BAYLISS AIMS FOR THE RECORD Ducati champion Troy Bayliss in Misano is capable of going level with the top sequence of wins in the history of SBK™ World Championship. If Troy scores a double he will count 9 wins in a row, the same number that Colin Edwards (from Laguna Seca 2002 race 2 to Imola 2002 race 2) and Neil Hodgson (Valencia 2003 race 1 Oschersleben 2003 race 1) managed to put together. 7×2 Troy Corser in Misano counts 13 podium finishes out of 18 participations, and among these, 2 wins (a double in 2000) and a collection of seven second places. No other rider in the history of the World Championship has managed to score more second places in the same circuit. As for the podium places Corser is only 2 podiums short of reaching Carl Fogarty’s absolute record of 15 podiums on the same track. This is the table that shows the highest number of podium finishes on the same track: Rider/Track/Podium finishes C.Fogarty Assen 15 T.Corser Misano 13 C.Edwards Monza 12 C.Fogarty Donington Park 11 T.Corser Laguna Seca 11 T.Corser Phillip Island 11 T.Corser Donington Park 10 A.Slight Albacete 10 Corser in Misano can equal another record, the one related to poles scored on the same track. At the moment he counts 3 poles in Misano (1998, 2000 and 2005) and the absolute record is 4, as shown in the following table: Rider/Track/Pole positions T.Corser Phillip Island 4 C.Fogarty Donington Park 4 N.Hodgson Brands Hatch 4 T.Corser Valencia 4 D.Polen Sugo 3 N.Hodgson Oschersleben 3 T.Corser Misano 3 T.Corser Laguna Seca 3 T.Corser Brands Hatch 3 P.Chili Assen 3 T.Corser Sugo 3 This long list of Corser’s records in Misano is ended by another record that Troy can reach: for the fourth time in WSBK™ history a rider can manage to score more than 300 points on the same track. At the moment only Fogarty and Corser managed to do this: Rider/Track/Points gained C.Fogarty Assen 350 T.Corser Phillip Island 308 C.Fogarty Donington Park 308 T.Corser Misano 294 150 FOR STEVE Steve Martin at present counts 148 race starts in the World Superbike Championship™ and after Misano he could be the 12th rider of all times in reaching 150 race starts. With another 4 races he will reach Stephane Mertens at the 10th place all-time. The leader is Chili with 262 race starts, followed by Corser with 238. A SAFE MARGIN After 10 races Bayliss heads to Misano with a 76 points advantage over Corser. The situation is similar to 2005, when Corser had a 78 point margin over Kagayama and at the end of the year he became the champion. A margin of 76 points or more has never been overcome in the history of the Championship. DUCATI’S TRACK For 7 times out of 28 races run, the italian manufacturer managed to fill the podium with its bikes. It happened in 1995 in both races, in 1996 in both races, in 2003 in both races and in 2004 in race 2. In 1995 race 2 and 2003 race 1 this domination was extended to the first four places, in 1995 race 1 this was extended to the first 5 places, but the best result was reached in 2004 race 2 with all the first 6 bikes from Borgo Panigale (Chili, Laconi, Martin, Haga, Leon Haslam and Toseland). Ducati scored in Misano a grand total of 56 podium places, an absolute record for a manufacturer on a single track. The same record has been reached also for wins: 22 in Misano, as far as pole positions are concerned Ducati managed to do better in Donington Park, with 11 poles versus 10 in Misano. The italian manufacturer is unbeaten in Misano since 2001, 10 races in a row, the last non-Ducati win was the double scored by Corser with the Aprilia RSV 1000 in 2000, in 2001 the sequence of wins in Misano by Ducati started with Troy Bayliss. OLD RECORDS THAT STAND During the 2006 season race after race laptime records crumble and maybe this is the right year to see Misano’s records finally beaten. They stand here since: · 1997, Yanagawa’s pole position with Kawasaki ZX-7RR: 1’33″494 at 156.331 km/h; · 1996, John Kocinski’s fastest lap in 1’34″296 at 155.001 km/h · 1995, best race average speed signed by Mauro Lucchiari in race 2, 1995: 38’52″193 at 