Misano, preview WSBK’08 Round 8 Everything is ready for the second Italian round of the WSBK season which is going to take place on Santamonica track at Misano Adriatico from the next Friday. Both Sterilgarda Go Eleven’s riders are expected to get big results and they are going to face the week-end with the chief goal to be back among the stars of the championship, especially in front of their supporters. Indeed, many fans are expected to reach the track to support the 4 times world champion Max Biaggi, as well there will be many followers for Ruben Xaus too, since the rider from Catalonia is one of the most followed rider of the championship. After the unlucky German round, Alex Polita is called to confirm his talent in FIM Superstock 1000. He will take to the track to play an excellent performance in order to recover positions on the championship ranking. MARCO BORCIANI | Team Manager: “Misano is our second home-track. Last year Xaus recorded a very quick time during the testing and Max Biaggi got the podium. As well Ducati has ever taken good results here. During Brno testing I could see our riders really thrilled, feeling a positive pressure which – I hope – will help us to get excellent results in front of the Italian followers. I expect also a resolute round by Alex Polita which was dogged by misfortune in Germany”. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Corser and Haga take winning form to San Marino After incredible rides at the Nürburgring in Germany both Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) will be relishing another chance to compete for top honours at Round 8 of the World Superbike Championship at the Misano circuit on the Adriatic coast of Italy this weekend. Despite suffering from a broken right collarbone, plated and pinned before the Nürburgring race, Haga won both races in the German round, only just beating his team-mate Corser in race two. Arguably Corser looked favourite for the win until the track surface started to become wet, but it was still a miracle for Haga to be anywhere near a double win so soon after his big crash in America. Both Haga and Corser have recent podium experience at Misano, each taking a second place finish on their Yamaha YZF-R1 machinery last year. Corser is a previous Misano race winner, but despite breaking the barrier of 30 individual WSB race victories last time out, Haga has still to add Misano to his list of winning venues. After some tough early rounds Corser has been reborn as a potential winning force in the championship following strong podium results in both America and Germany. At Misano he was a double winner in the 2000 season on what used to be a predominantly left-handed circuit. Last year the Misano venue underwent massive overhauls in almost all regards, with the most obvious one being a new track layout in places, allied to a complete change in the direction of racing. Previously Misano was an anti-clockwise circuit, featuring several long left-hand corners. In the new era it is a layout dominated by a succession of right-handers at the end of the back straight, which runs parallel to the nearby Autostrada. Haga is aware that every performance counts as he tries to make up ground on championship leader Troy Bayliss. “So far so good. The double win in Germany, after my injury and operation in America, has made me a bit more relaxed. My first aim in Germany was to not crash and get some points, so to get a double win was a surprise. I was riding a little bit carefully because everyone around me over the weekend was saying ‘don’t crash!’ So I was not riding too hard, but we still had a very successful outcome.” “Misano was a turning point last year so it will be an important race again this year and I have to be careful not to make a mistake. All the other riders have been fighting each other, making slip ups and we have already been unlucky and then lucky again. It’s very competitive for everybody and we are out to get as many points as possible to the end. We have half the season left and to be 55 points from the lead is not so bad. But we know we cannot make any mistakes any more. All the team have been working hard towards Misano, so I am looking forward to it.” Corser’s winning pedigree has been proven many times in his long WSB career, and he came close to his first Yamaha win at Misano last year. “Misano should be good and the bike is coming along fine. It will be better than last year and we got a good result at Misano then, so it should be good. I do like the track and it’s good to be going in the opposite direction to the old version. It’s like a completely different circuit. There have been a few races there since the tarmac went down and the track surface is pretty much bedded in now. Last year it was very new and pretty ‘green’. There is always a good crowd at Misano and it’s a fun race for the spectators. We’re also expecting it to be as hot as ever in the sunshine.” Technically speaking – Misano according to Massimo Meregalli (Yamaha Motor Italia Team Manager): “We treat every race in the calendar the same but because our team is based in Italy it does mean Misano is more work and there are always simply more things to do. But to race in Misano is always a good thing. After our good results in Germany we have a really high level of team morale. We are, like always, trying to improve our machine and we would like to do all the things we can to be more competitive again in Misano. It is a very different place from the Nurburgring. We will consider the set-up we used last year for the Misano race, but when you find a good base like we have now, usually we don’t change it so much from race-to-race. I think we are ready and both riders are determined. We can do a god job.” Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Team YZF) is currently in the same 20th position he has monopolised for some time, while Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) and David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) maintained 23rd and 24th places overall after the Nürburgring races. WSS For the past two years Yamaha World Supersport riders have proved unbeatable at the Misano circuit, and that fills Broc Parkes and Fabien Foret, from the Yamaha World Supersport Racing Team, with confidence as they attempt to go from championship contenders to championship leaders again. After a somewhat disjoined first half of the season, despite both riders having already tasted victory on the all-new Yamaha YZF-R6, the championship lead is within touching distance for both Parkes and Foret. Second overall, Fabien is only four points from championship leader Andrew Pitt, while Broc is only seven points from the lead. Misano is a well-known venue for each rider, even in its more modern reversed layout, and Parkes in particular will have previous data still fresh in his mind from the weekend when he raced for the same team last year, on the 2007 YZF-R6. The current championship standings show how close the 2008 WSS contest is shaping up to be, with Pitt on 88 points, Foret second on 84, Josh Brookes on 83 and Joan Lascorz and Parkes locked together on 81 points. Three no scores have kept Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) in the lower reaches of the top ten so far, but as the race winner at Misano on 2006, Roccoli is fully motivated to return to the top step at one of three Italian-based races on the 2008 calendar. Foret had to settle for an off-podium finish in the Nürburgring race in mid-June, but the 2002 champion sees Misano as the perfect place to get back into the lead, “I hope for better things at Misano than I had at the Nürburgring and it is one of the better tracks for me anyway. Most of the time I have had a good result there and even with the new track and riding a different bike things were not so bad last year. I feel confident and I am going to try and win the race. We have to from now on because we need to make some more points in the championship. It is a good track for Yamaha and it should be less difficult for me on this bike than it was on the other bike last season.” Parkes, now recovered fully from some painful early season injuries, said, “It would have been fantastic to have won at Nürburgring, and I felt we had done enough to get the victory there. We lost a bit of drive in the last few laps, and I had to take third. The main thing to remember is that we ran at a really high pace in that race and we will be out to make sure we can do it again at Misano, only finish on top this time.” Wilco Zeelenberg, the Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager, sees the Misano round as a strong venue for the team’s YZF-R6 machine. “It was strange for Broc to have had the trouble at the end of the Nürburgring race, and we were surprised by that. So we felt bad that we didn’t win at first, then we realised that we were lucky to finish the race at all. Broc was very strong in that race and I think the riders who were behind did well to follow him for so long. I think our bike is very good in the top end, and we have a wide range, but the best of the other bikes are still very good. We have a good package and we know that Pitt in particular has a strong package also. We have to win races now because we are still right in there. Both riders like Misano very much and have done well there. The Misano circuit is not the most difficult place to find a setup for and even last year we had no issue with the track being completely changed around. So our 2007 data will still be useful when we get there. Let’s hope we can get up to speed quickly.” David De Gea (Yamaha Spain World Supersport Team) is still looking for points as he recovers from injury but David Salom (Yamaha Spain World Supersport Team) is still looking to come back to the fray after missing Germany, and wants to break into the regions of double figure points scores. SUPERSTOCK Michele Pirro (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni), Sylvain Barrier (Yamaha YZF Junior Team) and Claudio Corti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) are Yamaha’s usual entrants in the big Superstock class, while Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) is the best placed official Yamaha Superstock 600 rider, leading the championship and being the only rider to have scored two wins so far. More, from a press release issued by Triumph Italia Be1 Racing: Misano, preview WSS’08 Round 7 Triumph Italia Be1 Racing is going back to run in front of its supporters. Indeed, from next Friday, the World Supersport Championship is going to take place in Italy for the second time of the three scheduled for the season 2008. The team will take to the track with the goal to get its revenge after the last unlucky no-point round. For the first time in the season in Germany both the rider missed the points; Aitchison was not able to capitalize the 5th place gained at qualifying and Clementi got retired. Furthermore the team led by Giuliano Rovelli is going to line-up a third rider who will run the Superstock600 race at Misano Adriatico: Davide Fannelli, hot winner of the Triumph Daytona 675 Trophy at Vallelunga. Fanelli is supported by FMI and it is considered one of the most promising young rider of Italy. He will race on an home-track, since he lives just few kilometres from the track. GIULIANO ROVELLI: “We reach Misano charged of determination. During the last short