Xaus steals show in San Marino
Added on Monday, June 30th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Xaus takes win just days after announcing new contract with BMW.
Ruben Xaus stole the headlines in Misano yesterday to secure his first WSB victory since April 2007 and lead Sterilgarda to their first 1-2 of the year.
The Spaniard, who announced a two-year deal with the new BMW team earlier this week, took race two ahead of teammate Max Biaggi to record his first win since the 2007 Spanish round in Valencia.
The Spaniard took an early lead over championship leader Tory Bayliss following a race restart and held his nerve to add victory to the earlier fourth place finish from race one, taking him to seventh in the title race.
“It was a nice win but at the beginning it was hard. We had three starts today and the last one was the worst!” said Xaus in the post-race press conference. “I think the clutch slipped a bit and I lost a little time. I wanted to recover because I knew that Corser and Bayliss would pull away.
“For the first 10 laps I had a lot of movement at the rear. Then my team-mate attacked me twice, I closed the door and with ten laps to go I started to do 37s, 37s, 37s.
“Today my mechanics did an incredible set-up and an incredible job - a big thanks to Team Sterilgarda Go Eleven!”
Earlier in the day, Max Neukirchner secured his second victory and seventh podium of the season to leapfrog Carlos Checa into second in the championship.
The German held off the challenge of Troy Corser to finish half a second of the Australian and Bayliss, who himself finished third in both events.
“Unbelievable! My team did a really good job this weekend, in the practice we changed a lot, up and down with the bike, and couldn’t find the right settings, but in the race it was unbelievable,” said Neukirchner.
“In the beginning it was not possible to get close to Bayliss and I had to push very hard, but then it was easier to find a good line.
“The other guys were a little bit slower than me, the two Troys, and I’m just so happy.”