156.677 km/h. ANNIVERSARIES OF THE WEEK · 19th june 1994, Albacete, 25th podium for Aaron Slight (at the end of his career he will count 87 podiums), 150th race for the SBK World Championship™, at present 443 races have been run; · 21st june 1998, 10th win for Aaron Slight, recorded in Misano; 1992, 100th race for the SBK World Championship™, in Jarama; · 22nd june 2003, 200th fastest lap for Ducati recorded by Ruben Xaus in Misano; first (and only) presence in the front row for Vittorio Iannuzzo; 1997, 150th race start for Carl Fogarty in Monza; · 24th june 2001, 10th podium finish for Ben Bostrom in Misano; · 25th june 2000, Valencia, 25th pole position for Troy Corser; 1995, 100th fastest lap for Ducati by Pierfrancesco Chili in Albacete; MILESTONES IN MISANO · 1991 win number 25 for Ducati by Doug Polen; · 1994 first and only fastest lap for Piergiorgio Bontempi; · 1995 first win and first fastest lap for Mauro Lucchiari, 50th pole position for Ducati recorded by Carl Fogarty; · 1996 First win, pole and fastest lap for John Kocinski at his first appearance in the SBK™ World Championship, in the same race Neil Hodgson e Colin Edwards record their first front row appearances; · 1997 125th win for Ducati by Pierfrancesco Chili; · 1998 10th win for Aaron Slight; · 1999 150th fastest lap for Ducati by Troy Corser, 100th podium finish for Carl Fogarty, 25th fastest lap for Aaron Slight; · 2000 50th presence on the front row and 25th fastest lap for Troy Corser; · 2001 10th podium for Ben Bostrom; · 2002 25th front row apperance for Neil Hodgson · 2003 200th fastest lap for Ducati (Ruben Xaus), 50th podium for Pierfrancesco Chili; · 2004 100th race start and first pole position for Steve Martin, first and only presence on the front row for Lucio Pedercini; · 2005 75th presence on the front row for Troy Corser, 10th win for Regis Laconi; HIGHS AND LOWS OF 2005 IN MISANO · Double win for Regis Laconi, the only recorded by the french rider in 2005 and one of the three recorded in his career (with Monza 2004 and Imola 2004). In that occasion the last win for Laconi and France was recorded; · Double retirement for Andrew Pitt, the only of 2005, the australian rider also recorded his worst season qualifying performance: a 13th place that he will repeat in Brno at the following race weekend; · Worst season race result for Abe, a 15th place in race 2, for the japanese rider also the worst season qualifying performance: 25th; · Best season qualifying result for Lucio Pedercini, 24th; · Worst season qualifying result for Marco Borciani, 27th; · Worst season qualifying result for Haga, 21st, Noriyuki equalled his worst career performance, obtained only once, in Sugo 1995 at his second race in SBK™. Haga is now waiting for a pole position by 100 races; · Best season qualifying result for Pierfrancesco Chili, 6th; SEBASTIEN POLE SEQUENCE At the moment Sebastien Charpentier in the WSS™ Championship records 5 straight poles, an event that occurred already 3 times in his career in less than two seasons. The first sequence was from Losail to Silverstone 2005, then a pole by Fabien Foret in Misano and other 5 poles for Sebastien from Brno to Imola 2005, then Michel Fabrizio’s pole in Magny Cours 2005 and then again Charpentier with 5 poles out of 5 races in 2006. With a pole in Misano the frenchman can equal the all-time sequence set by Muggeridge from Monza 2004 to Imola 2004 (6 poles in a row). GOLDEN MOMENT The magical moment of italian riders in Superstock keeps running. The Championship standings are occupied in the first 4 positions by italian riders (Polita, Badovini, Corti e Scassa), Polita counts 3 podiums and 3 front rows in sequence and he is only one race short to reach the all-time sequence of 13 races in the points set by Didier Van Keymeulen from Assen 2004 to Magny Cours 2005. Also Chiarello is very constant leaving Silverstone with 10 straight races in the points. A final note for Scassa, that at the moment boasts 4 front rows in sequence, only one race short of Van Keymeulen’s record of 5 scored from Valencia 2005 to Brno 2005