World Superbike 2008 - Round Two

World Superbike 2008 - Round Two - Phillip Island

Superbike Race 1

Troy Bayliss got off to a great start but his teammate Michel Fabrizio was left stranded on the line and was rammed from behind by Davie Checa and Vittorio Iannuzzo who had been unable to avoid the stationary Ducati. It looked as though the fire went out in Fabrizio’s Ducati and the Italian had tried to inch forward as he looked over his shoulder all too aware of the risk that being stranded on the line entails in regards to getting collected from behind.

Fabrizio did his best and no blame for the incident can be laid at the feet of any of the riders as far as I can see, Fabrizio tried to move and for the riders that hit him they can only see him at the last minute as riders in front of them split around the stranded Ducati, and the guys at the rear of the grid had a fair speed up by the time they reached Fabrizio’s front row start position.

The red flag came out as the rest of the field arrived at Lukey Heights and after seeing the flag Checa rolled off just as he started to crest the hill and Holland was right on his tail and hit the rear of Checa’s slowing Fireblade. The impact saw both riders tumbling off through the grass in quite an ugly incident.

The riders still mounted return to pitlane on their machines while the others were transported by medical crews. Iannuzzo appearing to be the most severely injured while Fabrizio and Checa nursed some very serious bruising.

Some minutes later the field headed out of pitlane to form up on the grid once again with Iannuzzo and Morelli the only riders not taking their places on the starting line. Russell Holland had failed to get out of pitlane quick enough so was relegated to the back of the grid. Officials only allowing five minutes after the first riders returned to pitlane before ushering riders out on the formation lap while some riders were still making their way back to pitlane after being stranded around the circuit. Checa made it out just in time before leaving his bike on the grid and heading off for some medical attention. He returned before the riders were sent off on their warm up lap to take his position on the front row of the grid.
An ugly start to what was a beautiful day at Phillip Island.

Bayliss again a flyer off the line and led the field through turn one ahead of Corser, Haga, Nieto, Neukirchner, Xaus, Fabrizio, Muggeridge, Laconi and Checa rounded out the top ten. The Spaniard worked his way up to seventh around the back of the circuit while a group of five up front started to break away from the pack. Bayliss, Corser, Haga, Nieto and Neukirchner the protagonists all tightly bunched at the head of the field.
Checa was up to sixth by late on the second lap and was trying to chase down the leading group, Fabrizio, Xaus, Biaggi and Laconi eager to join in the fun also. Jakub Smrz went out of the race on lap three, failing to convert his great qualifying and practice times into a result.

Biaggi the quickest man in the field on lap three, a 32.51 to the Italian while running in eighth place 1.9 seconds behind race leader Troy Bayliss. Bayliss matched that pace on lap four to pull away from Neukirchner and Corser. Haga looked to be struggling to stay with that leading group and Carlos Checa got the better of the Yamaha man for fourth place on lap five.

Troy Corser was in battle for second place with Max Neukirchner with both men cracking 312km/h down the main straight compared to the 304km/h recorded by race leader Bayliss.

On the next lap Corser managed to sneak away from Neukirchner who was then swallowed up by Carlos Checa. Fonsi Nieto was on a charge in fifth place just ahead of Fabrizio and Biaggi.

Corser ran a little wide as he tipped into turn 12 at the end of lap seven which allowed Checa to close right onto the tail of the #11 Yamaha. Bayliss was on his own out in front with a 1.5 second buffer over his closest pursuer, Checa. Max Biaggi was the only man in the 1m32s on that lap as he sneaked past Nieto for fifth place and starting to hound fourth placed Neukirchner.

The battle for second place then became a six way affair with Corser, Checa, Biaggi, Neukirchner, Fabrizio and Nieto all trading blows around the 4.45km Phillip Island circuit. All this playing into the hands of Bayliss as he continued to set the pace up front unfettered by the advances of any competitor.

On lap nine Biaggi was in second place and trying to break away from his foes. Fabrizio was all over the back of Corser despite carrying some leg injuries from that failed start only half an hour earlier.

Michel Fabrizio hit Troy Corser at MG Hairpin which cost the Australian a number of places as he ran wide. Biaggi had been 2.5 seconds behind Bayliss but reduced that to 2 seconds on the next lap but Bayliss responded to the challenge by upping his pace again but the Italian again a tenth quicker on the next lap to reduce the gap to 1.9 seconds. The battle for third unrelenting with Xaus, Neukirchner, Corser, Fabrizio, Checa and Nieto all battling it out at every turn.

As the race entered its second half Biaggi had reduced Bayliss’ lead to 1.5 seconds after continuing to put in 1m32s compared to Bayliss’ low 1m33s. On lap 13, 14 and 15 however the pair were fairly level pegged with the gap ranging between 1.5 and 1.7 seconds. Xaus was running in third place a further 5.8 seconds behind Biaggi and with a small gap over Corser and Fabrizio.

Disaster for Max Biaggi on lap 16 however as the Italian lost the front at MG Hairpin and tumbled out of the race leaving Bayliss on his own a long way from his closest pursuer. That rider was still Ruben Xaus, eight seconds behind the dominant #21 Ducati as Corser and Fabrizio continued to trade blows close astern of the lanky Spaniard. That pair continued to close on Xaus and with five laps to run less than half a second covered that trio as they tussled over the podium positions.

Fabrizio riding very hard, majorly sideways through the ultra fast turn three while carrying a fair degree of lean in a very brave display of barely controlled aggression. Perhaps someone should hit from behind prior to every race…

Fabrizio and Xaus trading blows in an unbelievable show of forceful riding, really amazing stuff. How they can bash each other around and still remain upright I will never know… Their tussle however allowing Corser a little breathing space, the Yamaha managing to pull a few bike lengths over that scary pair of Europeans. If Corser ever needed encouragement to try and break away one glance behind him at the furious battle behind him would certainly be a great motivator to get away from them as fast as possible.

Bayliss rolled the pace off a little on the final laps, just maintaining his very safe lead to the line. Nothing too much was safe behind him however as Fabrizio and Xaus battled to the line for third half a second behind Corser. Nieto also not far behind in fifth, Checa sixth, Neukirchner seventh, Haga eighth, Kiyonari ninth and Rolfo tenth.

The win was the 43rd for Bayliss from his 127 race starts.

Race 1 Results	Championship Standings
Bayliss Corser 4.2 Fabrizio 4.7 Xaus 5.1 Nieto 5.5 Checa 5.8 Neukirchner 5.9 Haga 14.8 Kiyonari 18.8 Rolfo 20.6 Lavilla 21.6 Muggeridge 29.2 Lanzi 29.5 Sofuoglu 30.0 Nakatomi 30.2 Gimbert 30.8 Holland 50.1 Aoyama 67.3	Bayliss 63 Xaus 46 Nieto 45 Corser 45 Biaggi 36 Fabrizio 34 Neukirchner 28 Checa 25 Lanzi 13 Haga 13