World Superbike News

Troy Bayliss on the Ducati Xerox, won both races at the Assen TT circuit in the Netherlands this weekend.

Bayliss took the lead from Yukio Kagayama who made a mistake a third of the way through race one, leaving a gap big enough for the Ducati rider to sneak into the front.

Carlos Checa took the second position on the Ten Kate Honda in a battle to the finish with Max Neukirchner on the Suzuki Alstare.

Kagayama finally took the fourth spot ahead of Troy Corser on the Yamaha Motor Italia machine.

Bayliss, who’s tyres started to deteriorate in the final laps of race one said “I’m very happy with the way it turned out.  I made a really good start but it’s a long time to be out there by yourself.  I was looking around more than normal but I wanted to see where Carlos was.”

In the last round at Valencia, Checa took Neukirchner out of the race and didn’t want a repeat of the incident, he said “I have thought about what happened in Valencia.  My front tyre was not so good but when I saw a place when I could pass Max I went past him.”

Jakub Smrz on the Ducati Guandalini made a late charge and finished in sixth place followed by Kiyonari in seventh and Tamada in eighth place.  Tenth place went to Max Biaggi on the Sterilgarda Ducati

In race two, Bayliss led from the start although pushed lap after lap by Haga, who was never quite able to pass him.

Checa took the final step on the podium after making a strong recovery after a disastrous start and overtook Xaus on the final lap.

Neukirchner took the fifth spot ahead of teammate Kagayama and Gregorio Lavilla on the Honda.  Smrz finished in eighth position in front of Tamada.

A disappointing weekend for Biaggi who only managed to take twelfth place in race two, while Fabrizio retired.

Bayliss said “It’s been an incredible weekend, pole and two race wins on the last time I’m going to ride around Assen in a race that’s for sure.  That was such a hard race to control it like I did, because Nori is so strong.  I did all the tricks I could use in the last few laps to hold him off and was lucky enough to get it.  I used a harder tyre in the second race and my laps times are a lot more consistent so that was a good choice for sure.  I think these guys here with me are my main contenders for the year at the moment.”

Troy Bayliss now leads the World Superbike Championship by 178 points while the Spaniard Carlos Checa moved into second position after his two podium finishes at Assen.

Here are the race results:

Superbike Race one results

1. Troy Bayliss (Aus) Ducati 36:50.907;

2. Carlos Checa (Esp) Honda 36:53.039;

3. Max Neukirchner (Ger) Suzuki 36:53.086;

4. Yukio Kagayama (Jpn) Suzuki 37:01.826;

5. Troy Corser (Aus) Yamaha 37:01.958;

6. Jakub Smrz (Cze) Ducati 37:02.886;

7. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Jpn) Honda 37:06.091;

8. Makoto Tamada (Jpn) Kawasaki 37:09.302;

9. Gregorio Lavilla (Esp) Honda 37:09.541;

10. Max Biaggi (Ita) Ducati 37:11.606;

11. Regis Laconi (Fra) Kawasaki 37:16.666;

12. Kenan Sofuoglu (Tur) Honda 37:16.971

Race two results

1. Troy Bayliss (Aus) Ducati 36:46.238;

2. Noriyuki Haga (Jpn) Yamaha 36:46.320;

3. Carlos Checa (Esp) Honda 36:52.574;

4. Ruben Xaus (Esp) Ducati 36:53.813;

5. Max Neukirchner (Ger) Suzuki 36:54.249;

6. Yukio Kagayama (Jpn) Suzuki 37:00.237;

7. Gregorio Lavilla (Esp) Honda 37:01.453;

8. Jakub Smrz (Cze) Ducati 37:02.614;

9. Makoto Tamada (Jpn) Kawasaki 37:03.507;

10. Troy Corser (Aus) Yamaha 37:04.618;

11. Fonsi Nieto (Esp) Suzuki 37:05.164;

12. Max Biaggi (Ita) Ducati 37:07.690

Championship standings

1. Troy Bayliss (Aus) Ducati 178pts;

2. Carlos Checa (Esp) Honda 108;

3. Troy Corser (Aus) Yamaha 89;

4. Fonsi Nieto (Esp) Suzuki 85;

5. Ruben Xaus (Esp) Ducati 81;

6. Noriyuki Haga (Jpn) Yamaha 67;

7. Max Neukirchner (Ger) Suzuki 66;

8. Max Biaggi (Ita) Ducati 54;