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► 2010 Motorcycle Racing News

Jonathan Rea, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda
Photo and Text Sources Courtesy of: Aprilia Racing, Ducati Corse,
Suzuki Racing, World Superbike and Yamaha Racing.

Honda and Aprilia Rule Brno

July 11, 2010 - Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) moved an impressive 68 points clear of his nearest challenger after two 20-lap races held in hot and steamy conditions in front of 64,000 fans at Brno.

39-year-old Max has now won ten races at Brno in all classes of competition, but today he had to share top billing with race one winner Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).

The British rider added to his Assen double with a virtual flag-to-flag win, to take his victory tally for 2010 to three.  Biaggi could not do his usual double today and actually started off looking a bit weak in race one, but was peerless in race two, after changing his set-up between races and capitalizing when the track temperature jumped up by almost ten degrees.

The other podium places were shared by Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda) and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), but in the championship fight itself, the fate of Leon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare) in each race had the most effect.

Eighth in race one and tenth in race two for Leon put him on 284 points to Biaggi's class-leading 352.  Rea is now third on 203, Checa (Althea Ducati) is fourth on 189, after finishing ninth and sixth today.

Race 1

Rea ground out a great win, by 2.5 seconds from Biaggi's Aprilia, putting himself back into the spotlight after some tough races in the past few weeks.  His last podium before this had been at Kyalami, back in May.

Rea had been third on the grid, with Biaggi second and pole man Crutchlow rode hard and well to take third place.  Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki Alstare) equaled his best race finish of fourth, while Ruben Xaus (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) had his best result yet on his BMW S 1000 RR in fifth.

Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), fast in early qualifying but 15th after Superpole, recovered well to go sixth, holding off James Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda) who has been suffering from a chest infection at this race.

Jonathan Rea:  "At the start I didn't really know what was going on but I ended up going to the front.  This race win I'd like to dedicate to my team boss, Ronald ten Kate, who is not here with us this weekend.

Today it was like out there on the bike I could do nothing wrong, now I'll go back to the guys and prepare a better bike for race 2 and see what we can do.  I just had to capitalize on Max's weaknesses in some corners, it was a really difficult race out there and very hot.

Max Biaggi:  "We came here on Friday and we didn't really have the same feeling as I had last year so we tried to set up the bike as close as last year's machine.  Basically we improved, but my feeling was not great.  Unfortunately this weekend has been like this, but we will make some modifications for race 2 and hopefully there will be some surprises."

Cal Crutchlow:  "To say I'm disappointed is probably an understatement.  I went into the race with high hopes, the grip yesterday was really good for us and in the heat but as you saw we were struggling with rear grip from the start.  Johnny rode fantastic and rode away from me, and also Max.  I tried my best and that's all I can do."

Race 2

Biaggi found the last one percent of speed he was missing in race one to record his ninth win of the season, giving him a 50% win ratio so far.

Rea was an early leader but finally finished a clear second, 4.6 seconds behind the Italian, after Max eased past, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) third, the only Ducati podium spot of the day.

Two-times champion Toseland made a great recovery from 12th on lap one to fourth, catching and passing Haga with one lap to go.  Checa was sixth, Guintoli seventh and Biaggi's team-mate Leon Camier eighth.

Shane Byrne (Althea Ducati) got ninth, one place up on the luckless Haslam, who now goes to his home race of Silverstone to try and claw back points from Biaggi.  Cal Crutchlow pitted to change a rear tire in race two, and when he went back out he set a new lap record in race conditions, with a 1'59.291.

Max Biaggi:  "Knowing the track quite well here and the passion of the fans in the Czech Republic, we tried something really special and made some changes on the bike, weight distribution and gearbox and the result was very good so I'm happy.  For me it's the tenth victory here, and this is my second home country.  I love this place!"

Jonathan Rea:  "Max did an unbelievable pace, I know how hard it was to hold on to second and he was going away from us, but anyway it's been a good weekend with a 1-2 today.  Thanks for all my team for digging deep this weekend and giving me a package that I could race with."

Michel Fabrizio:  "I hope I can continue this way for the rest of the season, we did a very good result in race 2 especially after the problem I had in the first race.  I had to defend my position of course in the battle with Xaus but I'm pleased to be back on the podium again."

Brno Race Circuit, Czech Republic

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