Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) crowned a triumphant week of racing with two sensational wins in the tenth round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship at Brands Hatch in front of 97,000 spectators, just a few days after winning the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in Japan. The 25 year-old, reigning BSB champion, got the better of Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) in race 1, before completing a day of triumph with a second win over Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) in race 2.
Race 1
Bayliss led for most of the race with Kiyonari right behind but the Honda man passed the points leader on lap 22 and held on for the win. Second place went to Bayliss and third to Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), who was the fastest rider on the track in the final stages after making up more than 3 seconds on the leaders in eight laps. At the flag Kiyonari, Bayliss and Biaggi were separated by two-tenths. Two Suzukis were next up, with Yukio Kagayama fourth and Fonsi Nieto fifth, while Max Neukirchner finished seventh after being passed by Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) towards the end. It was a disappointing race for the factory Yamaha team, with Troy Corser only managing eighth and Noriyuki Haga crashing out while fighting for the top positions. British wild-card Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) was also running well but had to retire with a holed radiator while in third. It was a disappointing race for Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) in twelfth, while Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) was weakened by flu and failed to take the start.
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda): "I am very happy today, I started badly in the early laps but my bike had a really good set-up so I could keep lapping in 1m26s laps. Then I pushed and pushed and finally I got the win."
Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox): "I was feeling quite comfortable for most of the race and everything was working quite well, but I haven't actually spent much time racing with Kiyonari and wasn't sure how it was going to pan out. He was very strong on the first split and when he came past I would have been very happy for second, but when he did I realized he was in the same trouble as me. Then I saw Max coming so fast and had to push really hard and it became a bit of a dogfight towards the end."
Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati): "I'm quite satisfied with the result. I started good then went backwards as some other riders came through. The first laps were very hard, then I got into a good rhythm and overtook one by one. At the end I couldn't believe I came close to these two guys, but there was not enough time to try and take Troy or Kiyonari, but it was a good race."
Results: 1. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 36'18.607 (152,933 kph); 2. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 0.137; 3. Biaggi M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 0.180; 4. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 5.733; 5. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 6.499; 6. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 6.984; 7. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 8.300; 8. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 10.732; 9. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 16.547; 10. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 16.569; 11. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 18.366; 12. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 22.308; 13. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR1000RR 26.788; 14. Lavilla G. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 26.856; 15. Walker C. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 32.877; 16. Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 38.329.
Race 2
The second race also had a Japanese flavour about it as Kiyonari powered ahead to win from Haga after a race-long battle. The final podium slot went to Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who ran a steady race but was unable to challenge the top pair, while Neukirchner scored a good result in fourth. The German finished ahead of his team-mate Nieto, who passed Fabrizio on the last lap, while Sykes this time managed to hold off Checa for seventh. Bayliss was out of luck after changing to a different compound for race 2 and could only finish eleventh, one place ahead of Biaggi, who dropped down to 28th position in the early stages after an off-track excursion.
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda): "I'm very happy with this weekend. On Friday I was in first position in qualifying, then yesterday I set a good time in Superpole. It was the same today, with fast lap times and a double win. I had a lot of pressure with Nori behind me and many times I made a mistake but to win here at Brands Hatch was fantastic today."
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB): "I'm very happy for this result because in the first race the rear tyre was not so good and I was very disappointed. In the second race I just changed it and this tyre gave quite a good feeling. I make a battle with Kiyo but he was faster than me in some places and finally I was not able to catch him, but we made a really good race. Congratulations for Kiyo!"
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB): "It was better than the first race, when we had a few tyre troubles but we made some changes to the bike which definitely improved it but there was no way I could run the pace of the guys at the front. They just pulled away. I had a bit of a battle with Bayliss and it took me a few laps to get past him, but I'm content with third. It'll do for now, but I'm looking forward to winning races again!"
Results: 1. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 36'14.904 (153,193 kph); 2. Haga N. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1.848; 3. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 8.883; 4. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 11.180; 5. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 12.928; 6. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 13.696; 7. Sykes T. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 13.872; 8. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 14.009; 9. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 19.065; 10. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 19.864; 11. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 20.479; 12. Biaggi M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 20.621; 13. Lavilla G. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 20.722; 14. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 24.512; 15. Walker C. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 32.090; 16. Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 32.207.
Points (after 10 of 14 rounds): Riders - 1. Bayliss (Ducati) 334; 2. Neukirchner (Suzuki) 252; 3. Corser (Yamaha) 242; 4. Checa (Honda) 233; 5. Haga (Yamaha) 230; 6. Nieto (Suzuki) 183; 7. Biaggi (Ducati) 166; 8. Kiyonari (Honda) 165; 9. Fabrizio (Ducati) 161; 10. Xaus (Ducati) 148. Manufacturers - 1. Ducati 403; 2. Yamaha 345; 3. Suzuki 303; 4. Honda 297; 5. Kawasaki 64.
