Australia’s Troy Bayliss has extended his lead in the 2008 world Superbike title after a day of high drama at Valencia on April 6.
Bayliss carved out two second places on his factory Ducati behind former teammate Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) and a resurgent Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) in race two, and managed to stay clear of the carnage which claimed so many of his championship rivals.
In race one, top guns Haga, Max Biaggi (Ducati), Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki), Ruben Xaus (Ducati), Michele Fabrizio (Ducati) and polesitter Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) all failed to either finish or score points, with Neukirchner’s the biggest hard luck story.
The German had led from the start and his maiden world Superbike win was seemingly in the bag when former MotoGP star Carlos Checa (Honda) lunged up the inside on the last corner and crashed. Checa’s bike then took out Neukirchner, who fell and broke his left collarbone.
Checa, whose superb ride from outside the top 10 was sullied by the last lap mis-adventure, remounted to finish fifth, behind a delighted Lanzi, Bayliss, Australian Troy Corser (Yamaha) and hometown hero Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki).
“I thought I was going to finish in fourth and couldn’t believe what then happened with Neukirchner and Checa on the last lap, but that’s racing I guess and gave me a second place finish,” said Bayliss. “I was very happy with my results today, although it was a bit of a strange weekend, having had some problems with the bike in practice and qualifying.
“My congratulations go to Lorenzo (Lanzi), I’m very happy for him to have taken the win and he really deserved it.”
Bayliss strengthened his lead to 48pts at Valencia, ahead of a tight bunch battling for second – Nieto (80), Corser (72), Checa (72) and Xaus (68).
After such a dramatic race one, things settled down appreciably for the second 23-lapper, with Bayliss and Haga leading the pack away before Checa was soon on the scene to make it a three-way scrap.
After seizing top spot, the Spaniard’s bike then started to lose power as his traction control system failed. He then dropped to fourth and, despite re-passing Kagayama to get back on the podium, was unable to apply more pressure on Haga and Bayliss.
After crashing in the opener, Haga’s fightback was a 1.551-second win over Bayliss, with Checa, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) and Corser completing the top five. It was Haga’s 27th world Superbike win, which puts him equal with prolific two-time world champion Doug Polen.
“I was upset after race one because I was not expecting to lose the front at that point and I felt the bike was working okay,” said Haga. “In the early laps of race two I was a bit worried because I had to use my second bike and I had to get my confidence back in the front. It was okay and, when I understood that it was possible to win, I pushed hard and didn’t make any mistakes, which kept Bayliss behind me.”
Meanwhile, Haga’s teammate Corser battled to find grip all weekend and conceded his race one podium was borne more out of opportunity than pace.
“I was lucky to get a podium in the first race, but accidents happen in racing and sometimes they work for you and something they work against you,” said Corser. “Considering I had problems, today and all weekend, third place was a bit of a surprise. I had very little front and rear grip after about five laps in race one and race two was more or less the same.
“This weekend, I haven’t felt confident on the bike at all, so I hope that we can sort this problem out at the Monza tests before our next race in Assen.”
Australian Karl Muggeridge was an excellent sixth in race one, while his compatriot and teammate Russell Holland was also in the points in 13th. With the attrition rate much lower in race two, they were both out of the points on their privateer Hondas.
In world Supersport, Spain saluted a new road racing star – Joan Lascorz (Honda) The 23-year-old from Barcelona was sublime in a flag-to-flag victory over Fabien Foret (Yamaha), Craig Jones (Honda) and Australian Broc Parkes (Yamaha).
Polesitter Andrew Pitt (Honda) crashed out of second place and remounted to finish outside the points, while Garry McCoy (Triumph) and Josh Brookes (Honda) retired with mechanical and tyre problems respectively.
That left Mark Aitchison (Triumph) as the only other Aussie to score points in 10th position.
Lascorz has now usurped Brookes as championship leader, with the Spaniard on 54pts, ahead of Parkes (38), Foret (33), Brookes (33), Jones (32) and Pitt (25).
