2006 Superbike World Championship
Round 7, Brno, CZ!
Sunday 23rd July
Circuit: 5.403 kms. Crowd: 421,000 (3-day). Weather: Dry,
sunny/cloudy 31-34 C.
FANTASTIC YUKIO DOES THE DOUBLE!
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Yukio Kagayama completed
his first ever WSBK double in fantastic style at Brno today.
In race one he stalked leader James Toseland (Honda) for fourteen
laps before making his move and from them on in he was never
headed, taking the chequered flag by nearly four seconds.
Michel Fabrizio (Honda) took third after passing both Haga
and Yukio’s team mate Troy Corser in the final two laps.
Troy suffered grip problems throughout the 20-lapper, but
still managed to finish fifth, just behind Haga.
Yukio had to work much harder in race two but, after fighting
his way up from eight, he charged past Noriyuki Haga just
two laps from the end to take his second win of the day. Second
was Fabrizio, who had been in fourth place on the last lap,
but then barged his way through Haga and Corser with less
then two turns remaining. When Fabrizio made his move, Troy
was forced to pick up his bike otherwise he would have collided
with Fabrizio and Haga, being so close, would’ve been
taken out as well. Haga ended up an angry third, with a very
frustrated Troy fourth.
YUKIO - Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 1st
I am so happy today and I want to thank my team for all the
great work they have done. Also, thank you to Batta-san, who
is not here today, but I hope was watching on TV. In both
races, I had to use patience - and this is not my normal style
- but it was worth it. I was close to Toseland from the start
of race one, so it was just a case of waiting to make my move
at the right time, and my plan worked perfectly.
The second race was much more difficult because I had to pass
many riders before I could attack the leader - my friend Nori-chan.
In the closing stages of the race he knew that I was faster
then him and he very kindly waved me through. After that I
just concentrated on keeping a good pace and not making any
mistakes. I have always thought of myself as a little crazy,
but today I showed another side of Yukio. Maybe this will
be my new style for the rest of the season!
TROY - Race 1: 5th, Race 2: 4th
Considering what position we were in on Friday and even Saturday
morning, I guess that a fourth and a fifth is not too bad,
but I’m not at all happy. I had some grip problems in
the first race, so we changed the balance and front and rear
ride height for race two. It was a bit better but, because
it was more or less Yukio’s set-up, it took me a while
to get used to it and by that time the leaders were gone.
I managed to reel them back in and I thought that I’d
get at least a third or maybe a second. I got past Haga and
into second, but then Fabrizio came along with a couple of
desperate moves. Honestly, if I hadn’t picked up my
bike when he tried to make his move I would’ve hit him
and we’d both gone down, taking Nori (Haga) with us
as he was so close at the time. There’s racing and there’s
desperation. He’s a young kid, but it could’ve
ended very badly. After I had crossed the line in race two,
I was so frustrated that I was sick - but luckily I opened
my helmet first!
FABIEN - Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 20th
After Superpole, I really thought that I could get a couple
of good top ten finishes today. In race one, everything was
OK for the first five laps and then I crashed! It took place
at the same place where Toseland had crashed in the morning
warm-up today and there was a lot of dust down to clear up
the oil that had been spilled. Maybe I just hit some oil that
hadn;t been cleared up properly - I don’t know. It was
a slow speed fall, so I didn’t hurt myself, but it was
a very disappointing and early end to the race.
In race two, my bike started feeling strange after a lap or
so. It was juddering or something like that and I just couldn't
push hard at all. I should’ve pulled in, but I wanted
to keep going and see if I could score any points. When riders
overtook me, I couldn’t do anything about it and so
I finished outside the points. It turned out that the tyre
was spinning on the rim and that was causing the problem.
Results
Race 1: 1 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra), 2 Toseland (GB-Honda), 3 Fabrizio (I-Honda), 4 Haga
(J-Yamaha), 5 TROY CORSER (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra),
6 Nieto (E-Kawasaki), 7 Walker (GB-Kawasaki), 8 Nakatomi (J-Yamaha),
9 Abe (J-Yamaha), 10 Chili (I-Honda), FABIEN FORET (F-Alstare
Engineering Corona Extra) DNF,
Race 2: 1 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra), 2 Fabrizio, 3 Haga, 4 TROY CORSER (Aus-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra), 5 Toseland, 6 Nieto, 7 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda),
8 Bayliss, 9 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 10 Walker, 20 FABIEN FORET
(F-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra),
Points: 1 Bayliss 262, 2 Haga 189, 3 Toseland
188, 4 TROY CORSER (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 173, 5 Barros
151, 6 Pitt 128, 7 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra)
106, 8 Lanzi 87, 9 Fabrizio 83, 10 Nieto 81, 18 FABIEN FORET
(Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) 19,
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