World superbike heads to Salt Lake City with raceday Memorial Day Monday
WSBK, Rd7, live on Fox Sports 2 at 3.30am Tuesday, June 1
The 2010 world superbike title makes its only appearance in America from May 29-31, with the high speed, high altitude (1341 m) Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City hosting the category for its third successive year, this time on Memorial Day Monday.
The stakes will be high at the 4.907km venue, with a number of riders, including Australia’s Troy Corser, determined to prevent Briton Leon Haslam and Italian Max Biaggi from strengthening their positions at the head of the championship table.
Although this year’s racing has been fiercely competitive — four of the seven manufacturers have already won races – Haslam (Suzuki) and Biaggi (Aprilia) have been the masters of consistency, finishing on the podium in nine and seven races respectively.
Unsurprisingly, Haslam leads on 222pts from Biaggi on 207, and then there’s a big gulf back to Jonathan Rea (Honda) and privateer Carlos Checa (Ducati), who are level on 141.
Corser (BMW) is in seventh position on 105pts, just one behind the struggling Ducati of Noriyuki Haga and within sight of James Toseland (Yamaha, 125).
Last year’s round at Miller was a dismal one for Corser, who just couldn’t keep pace with the top riders and teams. But the Wollongong (NSW) wiz knows what’s required to turn around his fortunes in 2010.
“Salt Lake City lies at a higher altitude than all the other circuits on the calendar, and that has an impact on engine output,” said Corser. But that’s not our main problem. The area we need to work on most is the chassis.
“The key here is to be clever with our chassis settings to increase mechanical grip, so that the electronics have to cut in as little as possible. I’ve got a few ideas which I’m keen to put into action at Salt Lake City.”
Meanwhile, Corser’s countryman Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki) is making his first appearance at Miller Motorsports Park, with racing on the US public holiday.
“I am looking forward to going to Miller, a new circuit for me, but with the position we are in with the bike we should go well there. I feel better all the time and getting stronger so I am looking forward to going to America,” said Vermeulen.
“Last year’s results were good here for the team so this gives me confidence that we can take another step forward and make up some ground during qualifying, and then for the races. We also have some valuable data from last year, which will help us with our initial set-up. I’m gradually getting back to full fitness so my targets are set high for this weekend, for both myself and the team.”
Other circuit rookies will include British duo Toseland and Leon Camier (Aprilia). What they’ll all be presented with is a massive main straight just over 1km long, where the fastest superbikes should hit speeds of around 330km/h – notwithstanding the high altitude of Salt Lake City.
That’s the speed Biaggi’s Aprilia reached at Monza’s round five, and the Italian will again be looking to take maximum advantage of that awesome top end at a circuit where his best finish is fourth.
One rider who took an instant liking to Miller in 2008 was the then Honda-backed Checa, who waltzed to a double win in his first year of WSBK competition.
He then finished on the podium again last year, as did Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) and Rea.
A switch to Ducati at the start of this year has rejuvenated Checa, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see rack up another victory at Miller as he tries to remain in the same championship orbit as Haslam and Biaggi.
In world supersport, Eugene Laverty (Honda) will be pushing for a fourth successive win, although last year’s Miller champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) will be pulling out all stops to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Sofuoglu is a 1pt leader in the championship over Laverty, with Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) is a further 4pts behind in third.
WORLD SUPERBIKE STANDINGS (AFTER ROUND SIX OF 13):
1 Leon Haslam, Great Britain, Suzuki 222
2 Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia 207
3= Jonathan Rea, Great Britain, Honda 141
3= Carlos Checa, Spain, Ducati 141
5 James Toseland, Great Britain, Yamaha 125
6 Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Ducati 106
7 Troy Corser, Australia, BMW 105
8 Michel Fabrizio, Italy, Ducati 95
9 Cal Crutchlow, Great Britain, Yamaha 86
10 Leon Camier, Great Britain, Aprilia 82
19 Chris Vermeulen, Australia, Kawasaki 5
24 Broc Parkes, Australia, Honda 1
