MISANO – 27, 28 and 29 JUNE – ROUND 8
PREVIEW
Misano cauldron awaits World Superbike contenders
for San Marino Round 8
The action in the 2008 HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship
is undoubtedly set to heat up this weekend as the runners
and riders head for the Misano World Circuit cauldron on Italy’s
Adriatic Riviera coast for Round 8, the San Marino Round organized
in collaboration with the motorcycling federation of the tiny,
Italian-speaking but independent, Republic state. With 7 rounds
done and dusted, the season now enters its second half and
the revised Santamonica circuit could not be a better place
for this next phase of the championship, with scorching weather
expected at the holiday venue to liven up proceedings.
The last two rounds have produced two double winners in Carlos
Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) at Miller Motorsports Park
and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) at the Nurburgring,
but more to the point they have seen Troy Bayliss’s
leadership grip on a championship gradually come under threat.
Still in the top slot with 227 points, the Aussie however
has not won a race since his Assen double at the end of April
and has seen his lead whittled down to 39. The main chasers
are Checa, who alternates outstanding form (Assen and Miller)
with lesser performances (Monza and Nurburgring), and Max
Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki), who has now become a regular
front-runner and podium finisher. Checa and Neukirchner are
on 188 and 176 points respectively.
However Troy Bayliss is the most successful winner at Misano
and out of 10 races contested he has been on the podium nine
times, winning six races, so it will take a lot to dislodge
the Ducati Xerox rider from the top slot at what is clearly,
with 25 wins out of 32 races, a circuit that is favourable
to Ducati.
Fourth-placed Haga’s season is now coming on strong
for Yamaha, and an incredible heroic double win in Germany
just two weeks after breaking his collarbone in the USA has
truly earned a place for the Japanese rider in the Superbike
‘Hall of Fame’. Haga has never won at Misano in
the sixteen races he has contested there, managing only three
podium finishes and five retirements.
Yamaha Motor Italia WSB team-mate Troy Corser has shown a
resurgence in form in the last two rounds, coming close to
the win in Nurburgring race 2 before rain brought a halt to
the action. The Australian also has a good rapport with Misano,
having finished on the podium 14 times, but his last win was
in 2000 with Aprilia. Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki Alstare) is 13 points
behind Corser in sixth place. Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven
Ducati) is next up with 110 points, four ahead of the young
Italian Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), who has occasionally
shown signs of superb form in his debut season for the factory
team. Vying for top Italian in the series with Fabrizio is
Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), whose second season
in WSBK has so far failed to produce the scintillating performances
everyone expects from this multiple champion. Ryuichi Kiyonari
(Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) brings up the top 10, with just
one truly outstanding performance to his name so far, Monza
race 2, in his rookie season.
Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse riders Makoto Tamada and Régis
Laconi are still lying outside the top 10, in sixteenth and
seventeenth place respectively, but the Misano race is the
most important of the calendar for the San Marino-based outfit,
and they will be making a major effort to perform well in
front of their territorial hosts. As well as the usual fanfare
of publicity and local support that the team enjoys at this
race each year, the Frenchman, a three-times previous winner
at Misano, and his Japanese colleague will both finally be
able to enjoy the benefits of their latest rear swing-arm
design on their ZX-10R machines, which will sport a special
San Marino livery for this race.
Points (after 7 of 14 rounds) : Riders – 1. Bayliss
(Ducati) 227; 2. Checa (Honda) 188; 3. Neukirchner (Suzuki)
176; 4. Haga (Yamaha) 172; 5. Corser (Yamaha) 154; 6. Nieto
(Suzuki) 141; 7. Xaus (Ducati) 110; 8. Fabrizio (Ducati) 106;
9. Biaggi (Ducati) 97; 10. Kiyonari (Honda) 89; etc. Manufacturers
– 1. Ducati 282; 2. Yamaha 251; 3. Suzuki 223; 4. Honda
207; 5. Kawasaki 64.
