INFRONT MOTORSPORT:

Title contenders Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) scored a win apiece in the penultimate round of the Hannspree FIM Superbike World Superbike in front of a record 81,000 spectators at Magny-Cours but it is the Japanese rider who now has the advantage in the points table. The Texan dominated race 1 but Nitro-Nori responded in the second encounter with a lights-to-flag victory, as Spies was unable to go any higher than fourth. Ten points now separate the two as the series heads for its final round in Portugal in three weeks time. Max Biaggi scored two more podium finishes for Aprilia Racing, a third and a second, Jonathan Rea grabbed a third for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, while Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) had an off day.

Race 1

Spies and Haga predictably set the first race alight as they fought for the win. At the flag it was the Texan who took the maximum points with his 13th win of the season after leading from the start, but he was made to fight for it by his Japanese rival. Haga was the quickest man on the track at the end but paid the price of a slow start and being held up behind Biaggi for too long, thus losing touch with Spies. The Italian did take the final podium slot however, confirming the RSV4’s competitiveness at the French circuit. Fourth place went to Fabrizio, who lost touch with the leading group in the early stages, losing out on any chance of the podium. Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing) was the leading Honda man to the finish with a positive fifth place, ahead of the Hannspree Ten Kate machine of Carlos Checa. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare) had a good run in seventh, the Japanese rider finishing ahead of Shane Byrne (Ducati Sterilgarda) and the BMW of Troy Corser. Jonathan Rea had a technical problem and was out on lap 7, and another problem also brought a halt to the debut race for Leon Camier (Aprilia Racing).

Ben Spies: “I had some good parts of the race and some bad ones. We made a lot of very small mistakes, but I was taking care to make it easy when I had the cushion. I didn’t take advantage of it and almost ruined the lead because they all came back to me. On the last lap I made another mistake and I knew that with me running wide, he probably went in a little bit tighter than normal and I would get him on the outside. It paid off!”

Noriyuki Haga: “If only I had one more lap something would have happened for sure! I made a mistake at the start because there was some problem with the bike. I just gained in the middle of the race in the top 3 and tried to start pushing. On the last lap I was thinking that Ben would make a mistake somewhere for sure and then he did at one corner. I almost passed but we made a good race anyway.”

Max Biaggi: “I give it my best but I saw that Ben could do high 38s in the warm-up and that was very difficult for us. During the first part of the race I pushed hard and had a good tyre, I was fast in some parts of the track but not in others. But overall I’m near maximum. Then I made a mistake when Nori came, I put a wrong gear and he overtook me, but overall Aprilia and myself made a very good race.”

Results: 1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 37’57.110 (160,392 kph); 2. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 0.181; 3. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 5.009; 4. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 16.347; 5. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 22.622; 6. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 24.948; 7. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 27.144; 8. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 27.578; 9. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 28.486; 10. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 28.716; 11. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 52.680; 12. Baiocco M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’01.372 ; 13. Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’05.123; 14. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’05.483; 15. Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R1 1’05.672; 16. Resch R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’29.284

Race 2

Haga made amends in the second race, the Ducati Xerox man dominating almost from start to finish after a much better start. Haga got the better of Biaggi on the opening lap and then held the pace right until the end for his eighth win of the season. Spies this time could only struggle to fourth after encountering tyre problems. Biaggi had a great scrap with Rea for second, while Haslam put in another solid performance to take his Stiggy Racing Honda to another fifth. The two Suzukis went quite well at the French circuit, with both riders finishing in the top 10, Yukio Kagayama sixth and Karl Muggeridge eighth, but BMW could only bring their men home in tenth (Corser) and twelfth (Xaus). Fabrizio had another rather unconvincing run, the Italian crashing out while trying to pass Byrne and then remounting to finish in thirteenth place.

Noriyuki Haga: “For sure this is an important win for me. Especially after Nurburgring I don’t sleep every night because I am always thinking about the position in the championship. I’m really happy with this second place and win, my chief engineer made a good setting for race 2 and the feeling was good for race pace distance. I couldn’t make an advantage from Max and Johnny but concentrated on the last laps to take this win, which gave the Manufacturers’ title to Ducati.”

Max Biaggi: “I’m very happy and it was a very hard race. From the beginning everyone was fast, the top 4 or 5 were at a very similar pace. I had a good rhythm, I followed Nori, he looked very confident, I was wondering if he could keep the pace until the end and I got my answer because he was still lapping well. At the start of the race someone ran off the track and a big stone broke my window and I was worried that the radiator was broken. I started to push again and for me it was a good race.”

Jonathan Rea: “All weekend we just haven’t been able to put it all together. The bad luck we had in race 1 certainly ruined my rhythm and I had a bit of arm pump at the end because it was hard to jump into a race distance straight away. I rode fantastic at the front and was with those guys until five laps to go but couldn’t hold onto the back of them. The package I had was as strong as in Imola, we’ll go back to the workshop and come back strong at Portimao.”

