STONER BRAINS ‘EM IN QATAR

    Australian World Champion Casey Stoner used not just his speed but also his intelligence to score a dominant win in the first round of the World Moto Grand Prix series in Qatar. In the early laps, while all his competitors were fighting hard Stoner sat at the rear of the front pack saving his tyres in order to launch a devastating attack at one third distance which gave him a lead that he would not lose.

  It really was the perfect reply to all those who have tried to under value his championship victory last year. There were those that claimed that it was just the bike, that anyone could have won on the Ducati. Hmmm. Stoner 10 wins, Capirosi 1. Oh said the doughters, Capirosi was over the hill so into the team comes Marco Melandri who pushed Rossi hard at Yamaha last year. The result? Stoner first, Melandri eleventh. So not the bike then. Must be the tyres, Bridgestone are much better than the Michelins. Pity that in the Yamaha team, Lorenzo on the Michelin shod bike came second and Rossi on the Bridgestones came fifth. In fact the third best rider on Bridgestone tyres was Melandri so eight of the top ten were on Michelins. So I guess we are just left with the rider, and Casey Stoner IS a world champion. And a bloody good one. 

  Dani Pedrosa had a blinder of a start from 9^th on the grid to lead into turn one and led the first few lap until Rossi went up the inside under brakes. Rossi held the lead until lap eight when

Stoner decided that he had waited long enough. In that one lap Stoner passed Pedrosa for third, Lorenzo for second and then nailed Rossi as they crossed the line at the end of the lap. At that, as they say, was that.   Lorenzo got past Rossi a few laps later and tried to chase Stoner but like the other, he had asked too much of his tyres in the early scrap and Stoner just kept on pulling away. Rossi continued to drop back and finally finished in fifth behind Pedrosa and debutant Andrea Dovizioso. The last lap scrap between Dovizioso and Rossi was possibly the highlight of the race with the two riders swapping positions three times on the last lap. 

RESULTS

Pos  Rider             Make      Time 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    42:36.587 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    +   5.323 3.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     +  10.600 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     +  13.288 5.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    +  13.305 6.  James Toseland    Yamaha    +  14.040 7.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    +  15.150 8.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    +  32.505 9.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     +  33.00310.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     +  38.35411.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    +  44.28412.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  +  49.85713.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     +  49.87114.  Toni Elias        Ducati    +  58.53215.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    +  58.93016.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  +1:05.64317.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    +   1 Lap 

Not classified:

     Rider             Make    On lap     Alex de Angelis   Honda     16 Fastest lap: Stoner, 1:55.153 on lap 14 

Sam Snape  12-3-2008

BAYLISS STARS IN QATAR

  Aussie Troy Bayliss made an excellent start to the 2008 World Superbike Championship at Losail on his new Ducati 1098 taking a hard fought win in race 1 and fourth in race 2 to take an early championship lead.    

 Bayliss started seventh on the grid and dropped back to eighth place on the opening lap before climbing up through the field. He put his wheels on the edge a few times as he made his way to the front and then had a terrific duel with Max Biaggi, who ran wide on the final lap, to claim an exciting victory. Biaggi, also on a Ducati, had to settle for second ahead of poleman Troy Corser on a Yamaha who ran in the top 3 throughout, while Ruben Xaus made it three Ducatis in the top 4.  

  Max Neukirchner made an impressive debut on the Alstare Suzuki, leading for most of the first half of the race and eventually finished fifth ahead of Carlos Checa on the Ten Kate Honda, while Nitro Noriyuki Haga Hagaed himself with a nasty high-side on lap 7. 