FIM Supersport World Championship
One of the pre-season Supersport title candidates Andrew
Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) finally powered to the top
of the points table at the last round with his third win of
the year, ousting the previous leader, Joan Lascorz (Glaner
Motocard.com Honda) from the top slot. The young Spaniard
has been on a negative roll recently and has also been overtaken
in the standings by Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport)
from France and the tough Australian Joshua Brookes (Hannspree
Stiggy Motorsport Honda). However with just nine points separating
Pitt from fifth-placed Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport),
who was unable to produce the winning goods in Germany after
leading until the penultimate lap, this year’s Supersport
World Championship is certainly shaping up into a hard-fought
affair. Sixth-placed Craig Jones (Parkalgar Racing Honda)
is not far off the front-runners either, the British rider
nearly always in the top 6 at every race. The MIsano round
will see the debut of ex-DFX Superbike rider Russell Holland
in the Hannspree Honda Althea squad as replacement for the
injured Tommy Hill.
Points (after 6 of 13 rounds) : 1. Pitt (Honda) 88; 2. Foret
(Yamaha) 84; 3. Brookes (Honda) 81; 4. Lascorz (Honda) &
Parkes (Yamaha) 81; 6. Jones (Honda) 60; 7. Rea (Honda) 51;
8. Harms (Honda) 39; 9. Lagrive (Honda) & Vizziello (Honda)
28.
Superstock 1000 FIM World Cup
In the championship that is the breeding-ground for new talent,
Brendan Roberts (Ducati Xerox Junior Team) put the troubles
of the previous two races behind him at the Nurburgring to
claim a second win of the year on his 1098R. The young Australian
however is still only in second place in the table, which
is currently headed by the Belgian Xavier Simeon. The Alstare
Suzuki man has so far proved to be the most consistent front-runner,
scoring three third places and a win in the first four races.
Davide Giugliano (Cruciani Moto Suzuki Italia) is also turning
into one of the protagonists of the season but such is the
competition that just a handful of points separate the Italian
from seventh-placed Matej Smrz (MS Racing Honda) of the Czech
Republic. The list of disappointments so far this season includes
Alessandro Polita (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) in sixth
and WSB tester Claudio Corti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team)
in ninth, while this year’s 1000 Cup new entry KTM,
are finding the learning curve harder than expected and Austrian
René Mahr has yet to open his scorecard.
Points (after 4 of 10 rounds) : 1. Simeon (Suzuki) 73; 2.
Roberts (Ducati) 63; 3. Giugliano (Suzuki) 48; 4. Berger (Honda)
& Pirro (Yamaha) 43; 6. Polita (Ducati) 42; 7. Smrz (Honda)
40; 8. Magnoni (Yamaha) 24; 9. Corti (Yamaha) & Foray
(Yamaha) 21
European 600 Superstock Championship
The action continues thick and fast in the Junior Superstock
category as well, with the Czech Republic rider Patrick Vostarek
(Intermoto Honda) proving to have the legs of 15-year-old
French sensation Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) at the
Nurburgring to record his maiden win. Third place is still
in the hands of the 19-year-old from the UK, Dan Linfoot (StoneBaker
Yamaha) with Daniele Beretta (Cruciani Moto Suzuki Italia)
failing to score in Germany, but still in fourth. Two more
Italians are in fifth and sixth, Danilo Petrucci (Trasimeno
Yamaha) and Marco Bussolotti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team).
Points (after 4 of 10 rounds): 1. Baz (Yamaha) 81; 2. Vostarek
(Honda) 60; 3. Linfoot (Yamaha) 51; 4. Beretta (Suzuki) 42;
5. Petrucci (Yamaha) 41, 6. Bussolati (Yamaha) 40; 7. Rea
(Yamaha) 38; 8. Gregorini (Honda) 30; La Marra (Suzuki) 25;
10. Lonbois (Suzuki) 23.
About the Misano World Circuit
The Misano World Circuit, which was called the Circuito Internazionale
Santamonica until 2006, is located close to the seaside resort
town of Misano Adriatico in the province of Rimini. Originally
designed in 1969 as a length of 3.488 kilometres (2.17 miles),
it hosted its first event in 1972 and then in 1993, the track
length was increased to 4.064 kilometres (2.53 miles), and
new facilities and pit garages were built. The latest reincarnation
of the circuit came about in 2006, when the direction was
changed to clockwise, the track length was increased to 4.180
km, track width to 14 meters and facilities much improved.
Misano has been a regular fixture on the World Superbike calendar
since 1991, and a round has been held there every year, with
the exception of 1992. The circuit appears to be particularly
conducive to double winners, with 11 of the 16 events producing
wins for the same rider. The list in chronological order is:
Polen, Falappa, Lucchiari, Kocinski, Slight, Fogarty, Corser,
Bayliss, Xaus, Laconi and Bayliss again.
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