Results: 1. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 38’00.282 (160,169 kph); 2. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1.480; 3. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 6.024; 4. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 18.135; 5. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 21.236; 6. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 23.647; 7. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 23.701; 8. Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 24.838; 9. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 31.455; 10. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 32.507; 11. Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 37.594; 12. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 44.727; 13. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 49.782; 14. Baiocco M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 50.345; 15. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 56.209; 16. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 58.796

Points (after 13 of 14 rounds): 1. Haga 436; 2. Spies 426; 3. Fabrizio 346; 4. Biaggi 293; 6. Rea 279; 6. Haslam 241; 7. Checa 200; 8. Sykes 176; 9. Byrne 166; 10. Smrz 161. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 534; 2. Yamaha 469; 3. Honda 395; 4. Aprilia 303; 5. Suzuki 167; 6. Bmw 126; 7. Kawasaki 67

Supersport

After Crutchlow’s crash at Imola, which threw the title race wide-open, the Supersport race at Magny-Cours produced more of the same as Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) paid back the favour by crashing out immediately after passing the Yamaha man. The Irish rider managed to get back on the bike, with his fairing hanging off, but could only finish 13th, a result that leaves the gap between the two at 19 points. Crutchlow now just needs six points at Portimao to claim the Supersport title in his rookie season. The win, after the race had been red-flagged two laps from the end with oil on the track, went to Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Motocard.com), his first this year and the second in his career. Third place went to Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda). There was an exciting scarp for fourth, which went to Anthony West (Stiggy Racing Honda), who got the better of Mark Aitchison (Honda Althea), Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki Motocard.com).

Results: 1. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 32’21.660 (155,389 kph); 2. Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 0.937; 3. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 5.910; 4. West A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 20.797; 5. Aitchison M. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 20.992; 6. Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 21.232; 7. Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 21.441; 8. Roccoli M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 23.539

Points (after 13 of 14 rounds): 1. Crutchlow 230; 2. Laverty 211; 3. Sofuoglu 169: 4. West 117; 5.West 117; 6. Foret 115; 7. Pitt 114; 8. Aitchison 82; 9. McCoy 82; 10. Roccoli 70. Manufacturers: 1. Honda 272; 2. Yamaha 271; 3. Kawasaki 183; 4. Triumph 98; 5. Suzuki 30

Superstock 1000

Two riders were celebrating at the end of the penultimate round of the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup. The win went to Frenchman Maxime Berger (Ten Kate Honda) in front of his home crowd, while second place gave Xavier Simeon (Ducati Xerox) the title with one round remaining, giving Ducati their third victory in three seasons. After all the early action, Simeon and Berger then pulled out a gap from the rest of the field. Berger made his move on the penultimate lap, passing the championship leader who settled for the runner-up slot that would give him the title. Third place went to another French rider, Sylvain Barrier (Garnier Yamaha), who capitalized on a crash by Ayrton Badovini (Aprilia JIR) two laps from the end to take the slot. Fourth place went to Claudio Corti (Suzuki Alstare), who now needs only five points to finish runner-up.

Results: 1. Berger M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 23’51.110 (155,344 kph); 2. Simeon X. (BEL) Ducati 1098R 1.560; 3. Barrier S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R1 3.449; 4. Corti C. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 6.677; 5. Mähr R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 8.591; 6. Baz L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R1 14.116; 7. Fores J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 14.252; 8. Schouten R. (NED) Yamaha YZF R1 25.881

Points (after 9 of 10 rounds): 1. Simeon 200; 2. Corti 148; 3. Berger 127; 4. Fores 116; 5. Beretta 85; 6. Barrier 83; 7. Jezek 68; 8. Baz 51; 9. Giugliano 43; 10. Savary 39. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 200; 2. Honda 161; 3. Suzuki 150; 4. Kawasaki 116; 5. Yamaha 116; 6. MV Agusta 26; 7. Aprilia 12

Superstock 600

The European Superstock 600 Championship took on a new look at the top of the table after an exciting multi-rider battle for the win in the penultimate round. Danilo Petrucci’s (Yamaha Trasimeno) crash in the early laps and a ride-through penalty for a jump start inflicted on Vincent Lonbois (MTM Yamaha), who eventually finished ninth, hoisted Britain’s Gino Rea (Ten Kate Honda) to the top of the table with a second place at the flag. Marco Bussolotti (Yamaha Trasimeno) also gained some points with his second successive podium finish, and the standings now see the top 4 separated by just 10 points, with one round remaining. The win went to the young French rider Florian Marino (Race Junior Honda), who got the nod at the final chicane over his fellow countryman Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Yamaha), who actually crashed metres from the line. Imola winner Eddi La Marra (Honda Lorini) could only finish in fifth.

Results: 1. Marino F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 17’43.671 (149,291 kph); 2. Rea G. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 0.251; 3. Bussolotti M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 0.429; 4. Guittet B. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 0.837; 5. La Marra E. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 0.953; 6. Bulle L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 5.942; 7. Morelli N. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 14.016; 8. Kerschbaumer S. (AUT) Yamaha YZF R6 14.368

Points (after 9 of 10 rounds): 1. Rea 138; 2. Petrucci 135; 3. Lonbois 131; 4. Bussolotti 128; 5. La Marra 104; 6. Guarnoni 94; 7. Guittet 71; 8. Kerschbaumer 70; 9. Chmielewski 39; 10. Litjens 38