2008 World Superbike Championship Round 9 - Brno

2008 World Superbike, Round 9 - Brno, Czech Republic - July 20, 2008

Race Results
Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) bounced back to the winner's podium after a gap of eight races with a dominant double victory at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic.

The points leader took his seventh and eighth wins of the season in front of 63,000 spectators, and this was the fifteenth time the Australian has picked up the ‘double'.

The ninth round of the season also saw great performances by his team-mate Michel Fabrizio, twice on the podium, and by Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), third in race 2, while Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) was also in good form in the two races.

Race 1
After starting from pole, Bayliss took the lead on lap 12 and then powered to the checkered flag after setting the fastest lap of the race three from the end.  Second place went to Corser after a great race in which he kept Bayliss under pressure until the final stages.

The final podium slot went to Fabrizio, who passed Biaggi on the last lap after an exciting duel with his fellow Italian. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate) brought the first Honda home, the Japanese rider confirming his excellent Superpole performance with fifth place.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) managed to salvage a good result with sixth place after a difficult two days, finishing ahead of two other riders fighting for the title, Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) and Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).  Checa's team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu did well to finish in tenth, while rookie Niccolò Canepa (Ducati Xerox) notched up his first Superbike points.

Troy Bayliss:  "It's been a while since I won and Brno has been up and down for me in the past so I'm happy to take a win.  I was struggling a bit at the start to stay with everyone, but my bike just didn't get any worse and I continually got to grips with it and got a better feel throughout the race and felt very at ease towards the end."

Troy Corser:  "I'm reasonably happy, the bike was working well for the first half of the race and then the rear tire just dropped a little bit and I lost a few tenths.  When Troy came past I tried to go with him but he did seem to have a bit more grip coming out of the corners, other than that we were pretty even.  I pushed as hard as I could to try and stay with him, but didn't want to throw away second like I did in America."

Michel Fabrizio: "It was a great race, I was a bit off the pace half-way through the race but when I got back into the rhythm immediately after, I went to catch Max and passed him on the last lap.  I had made a couple of attempts to pass him in the previous laps but this time I made it stick."

Race 2
Bayliss again went on to pick up the win in race 2, on a track that has always proved to be difficult for Ducati in the past.  Thanks to these wins, the Australian has increased his championship lead to 79 points over Neukirchner, fifth at the flag.

Fabrizio and Biaggi put on a terrific battle for the runner-up slot, which eventually went to the Xerox team rider with another passing move on the last lap. Fourth went to Corser, after the Australian had led for the first half of the race, and Kiyonari again had another good run to finish sixth.  Checa retired with a mechanical problem, while Haga finished in seventh place after starting last from the pit lane on his second R1 machine.

Troy Bayliss:  "Obviously I'm very happy with how the results have turned out, it's really great for me in the championship, but today I rode two really good races.  I was feeling quite confident but Corser was setting a good pace until two-thirds distance, so then I thought it was time to go.  It took quite a while and then in the end the guys behind were coming fast, but I didn't have many laps to do and relaxed a bit."

Michel Fabrizio: "These two races were really good for me, this one maybe even better than the first.  Unfortunately I again lost touch half-way through and was unable to stay with the other guys.  I don't know why because my 1098 was perfect and towards the end I began to set some good times again."

Max Biaggi: "Fabrizio was my shadow today!  It was very tough here, but I tried my best and in the last lap he came so close and overtook me.  I tried to come back and was desperate braking on the last corner.  Third place is good however, I rode in the top group all the time.  Hopefully things will be better next race, but this is a good result."

Qualifying
The second qualifying session of the weekend, held this morning, saw all three Ducati Xerox riders improve on the times they set yesterday, to qualify for Superpole in third (Bayliss), seventh (Fabrizio) and eighth place (Canepa).

Superpole was action packed from the offset, with an immediate flying lap by Kiyonari, the first rider out, which really set the pace, as the next seven riders to exit were unable to beat his fast time.

Niccolo' Canepa, participating in his very first Superpole here this afternoon, was the first of the three Ducati Xerox riders to go out and completed a near perfect lap to take eventual sixth place on tomorrow's grid.

