World Superbike 2008 - Round Two

World Superbike 2008 - Round Two - Phillip Island

Superbike Race 2

Bayliss led the field away again in the second Superbike bout with Nieto, Haga and Corser in tow. But again drama at the start with Fabrizio, Corser, Rolfo, Laconi and Smrz all deemed to have jumped the start and thus being penalised with a ride through penalty. The starting lights a little unpredictable here this weekend according to some of the riders I spoke to and obviously there must be something amiss for so many riders to have jumped the gun.

Nieto and Corser immediately took the battle to race one victor Bayliss with both men challenging him but it was Corser that made a pass stick and held the lead as they started lap two. Of course all that hard work to no avail really for Corser as he realised a couple of laps later when he received the board notifying him of the penalty. He never had to take that ride through penalty however as he tumbled off through the kitty litter at Siberia on lap four to put a premature end to his race weekend.

No problems though for Bayliss as he continued to lead Nieto but the man on a real charge through the field during the opening laps was Max Biaggi. The Sterilgarda Ducati man was on fire in the opening bout before losing the front at MG Hairpin, something he will not want to repeat this time around.

No this time around Biaggi chose the fastest part of the track to have a tumble rather than the slowest, his Ducati got real untidy under brakes at the end of the chute while he was attempting to put a move on Nieto for second and both Biaggi and his machine somersaulted through the gravel with his Ducati eventually coming to rest definitely dead but not quite buried. Biaggi had been on a mission prior to the crash with a 33.47 on the previous lap besting race leader Bayliss’ best lap of the race thus far by more than half a second. A very trying weekend for the Italian who will no doubt be finding the whole spectrum of rainbow colours across his body when he wakes up sore and sorry tomorrow after those tumbles. A fractured left wrist the only reported skeletal damage but the soft tissue injuries from a tumble like that don’t bare thinking about.

Checa was the next challenger to up his pace, the Spaniard dipping into the 33s on lap eight to start closing on third place Xaus. Bayliss continued to lead and enjoyed a 1.45 second buffer over Nieto. Russell Holland was progressing through the field and also dipped into the 33s on lap nine to start closing in on 10th placed Kiyonari.

Checa quickly got on terms with Xaus and then also got the better of Nieto and started a quest to try and chase down Bayliss who by half race distance had a two second lead. The most exciting tussle was unfolding seven seconds behind Bayliss with Sofuoglu, Haga, Muggeridge, Neukirchner, Holland, Lavilla and Kiyonari all engaged in close quarters combat over fifth place.

Bayliss responded to Checa’s challenge by putting in his new fastest lap of the race, a 33.71 extending his lead over Checa to 2.35 seconds. A 33.74 next time around to extend his lead to 2.7 seconds. Over the next few laps the gap varied between 2.7 and 2.3 seconds with their laptimes rarely more than a tenth of a second apart.

With three laps to run Bayliss had three seconds on Checa who in turn had two seconds on Nieto. Xaus was in fourth place with a clear six second break on fifth placed Haga who was trying to shake off the advances of Max Neukirchner and Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Bayliss waves goodbye to Phillip Island with a perfect double. 44 wins from 128 starts in World Superbike quite an impressive win ratio and no doubt one he will improve on before season 2008 is finished. Checa a great second place in an encouraging second round for the all new 2008 Fireblade. Fonsi Nieto rounded out the podium after an impressive weekend on the GSX-R1000.

Organisers claimed a record three day crowd figure of 65,000. A 3% increase over 2007.

Race 2 Results	Championship Standings
Bayliss Checa 1.1 Nieto 4.3 Xaus 6.6 Neukirchner 11.5 Kiyonari 11.6 Haga 12.0 Lavilla 12.1 Holland 13.4 Muggeridge 13.5 Sofuoglu 16.2 D Checa 21.9 Gimbert 21.9 Tamada 29.1 Nakatomi 29.2 Rolfo 32.9 Laconi 34.3 Smrz 42.5 Fabrizio 46.6 Lanzi 47.0	Bayliss 88 Nieto 61 Xaus 59 Corser 45 Checa 45 Neukirchner 39 Biaggi 36 Fabrizio 34 Haga 22 Lavilla 18 Kiyonari 17 Sofuoglu 17 Lanzi 13 Smrz 13 Rolfo 12