  "I guess it was special to take the 1098 to its first win and it's the first time I've had a win here at Losail" declared Bayliss. "I thought it was going to be between me, Troy and Nori, but Neukirchner surprised me and Max did a good job as well. It was a hard race, I got a terrible start and had to really ride hard to get to the front. I made a couple of mistakes, eventually when I reached Max I was on the limit. Then it was a matter of playing our cards, he went a bit wide and that gave me the advantage to come home to the win” 

RESULTS RACE 1 

1.Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
2. Max Biaggi (Ducati) +0.396
3. Troy Corser (Yamaha) +1.878
4. Ruben Xaus (Ducati) +4.487
5. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) +7.505
6. Carlos Checa (Honda) +9.639
7. Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki) +9.725
8. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) +19.537
9. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) +23.156
10. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) +24.429
11. Roberto Rolfo (Honda) +27.595
12. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) +27.979
13. Gregorio Lavilla (Honda) +28.237
14. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) +30.205
15. Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) +31.882   

  The “other Troy” (Corser) led the first nine laps of race 2 before fading back through the field to finish in seventh place. Biaggi then took over until he was in turn passed by Xaus who led until just 3 laps from home. Fonsi Nieto then grabbed the lead and held on for his first Superbike victory. 

  "It's nice for me, I haven't won for four years and I'm really happy" said Nieto. "When I arrived in World Superbike it was really difficult for me. I worked really hard for four seasons and this is a dream come true. We are not yet 100% with the frame of the bike but the engine is the best now, today I won because I had a really good engine. I rode with my mind and never gave up". 

 Ruben Xaus was second ahead of Biaggi with the the two factory Ducati riders Bayliss and Fabrizio in fourth and fifth. 

RESULTS RACE 2 

1. Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki)
2. Ruben Xaus (Ducati) +0.301
3. Max Biaggi (Ducati) +1.321
4. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) +6.452
5. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) +7.627
6. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) +9.117
7. Troy Corser (Yamaha) +10.806
8. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) +11.661
9. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) +13.269
10. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) +14.563
11. Carlos Checa (Honda) +15.953
12. Makoto Tamada (Kawasaki) +16.748
13. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) +18.356
14. Gregorio Lavilla (Honda) +26.311
15. Roberto Rolfo (Honda) +26.560   

CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS 

1 T. Bayliss                38 

2 M.Biaggi                 36 

3 F.Nieto                   34 

4 R.Xaus                    33 

5 T.Corser                 25 

6 M. Neukirchner       19 

7 M.Fabrizio              18 

8 C.Checa                  15 

9 J.Smrz                     13

10 L.Lanzi                    10

11 K.Sofuoglu              10

12 Y.Kagayama           8

13 R.Rolfo                   6

14 N.Haga                   5

15 G.Lavilla                  5

16 M.Tamada              4

17 R.Laconi                 1 


  In the Supersports race fellow Australian rider Broc Parkes scored a lucky win on his Yamaha when his team-mate Fabien Foret, race leader since the early stages, ran out of fuel on the final lap. Parkes still had to fight for the win however against Spain's Joan Lascorz who was ahead with a couple of corners remaining.

Parkalgar Honda's Craig Jones was also in contention right until the very end and the British rider took the final podium slot.   The entire Ten Kate Honda team was eliminated on the second lap as Jonathan Rea crashed in front of Andrew Pitt, causing his team-mate to go down in the process. Both riders suffered a series of nasty cuts and abrasions. 

RACE RESULTS

1. Broc Parkes (Yamaha)
2. Joan Lascorz (Honda) +0.048
3. Craig Jones (Honda) +0.755
4. Joshua Brookes (Honda) +9.502
5. Matthieu Lagrive (Honda) +11.962
6. Barry Veneman (Suzuki) +17.428
7. Robbin Harms (Honda) +17.660
8. David Salom (Yamaha) +17.888
9. Chris Walker (Kawasaki) +25.883
10. Gianluca Vizziello (Honda) +32.236
11. Gregory Leblanc (Honda) +32.573
12. Ivan Clementi (Triumph) +35.117
13. Miguel Praia (Honda) +36.390
14. Vesa Kallio (Honda) +36.608
15. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki) +37.096           

Sam Snape

24/02/2008

A1GP Canada and Switzerland on Pole in Durban

South Africa - A1 Team Canada's Robert Wickens put in a stunning effort to qualify in pole position for tomorrow morning's Sprint race at the A1GP Durban, South Africa, becoming the youngest ever pole-sitter in the series, while the Feature race will be led off the grid by Switzerland's Neel Jani.

