season in Qatar, Team
Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra is ready to
continue its good form in Australia this
weekend: World Superbike newcomer Max
Biaggi began his World Championship
campaign with a sensational win in the
first race and runner-up spot in the
second and arrives in Australia as joint
series leader.
Although team mate Yukio Kagayama had
a bit of a disappointing - by his high
standards - start to the season, he
still scored a good number of points and
is more determined then ever to bag a
pair of good results in Phillip Island.
Max Biaggi: "Last week
was unbelievable and very emotional.
It was a dream start to the series for
me and I will always remember it.
I enjoyed the racing much more than I
had believed possible and wish I had
discovered this series years ago.
But now we're into the second race and
I'm really looking forward to it."
"Like Qatar, Phillip Island is
another circuit I've raced at before, so
I will be expecting a good result.
Last week my main opponent was James
Toseland, but at Phillip Island I think
there will be more riders going for the
wins. I expect the competition to
be tougher but I aim to be right up with
them at the end of both races."
Yukio Kagayama: "Not so
good last weekend but at least I didn't
crash! I had some problems with my
tires and could not push as hard as I
wanted. Phillip Island circuit is
a track many riders like and it's good
for the fans also. I hope to put
my problems behind me and really attack
the circuit. It is a fast, flowing
circuit with many high speed turns - my
kind of circuit! But you must know
exactly what you are doing if you want
to put in fast laps and that's what
makes riding it so enjoyable. My
aim, as always, is to get two podiums."
Phillip Island, Australia
Track length: 4448 m, Opened: 1956
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'31.908 (Troy Bayliss,
2006)
WSB lap record: 1'32.402 (Troy Bayliss,
2006)
Last year WSB winner: Troy Bayliss, Troy
Bayliss (Ducati)
