Brno; Yamaha Team News
Added on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 by Carole Nash Editor
Brno; Yamaha Team News
The ninth round of the World Superbike Championship today proved difficult for the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team with both Corser and Haga suffering set backs during the day. Haga managed to walk away with two fourth position finishes and 26 points while Corser finished seventh in the first race before having to retire from race two.
In race one Haga was in a four-way battle at the front of the pack for most of the race, putting up a good fight with Toseland, Biaggi and Kagayama as they challenged each other for position every lap. Eventually Haga was forced to settle for fourth and 13 vital points rather than risk crashing as his tyre wore out. Corser’s initial race of the day proved a difficult one as he struggled with tyre grip from the outset and ended the race in seventh place.
Race two was delayed after it started to rain lightly during the warm up lap and was subsequently declared a wet race with the race distance reduced by one lap. Corser got a good start and took an early lead before slipping to third. Haga’s start wasn’t so good and the pole man slipped to sixth before regaining first place on lap two with Corser right behind him. It was Corser who set the best lap on two occasions, taking the overall best lap of the race with a 2’00 time. Frustratingly he was forced to retire on lap six when an engine bolt broke leaking oil.
With Corser out, it fell to Haga to lead the way from Toseland and Biaggi. By lap 13 Haga was stuck in another on-track battle but was unable to hold off the challengers when his front tyre life came to an end. Haga continued despite his loss of grip and finished fourth.
Team Yamaha YZF fared better than many today; Brno is obviously a circuit that suits Shinichi Nakatomi and his YZF-R1. The young Japanese rider had a good result this weekend, coming tenth in race one and ninth in race two – his best two finishes this so far this season.
The next race is in two weeks at Brands Hatch in the UK and Haga will be keen to reduce the 45 point margin up to first place and, with 260 points, he is only 2 points away from second-place man Biaggi.
Noriyuki Haga (4th and 4th – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
“Everything was feeling good for race one but I made a small mistake at the start, which is why I went backwards briefly. My big issue today though was my tyre life, particularly in race two. I did some long runs yesterday and the day before and I didn’t have the problem that I had today – the front tyre was finished after ten laps. We need to look at the geometry of the bike to see if we can do anything there to help the tyres.”
Troy Corser (7th and DNF – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
“This weekend just hasn’t been my weekend. I came here looking for a win but it wasn’t to be. In race one, we had tyre grip issues as we’ve had all weekend and I just couldn’t make the pace. We changed bikes for race two as well as the set-up and it felt much better; a definite improvement. Everything was looking good when it all went wrong and I know I would’ve been on the podium if that bolt hadn’t broken.”
Race 1; RESULT;
1 James Toseland Honda GBR 41’2.730
2 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0’0.237
3 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0’1.185
4 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0’2.403
5 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0’3.472
6 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0’3.758
7 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0’18.235
8 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0’19.653
9 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0’22.230
10 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 0’31.662
11 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0’32.796
12 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0’47.360
13 Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA 1’1.983
14 Jiri Drazdak Yamaha CZE 1’2.052
15 Stefano Cruciani Suzuki ITA 1’48.872
Race 2 – 20 Laps
1 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 38’53.022
2 James Toseland Honda GBR 0’1.510
3 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0’5.419
4 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0’6.765
5 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0’7.910
6 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0’9.241
7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0’19.424
8 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 0’24.191
9 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 0’26.680
10 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0’28.095
11 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 0’33.256
12 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0’33.352
13 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0’33.495
14 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0’40.453
15 Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA 0’57.284
Rider Standings 22/07/2007
1. James Toseland Honda GBR 305
2. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 262
3. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 260
4. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 249
5. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 191
6. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 150
7. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 140
8. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 131
9. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 111
10. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 105
11. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 85
12. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 83
13. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 58
14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 56
15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 40
16. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 37