FIM Supersport World Championship
The Supersport race was stopped on lap 16 when British rider Craig Jones (Parkalgar Racing Honda) crashed coming onto the pit straight, sustaining a serious head injury in the process. He was transferred to the Royal London Hospital by air ambulance for further assessment and treatment. Victory in the race went to Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), his second in a row, ahead of the unfortunate Jones and Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), who boosted his lead in the championship. Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport), Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda) and Veneman (RES Software Suzuki) took the next three places.
Results: 1. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 22'29.935 (148,087 kph); 2. Jones C. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 0.209; 3. Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 0.664; 4. Parkes B. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R6 2.816; 5. Brookes J. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 6.789; 6. Veneman B. (NED) Suzuki GSX-R600 9.094; 7. Nannelli G. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 15.048; 8. Roccoli M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF-R6 15.623.
Points (after 9 of 13 rounds): 1. Pitt (Honda) 149; 2. Rea (Honda) 117; 3. Parkes (Yamaha) 113; 4. Brookes (Honda) 112; 5. Jones (Honda) 100; 6. Foret (Yamaha) 97; 7. Lascorz (Honda) 83; 8. Harms (Honda) 50; etc.
Superstock 1000 FIM Cup
Maxime Berger (Hannspree IDS Ten Kate Honda) lived up to pre-race expectations with a dominant win in the Superstock 1000 encounter. The Frenchman powered away into the lead taking Matteo Baiocco (O Six Kawasaki) and Matej Smrz (MS Racing Honda) with him, but he then pulled away at the mid-point to win easily, while his two rivals both crashed out. Thanks to this second win in a row, Berger moves into the lead of the table on the same points as Brendan Roberts (Ducati Xerox Junior Team), who finished fourth. The two remaining podium slots went to Sheridan Morais (Pedercini Kawasaki) of South Africa in his first race of the season, and Italian Andrea Antonelli (Althea Racing Honda). Title chaser Xavier Simeon (Alstare) had a disastrous weekend, the Belgian crashing his Suzuki on Saturday and then going out with a broken engine on the warm-up lap.Results: 1. Berger M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 21'56.050 (141,773 kph); 2. Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 4.172; 3. Antonelli A. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 5.808; 4. Roberts B. (AUS) Ducati 1098R 18.391; 5. Polita A. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 18.629; 6. Pirro M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF-R1 19.049; 7. Burrell B. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 19.468; 8. Corti C. (ITA) Yamaha YZF-R1 24.682.
Points (after 7 of 10 rounds) : 1. Berger (Honda) & Roberts (Ducati) 109; 3. Simeon (Suzuki) 95; 4. Polita (Ducati) 94; 5. Pirro (Yamaha) 83; 6. Antonelli (Honda) 57; 7. Giugliano (Suzuki) 55; 8. Smrz (Honda) 48.
European Superstock 600 Championship
Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) scored an important win in the Superstock 600 race, his third of the year. The young Frenchman was passed by his chief rival Patrick Vostarek (Intermoto Czech Honda) in the early stages, but both Vincent Lonbois (MTM Suzuki) and Dan Linfoot (StoneBaker Yamaha) managed to catch up with the leading group by lap 4. Linfoot and Vostarek then made contact next time around and both were eliminated. Lonbois challenged Baz until the flag but post-race he was disqualified from the standings, leaving second place to Gino Rea (StoneBaker Yamaha) and third to Daniele Beretta (Cruciani Moto Suzuki).
Results: 1. Baz L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R6 16'56.504 (144,219 kph); 2. Rea G. (GBR) Yamaha YZF-R6 1.586; 3. Beretta D. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R600 1.744; 4. Petrucci D. (ITA) Yamaha YZF-R6 9.700; 5. Bussolotti M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF-R6 9.730; 6. La Marra E. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R600 10.062; 7. Gines M. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R6 10.125; 8. Black G. (GBR) Yamaha YZF-R6 15.357.
Points (after 7 of 10 rounds): 1. Baz (Yamaha) 142; 2. Vostarek (Honda) 110; 3. Bussolati (Yamaha) 81; 4. Rea (Yamaha) 77; 5. Linfoot (Yamaha) 74; 6. Petrucci (Yamaha) 67; 7. Beretta (Suzuki) 66; 8. Black (Yamaha) 45.
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