World Superbike 2008 - Round Nine - Brno (Czech Republic)

World Superbike 2008 - Round Nine - Brno (Czech Republic)

Superbike Race 1

The opening bout in the 11th round of the 2008 World Superbike Championship marked the 500th ever race for the highly entertaining production based racing series. The 100th race was won by Rob Phillis (Kawasaki) at Jarama. The 200th by John Kocinski (Ducati) at Laguna Seca. The 300th was taken out by an Aprilia mounted Troy Corser in 2000 at Misano. The 400th victory came at Silverstone with Chris Vermeulen taking home the silverware for Honda. Race #500 at Brno in the Czech Republic also looked likely to produce an Aussie victory with Troy Bayliss and Troy Corser the fastest men in Superpole. Looking to spoil that party however was Max Biaggi. The Italian quickest in the morning warm up session and looking for a return to prime form after being hampered by injury for most of the season.

And it was Biaggi who scored the holeshot with Corser and Bayliss close astern.

It took Corser two laps to get his nose in front of Biaggi but it wasn’t there for long. The pair traded places a couple of times over the next few laps while Bayliss observed from close quarters. Joining the party on lap four was Max Neukirchner. The Suzuki man slipped past Bayliss for third place on lap five. Michel Fabrizio was also within striking distance. Fonsi Nieto and Ryuichi Kiyonari also not out of the picture.

Bayliss managed to get back in front of Neukirchner before half distance but the battle for the win looked to be shaping up to be a Biaggi versus Corser affair.

Bayliss got his second wind on lap 11 and slipped past Biaggi who had just been surpassed by Corser. The trio stepping up the level of aggression as the race progressed. The order was shuffled again late on that lap when Bayliss stole the lead from Corser and Biaggi made a momentary claim on second place only for the challenge to be shrugged off by Corser once again.

Only thee laps later the two Aussies had left Biaggi in their wake. The Italian had looked the favourite for the win for the first half of the race but he didn’t have the package for the long haul and it was going to be an all Aussie battle for the 25 points.

Fonsi Nieto threw away the chance of a top five finish with four laps to run. Up front Bayliss had pulled the pin with a new lap record helping him to escape the advances of Corser. With three laps to go it looked as though first and second place was settled but a battle royale was unfolding over the final spot on the rostrum. The protagonists in that tussle Biaggi, Fabrizio and Kiyonari.

Troy Bayliss taking the win and Corser second. A milestone in the race reached for Corser with the penultimate lap at Brno his 6000th race lap in World Superbike. An all time record for the most laps completed in the series.

Rounding out the podium was Fabrizio with a last gasp move past Biaggi.