Superbikes Round 8 - Misano

... who won both races in convincing fashion, and also closed the gap on championship leader, James Toseland (Ten Kate Honda).

Troy Corser (Yamaha Italia) scored pole with a 1'34.948 Superpole lap. Bayliss, Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Italia) and Toseland completed the front row. The Team Alto Evolution pairing of Aussies, Josh Brookes and Karl Muggeridge were non starters at Misano after the team's truck, with their race bikes, was hijacked, allegedly, by the team's former owner! This was the latest drama to surface amid reports over the team's imminent demise.


Race 1
Bayliss had Corser, then Haga stuck to this rear wheel in the early laps. Haga made his move on lap nine, while Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki) joined the leading party soon after. As Corser's rear tyre began to deteriorate, Biaggi moved to third place on lap 14, which prompted Bayliss to pick up his pace and wrest the lead back from Haga on lap 20.

Two laps later, an ambitious passing move by Biaggi on Haga brought both riders down, elevating Corser to second place, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki) completing the podium. Toseland was off the pace, never seriously threatening the top three at any stage of the race.

Misano - Race 1
1. T. Bayliss, 2. T. Corser, 3. Y. Kagayama, 4. J. Toseland, 5. R. Rolfo, 6. L. Lanzi, 7. R. Laconi, 8. R. Xaus, 9. M. Neukirchner, 10. J. Smrz.


Race 2
If Bayliss' race one win was impressive, his race two victory was simply dominant. Despite some early attention from Haga, Bayliss lead every lap, and broke Haga's lap record from the first race for good measure. Biaggi made a late move on Kagayama to take the final podium place. Corser struggled with front end feel throughout race 2, and almost crashed at one stage.

Misano - Race 2
1. T. Bayliss, 2. N. Haga, 3. M. Biaggi, 4. Y. Kagayama, 5. T. Corser, 6. J. Toseland, 7. R. Xaus, 8. R. Rolfo, 9. L. Lanzi, 10. M. Neukirchner.

Championship Points - after 8 rounds.
1. Toseland - 260, 2. Bayliss - 239, 3. Haga - 234, 4. Biaggi - 217, 5. Corser - 182, 6. Lanzi - 133, 7. Xaus - 130, 8. Rolfo - 109, 9. Neukirchner - 100, 10. Kagayama - 89.


World Supersport
Anthony West (Yamaha Germany) proved he can do it in the dry as well as the wet, with his second win in succession.
The race was halted - with West in the lead - after 4 laps, due to oil on the circuit. At the restart, Kenan Sofuoglu (Ten Kate Honda) took the holeshot, but West soon regained the lead, keeping Sofuoglu at bay for the rest of the race. A late charge by Broc Parkes (Yamaha Germany) came unstuck when he accidentally hit his bike's pit lane speed limiter while removing a tear off.

Misano - Race (Aggregate)
1. A. West, 2. B. Parkes, 3. K. Sofuoglu, 4. M. Roccoli, 5. R. Harms, 7. S. Sanna, 8. K. Fujiwara.

Championship Points - after 8 rounds.
1. Sofuoglu - 161, 2. Foret - 100, 3. Fujiwara - 77, 4. Harms - 70, 5. West - 66, 6. Veneman - 50, 7. Parkes - 47, 8. Roccoli - 46.