World Superbike News

The Ducati Xerox rider Noriyuki Haga, dominated both races this weekend at the third round of the World Superbike Championship in Valencia.

Race 1

Max Neukirchner on the Suzuki Alstare took the lead until lap 3 when he was passed by Haga while Superpole winner Ben Spies on the Yamaha WSB crashed out on lap 10.

The American finally passed Regis Laconi on the Ducati to move into third place but while battling to pass Neukirchner, he made a mistake and was seen sliding the R1 across the circuit and out of the race.

Haga’s team-mate Michel Fabrizio followed to take second place followed by Neukirchner in third for the final step on the podium. Laconi finished in fourth ahead of Leon Haslam on the Stiggy Honda and Yukio Kagayama on the Suzuki Alstare.

Here are the results;

1 – Noriyuki Haga – Ducati Xerox Team – 36′44.766

2 – Michel Fabrizio – Ducati Xerox Team – 36′48.443

3 – Max Neukirchner – Suzuki Alstare BRUX – 36′48.725

4 – Régis Laconi – DFX Corse – 36′48.976

5 – Leon Haslam – Stiggy Racing Honda – 36′58.590

6 – Yukio Kagayama – Suzuki Alstare BRUX – 36′59.328

7 – Tom Sykes – Yamaha WSB – 36′59.921

8 – Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing – 37′01.082

9 – Shane Byrne – Sterilgarda – 37′05.127

10 – Broc Parkes – Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. – 37′08.644

11 – John Hopkins – Stiggy Racing Honda – 37′15.668

12 – Ryuichi Kiyonari – Ten Kate Honda Racing – 37′16.064

13 – Ruben Xaus – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – 37′17.426

14 – Makoto Tamada – Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. – 37′26.922

15 – Tommy Hill – Honda Althea Racing – 37′27.806

16 – Karl Muggeridge – Celani Race – 37′29.970

17 – Ayrton Badovini – PSG1-1 Corse – 37′36.789

18 – Luca Scassa – Team Pedercini – 37′37.240

19 – David Salom – Team Pedercini – 37′40.541

20 – Matteo Baiocco – PSG1-1 Corse – 37′40.968

Not Classified

RT – Carlos Checa – HANNspree Ten Kate Honda – 34′56.934

RT – David Checa – Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone – 21′42.611

RT – Brendan Roberts – Guandalini Racing – 19′41.674

RT – Ben Spies – Yamaha WSB – 14′25.348

RT – Vittorio Iannuzzo – Squadra Corse Italia – 14′46.605

RT – Roland Resch – TKR Suzuki Switzerland – 10′03.033

RT – Jakub Smrz – Guandalini Racing – 8′09.735

RT – Troy Corser – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – 1′41.902

RT – Jonathan Rea – HANNspree Ten Kate Honda – 2′59.126
Race 2

Haga continued with his theme of domination in the second race taking the lead on lap 5 followed by Spies in second place and Fabrizio in third.  In fourth place was Laconi ahead of Haslam in fifth, Carlos Checa in sixth on the Hanspree Ten Kate Honda and Neukirchner in seventh.

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne was disappointed by his weekend after revealing that he was suffering from a knee infection. His problems began on Friday when the pain from his knee prevented him from being on the pace during free practice and forced a visit to the on-site Clinica Mobila. He crashed out on the second session of the Superpole and only managed a ninth place in race one and an eleventh in race two.

The WSB rookie, Tom Sykes paid for the mistake he made in the qualifying session and had a fight on his hands to regain some places during the race. The Yamaha rider finished in seventh in race one but had a disastrous second race despite getting off to a good start. The British rider got hemmed-in by a mob of riders going into turn 2 while others went around the outside. While chasing Neukirchner for eighth place he almost made contact with the Aprilia rider Max Biaggi forcing himself to go wide and losing further places.

The next round of the World Superbike Championship takes place at Assen on 26th April.

Here are the results,
1 – Noriyuki Haga – Ducati Xerox Team – 36′46.927

2 – Ben Spies – Yamaha WSB – 36′52.032

3 – Michel Fabrizio – Ducati Xerox Team – 36′53.313

4 – Régis Laconi – DFX Corse – 36′53.500

5 – Leon Haslam – Stiggy Racing Honda – 37′01.002

6 – Carlos Checa – HANNspree Ten Kate Honda – 37′04.260

7 – Max Neukirchner – Suzuki Alstare BRUX – 37′06.134

8 – Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing – 37′07.624

9 – Ryuichi Kiyonari – Ten Kate Honda Racing – 37′07.942

10 – Tom Sykes – Yamaha WSB – 37′09.508

11 – Shane Byrne – Sterilgarda – 37′09.531

12 – John Hopkins – Stiggy Racing Honda – 37′10.879

13 – Jonathan Rea – HANNspree Ten Kate Honda – 37′16.009

14 – Jakub Smrz – Guandalini Racing – 37′16.204

15 – Troy Corser – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – 37′19.311

16 – Ruben Xaus – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – 37′22.052

17 – Broc Parkes – Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. – 37′25.271

18 – Brendan Roberts – Guandalini Racing – 37′26.088

19 – Karl Muggeridge – Celani Race – 37′26.301

20 – David Checa – Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone – 37′36.831

21 – David Salom – Team Pedercini – 37′39.558

22 – Tommy Hill – Honda Althea Racing – 37′39.893

23 – Vittorio Iannuzzo – Squadra Corse Italia – 37′40.123

24 – Luca Scassa – Team Pedercini – 37′40.418

25 – Roland Resch – TKR Suzuki Switzerland – 38′06.873

Not Classified

RT – Yukio Kagayama – Suzuki Alstare BRUX – 34′44.654

RT – Matteo Baiocco – PSG1-1 Corse – 36′28.152

RT – Makoto Tamada – Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. – 18′37.815

RT – Ayrton Badovini – PSG1-1 Corse – 11′41.054