2006 World Superbike

Race Results
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Yukio Kagayama took his first ever World Superbike double victory at Brno in the Czech Republic today.

In race one he stalked leader James Toseland (Honda) for 14 laps before making his move, and from them on in, he was never headed, taking the checkered flag by nearly four seconds.

Michel Fabrizio (Honda) was on the attack and took third after passing both Noriyuki Haga and Yukio’s team mate Troy Corser in the final two laps: Reigning World Champion Corser suffered grip problems throughout the 20-lapper but still managed to finish fifth just behind Haga.

Kagayama had to work much harder in race two but, after fighting his way up from eighth, he charged past Haga just two laps from the end to take his second win of the day.  Second was Fabrizio, who had been in fourth place on the last lap, but then made an incredible move to barge his way through Haga and Corser with less than two turns remaining.

When Fabrizio made his move, Corser was forced to pick up his bike otherwise he would have collided with Fabrizio and Haga, as he would’ve been taken out as well.  Haga ended up an angry third, with a very frustrated Corser fourth.

Yukio Kagayama - Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 1st:  “I am so happy today and I want to thank my team for all the great work they have done.  Also, thank you to Batta-san, who is not here today, but I hope was watching on TV.  In both races, I had to use patience - and this is not my normal style - but it was worth it.  I was close to Toseland from the start of race one so it was just a case of waiting to make my move at the right time and my plan worked perfectly.

“The second race was much more difficult because I had to pass many riders before I could attack the leader - my friend Nori-chan.  In the closing stages of the race he knew that I was faster than him and he very kindly waved me through.  After that I just concentrated on keeping a good pace and not making any mistakes.  I have always thought of myself as a little crazy, but today I showed another side of Yukio. Maybe this will be my new style for the rest of the season!”.

Troy Corser - Race 1: 5th, Race 2: 4th:  “Considering what position we were in on Friday and even Saturday morning, I guess that a fourth and a fifth is not too bad, but I’m not at all happy.  I had some grip problems in the first race so we changed the balance and front and rear ride height for race two.  It was a bit better but, because it was more or less Yukio’s set-up, it took me a while to get used to it - and by that time the leaders were gone."

"I managed to reel them back in and I thought that I’d get at least a third or maybe a second. I got past Haga and into second, but then Fabrizio came along with a couple of desperate moves.  Honestly, if I hadn’t picked up my bike when he tried to make his move, I would’ve hit him and we’d both gone down, taking Nori with us as he was so close at the time.  There’s racing and there’s desperation.  He’s a young kid, but it could’ve ended very badly.  After I had crossed the line in race two, I was so frustrated that I was sick - but luckily I opened my helmet first!”

World Superbike Results
Race 1: 1 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 2 Toseland (GB-Honda), 3 Fabrizio (I-Honda), 4 Haga (J-Yamaha), 5 Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 6 Nieto (E-Kawasaki), 7 Walker (GB-Kawasaki), 8 Nakatomi (J-Yamaha), 9 Abe (J-Yamaha), 10 Chili (I-Honda). Fabien Foret (F-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) DNF.

Race 2: 1 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 2 Fabrizio, 3 Haga, 4 Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 5 Toseland, 6 Nieto, 7 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda), 8 Bayliss, 9 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 10 Walker. 20 Fabien Foret (F-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra).

Points: 1 Bayliss 262, 2 Haga 189, 3 Toseland 188, 4 Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 173, 5 Barros 151, 6 Pitt 128, 7 Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 106, 8 Lanzi 87, 9 Fabrizio 83, 10 Nieto 81. 18 Fabien Foret (Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) 19.

Qualifying
"Nitro" Noriyuki Haga is on pole for the seventh World Superbike round at Brno in the Czech Republic on July 23, 2006.  This is Haga's first pole since 2002 and this should be an outstanding race because Haga is a fantastic rider.

The Japanese Yamaha Motor Italia ace gunned his YZF-R1 around the fast and flowing circuit in a time of 2:00.457, over half a second quicker than second placed James Toseland (Honda).

Ducati riders Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy Bayliss complete the front row for tomorrow’s race.  It is the third time Haga has won pole position in a world Superbike event and the first pole for his Yamaha Motor Italia team since they moved up to the class at the beginning of 2005.