break the team has carried on electronic developments. Magneti Marelli gave us new software updates which suit perfectly the needs of our 3-cylinders. Now we feel to be ready for a great result and we would like to take it in front of the Italian followers. I hope that our two riders feel the same; I wish they start to get good results during the race, like the ones they have showed to be able to reach in the qualifying.” More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha: Superbike World Championship Round 8 Misano (Italy) 6/29/08 Team YZF Yamaha: A promising second half of the season After the first seven races until now, the Misano race is the gate to the second part of the year. It looks very interesting and there should be plenty of good quality show until the final event on November 2 on the Portuguese track of Portimao. The last race at the Nürburgring was very good for Yamaha, with two victories for Noriyuki Haga, who was on the podium of the second race with his teammate Troy Corser who finished second. So Yamaha is now in second position of the manufacturers championship, only 31 points behind the leader Ducati, and 28 points in front of Suzuki in third position, and 44 points in front of Honda in fourth position. Shinichi Nakatomi will try in Italy to have a good result so he can improve his 20th position in the provisional World Championship classification. The Santa Monica circuit: Designed in 1969, Misano was opened in 1972. The circuit’s length was 3488 meters at the time. There were three San Marino Grand Prix between 1985 and 1987. In 1993, it was increased to 4060 meters (2.52 miles) while track width was increased to 12 meters so that Misano could be homologated by the FIM. In 1997, the circuit infrastructures were revamped to boost its international status and appeal. In 2007, it was decided that the track would be used clockwise. Not many racetracks have been used in the past with reversed direction. One of them is Pocono in the United States that is used counter clockwise for the NASCAR races and clockwise for the WKA (World Karting Association) Enduro series. Another one is Montlhery near Paris, France, “turning right” for the races and left for the manufacturers and press tests. Misano’s excellent location (the track is 4kms away from Riccione, 15 from Rimini and 130 from Bologna) means that both Grand Prix and World Superbike events have been held there and it is often used as a test track. World Championship standings: 1- Bayliss (Ducati) 227 points, 2- Checa (Honda) 188, 3- Neukirchner (Suzuki) 176, 4-Haga (Yamaha) 172, 5- Corser (Yamaha) 154″¦ 20-Nakatomi (Yamaha) 16 Misano stats Practice record (2007): 1’34.948 Troy Corser (Yamaha) 158.490 kph (Nakatomi: 1’37.646 / 14th) Lap record (best race time 2007): 1’36.022 Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 156.714 kph Race 1 result 2007: 1-Bayliss (Ducati), 2-Corser (Yamaha) 3-Kagayama (Suzuki) 4-Toseland (Honda), 5- Rolfo (Honda)”¦ Nakatomi (Yamaha) DNF Race 2 results 2007: 1-Bayliss (Ducati), 2- Haga (Yamaha), 3- Biaggi (Suzuki), 4-Kagayama (Suzuki), 5-Corser (Yamaha) “¦ 14-Nakatomi (Yamaha) 9th round of the Superbike World Championship: July 20th at Brno (Czech Republic) Team YMF Yamaha Superstock YZF Yamaha Junior Team Superstock 600 European Championship FIM Cup Superstock 1000 Baz championship leader After three podiums out of four races, Loris Baz is now the strong leader of the Superstock 600 European Championship. He has a 21 points lead on his immediate follower Patrick Vostarek, who was the winner at the Nürburgring, eight tenths of a second in front of Loris. Misano is the 5th of the 10 races held this year in this category, and the second part of the season will start on July 19 in Brno (Czech Republic)”¦ in Vostarek’s country. Loris Baz: « I don’t know this track very well because I have been in Misano only once, last May. I like the layout and I am confident for the race even if the Italians will play on their home turf. But be sure I shall try my best to score the best possible result.” About Scott Redding (he is 15 like Loris) winning the Donington 125 cc GP: “Congratulations to Scott for this superb victory at his national Grand Prix. I raced with him the first time at Fontenay Le Conte in the Conti 50 Cup, then in Spain in the Metrakit championship. Congratulations also to Marc Marquez, also from the “Spanish school”, for his third position.” Martial Garcia (team-manager): “The goal now is to manage carefully the championship and Loris is doing that very well. He has a good lead, but it is necessary to stay well concentrated.” Sylvain Barrier, who was operated between the Monza and the Nürburgring races, is now back in shape. Last year in Misano, he was the sixth fastest of the qualifying practices of the 600 class. Superstock 600 European Championship standings: 1-Baz (Yamaha) 81 points, 2- Vostarek (Honda) 60, 3-Linfoot (Yamaha) 51, 4- Beretta (Suzuki) 42, 5- Petrucci (Yamaha) 41 600 Misano stats: Practice record (2007): 1’41.612 Michele Magnoni (Yamaha) 148.090 kph Lap record (best race time 2007): 1’41.649 Michele Magnoni (Yamaha) 148.039 kph Race result 2007: 1-Berger (Yamaha), 2- Magnoni (Yamaha), 3-Bussolotti (Yamaha), 4- Gregorini (Yamaha), 5- Antonelli (Honda) FIM Cup Superstock 1000 standings: 1-Simeon (Suzuki) 73 points, 2- Roberts (Ducati) 63, 3- Giugliano (Suzuki) 48, 4-Berger (Honda) 43, 5-Pirro (Yamaha) 43″¦27- Barrier (Yamaha) 2 1000 Misano stats: Practice record (2007): 1’39.495 Matteo Baiocco (Yamaha) 151.240 kph Lap record (best race time 2007): 1’39.337 Xavier Siméon (Suzuki) 151.484 kph Race result 2007: 1-Baiocco (Yamaha), 2-Siméon (Suzuki), 3-Dionisi (Suzuki) 4-Corti (Yamaha), 5-Canepa (Ducati)