World Superbike News

Max Biaggi - Aprilia Racing 2009

This weekend the World Superbike Championship took place at the Brno circuit with race wins going to Max Biaggi and Ben Spies.

Race 1

Max Biaggi took the Aprilia across the line in the first race of the day to take his first victory since 2007 and the teams first win since 2001 when Régis Laconi won at Imola.

In second place was Carlos Checa on the Hanspree Ten Kate Honda, followed in third by his team-mate Jonathan Rea.  Britain’s Shane Byrne on the Sterilgarda Ducati, finished in fourth ahead of Troy Corser on the BMW Motorrad Team Alpha Racing bike in fifth and Jakub Smrz on the Guandalini Racing machine in sixth.

Ben Spies on the Yamaha World Superbike was leading the race on lap 4 ahead of Michel Fabrizio on the Ducati Xerox Team bike and Biaggi.  Fabrizio made a move on Spies but collided with the American ending the race for both of them and passing the reins to Biaggi.

Ruben Xaus, the second BMW rider, had been running in seventh place on the first lap when he went down on the exit of the right-hand hairpin.  The bike and rider were thrown into the gravel trap with the Spaniard receiving a leg injury seeing him being taken to the on-site medical centre.  The injury proved worse than was first though and Xaus had actually suffered a break to the femur in his right leg. Xaus is hoping that the scheduled five-week summer break will give his injury enough time to heal and that he will be back on his BMW by the next round in September.

Leon Haslam on the Stiggy Honda, finished in an impressive seventh after qualifying in seventeenth on the grid while his team-mate John Hopkins, crashed out after losing the front-end of his bike.

Here are the results;

1. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 20 laps
2. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +3.631s
3. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000 +9.948s
4. Shane Byrne GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R +12.952s
5. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +14.599s
6. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R +19.359s
7. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR +19.680s
8. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198R +20.731s
9. Matthieu Lagrive FRA HANNspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR +21.923s
10. Makoto Tamada JPN Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +27.807s
11. Fonsi Nieto ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R +35.263s
12. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R +36.535s
13. Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +38.586s
14. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 +40.061s
15. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA SCI Honda CBR1000RR +40.280s

16. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +40.641s
17. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 10.529s
18. David Checa ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 YZF R1 +1min 14.874s
19. Roland Resch AUT TKR Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1min 42.979s
20. Milos Cihak CZE ProRace Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 +1min 43.111s

Not Classified

21. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha WSB YZF R1 18 laps completed
22. Alessandro Polita ITA Celani Suzuki GSX-R1000 14 laps completed
23. John Hopkins USA Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 10 laps completed
24. Shinya Nakano JPN Aprilia Racing RSV-4 8 laps completed
25. Ben Spies USA Yamaha WSB YZF R1 4 laps completed
26. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198R 4 laps completed
27. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 2 laps completed
28. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 0 laps completed

Race 2

In the second race it was Ben Spies that again led the riders to claim his eleventh win of the season, however, this time he had the challenging Max Biaggi to hold back.

Michel Fabrizio took third behind Biaggi, followed by Jonathan Rea in fourth and Carlos Checa in fifth.  An impressive sixth place went to Noriyuki Haga on the Ducati Xerox in sixth position.

Haga is still suffering from injuries received at an earlier round and confirmed that he is frustrated at not being able to ride to his full potential.  The Japanese riders shoulder and wrist are still causing him pain but he somehow managed to finish inside the top ten in both races this weekend, with a sixth and eighth position giving him a lead of 7 points in the championship ahead of Spies.

The Stiggy Honda duo were probably glad to see the back of this weekend with Haslam finishing in twelfth in the second race of the day while Hopkins ended with no points again after suffering technical difficulties on his machine.

Yukio Kagayama on the Suzuki Alstare bike, happened to be behind Hopkins when his troubles began.  As Hopkins slowed going into the right-hander, Kagayama had no where to go and hit the rear of the Americans bike causing him to crash out and  with only a fourteenth in race one, not a good weekend for the Suzuki team either.

Here are the results;

1. Ben Spies USA Yamaha WSB YZF R1 20 laps
2. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +0.213s
3. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198R +0.657
4. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000 +8.311s
5. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +8.915s
6. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198R +21.175s
7. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha WSB YZF R1 +21.384s
8. Shane Byrne GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R +21.599s
9. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R +21.726s
10. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +25.180s
11. Shinya Nakano JPN Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +25.612s
12. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR +25.622s
13. Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +26.246s
14. Matthieu Lagrive FRA HANNspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR +31.098s
15. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R +32.706s

16. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R +33.173s
17. Fonsi Nieto ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R +34.953s
18. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA SCI Honda CBR1000RR +57.751s
19. David Checa ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 YZF R1 +1min 00.273s
20. Roland Resch AUT TKR Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1min 29.794s

Not Classified

21. Alessandro Polita ITA Celani Suzuki GSX-R1000 12 laps completed
22. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 7 laps completed
23. Milos Cihak CZE ProRace Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 7 laps completed
24. John Hopkins USA Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR 6 laps completed
25. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 6 laps completed
26. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 5 laps completed
27. Makoto Tamada JPN Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 3 laps completed

DNS Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR