2008 HANNSPREE FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP®
NURBURGRING – 13, 14 and 15 JUNE – ROUND
7
PREVIEW
Checa’s double win leaves all to play for at
Nurburgring
The double win by Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda)
in Round 6 of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship
two weeks ago at Miller Motorsports Park in the USA succeeded
in shuffling the cards in the points standings somewhat as
the series reaches the mid-point of the season. With Troy
Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) failing to score in both races, the
Spaniard has now cut the gap to the top man to just 28 points.
What seemed a healthy points cushion for the Australian just
a couple of races ago, is now not such a large gap after all,
proving that anything can happen in the unpredictable world
of Superbike racing.
The second new circuit in the space of two weeks is the Nurburgring,
which has not hosted a round of the Superbike World Championship
since 1999, when the German Round made its second and last
visit after the first event in 1998. Four riders in the current
world championship line-up have raced Superbike there before
– Troy Corser, Noriyuki Haga, Ruben Xaus and Gregorio
Lavilla – with the Australian powering to a race 2 win
in 1999, while Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi have raced in 500
and 250 respectively and Max Neukirchner in the German championship.
Almost one decade has passed since then and this weekend’s
Nurburgring race is sure to throw up a few surprises.
It was only a matter of time until Carlos Checa scored his
maiden win after joining the series this year as a rookie,
and he did it in style at Miller Motorsports Park, taking
his first Superpole and two fastest laps as well to crown
his perfect weekend. The Spaniard has truly got the bit between
his teeth and is now on 166 points against Troy Bayliss’s
194. His Australian rival has proved to be capable of some
extraordinary feats over the years however and with five wins
behind him already this year, will be trying his utmost to
re-establish a safe margin over his pursuers.
The round at the Nurburgring is particularly interesting
because it will mark the first appearance on German soil this
year of the 25-year-old from Stollberg, Max Neukirchner. Since
the start of the year Max’s performances on the 2007-spec
Suzuki GSX-R1000, updated to 2008, have been a revelation,
culminating in the first win for a German rider in WSBK at
Monza, followed by two second places and a fourth. Third on
144 points, Neukirchner will be anxious to please in front
of what are surely to be his numerous home fans.
Fourth place in the championship belongs to Fonsi Nieti (Suzuki
Alstare) on 126 points, just four ahead of Japan’s Noriyuki
Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB). Haga raced with a multiple
fractured right collarbone in the USA, and had an operation
to help heal the break on the Monday after the race, so even
though he won’t be at 100%, it won’t stop him
from attempting to score more top 6 finishes, like he did
at Miller. His Yamaha Motor Italia WSB team-mate, Troy Corser
is one point behind on 121, and the Australian demonstrated
a resurgence of form at the last round with the runner-up
slot in race 1 before crashing out of the second race.
Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) surprisingly could
only score 2 points at Millar, the Spaniard also suffering
a crash and his seventh place is now coming under threat from
Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), who twice finished on the
podium with two aggressive recoveries from lowly positions
after starting from the front row.
Ninth-placed Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) also
showed what he is capable of with a fourth place finish in
Miller race 2, the Italian now recovering fully from his Monza
finger injury, while two Japanese riders, Ryuichi Kiyonari
(Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare)
are ahead of the first true privateer in the series, Gregorio
Lavilla (VentAxia VK Honda) in twelfth place.
Makoto Tamada and Régis Laconi, in a lowly 17th and
18th place respectively, are still finding the going difficult
on their PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki machines, although the Frenchman
was an easy row 2 qualifier in the USA before crashing out
of race 1.
FIM Supersport World Championship
A one-month break since the last round at Monza for the Supersport
World Championship has seen some of the protagonists put in
some vital track time in a national series race in the UK,
in particular Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Andrew Pitt
and Jonathan Rea, who are currently fourth and seventh in
the table respectively, and the Anglo-Portuguese Parkalgar
Racing Honda squad . Points leader Joan Lascorz (Glaner Motocard.com
Honda) is finding his advantage gradually being whittled away
by Pitt, race winner twice this year, and also by ex-champion
Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport), who powered to the
25 points in the last round at Monza. Yamaha team-mate Broc
Parkes is also well-placed in third, ahead of Pitt and another
Australian Josh Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motors Honda), while
Craig Jones (Parkalgar) is always a podium contender. Nurburgring
will see the debut of another British rider, Tommy Hill, for
the Hannspree Honda Althea team alongside Gianluca Nannelli.
Hill, who suffered multiple fractures in a testing accident
six months ago, has now fully recovered and is raring to go
for the Italian-based team.
Superstock 1000 FIM World Cup
Monza was shaping up to be a superb slipstreaming battle
between the top contenders, but a first chicane bottleneck
accident wiped out some of the leading protagonists including
the highly rated Italian trio of Claudio Corti (Yamaha Motor
Italia Junior Team) and Michele Pirro (Yamaha Lorenzini by
Leoni) and Davide Giugliano (Cruciani Moto Suzuki Italia),
along with points leader Frenchman Maxime Berger (Hannspree
IDS Ten Kate Honda). This left young Belgian rider Xavier
Simeon on the Alstare Suzuki to take the win and with one
victory and two 3rds, he now heads the table coming to Germany.
Former champion Alessandro Polita is 15 points behind on the
Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati 1098 machine, ahead of the factory
Xerox-sponsored version of Australian Brendan Roberts, who
won the opening Valencia round but who has committed a couple
of errors since. Berger is fourth, followed by Pirro and Czech
rider Matej Smrz (MS Racing Honda), who stayed out of trouble
in Italy for the runner-up slot.
European 600 Superstock Championship
The youngsters are certainly offering some terrific action
in the Superstock 600 category, with the 15-year-old French
talent Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) doubling up his
Valencia win with another at Monza to take command at the
top. Italian Daniele Beretta (Cruciani Moto Suzuki Italia)
has yet to score a win in second place, and he lies one point
ahead of the 19-year-old ex-250 GP rider Dan Linfoot (StoneBaker
Yamaha) who was out of luck in Italy. Patrick Vostarek (Intermoto
Honda) from the Czech Republic is close behind in fourth place.
About Nurburgring
The new Nürburgring was completed in 1984 and called
GP-Strecke. It was built to meet the highest safety standards,
but was considered to be a shadow of the former 22.8 km Nordschleife
circuit. World Superbike came to the Nurburgring in 1998 but
following the second and final edition in 1999, the more recent
German Rounds have since been held at Oschersleben and the
Lausitzring. For 2002, the track was changed, by replacing
the former "Castrol-chicane" at the end of the start/finish
straight by a sharp right-hander in order to create an overtaking
opportunity. This and further changes extended the GP track
from 4500m to its current 5137m. The Nürburgring is situated
90 km southwest of Cologne and 60 km northwest of Koblenz.
The closest airports are Köln-Bonn (80 km) and Düsseldorf
(120 km).
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