Max Biaggi - Aprilia 2010

Max Biaggi won both races this weekend for the Aprilia team at the Miller Motorsports Park in Utah while his team-mate Leon Camier made it onto the podium after his best finish so far this season.

Race One

It was Carlos Checa on the Althea Ducati that dominated race one from the start, fighting off a challenging Max Biaggi midway through the race to gain an advantage of almost three seconds.

As the race got underway, it was Leon Camier that managed to squeeze his machine between the Ducati of ChecaBiaggi and his team-mate to slot into second place but only until the next corner when Checa breezed past.  Checa was then on the tail of Biaggi who had taken the lead after a fantastic start but by the second lap Checa went around the outside of the Italian to take his position at the front of the field.

With only two laps of the race left to run and with a comfortable lead over Biaggi, Checa’s Ducati came to a standstill out on circuit, leaving the Spaniard with no option but to park up his bike and return to the pits.

Biaggi crossed the line to take the chequered flag ahead of Leon Haslam who had battled his way back through the field from ninth place after a poor start and with a smoking Ducati ahead of him.  Haslam had been sat behind Jakub Smrz on PATA B&G Racing Ducati when smoke began bellowing out of the bike causing Haslam to inform the marshall’s of the problem which appeared to have gone unnoticed by Smrz.

Haslam was fortunate to be gifted a further two places after Jonathan Rea on the Ten Kate Honda suffered another off following his accident in Superpole and took Cal Crutchlow on the Yamaha Sterilgarda with him.  Both riders managed to make their way back on track but were then at the back of the field.

The Alstare Suzuki rider was now up to sixth position and chasing down Noriyuki Haga on the Ducati Xerox and Checa, passing both riders in an impressive move.  Haga followed Haslam through and the pair were soon harassing Camier who was sitting in third place but Camier held his line leaving until lap 16  when he ran wide allowing  the pair to take advantage of the flying Aprilia.

Biaggi crossed the line to take the chequered flag ahead of Haslam in second and Haga in third.  Leon Camier claimed fourth followed by Troy Corser in fifth, Shane Byrne in sixth, Luca Scassa in seventh, Sylvain Guintoli in eighth, James Toseland in ninth and Ruben Xaus rounding off the top ten riders.

Here are the results;

1. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 38mins 20.442secs 21 laps
2. Leon Haslam GBR Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +4.931s
3. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198 +6.432s
4. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +8.576s
5. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +11.150s
6. Shane Byrne GBR Althea Ducati 1198 +11.243s
7. Luca Scassa ITA Team Supersonic Ducati 1198 +12.432s
8. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +15.145s
9. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 +16.091s
10. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR +16.502s
11. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 +18.719s
12. Max Neukirchner GER Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +24.285s
13. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +36.479s
14. Jonathan Rea GBR Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +39.700s
15. Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +41.263s

19. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1198 19 laps completed
20. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198 1 lap completed
21. Jakub Smrz CZE PATA B&G Racing Ducati 1198 0 laps completed

Race Two

Max Biaggi is now leading the World Superbike championship after winning the second race of the day for the Aprilia team.

It was Carlos Checa that once again looked as if he would dominate the race as he out-breaked the Aprilia rider into turn one to take the lead.  Biaggi sat in second position followed by Troy Corser in third from fifteenth position on the grid with Leon Camier in fourth place ahead of Ruben Xaus in fifth.

Leon Haslam had been forced back to tenth place after being pushed aside as the field headed into the first set of bends.  By the second lap, Corser had made a gap of over a second between himself and Biaggi but by lap seven, bad luck had once again stuck the Althea rider as he incurred further technical problems with his bike and was out of the race as he coasted to a halt.

Biaggi was now leading for the second time in two races while behind Leon Haslam had fought his way past James Toseland, Noriyuki Haga, Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus to slot into fifth place.  As Haslam began to close on the leading riders disaster struck as the Suzuki rider high-sided after making an error and was out of the race.

Corser was now in second place with Leon Camier in third and Cal Crutchlow in fourth but as the race developed the BMW of Corser began to lose pace allowing Camier to close in on him and move into second on lap 13 with Crutchlow following on the next lap.

Biaggi crossed the line to take the flag for the second time followed by Camier with his best finish so far this season, making it a 1-2 for the Aprilia team. Crutchlow grabbed the third step of the podium in third ahead of Noriyuki Haga in fourth, Corser in fifth, Sylvain Guintoli in sixth, Shane Byrne in seventh, Jonathan Rea in eighth, Michel Fabrizio in ninth and Luca Scassa in tenth.

James Toseland crashed out on lap 15 of the race after losing the front end of his Yamaha Sterilgarda when he came out of one corner too fast leaving him no time to slow down for the next.

Here are the results;

1. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 21 laps
2. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +5.899s
3. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 +7.363s
4. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198 +8.842s
5. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +9.473s
6. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +12.293s
7. Shane Byrne GBR Althea Ducati 1198 +12.483s
8. Jonathan Rea GBR Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +15.959s
9. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198 +18.897s
10. Luca Scassa ITA Team Supersonic Ducati 1198 +20.372s
11. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR +26.823s
12. Max Neukirchner GER Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +30.344s
13. Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +33.337s
14. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +38.772s
15. Broc Parkes AUS Echo-CRS Honda CBR1000RR +44.994s

16. Jakub Smrz CZE PATA B&G Racing Ducati 1198 18 laps completed
17. Matteo Baiocco ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 15 laps completed
18. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 14 laps completed
19. Roger Lee Hayden USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 12 laps completed
20. Leon Haslam GBR Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 7 laps completed
21. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1198 7 laps completed

World Superbikes - Brno 2009

According to reports Yoshimura Suzuki will not be taking part in the MFJ National series for 2010 and have instead opted to race in the World Superbike series.

Although it has been said that Suzuki team would not be taking part in the Japan Superbike series, the team intend to continue with their current American racing program involving Tommy Hayden and Blake Young.

At a meeting last week, Yoshimura said that the decision by the company to withdraw from the Japanese series was entirely down to the dissatisfaction with the direction of the Japanese Superbike series, and is independent of the events going on in the DMG-run AMA Pro series – despite their apparent similarity.