2008 World Superbike Championship Round 10 - Brands Hatch

Race Results
August 03, 2008 - Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) crowned a triumphant week of racing with two sensational wins in the tenth round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship at Brands Hatch.

"Rio" won in front of 97,000 spectators, just a few days after also winning the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in Japan.

The 25 year-old reigning British Superbike champion got the better of Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) in race 1, before completing a day of triumph with a second win over Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) in race 2.

Race 1
Bayliss led for most of the race with Kiyonari right behind but the Honda man passed the points leader on lap 22 and held on for the win.

Second place went to Bayliss and third to Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), who was the fastest rider on the track in the final stages after making up more than 3 seconds on the leaders in eight laps.

At the flag Kiyonari, Bayliss and Biaggi were separated by two-tenths. Two Suzukis were next up, with Yukio Kagayama fourth and Fonsi Nieto fifth, while Max Neukirchner finished seventh after being passed by Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) towards the end.

It was a disappointing race for the factory Yamaha team, with Troy Corser only managing eighth and Noriyuki Haga crashing out while fighting for the top positions. British wild-card Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) was also running well but had to retire with a holed radiator while in third.

It was a disappointing race for Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) in twelfth, while Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) was weakened by flu and failed to take the start.

Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda): "I am very happy today, I started badly in the early laps but my bike had a really good set-up so I could keep lapping in 1m26s laps. Then I pushed and pushed and finally I got the win."

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox): "I was feeling quite comfortable for most of the race and everything was working quite well, but I haven't actually spent much time racing with Kiyonari and wasn't sure how it was going to pan out.

He was very strong on the first split and when he came past I would have been very happy for second, but when he did I realized he was in the same trouble as me. Then I saw Max coming so fast and had to push really hard and it became a bit of a dogfight towards the end."

Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati): "I'm quite satisfied with the result. I started good then went backwards as some other riders came through. The first laps were very hard, then I got into a good rhythm and overtook one by one. At the end I couldn't believe I came close to these two guys, but there was not enough time to try and take Troy or Kiyonari, but it was a good race."

Race 2
The second race also had a Japanese flavor about it as Kiyonari powered ahead to win from Haga after a race-long battle. The final podium slot went to Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who ran a steady race but was unable to challenge the top pair, while Neukirchner scored a good result in fourth.

The German finished ahead of his team-mate Nieto, who passed Fabrizio on the last lap, while Sykes this time managed to hold off Checa for seventh. Bayliss was out of luck after changing to a different compound for race 2 and could only finish eleventh, one place ahead of Biaggi, who dropped down to 28th position in the early stages after an off-track excursion.

Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda): "I'm very happy with this weekend. On Friday I was in first position in qualifying, then yesterday I set a good time in Superpole. It was the same today, with fast lap times and a double win. I had a lot of pressure with Nori behind me and many times I made a mistake but to win here at Brands Hatch was fantastic today."

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB): "I'm very happy for this result because in the first race the rear tire was not so good and I was very disappointed. In the second race I just changed it and this tire gave quite a good feeling. I make a battle with Kiyo but he was faster than me in some places and finally I was not able to catch him, but we made a really good race. Congratulations for Kiyo!"

Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB): "It was better than the first race, when we had a few tire troubles but we made some changes to the bike which definitely improved it but there was no way I could run the pace of the guys at the front. They just pulled away. I had a bit of a battle with Bayliss and it took me a few laps to get past him, but I'm content with third. It'll do for now, but I'm looking forward to winning races again!"

2008 World Superbike Great Britain - Brands Hatch August 3, 2008

Race 1 - 25 Laps

1 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 36'18.607

2 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'0.137

3 Max Biaggi Ducati ITA 0'0.180

4 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'5.733

5 Fonsi Nieto Suzuki ESP 0'6.499

6 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'6.984

7 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'8.300

8 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'10.732

9 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'16.547

10 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'16.569

11 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'18.366

12 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'22.308

13 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 0'26.788

14 Gregorio Lavilla Honda ESP 0'26.856

15 Chris Walker Honda GBR 0'32.877

17 David Checa Yamaha ESP 0'46.868

19 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'58.986

Race 2 - 25 Laps

1 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 36'14.904

2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'1.848

3 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'8.883

4 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'11.180

5 Fonsi Nieto Suzuki ESP 0'12.928

6 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'13.696

7 Tom Sykes Suzuki GBR 0'13.872

8 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'14.009

9 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'19.065

10 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'19.864

11 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'20.479

12 Max Biaggi Ducati ITA 0'20.479

13 Gregorio Lavilla Honda ESP 0'20.722

14 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'24.512

15 Chris Walker Honda GBR 0'32.090

19 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 0'35.382

20 David Checa Yamaha ESP 0'44.866

Best Lap

Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 1'26.560

Rider Standings as of August 3, 2008

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points

1. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 334

2. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 252

3. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 242

4. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 233

5. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 230

6. Fonsi Nieto Suzuki ESP 183

7. Max Biaggi Ducati ITA 166

8. Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 165

9. Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 161

10. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 148

11. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 109

12. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 94

13. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 91

14. Gregorio Lavilla Honda ESP 83

15. Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 64

20. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 29

24. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 7

25. David Checa Yamaha ESP 7

Manufacturer Standings as of August 3, 2008

1. Ducati 403

2. Yamaha 345

3. Suzuki 303

4. Honda 297

5. Kawasaki 64

►Race Preview

2008 World Superbike Great Britain - Brands Hatch August 2, 2008

Superpole - Qualifying

1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'25.656

2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'25.679

3 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 1'25.840

4 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'25.960

5 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'26.021

6 Tom Sykes Suzuki GBR 1'26.166

7 Max Biaggi Ducati ITA 1'26.169

8 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'26.226

9 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'26.501

10 Fonsi Nieto Suzuki ESP 1'26.688

11 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'26.751

12 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 1'26.807

13 Gregorio Lavilla Honda ESP 1'27.148

14 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'27.217

15 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'27.246

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