2006 Superbike World Championship
Round 9, Assen, NL
Circuit: 4.555 kms. Crowd: 61,000 (3-day) Weather: First race
wet, second race mostly dry 18-22C.
FRUSTRATION FOR TEAM ALSTARE.
After two days of dry conditions, the Assen circuit was soaking
wet by the time the first race got under away today. A lot
of oil had been spilled in the morning warm-up and the cleaning
trucks had gone out twice before the WSBK riders felt confident
enough to venture out in the rainy conditions.
In race one, Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Troy
Corser and Yukio Kagayama both fell foul of the slippery surface
and were out of contention by eight laps. Corser crashed because
his visor fogged up and he couldn't see where he was going
and Kagayama crashed when he hit a large puddle of standing
water. The race was one of attrition and in the end only fifteen
riders (out of twenty-eight) finished. Amongst the casualties
were three of the top four in the title chase. Chris Walker
(Kawasaki) started from last place, but stormed through the
field, mastering the difficult conditions to take his maiden
World Superbike win. Second was Andrew Pitt (Kawasaki), with
Michel Fabrizio (third).
By the time the second race started, the track was virtually
dry, though there were still a few damp patches waiting to
catch the riders out. Corser’s race lasted only to the
first turn. His front wheel was hit by Haga’s bike,
destroying the rim and damaging the disc in the process and
when he tried to hit the brakes nothing happened and he crashed.
Kagayama led for a substantial part of the race until his
tyres went off. After that, all he could do was keep going
and try and bring his GSX-R1000 Suzuki safely home. In the
end, he took a hard-fought for fourth behind Troy Bayliss
(Ducati), Andrew Pitt and Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki).
YUKIO Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 4th
I am not so happy today, because I believed I was going to
get two podiums. The rain ruined everything and all I managed
in the end was just one fourth place. The first race was very
difficult because there was so much water on the track. In
the beginning I was very careful in the (new) first section
of the track because it felt very slippery there. I got into
third place by lap seven and thought maybe I could stay in
that position. I was particularly careful on the corner where
Troy-san crashed, but maybe that was my undoing, because I
then crashed on the next corner! I hit a big puddle and the
bike aquaplaned and that was it! In the second race, I made
a good start and had a good battle with Bayliss. I think I
Ied the race for maybe seven laps and then my tyres started
to go off a lot. When Bayliss passed me, I could do nothing
about it and from then to the end of the race, I had to try
and keep going as best I could.
TROY Race 1: DNF, Race 2: DNF
I guess you could say that today was one to forget and the
only good news is that I never hurt myself in the two crashes.
The first race started well enough and I managed to lead Bayliss
in the wet for a couple of laps. But soon my visor started
fogging up and I was having to try and look out of the side
of it just to see where I was going! At the kind of speed
we were going, that isn’t good enough and when I looked
up one time, I was off line and heading into a large patch
of water. Next thing I knew I was down and my race was over.
In race two, there was an even bigger disaster. Haga was next
to me off the line and heading toward turn one I think he
missed a gear and then hit me. At first I didn’t know
what happened and I tried to brake for the turn, but nothing
happened. I went down and it was only when I looked at the
front of my bike that I realised that the impact had broken
my front wheel rim and damaged one of the brake discs. What
a frustrating and disappointing day it has been - especially
after taking Superpole yesterday. If today had been dry, I
feel I would’ve taken two podiums for sure, but that’s
racing.
Results
Race 1: 1 Walker (GB-Kawasaki), 2 Pitt (Aus-Yamaha), 3 Fabrizio
(I-Honda), 4 Nieto (E-Kawasaki), 5 Abe (J-Yamaha), 6 MAX NEUKIRCHNER
(D-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra), 7 Lanzi (I-Ducati),
8 Rolfo (I-Ducati), 9 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda), 10 Toseland
(GB-Honda), YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra)
DNF, TROY CORSER (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) DNF,
Race 2: 1 Bayliss, 2 Pitt, 3 Nieto, 4 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra), 5 Xaus (E-Ducati), 6 Lanzi, 7 Barros
(Bra-Honda), 8 Laconi (F-Kawasaki), 9 Toseland, 10 Fabrizio,
TROY CORSER (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) DNF, MAX NEUKIRCHNER
(D-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) DNF,
Points: 1 Bayliss 332, 2 Toseland 232, 3
Haga 230, 4 Pitt 197, 5 TROY CORSER (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra)193, 6 Barros 175, 7 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra) 139, 8 Walker 123, 9 Lanzi 115, 10 Nieto 112,
18 MAX NEUKIRCHNER (D-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) 19,
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