Rounds 15 & 16 - Misano Adriatico, San Marino
TOP EIGHT FOR LAVILLA AT MISANO
 Paul
Bird Motorsport rider Gregorio Lavilla bounced back to form
with a superb eighth place finish in the opening leg of today's
Hannspree World Superbike Championship held in the heat of
the Italian Adriatic coast at Misano.
Aboard the Vent Axia VK Honda, qualifying had not gone according
to plan for the team as Lavilla missed out on Superpole and
was placed 19th on the grid, making for a fifth row start
but in the opening leg, the Spaniard got a good start and
pushed hard into the first three corners to come out of the
first lap in 13th position.
Max Biaggi and Michel Fabrizio crashed on lap eleven which
elevated Greg into the top ten whereby he held off Nakatomi,
Haga and Kagayama to remain in this position until the end
of the race.
In the second race, stopped after a major oil spill on two
laps and restarted over its full 24-lap duration, Lavilla
got a bad start and also experienced problems with the front
tyre, having to eventually settle for 14th and two more championship
points.
His 75 points total leaves him 13th overall, with six rounds
of the championship remaining to run and still the top Honda
privateer in the World Championship.
Gregorio Lavilla: "We are still having
some difficulties and we need to improve the bike's feeling
during qualifying. In race one I had a good start which allowed
me into a good position and I was lucky that some riders crashed.
I was happy with 8th. In race two, I didn't get such a good
start and I also had some problems with the front tyre and
nearly lost the bike a few times so my main focus was to bring
the bike home in one piece as I knew that I didn't have a
chance to improve my position. We now need to get to the next
level and keep working hard."
Paul Bird: "In race one; we had a reasonably good result
after a frustrating and disappointing qualifying session once
again. It was good to see Greg get stuck in on the first lap
which pushed him to the middle of the pack rather than at
the back which is what we've been looking for all year. Greg
knows he must improve his qualifying to make it easier for
him on race day so he has to stick his neck out a bit. We
now look forward to the race in Brno which is hopefully a
track better suited to the Hondas."
The next round is at Brno in the Czech Republic on July 20th.
Superbike Race One Result
1, M Neukirchner (Suzuki) 39m27.918s, 2, T Corser (Yamaha)
+0.542s, 3, T Bayliss (Ducati) +2.249s, 4, R Xaus (Ducati)
+3.028s, 5, C Checa (Honda) +5.408s, 6, L Lanzi (Ducati) +5.518s,
7, J Smrz (Ducati) +6.202s, 8, G Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda)
+18.279s, 9, S Nakatomi (Yamaha) +19.072s, 10, N Haga (Yamaha)
+19.132s.
Superbike Race Two Result
1, R Xaus (Ducati) 39m19.710s, 2, M Biaggi (Ducati) +1.035s,
3, T Bayliss (Ducati) +4.158s, 4, N Haga (Yamaha) +5.466s,
5, T Corser (Yamaha) +6.759s, 6, L Lanzi (Ducati) +13.468s,
7, M Neukirchner (Suzuki) +15.221s, 8, C Checa (Honda) +16.687s,
9, J Smrz (Ducati) +17.030s, 10, F Nieto (Suzuki) +17.681s.
14, G Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda) +32.339s.
2008 World Superbike Championship Standings after
Round 8
1, Troy Bayliss (AUS) 259pts
2, Max Neukirchner (GER) 210pts
3, Carlos Checa (ESP) 207pts
4, Noriyuki Haga (JPN) 191pts
5, Troy Corser (AUS) 185pts
6, Fonsi Nieto (ESP) 151pts
7, Ruben Xaus (ESP) 148pts
8, Max Biaggi (ITA) 117pts
9, Michel Fabrizio (ITA) 111pts
10, Ryuichi Kiyonari (JPN) 94pts
13, Gregorio Lavilla (ESP) 75pts
Image Courtesy Gee Bee Images
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