2008 HANNSPREE FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP®
ASSEN – 4th ROUND – 25th, 26th and 27th
APRIL - PREVIEW
Superbike heads to classic Dutch TT circuit for Round
4 of 14
The classic Dutch TT circuit at Assen plays host to the fourth
round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship this
weekend, after a gap of three weeks from the Spanish Round.
With two second places at Valencia, Troy Bayliss (Ducati
Xerox) increased his lead over his closest rivals to 48 points
but the Australian is now coming under threat from a number
of adversaries, mainly on four-cylinder machines. Regulation-wise,
there will be no extra handicap applied to the twin-cylinder
1200s for the next three rounds, as the event average difference
between the two types of machines – twins and fours
- has so far proved to be insufficient to warrant a change.
At Valencia the twins appeared to struggle against the fours,
despite a Ducati 1-2 and a fortuitous win by Lorenzo Lanzi
(RG Team) in race 1, because riders from three different manufacturers,
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), Carlos Checa (HANNspree
Ten Kate Honda) and Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki), were
all on top form. The Spaniard and the German however had their
infamous last-lap, last-corner clash, which eliminated both
riders from the top slots and helped Bayliss to boost his
points lead.
Second place in the championship is still in the hands of
Spain’s Fonsi Nieto, but the Alstare Suzuki rider has
not had another result to match his Losail win and is coming
under pressure from third and fourth placed men, Troy Corser
(Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) and Checa, both equal on 72 points.
The Aussie has been on the podium three times this year already,
but Assen is somewhat of a jinx for Corser, who is still looking
for his first win there and his first win since Phillip Island
in 2006. Meanwhile Checa continues to make his mark in Superbike,
his CBR rapidly becoming a front-running machine, and both
are competitive enough to take their first win this year at
Assen.
Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) and Haga are next
up with 68 and 47 points respectively. The Spaniard finished
the first four races of the season in the top 4, but suffered
a setback at Valencia, while Nitro-Nori looked his usual aggressive
self in Spain and his season looks likely to start now.
Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati’s Max Biaggi, seventh
overall, has had another three weeks to recover from his wrist
fracture, and this will be even more vital for the demanding,
switchback-style Dutch circuit. The Italian is in need of
a couple of good results so as not to lose touch with the
leaders.
Three youngsters round off the top 10. Now with three wins
to his name, the most experienced and successful of the three
is Lorenzo Lanzi, two points behind Biaggi and three ahead
of Neukirchner, who should be fit to race at Assen. Michel
Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) is in tenth position at this stage
of the season, ahead of Gregorio Lavilla (Vent-Axia VK Honda)
and Ryuichi Kiyonari (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda), who is improving
race by race.
Régis Laconi and Makoto Tamada (Kawasaki PSG-1) showed
signs of progress in recent testing at Jerez, where both riders
succeeded in eliminating much of the chattering that has plagued
their ZX-10R machines.
FIM Supersport World Championship
In Supersport, Catalan rider Joan Lascorz is the new shining
light after running away with a comfortable win in front of
his home crowd at Valencia. 23-year-old Lascorz was brilliant
on his Glaner Motocard.com Honda and once Andrew Pitt (HANNspree
Ten Kate Honda) had crashed out, he had it all his own way.
Yamaha World Supersport’s Broc Parkes and Fabien Foret
lie second and third in the table, the Frenchman in particular
recovering rapidly from a disappointing start to the season
and he and his experienced Aussie team-mate are sure to go
well in the Netherlands with their rapid R6 machines. Joshua
Brookes (HANNspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda) lost his championship
lead at Valencia and slipped down to fourth, ahead of Craig
Jones (Parkalgar Honda), who has two podium finishes to his
name in the first three races of this season. The HANNspree
Honda duo of Pitt and Jonathan Rea, both expected to be pace-setters
this year, should go well at the Dutch team’s home track,
with Pitt trying to add another race win to his tally to take
him back to the top of the hotly-contested title battle.
Superstock 1000 FIM Cup
Brendan Roberts on the factory Xerox Ducati 1098 scored a
convincing win in the opening round of the Superstock 1000
FIM Cup after fighting off the Cruciani Suzuki of Italy’s
Davide Giugliano early on. The Australian missed the early
part of last season with an injury and was never able to show
his true form but now looks to be one of the hot favourites
for the title. Belgian Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki), together
with Italians Alessandro Polita (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati)
and Claudio Corti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) battled
for the final podium place in Valencia and should be up there
as well at Assen, while major interest will again surround
the KTM RC8, which had a positive debut in Spain in the hands
of Renè Maehr and should find the flowing Assen track
more to its liking.
European 600 Superstock Championship
Loris Baz won on his debut in the opening round of the European
600 Superstock series for the under-20s on his YZF Yamaha
Junior machine, as R6s from the Japanese manufacturer took
all the podium places. The 15-year-old French sensation looks
to be a star in the making within the ranks of 600 Superstock,
but he can expect stiff opposition in the Netherlands from
Italian Danilo Petrucci ((Team Trasimeno) and ex-250 GP rider
Dan Linfoot from the UK on his Beowulf Racing Yamaha.
The Assen TT Circuit
Located in Assen, Netherlands, a couple of hours drive north
of Amsterdam, the Assen TT Circuit is called ‘The Cathedral’
of motorcycling by fans and has a capacity of 100,000 spectators,
including 60,000 seats. The current circuit was built back
in 1955 and it remained basically unchanged until a 2006 redesign
removed most of the northern loop to make way for a new entertainment
complex. The current racetrack has a length of 4.555 kilometres
(2.830 miles), with a longest straight of 560 metres (0.348
miles). The track layout makes it very technical and twisty,
with little room for rider error, but modifications over the
years have helped to make it safer. The curves are banked
and the surface offers considerable grip, even in the wet.
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