Since the beginning of the weekend it was clear we were going to have fun at Brno, thanks to an exciting track layout and the will to win of so many competitive riders. In the WSBK class the circuit best was reduced even on the first day, and for James Toseland, one quick lap was enough to perform this task. Maybe there was room for further improvement, but rain in the last minutes of the session froze the frame.

SBK riders raced with the latest Pirelli Diablo SBK 16,5 inch tyres which Pirelli first presented this year at Qatar. Since that first race, they have beaten many records.

We are talking about a race spec tyre of course (qualifying tyres are intended solely for the 16 riders that earn a start in Superpole, after Saturday morning’s final qualifying session); the same race tyres on which Yukio Kagayama set a wonderful time of 2’01.779. This was enough to assure him of taking the fastest lap and the status of last rider away in the afternoon Superpole session, which had five different manufacturers represented in the top 5 positions.

In Superpole, and with qualifying tyres fitted, the times went down again. Haga got on pole with a lap time of 2’00.457 – more than 2 seconds faster than the previous one - and 14 riders went under the previous lap record (2005, Troy Corser: 2’02.694).

The Supersport World Championship grid included its leading rider Charpentier once more, on the second row, behind Curtain, Sofuoglu, Parkes and Tiberio. Again there would be a great fight between Honda and Yamaha riders.

On Sunday, SBK started with a difficult warm up, with very hot conditions and two red flags, due to oil being spread on the racetrack by two crashing machines.

Race1:
AIR HUMIDITY 31% AIR TEMPERATURE 31°C
TRACK CONDITION Dry TRACK TEMPERATURE 47°

Just a couple of corners gone and one of the main players in the Championship, Troy Bayliss, was out of the scene. Toseland and Haga were then the two riders most likely to battle for the victory, but then Kagayama came and overtook Noriyuki, then began stalking James’ Honda. Also Pitt passed Haga, but then he suffered a failure of his bike when fighting for supremacy with his team mate. In the last laps Kagayama found an advantage, while from 7th position Michel Fabrizio, in three laps, earned his first podium in the class. A fine result for the Italian Rider, able to find the optimum set up from his bike to allow him to push hard until the last laps, all the while pain from a recent shoulder fracture.

Most of the riders decided to fit the softest solutions in the Pirelli Diablo SBK range, both in the front and in the rear, because the hot temperatures made the track less grippy than it was in recent tyre tests.

Rider Bike Team Race time
1 Kagayama Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki 41’27.271
2 Toseland Honda CBR1000RR Winston Ten Kate Honda +3.900
3 Fabrizio Honda CBR1000RR D. F. X. Treme +6.255
4 Haga Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB +6.432
5 Corser Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki +7.463

Comparing the race time with last year there’s a big improvement. Thanks to the new Pirelli Diablo Superbike, presented this season in Qatar, race one at Brno 2006 was 15 seconds faster than the 2005 version; (2005 Race 1: 41’42.829).

Race2:

AIR HUMIDITY 26% AIR TEMPERATURE 34°C
TRACK CONDITION Dry TRACK TEMPERATURE 52°

In race two the track surface reached 52°C, a demanding situation for the riders to deal with but also or the bikes and the tyres. 20 laps like this was a heavy task, but despite the merciless weather the race was amazing.

Haga took the lead and tried to escape, but as in race 1 Kagayama stretched out to catch him (after finishing the first lap in 8th position) and win the race. The man of the day was Michel Fabrizio, and in Race 2 his setup allowed a great final rush, allowing Michel to finish second, just in front of Haga, and thus scoring his second podium of the day. The 2005 World Champion, Troy Corser, finished 4th, while the Championship leader Troy Bayliss had to be content with a single 8th position, coming at the end of a difficult weekend for the Australian pilot and his teammate Lanzi (9th in race two ).
On the podium, three different bike manufacturers were represented, proving the highly competitive nature of this Championship - thanks in major part to the capacity of the Pirelli tyres to perform at the highest level, on different bikes and with different riding styles.

Race Standings

Rider Bike Team Race time
1 Kagayama Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki 41’31.118
2 Fabrizio Honda CBR1000RR D.F.X. Treme +2.431
3 Haga Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB +2.479
4 Corser Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki +2.514
5 Toseland Honda CBR1000RR Winston Ten Kate +4.939


AIR HUMIDITY 28% AIR TEMPERATURE 32°C
TRACK CONDITION Dry TRACK TEMPERATURE 47°

The two riders from the Yamaha Germany team finally dominated the race in Brno.

With Charpentier not in perfect shape the aforementioned pairing didn’t miss the opportunity and exploited to the full the chance of scoring heavy points, despite a good race from Charpentier’s teammate, Kenan Sofuoglu.

The new Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa, after its first outing in Misano, also set incredible times here. Kevin Curtain improved the qualifying record (scored last year by Charpentier) by nearly 1,5 seconds (2’07.316 SC, 2’05.900 KC), while during today’s race the new race lap record was taken by Yoann Tiberio, who stuck in a great 2’06.604 on only his second lap.

Even more important is the total race time, as the Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa proved it could offer great performance through the whole race: this year race was 21 seconds faster than 2005.

Race Standings

Rider Bike Team Race time
1 Curtain Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Germany 38’23.594
2 Parkes Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Germany +1.535
3 Sofuoglu Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate +3.940
4 Tiberio Honda CBR 600 RR Megabike Honda Team +19.396
5 Vizziello Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Italia +21.495