World SuperBike - Round 7 - Misano

Go back and read about race 1....

Juan Borja jumped the start which caused a few others to also leave early so the red flag was brought out and a re-start ordered. It was fairly hot at Misano so a couple of bikes overheated a little so the riders had to switch to their spare bikes. Those affected were Yanagawa and Haga.

At the re-start Fujiwara got away the best and led the field through the 1st few corners, closely followed by Haga, Bayliss & Corser. Bayliss is being very aggressive already and trying put a pass on Haga but messed himself up a little which let Corser through for 3rd. Haga through on Fujiwara who immediately took him back, Haga back through, Fujiwara back through, Corser through on both of them, Troy Corser has hit the front and will be trying to do a repeat of his race 1 escape act.

Lap 3 race order -Corser, Fujiwara, Haga, Bayliss, Borja, Slight, Bostrom, Goddard. Corser is the fastest man on the circuit by the lap times and looks as though he might just get away with that escape act again as he is going even quicker than he was in race 1!

Fujiwara is a man with a new lease of life, he hasn't really done anything this season but today at Misano he is on fire. He is holding out Haga who is 3rd with Bayliss a little further back in 4th. Then Borja, Slight & Bostrom. Haga through on Fujiwara in one of his 'sideways and slide it underneath' moves. Does the Yamaha pilot have the speed to catch Corser?

Bostrom is also a man who seems to have found something within himself this weekend at Misano, after doing basically nothing all year he has constantly been in the thick of the action this weekend and is finally showing some spirit.

Haga is letting it all hang out in his efforts to catch Corser but is not making much of an in-road on the Australian Aprilia pilot. End of lap 5 - Corser, Haga, Fujiwara, Bayliss, Borja, Slight, Bostrom, Chili, Goddard, Antonello, Edwards, Yanagawa.

Haga is catching Corser! The gap down to a couple of tenths as they commenced lap 7. Chili is on a charge from 8th, he has plenty of laps left in this 23 lap race (shortened from 25 due to the re-start). This looks as thought it is going to be a much closer race and Corser is not going to be able to clear out from them this time. Haga and Corser started to get close to swapping paint in a lot of the corners from lap 8, Haga showing the Aprilia a wheel everywhere. This could end in the kitty litter if they are not careful.

Haga underneath and through to the front on lap 9, Corser back under a few corners later, this is allowing Fujiwara and Bayliss to close on them a little with 15 laps to go.

Corser is up for this fight and is showing no fear in playing it hard with Noriyuki, shit Haga last the front, bugger. Bayliss had to take to the bush to avoid the carnage, Chili also forced off the track from the carnage. Now we have Corser in front, with a big gap on Fujiwara, and Bayliss in 3rd a lot further behind. It looked as though just about everyone had to take to the grass to avoid Haga's accident, some came off better than others with Chili's Suzuki getting catapulted over and over after hitting an off track bump.

Now this is a real shake up. Corser 2 seconds in front of Fujiwara, Bayliss, Bostrom in 4th and only 2 seconds behind Bayliss! This is going to close the championship even more with Chili scoring no points again and Edwards probably only picking up a few as he is struggling back in 10th. Corser nearly has nearly the whole of the front straight on Fujiwara (4 secs), then Bayliss, Bostrom, Borja, Yanagawa & Slight. Bostrom will be extremely keen to try and stay in front of the bloke who took his seat on the works Ducati and demoted him to the NCR Ducati Team that he is riding for now.

Bayliss right on the tail of Fujiwara now, it is a matter of time before the Aussie gets past him, but then it will be a matter of whether he can break away from the Suzuki rider. There it is, Bayliss through on Fujiwara and starting to ease out a little on him. Corser has a 5.7 second lead with 10 laps to go so if he remains upright he has this won as surely there is no way Bayliss can make up over half a second a lap, could he?

Bayliss could not be accused of not trying as he is really spinning that Ducati up everywhere which is pushing him wide a little in some of the corners and Fujiwara is not falling any more behind. Bayliss is climbing all over the bike in a way that is reminiscent of Doohan, that is not to compare Bayliss to the 5 times 500-GP Champ but the body language in how they really pick the bike up off the turns does look rather 'Doohanesque', I made that word up by the way.

Peter Goddard is fighting hard with Aaron Slight for 8th position and he is through, there is another man with a new found lease of life here at Misano. Maybe it is something in the Italian water?

Corser seemed to be cruising a little for a while but he has turned the wick up again now and sliding that Aprilia around again.

Lap 16 - Corser, Bayliss (6.7 secs), Fujiwara, Bostrom, Borja, Yanagawa, Antonello, Goddard, Slight and Edwards in 10th and 22 seconds down on the race leader. Bostrom through on Fujiwara for 3rd, maybe that demotion was what he needed in order to get fired up and start trying! Bostrom is closing on Bayliss, that would definitely be the dream for the American this weekend for him to beat both Borja and Bayliss! It looks as though he may well have the speed to do it too. If he had tried this hard when was riding for Ducati Corse there is no way he would have lost that seat.

They are starting to lap riders now and Bostrom is right up Bayliss' pipes and they are both sliding it in and out of the corners. The American definitely looks to have the speed to take that 2nd place. Corser has a 7 second lead with 3 laps to run.

Bostrom looks as though he can keep his Ducati on a tighter line than Bayliss can at the moment he may be biding his time for a last lap move. There it is under Bayliss goes Bostrom but runs wide and Bayliss goes straight back past him, maybe he showed his hand a little early. This will be gloves off from here on in but Bostrom has to make that couple of bike lengths back up that he lost in that failed move. He has done it once so can probably do it again.

Last lap - Corser is still a country mile ahead and enjoying his relaxing ride through the Italian countryside at Misano this weekend.

There it is a beautiful stand up wheelie (I have to learn how to do them) from Corser as he crosses the line, Bayliss holds on to his 2nd and the revitalised Bostrom takes 3rd and a podium position.

The NCR Ducati team mobbed Bostrom as he entered the pits, I would guess that this would be a pretty emotional time for the American after a disappointing year thus far prior to this weekend. He was very humble on the podium and spoke glowingly of how Ducati has treated him and how he wouldn't have been there without their help. This guy is just too nice!

An Aussie 1-2 in both races, it doesn't get much better than that. A perfect weekend for Aprilia, racing at home, pole & two race wins, something tells me there will be a big party tonight.