2007 Superbike World Championship Round 4, Valencia, Spain
Circuit: 4.005 kms. Crowd: 39,000 (3-day). Weather: Damp
at first, dry later 17-19 C.
Sunday 15th April
SUPERMAX RUNNER UP IN RACE TWO!
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi charged
his way from the third row of the grid to take a superb second
place in race two at Valencia this afternoon. The Italian
stormed through the field, lap by lap, to fight the leaders,
James Toseland (Honda) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) in the closing
stages. He dived past Haga on the very last lap and then attacked
Toseland in the final few corners, but just couldn’t
get past the Briton and so had to settle for second place.
Max’s tremendous performance in the second race was
the highlight of the day for the team, with Max taking a hard
fought for eighth in race one and his team mate Yukio a low
scorer in both 23-lappers due to his injuries and some tyre
problems.
Local hero Ruben Xaus (Ducati) won the first race after a
terrific battle with first Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and then
Haga after half distance. The Spaniard dominated proceedings
after about twelve laps and took a comfortable win by nearly
two seconds. Bayliss took third, with Troy Corser (Yamaha)
fourth, Toseland fifth and Lanzi (Ducati) sixth.
Race one winner Xaus was again in contention in the first
half of race two, but then was passed by Toseland and Haga,
before succumbing to pressure from Max on lap sixteen. Once
Max got past the Spaniard, he set about reeling in Haga and
Toseland and managed to sneak past Haga when the Japanese
rider left a small gap three or four turns from the end. He
closed in on leader Toseland, but the youngster held him off
to take the chequered flag by just over two tenths of a second.
Haga easily held on to third, with Xaus some way back in fourth.
Fifth was Lanzi, with reigning champion Bayliss back in sixth.
MAX - Race 1: 8th, Race 2: 2nd
A mixed day, but it is good to finish on an up with a podium
in the second race. Valencia is a very difficult track to
race at unless it is perfectly dry. When there are damp patches
around, it is very tricky and you have to concentrate 100%
all the time. I didn’t have such a good feeling in the
first race - some of the problems that we’ve had all
weekend and also some problems with engine braking. On the
brakes going into turns, I didn’t have a consistent
feeling about what was going on, so it made me a bit cautious.
We made some changes to the bike for the second race - clutch
feeling, a few clicks on the suspension and a harder front
tyre and certainly the tyres worked better, possibly also
because the track was completely dry. Starting from the third
row of the grid is always a challenge and I couldn’t
attack the first corner because of all the cement dust there
from a crash earlier. That had left a lot of oil on the track
and it had to be cleaned and then cement dust put down. That
meant there was only really one line through the turn, so
I couldn’t use a different line and pass a few people
striaghtaway. I got held up by traffic, but I was pushing
hard right from the start for sure. I kept up a good fast
pace and at the end, I felt I could get past Nori and that’s
what I did. I tried to catch James, but just ran out of time
and laps, but I am happy to get second today after starting
from twelfth place.
YUKIO - Race 1:15th, Race 2: 13th
Not such a good day for me today, but I knew this was going
to be very hard before the races began. I am not fit yet and
the pain in my shoulders meant that getting the bike to change
direction was very hard - and painful! And Valencia is quite
a physically demanding track, so you don’t get any real
chance to rest at all. Also, in the first race, we made the
wrong rear tyre choice and after 15 laps it was destroyed
and so I couldn’t keep up a fast pace. We used a similar
tyre in the second race, but it performed better, but there
were still a lot of slides in the last third of the race.
In both races, I got some false neutrals and that made life
interesting! After this weekend, I need some rest and then
I will be in better condition for the next race in Assen.
Unfortunately, it is in only two weeks time, so I will not
have much chance to rest and then get fit, but I know that
I’ll be in better shape then now.
Results
Race 1: 1 Xaus (E-Ducati), 2 Haga (J-Yamaha),
3 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati), 4 Corser (Aus-Yamaha), 5 Toseland
(GB-Honda), 6 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 7 Fabrizio (I-Honda), 8 MAX
BIAGGI (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 9 Brookes (Aus-Honda),
10 Rolfo (I-Honda), 15 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra),
Race 2: 1 Toseland, 2 MAX BIAGGI (I-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra), 3 Haga, 4 Xaus, 5 Lanzi, 6 Bayliss,
7 Brookes, 8 Laconi (F-Kawasaki), 9 Corser, 10 Neukirchner
(D-Suzuki), 13 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra),
Points: 1 Toseland 151, 2 MAX BIAGGI (I-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra) 138, 3 Haga 124, 4 Corser 101, 5 Bayliss
90, 6 Lanzi 87, 14 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra) 27,
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