Sprint race qualifying
Eighteen-year-old rookie Robert Wickens set the fastest lap during the second 15-minute qualifying segment to take pole position for A1 Team Canada for tomorrow morning's Sprint race, claiming the team's first ever pole position and the first of his A1GP career.

Brazil's Bruno Junqueira, who was 12th quickest in practice this morning, leapt up the time sheets to qualify in second position alongside Canada while New Zealand's Jonny Reid and GBR's Oliver Jarvis will start the race from third and fourth place on row two. Switzerland's Neel Jani and Germany's Michael Ammermüller will line up on the third row of the grid in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Ireland's Adam Carroll cruised to a halt early on in the first qualifying segment with a fuel pump problem and only six nations managed to set a time as the session was red-flagged with three minutes remaining, when the New Zealand car spun off the track. The start of the second qualifying segment was delayed slightly while the track was cleared.

South Africa's Adrian Zaugg will start the Sprint race from the back of the grid in 22nd place as he pushed hard and spun out at turn three, failing to set a flying lap time.

Feature race qualifying
Switzerland's Neel Jani, who just pipped GBR to take provisional pole in the third qualifying segment, bettered his time in the final qualifying segment to secure pole position for tomorrow's Feature race. Sprint race pole-sitter Canada's Robert Wickens, who is having a superb weekend, will start the race from second place alongside the Swiss car on the front row.

New Zealand's Jonny Reid, who has never raced on a street circuit before, qualified in third position while Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis, the first driver to break the lap record around the streets of Durban this weekend, will line up in fourth place on the second row.

Brazil's Bruno Junqueira took the fifth spot ahead of the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen who will start from sixth place. Germany's Michael Ammermüller and France's Loic Duval qualified seventh and eighth while Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque and Australia's John Martin will line up on the fifth row in ninth and 10th position respectively.

Home nation A1 Team South Africa's Adrian Zaugg will start the Feature race from a disappointing 15th position, after taking to the track early on in the session and getting stuck in traffic.

Canada's Robert Wickens is having a great weekend in Durban and was pleased to achieve his nation's first pole position and the team's best combined qualifying performance to date:

'We had a really good run in qualifying, the car was really solid underneath me and I was able to put in a pretty good lap. It's Canada's best qualifying ever so I'm excited to get them their first pole and their second front row start.'

Feature race pole-sitter Neel Jani, who has now notched up four pole positions for the Swiss team this season, said: 'It was a tough qualifying session, especially missing the first segment because of the red flags so I really had to push in the second one for the Sprint grid. Adrian spun in front of me and I didn't know where to so I had to break to avoid him which cost me a lot of time but I'm still fifth so I'm happy with that. Then in segments three and fourth I was quickest and we improved the car a little bit but I had to really push a lot and it was still very close at the end.'

Adrian Zaugg endured a difficult qualifying session in the South African car this afternoon and will start the Sprint race from 22nd and the Feature race from 15th:

'We were one of the teams to get caught out at the third turn in the second segment - I don't know what changed but for sure it was more slippery out there than it was in free practice - and then in the third segment I got held up by New Zealand I think. I wanted to push for it in the last segment but we had a problem with the pick up of the engine so we didn't even go for a lap. I think it will be difficult to improve or even get points in the Sprint race but definitely in the Feature I think we should be able to get some points.'

Tomorrow's Sprint race in Durban, South Africa will start at 11.00 local time and the 70-minute Feature race will start at 15.00.

