TWO PODIUMS FOR MAX.
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi took podiums
in both 24-lap races at the Eurospeedway Lausitz today. He
took a superb second place in race one and then followed it
up with a third in race two. Max’s team mate Yukio Kagayama
was unable to take part in proceedings today due to a hand
injury sustained yesterday. His wrist was badly swollen this
morning, so he went to the Clinica Mobile this morning for
a check-up. X-rays of his right wrist revealed that he had
a fracture of his fifth metacarpal and so was unable to race.
Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) led the
charge in the first race, but later on Haga took advantage
of his opponent’s tyre problems and pulled away, finishing
the clear winner, eleven seconds ahead of Max. Third went
to Troy Corser (Yamaha), with Bayliss a distant fourth. Bayliss
and Haga once again charged off into the distance at the start
of race two, but this time Bayliss was in no mood to surrender.
He took the chequered flag, just over a second ahead of Haga,
with Max third and series leader James Toseland (Honda) fourth.
Max - Race 1: 2nd, Race 2: 3rd
It is always good to be on the podium, though I’m a
little disappointed that I didn’t finish higher up in
race two. It was a much faster race and the two guys in front
kept up a better pace and I could not catch them. After two
days of weather that was not so good, it was a relief that
it didn’t rain today. Our set-up for the dry wasn’t
so bad, but maybe it wasn’t quite as good as Bayliss
or Haga today. I had a few little problems with the bike missing
gears a couple of times and so I modified my riding to get
round the problem. Both my starts today were not so bad, but
once the I lost touch with the leader in race one and the
two of them in race two, it was too late. I hope that the
team are able to do work on soem of the lttle problems before
the next race because I feel we could be very competitive.
I really tried my best today, just like I normally do.
Yukio DNS
Results
Race 1: 1 Haga (J-Yamaha), 2 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra), 3 Corser (Aus-Yamaha), 4 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati),
5 Rolfo (I-Honda), 6 Laconi (F-Kawasaki), 7 Nieto (E-Kawasaki),
8 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 9 Toseland (GB-Honda), 10 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda)
Race 2: 1 Bayliss, 2 Haga, 3 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra), 4 Toseland, 5 Corser, 6 Xaus (E-Ducati), 7
Rolfo. 8 Nieto, 9 Neukirchner (D-Suzuki), 10 Muggeridge,
Points: 1 Toseland 375, 2 Haga 334, 3 Max
Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 322, 4 Bayliss 296,
5 Corser 254, 6 Xaus 177, 7 Lanzi 173, 8 Rolfo 166, 9 Neukirchner
130, 10 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 116,
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