World Superbike 2008 - Round Five

World Superbike 2008 - Round Five - Monza

Superbike Race 1

Max Neukirchner scored the holeshot and led Bayliss, Kagayama and Biaggi through the first turns but it wasn’t long before Yukio Kagayama had pushed his way through to the lead and half a lap later his teammate also went through on the #21 Ducati to make it a Suzuki 1-2.

Carlos Checa had a shocker of a start on the Fireblade and went back to around 20th place. In stark contrast to that was Biaggi’s start, the Italian shooting straight up to fourth place.

Lap two saw Noriyuki Haga declare his challenge and nose his way past Biaggi to take fourth place. A few laps later Haga went past Bayliss for third place as the two Suzuki men in front of them continued to tussle over the lead. That whole quartet had broken away from the field. Less than half a second covered that top four. Biaggi was the best of the pursuers, just over two seconds further back from the leaders.

Haga hit the lead for the first time with 11 laps to run. The next time they hit the straight the Suzuki duo simply blasted past the Yamaha thanks to that incredible GSX-R mill.

Kagayama ran in too deep at the chicane and cut across the corner and signalled his pursuers through to take station at the rear of the leading group to avoid any penalty for the indiscretion. That mistake gave Neukirchner the lead just as they passed the halfway mark of the race. A lap later Kagayama made another mistake under brakes, only this time around he lost touch with the leading group as a result.

With six laps to run Neukirchner and Haga began to break away from Bayliss. The four-cylinder men enjoying a top end power advantage at the ultra fast Monza circuit, the Suzuki in particular the horsepower hero. Haga’s Yamaha certainly had the power to stay in the slipstream of the Suzuki and as the laps wound down it appeared that it was going to be a Suzuki or a Yamaha across the line first to claim the win.

As the race entered its final throes though that top four closed up again with everyone throwing their hat back in the ring for the win. With two laps to run less than a second covered that top quartet again.

Neukirchner got the last lap board first but Haga was all over his tail. Pirellis were screwed into the tarmac on the run to the straight for the final time and it was Suzuki man Neukirchner that did it the best to take his first World Superbike win ahead of Haga and Bayliss. Kagayama a close fourth and Biaggi a strong fifth well ahead of Kiyonari.