Sprint race qualifying results - A1GP Durban, South Africa (round 7 of 10)

Feature race qualifying results - A1GP Durban, South Africa (round 7 of 10)

Aussie Whitewash at Phillip Island

   Australian riders took all the honours in the second round of the Superbike World Championship at PhillipIsland on the weekend. Troy Bayliss scored comfortable wins in both Superbike races, while Andrew Pitt took out the Supersport race from fellow Aussie Josh Brookes. Troy Corser took a fine second place in the first Superbike race but crashed out of the lead in the second heat.

   It was a disastrous weekend for Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Ducati), who started from 16th on the grid and then had two crashes in two races, the second of which left him nursing a broken wrist.

   Race 1 - Bayliss led from start to finish to dominate from Corser and Fabrizio. Ruben Xaus took fourth from Nieto in fifth, Checa and Neukirchner, while Noriyuki Haga had tyre problems and could only finish eighth. Biaggi was catching leader Bayliss but the Italian crashed out from second place on lap 16 at the slow right-hander. The race had two starts after Fabrizio stalled on the grid and was hit by Iannuzzo. The factory Ducati rider managed to finish third with muscular contusions to his right leg, while Iannuzzo was taken to hospital with a wrist fracture.

Results

1. Bayliss T. (Ducati) 22 laps;
2. Corser T. (Yamaha) at 4.221;
3. Fabrizio M. (Ducati) at 4.738;
4. Xaus R. (Ducati) at 5.171;
5. Nieto F. (Suzuki) at 5.543;
6. Checa C. (Honda) at 5.895;
7. Neukirchner M. (Suzuki) at 5.964;
8. Haga N. (Yamaha) at 14.826;
9. Kiyonari R. (Honda) at 18.899;
10. Rolfo R. (Honda) at 20.633.

  Race 2 - Corser led the first four laps of the second race before crashing out, leaving Bayliss with a commanding lead. Behind the leader an all-Spanish battle raged between Nieto, Xaus and Checa for second, and the runner-up slot eventually went to the Honda rider, who is making his WSBK debut this year. Nieto took the final podium place, ahead of Xaus, Neukirchner and Kiyonari, another WSBK rookie. Biaggi had a nasty high-speed crash at Turn 1 on lap 7 while battling for second, suffering a broken wrist in the process, but he should be back for the next round at Valencia in one month's time.

Results

1.      Bayliss T. (Ducati) 22 laps;
2. Checa C. (Honda) at 1.127;
3. Nieto F. (Suzuki) at 4.395;
4. Xaus R. (Ducati) at 6.621;
5. Neukirchner M. (Suzuki) at 11.550;
6. Kiyonari R. (Honda) at 11.620;
7. Haga N. (Yamaha) at 12.049;
8. Lavilla G. (Honda) at 12.134;
9. Holland R. (Honda) at 13.462;
10. Muggeridge K. (Honda) at 15.519.

 "It's something you dream of, to have a double win on your last time here" declared Bayliss. "I knew this weekend was going to be very difficult, everybody's riding well and there's a lot of good bikes out there. I have a great team behind me and I'm happy with the result. After the first race I was struggling the last few laps and was worried it was going to be a duel with Max, but he managed to crash and then he did so again in the second race. The times were a little bit slower in race 2 but I felt better on the bike, it was more consistent throughout and a pleasure to ride". 

Riders points: 1. Bayliss 88; 2. Nieto 61; 3. Xaus 59; 4. Corser 45; 5. Checa 45; 6. Neukirchner 39; etc.

Manufacturers points: 1. Ducati 95; 2. Suzuki 63; 3. Yamaha 54; 4. Honda 46; 5. Kawasaki 7.

World Supersport Five riders scrapped for the win right down to the last lap of the 21-lap race, but victory eventually went to former champion Andrew Pitt. The 32 year-old Australian kept a cool head in the final laps to take his first points of the year ahead of  Joshua Brookes and Robbin Harms. Fabien Foret  caught up with the leading group to lead with two laps remaining, but finished fourth, Jonathan Rea (Honda) and Garry McCoy (Triumph) had good races to finish fifth and sixth, while round 1 winner Broc Parkes (Yamaha) crashed out. 