Michel Fabrizio followed him out, beating the times set by the entire field up until that point. The final group of three riders included Troy Bayliss who really made his Superpole lap count to take pole position for the fourth time this season.

Troy Bayliss 1m58.3s:  "Brno has always been something of a bogey track for me but I hope that this weekend we are finally turning that around.  The new surface of the track has really improved the grip which is great news.

This morning went well and then in Superpole this afternoon, when I saw Corser's time, I knew I was going to have to put in a really fast lap to be able to beat it and I managed that, but then Max (Biaggi) went out and I was worried he might in turn beat me.

I hope tomorrow stays dry and then we'll see but I have to say it would be pretty special to have a win here this time around."

Michel Fabrizio 1m58.8s:  "It's a circuit that I really like and so I'm happy to get a place on the first row here.  We have to see tomorrow whether I can make the good start that I need to really be in the running.  We did a long-run this morning and it seemed to go ok but it's obviously going to be hard tomorrow and I'll no doubt have to fight once again against the two Troys and Biaggi!"

Yamaha Team Report
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) missed out on his 43rd career Superpole win by a mere 0.106 seconds at the 5.403km Brno circuit today, with only his fellow Australian Troy Bayliss able to beat his time.

The fight for the new absolute track record was played out in warm and dry conditions and on qualifying tires. Corser set a 1'58.451 to take what looked like an unbeatable time, only for Bayliss to fight back.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) worked hard in session with the team but could not find a set-up that allowed his proven talents at Brno to shine and he now starts the races on Sunday from the third row of the grid, 12th overall.

Troy Corser (2nd - 1'58.451 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team):  "It was a shame not to win Superpole when we all put so much effort in but the main thing is that we have a front row start for the races.  We have a good set-up for race day and I think we can make our tires go race distance at a good pace. We did a good race run this afternoon so it's all feeling very positive. We have made real improvements in the bike since our last test."

Noriyuki Haga (12th - 1'59.571 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team):  "We have had a bit of a problem finding a good set up in some areas, but we have improved there, only to find a few smaller problems in another area.  We have improved the feeling and tomorrow we can try another setting in a good direction, and we will see how things are after warm-up.  We have already decided on a tire for the race tomorrow, and I think we can find a better race pace than we can do in one single lap of qualifying, which is really important."

Suzuki Team Report
Team Suzuki Alstare rider Fonsi Nieto finished seventh quickest in Superpole and will start tomorrow's pair of 20-lap World Superbike Championship races at Brno from the second row of the grid.

His team mate Yukio Kagayama is just behind on row three, with Max Neukirchner alongside him.

Ducatis dominated the front row of the grid with Troy Bayliss taking his fourth Superpole of the year. His fellow countryman Troy Corser (Yamaha) is second with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) third and Max Biaggi (Ducati) fourth.

2008 World Superbike Czech Republic - Brno Qualifying July 19, 2008

Circuit Length: 5,403. Weather: Sunny

1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'58.345

2 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'58.451

3 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 1'58.853

4 Max Biaggi Ducati ITA 1'59.069

5 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 1'59.318

6 Niccolo Canepa Ducati ITA 1'59.324

7 Fonsi Nieto Suzuki ESP 1'59.360

8 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'59.451

9 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'59.497

10 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'59.537

11 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'59.545

12 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'59.571

13 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'59.587

14 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'59.639

15 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 2'0.306

►Race Preview

Team Alstare Suzuki riders Yukio Kagayama, Fonsi Nieto and Max Neukirchner are aiming for victory at this weekend's World Superbike Championship ninth round at Brno in the Czech Republic.

It's one of the best-loved circuits on the calendar and is a demanding 5.503 kilometer track providing a stern test for all riders.  Last year, Kagayama took a superb third place in the first race and will be hoping for more of the same this weekend.  Recently the track has been resurfaced and the grip improved so the first day of practice and qualifying will be new territory for all riders and technicians.

Max Neukirchner:  "Brno is not so far away and I suppose it's almost like second 'home race' for me and I expect a lot of German race fans there.  It is a tough track but a good track and it has a lot of variety and I like that.  It was good to win in the last round at Misano and now I'd like to keep up my momentum with another win in Brno."

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