1 Haga (J-Yamaha) 2:00.457, 2 Toseland (GB-Honda - 2:01.056, 3 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 2'01.073, 4 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 2:01.207, 5. Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2:01.351, 6 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 2:01.453, 7 Pitt (Aus-Yamaha) 2:01.482, 8 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda) 2:01.498, 9 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 2:01.620, 10 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 2:01.799. 11 Fabien Foret (F-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) 2:02.124.

Race Preview
Brno in the Czech Republic is the venue for this weekend's seventh round of the Superbike World Championship, with the Yamaha Motor Italia squad looking forward to the event for a variety of reasons.

The historic circuit was the venue of the team's first world superbike race win last year, when Noriyuki Haga came through from 18th in qualifying to win the second race by over three seconds.  And with team-mate Andrew Pitt going to Czech on the back of his first win in the class in the last race at Misano, the team is understandably relishing the second half of the 2006 championship.

At 5.4km, Brno is the longest circuit on the Superbike calendar.  It is a wide and flowing circuit with grippy tarmac and many elevation changes. 

Suzuki - James Toseland was fastest in the Friday practice with a lap of 2:02.349.

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Yukio Kagayama and Troy Corser took sixth and 12th fastest respectively at today’s opening qualifying for the Brno World Superbike seventh round in the Czech Republic.

With a limited number of good rubber available, both riders did not want to use up their quota and suffer any problems for the rest of the weekend so they plugged away on hard rubber and didn’t push hard for fast lap times.

Team Alstare Engineering Corona Extra rider Fabien Foret got caught out by a sudden downpour at the end of timed qualifying and was not able to go out for a quick lap, ending the session in 18th.

Yukio Kagayama - 6th, 2:02.904:  “I had a good feeling in the morning but the heat in the afternoon meant that the performance level of the tire was lower and I could not go so fast.  Recently we’ve found a new chassis set-up and I am much more comfortable on the bike."

"This setting is very good for race tires but it doesn’t always work so well with qualifying rubber.  Also, my physical condition is much better and that means my results are improving.  Up until Misano, my wrist was maybe up to about 60% only but now it is up to about 90%.  My back is now also ok and finally I can start pushing hard without worrying about pain after five or six laps in a race.”

Yamaha - Noriyuki Haga returned to the scene of one of his finest moments to end first qualifying in fourth position at Brno today.  The Yamaha Motor Italia rider won at the classic Czech circuit last year, despite qualifying way back on the fifth row, and today confirmed his liking of the circuit by putting his YZF-R1 on the provisional front row for Sunday's race.

A combination of high temperatures and residue left from car racing meant that the riders struggled for grip on the dirty surface and struggled to match their times from last month's three-day test at the same venue.  Haga's best lap of the day was 2:02.904, over a second slower than his best time on race tyres at last month's test, but just half-a-second behind provisional pole man James Toseland (Honda).

A heavy shower with just minutes of the session remaining meant that team-mate Andrew Pitt was unable to make what he expected to be his fastest lap of the day. The Australian, winner last time out in Misano, ended the day in 13th position. Despite his lower than expected position, the former supersport world champion was happy with his day's work, having made small but important improvements to his YZF-R1's settings and completing a race simulation.

Final qualifying for Sunday's two-race seventh round takes place tomorrow.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia):  "Fourth is ok but really I am not so happy.  The grip levels are much lower than when we tested here.  I think that there have been cars racing on the circuit and they have left some rubber on the track.  We only have three different tyres to choose from and I tried the soft and medium ones.  The soft was sliding around like a qualifier after a few laps and the feeling was also not so good with the medium.  I am surprised because I usually have a good feeling with the bike and the tyres.  We can try some things for tomorrow but I think that the heavy rain will change the surface anyway.  Maybe that will be better or maybe it will be worse.  We have to wait and find out."

Friday Qualifying: 1 Toseland (GB-Honda) 2:02.349, 2 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 2:202.723, 3 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 2:02.847, 4 Haga (J-Yamaha) 2:02.904, 5 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda) 2:03.058, 6 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2:03.107, 7 Fabrizio (I-Honda) 2:03.112, 8 Walker (GB-Kawasaki) 2:03.178, 9 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 2:03.389, 10 Martin (Aus-Petronas) 2:03.408. 12 Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2:03.475. 18 Fabien Foret (F-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) 2:04.136.

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