World Superbike News

Michel Fabrizio

Last weekend, round 5 of the World Superbike Championship took place at Monza in Italy with Michel Fabrizio claiming his debut win of the season in race 1.

Race One

A huge crash brought out the red flag at the first corner in race one as Makoto Tamada on the Paul Bird Kawasaki touched the back of Brendan Roberts Guandalini Ducati.  As Tamada went down, the Guandalini machine and rider went onto the grass before sliding across the track, wiping out Max Neukirchner on the Suzuki Alstare.

Behind this, Tommy Hill on the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda and Troy Corser on the BMW had a coming together with Hill’s bike seen flying up into the air before coming down again in flames.

Neukirchner was taken to hospital with a broken femur and dislocated right foot while Tamada suffered a broken wrist.  Roberts was also taken to hospital as a precaution where he had x-rays taken but was diagnosed with heavy bruising .

Neukirchner has since undergone a six-hour operation to repair the broken bone in his right leg and remains in hospital.

Corser was winded in the carnage on track but eventually made it back to the grid for the restart only to be caught up in a further incident in the restart.  It was decided that he would take no further part in the weekends racing to give his body time to recover.

At the restart, Noriyuki Haga on the Ducati Xerox machine took the lead but by the first corner it was his team-mate Michel Fabrizio that was in front.

Second Ducati rider Ben Spies was in third ahead of Max Biaggi on the Aprilia RSV4 and Yukio Kagayama on the Suzuki Alstare.

On lap 4, Fabizio ran wide allowing Spies and Kagayama through with Spies also passing Haga as he got in his slipstream.  Fabrizio soon re-passed his team-mate with 10 laps still to run and setting a new lap record.

As Fabrizio and Haga continued to race, even making contact in their attempts before Fabrizio passed Spies with three laps remaining, even managing a little wave.  However, a lap later Fabrizio ran wide as he approached turn one, letting Spies and Haga in front.

On the penultimate lap, Fabrizio once again passed Haga as Spies pulled over to the side of the track as he ran out of fuel, finally finishing in fifteenth place.

Here are the results;
1 2 84 M.FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 18 1′45.336 322,6 1′44.270 319,4 25 105 3
2 5 41 N.HAGA JPN Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 18 0.239 1′45.522 319,4 1′45.096 311,2 20 200 1
3 3 9 R. KIYONARI JPN Ten Kate Honda Racing Honda CBR1000RR 18 8.175 1′45.671 318,3 1′44.642 318,3 16 49 11
4 8 71 Y. KAGAYAMA JPN Suzuki Alstare BRUX Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 18 11.001 1′46.244 321,5 1′45.861 323,6 13 52 10
5 6 65 J. REA GBR HANNspree Ten Kate HondHaonda CBR1000RR 18 12.447 1′45.884 319,4 1′45.170 318,3 11 64 9
6 10 66 T. SYKES GBR Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 18 13.693 1′46.006 319,4 1′45.383 317,3 10 80 5
7 14 111 R. XAUS ESP BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 18 19.172 1′46.363 323,6 1′46.571 316,3 9 33 16
8 12 55 R. LACONI FRA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 18 24.989 1′46.885 314,2 1′45.663 315,2 8 72 7
9 9 7 C. CHECA ESP HANNspree Ten Kate HondHaonda CBR1000RR 18 26.930 1′46.339 318,3 1′45.166 323,6 7 47 13
10 13 23 B. PARKES AUS Kawasaki World Superbike RK.aTw. asaki ZX 10R 18 27.418 1′46.657 315,2 1′46.368 322,6 6 14 18
11P 7 3 M.BIAGGI ITA Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 18 27.752 1′46.073 320,4 1′45.605 325,8 5 70 8
12 20 96 J. SMRZ CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 18 29.545 1′46.433 321,5 1′46.522 316,3 4 48 12
13 16 56 S. NAKANO JPN Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 18 30.952 1′47.117 314,2 1′46.928 316,3 3 30 17
14 15 67 S. BYRNE GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 18 31.414 1′47.113 316,3 1′46.593 316,3 2 41 14
15 1 19 B. SPIES USA Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 18 36.998 1′45.446 318,3 1′44.073 316,3 1 121 2
16 19 31 K. MUGGERIDGE AUS Celani Race Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 18 42.732 1′47.005 310,2 1′46.407 308,2 4 21
17 24 15 M.BAIOCCO ITA PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX 10R 18 48.835 1′47.805 311,2 1′47.220 311,2 2 24
18 25 98 J. ZEMKE USA Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR1000RR 18 48.888 1′47.899 306,3 1′47.751 310,2
19 27 25 D.SALOM ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 18 50.612 1′47.904 308,2 1′47.963 312,2
20 21 33 T. HILL GBR Honda Althea Racing Honda CBR1000RR 18 51.706 1′47.939 313,2 1′47.032 314,2 6 20
21 28 77 V. IANNUZZO ITA Squadra Corse Italia Honda CBR1000RR 18 55.510 1′48.043 312,2 1′48.063 318,3
22 26 94 D. CHECA ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 IpoYnaemaha YZF R1 18 58.214 1′47.135 305,3 1′47.868 309,2
23 18 99 L. SCASSA ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 18 1′01.130 1′46.730 310,2 1′46.372 310,2 1 26
24 29 88 R. RESCH AUT TKR Suzuki Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 18 1′16.850 1′48.904 306,3 1′48.810 302,5

Not Classified
RET 17 91 L. HASLAM GBR Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR1000RR 17 1 Lap 1′46.406 315,2 1′46.250 315,2 94 4
RET 11 11 T. CORSER AUS BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 0 1′45.543 318,3 35 15

Race Two

Ben Spies took the victory in the second race of the weekend almost 2 seconds ahead of race one winner Michel Fabrizio and Ryuichi Kiyonari on the Ten Kate Honda in third.