SUPERBIKES Corser on pole in Qatar

  Troy Corser powered his Motor Italia Yamaha to the 41^st pole position of his career

at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, the opening round of this years Superbike World Championship Corser had to work hard to hold off the challenge of Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi, second and third respectively. Corser's time of 1'58.053 was four-tenths of a second quicker than the circuit's best lap, which the 36-year-old Australian set for Yamaha last year. Xaus and Biaggi, both on Ducati 1098 RS08 machines from the private Sterilgarda Go Eleven squad, were heading for a sensational 1-2 before Corser put in his quick lap. Alongside them on the grid for the two races tomorrow will be Alstare Suzuki's young German rider Max Neukirchner.

"I really like this track and the Yamaha seems to work well round here" declared Corser."Last year was a good result but now I feel more relaxed and at ease with the team. I've got to thank all the guys, they worked really hard in the tests which helped us a lot but now I've got to keep my head down and be consistent. We actually struggled a bit in the last free practice after making a few small changes but we went back to we know what works well and hopefully now we can go for the win tomorrow". 

"The team is working very well, I was here testing and was really focused on this race" said Xaus. "The bike worked perfect, the team is incredible, Max Biaggi next to me has given me really more motivation and also more focus so what can I say? Second and third and front row for the team is fantastic!" 

"I don't know if the factory is happy or not but we made an amazing job to be second and third" said Biaggi. "We have a kind of OK set-up for tomorrow, it all depends on the conditions. I more or less made an endurance run for the tyre and I know what it is doing. We will see tomorrow but it looks like it's going to be tough here as always".

"Today was not so bad for us, I was not testing here unlike my team-mates and I think we have now a good set-up" said Neukirchner. "For one lap we are really fast but I think we must try and do a good race to score some points tomorrow". 

Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Team) will line up on the outside of the second row in fifth place on another Ducati 1098 customer machine, a fraction ahead of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB). Troy Bayliss could only manage seventh on the factory Ducati Xerox 1098, ahead of Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki) and Carlos Checa (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda), taking part in his first-ever Superpole, while Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) rounded out the top 10.

 Final qualifying times were; 

1          11 T. CORSER                        1'58.053  

2          111 R. XAUS                          1'58.689

3          3 M. BIAGGI                          1'58.767

4          76 M. NEUKIRCHNER          1'58.964

5          57 L. LANZI                           1'58.975

6          41 N. HAGA                           1'59.017  

7          21 T. BAYLISS                       1'59.224  

8         4 Y. KAGAYAMA                 1'59.285  

9          7 C. CHECA                           1'59.417  

10        84 M. FABRIZIO                    1'59.450  

11        10 F. NIETO                           1'59.921  

12        96 J. SMRZ                             1'59.984  

13        36 G. LAVILLA                      2'00.095  

14        54 K. SOFUOGLU                 2'00.313  

15        44 R. ROLFO                          2'01.208  

16        86 A. BADOVINI ITA            2'01.238  

17        194 S. GIMBERT FRA           2'00.554  

18        31 K. MUGGERIDGE             2'00.607  

19        94 D. CHECA                         2'00.643  

20        23 R. KIYONARI                   2'00.698  

21        13 V. IANNUZZO                  2'00.854  

22        83 R. HOLLAND                   2'00.971  

23        100 M.TAMADA                    2'01.303  

24        22 L. MORELLI ITA               2'01.396  

25        55 R. LACONI                        2'01.429  

26        38 S. NAKATOMI                 2'01.675  

27        88 S. AOYAMA JPN              2'02.059  

28        77 L. NAPOLEONE               2'05.516      

Sam Snape23/02/2008