Noriyuki Haga was hit by a bird at the beginning of the race seeing him go down at the Parabolica and suffering  muscle laceration and a badly bruised right arm.

As Spies led the field of riders followed by Fabrizio, Kagayama and Rea, Kiyonari began to close in on the four front runners.  Kiyonari passed his team-mate Jonathan Rea while Kagayama was given a ride-through penalty.

Max Biaggi on the Apilia finally got past Britain’s Tom Sykes on the Yamaha World Superbike after the pair battled for that fifth position with Leon Haslam in seventh, despite starting in seventeenth on the grid.

It has since been announced that Troy Corser will now be replace at the next round of the WSB Championship in Kyalami by Steve Martin.  The team decided that after Corser’s double crash at Monza, it would be better to give his battered and bruised body time to recuperate fully ready for the Miller Motorsport Park race at the end of May.

It has also been revealed that Fonsi Nieto will be the replacement rider in South Africa for the injured Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner.

Here are the results:

1 1 19 B. SPIES USA Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 18 1′45.344 314,2 1′44.073 316,3 1 25 146 2
2 2 84 M.FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 18 2.665 1′45.527 320,4 1′44.270 319,4 25 20 125 3
3 3 9 R. KIYONARI JPN Ten Kate Honda Racing Honda CBR1000RR 18 2.810 1′45.532 318,3 1′44.642 318,3 16 16 65 10
4 6 65 J. REA GBR HANNspree Ten Kate HondHaonda CBR1000RR 18 7.706 1′45.876 320,4 1′45.170 318,3 11 13 77 8
5 7 3 M.BIAGGI ITA Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 18 7.863 1′45.791 325,8 1′45.605 325,8 5 11 81 6
6 10 66 T. SYKES GBR Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 18 10.383 1′46.036 318,3 1′45.383 317,3 10 10 90 5
7 17 91 L. HASLAM GBR Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR1000RR 18 11.586 1′45.602 315,2 1′46.250 315,2 9 103 4
8 20 96 J. SMRZ CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 18 21.112 1′46.336 322,6 1′46.522 316,3 4 8 56 11
9 14 111 R. XAUS ESP BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 18 22.112 1′46.517 317,3 1′46.571 316,3 9 7 40 15
10 9 7 C. CHECA ESP HANNspree Ten Kate HondHaonda CBR1000RR 18 22.261 1′46.395 321,5 1′45.166 323,6 7 6 53 12
11 12 55 R. LACONI FRA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 18 23.453 1′46.632 312,2 1′45.663 315,2 8 5 77 7
12 16 56 S. NAKANO JPN Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 18 32.956 1′46.792 316,3 1′46.928 316,3 3 4 34 17
13 13 23 B. PARKES AUS Kawasaki World Superbike RK.aTw. asaki ZX 10R 18 37.166 1′46.504 318,3 1′46.368 322,6 6 3 17 18
14 18 99 L. SCASSA ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 18 43.085 1′47.236 315,2 1′46.372 310,2 2 3 24
15 24 15 M.BAIOCCO ITA PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX 10R 18 43.088 1′47.445 314,2 1′47.220 311,2 1 3 25
16 21 33 T. HILL GBR Honda Althea Racing Honda CBR1000RR 18 43.825 1′47.538 314,2 1′47.032 314,2 6 20
17 8 71 Y. KAGAYAMA JPN Suzuki Alstare BRUX Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 18 53.211 1′45.913 321,5 1′45.861 323,6 13 52 13
18P 15 67 S. BYRNE GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 18 1′00.917 1′46.721 315,2 1′46.593 316,3 2 41 14
19 26 94 D. CHECA ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 IpoYnaemaha YZF R1 18 1′17.915 1′46.967 307,3 1′47.868 309,2
20 25 98 J. ZEMKE USA Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR1000RR 18 1′28.545 1′48.319 306,3 1′47.751 310,2
21 27 25 D.SALOM ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 18 1′29.016 1′48.348 312,2 1′47.963 312,2

Not Classified
RET 29 88 R. RESCH AUT TKR Suzuki Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 17 1 Lap 1′48.072 307,3 1′48.810 302,5
RET 28 77 V. IANNUZZO ITA Squadra Corse Italia Honda CBR1000RR 5 13 Laps 1′47.485 295,1 1′48.063 318,3
RET 19 31 K. MUGGERIDGE AUS Celani Race Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 3 15 Laps 1′47.727 310,2 1′46.407 308,2 4 21
RET 5 41 N.HAGA JPN Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 2 16 Laps 1′47.858 296,0 1′45.096 311,2 20 200 1
NS 11 11 T. CORSER AUS BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 1′45.543 318,3 35 16