World Superbike Review : Round 5 Monza

Round five of the World Superbike Championship took the teams to Monza, a high speed challenging circuit which is set in one of the most beautiful settings on the World Superbike calendar. The circuit is steeped in history and will always hold a special place for the passionate fans of all forms of motorsport. However none of the riders this weekend were interested in the circuits existing history.

The weekend started how the last meeting in Assen finished with Troy Bayliss stamping his authority over the field with a blisteringly quick superpole lap to please the passionate Italian fans that had turned out to cheer on their heroes. Troy would have been delighted to see that his only main championship rival lining up along side him for the two superbike races was Carlos Checa in forth.

Back in 2007 Noriyuki Haga had managed to take the double at Monza on his Yamaha team Italia R1 and he would be looking to kick start his championship with a similar performance in 2008.

Race 1

As the start of the race approached you could tell that we were in for a classic. The field piled down to the first corner. Haga got boxed in approaching the chicane and got shuffled back through the field to about eighth, but it was Suzuki’s Yukio Kagayama who led the pack through the opening few laps, with a chasing pack of Bayliss, Neukirchner and Biaggi all in contention.Haga had managed to battle his way through the field and got back in contention with the leading group, while Biaggi started to fade on his Ducati seeming to struggle for drive out of the corners.

The pace at the front was frantic as Kagayama, Bayliss, Neukirchner and Haga managing to pull away from the chasing pack working at a unit. There were several lead changes between the leading four, with the two Pepephone Suzuki’s looking the strongest on pure top end speed. Bayliss and Haga could manage to hold on to the two Suzuki’s through slipstream but were unable to capitalise on the brakes. However it was the slipstream that caused Kagayama’s downfall as he twice got into the first chicane too hot and was forced to run on through the safety run off strip before rejoining the leading trio.

Sensing that they might be able to break away Neukirchner and Haga upped the tempo at the front again and tried to break Bayliss and Kagayama. It appeared to work as they started to gap their rivals, however it was to be short lived, as Haga and Neukirchner battled over the lead, Bayliss and Kagayama closed the gap and made it a leading group of four again.

As they started the last lap Neukirchner was still leading with Haga all over the back just inches from the back of the Suzuki’s rear tyre. Bayliss was keeping a watchful eye over the battle ahead to see if he could profit from any mistakes from either of the leading duo.As they approached the Parabolica for the last time, Haga tried everything to get past Neukirchner but the German was just too good on the brakes, Haga tried to pull it back and get a better drive out of the corner but Neukirchner wasn’t to be denied his maiden World Superbike win beating Noriyuki Haga by 0.058 of a second, with Bayliss in third.

No one could deny Neukirchner his fantastic victory. He had been under incredible pressure all the way through the race from some of the most experienced and best Superbike riders ever. It was thoroughly deserved after Max was robbed of his first victory in a last corner incident with Carlos Checa at Valencia just two rounds earlier and it showed incredible resilience and maturity of the 24 year old to bounce back just four races later, he was visibly pleased in the post race interview.

Max Neukirchner:

"It's the first win by a German rider in World Superbike and I'm really happy about that. My team did a great job this weekend. Our engine for sure is very fast, Suzuki have done a lot of development work on it. I felt the pressure all the way through the race, but once Yukio made a little mistake, I thought ‘great! Now I can try and do it alone!"

Noriyuki Haga:

"I tried so many times to push but it was difficult to pass Max, but anyway I really enjoyed the race. It was very close but in the straights it seems like my engine is a 250 and Max has 1200! We will have to try and look for some more horses in race 2!"

Troy Bayliss:

"I was just missing a little bit of feel there, also I was maybe missing a little bit of jump in the gearing out of the slow corners but I can't take it away from these guys, and in the end I was happy to take third position and increase my points lead".

Race 2

In idyllic conditions the second race of the day got underway. Once again Noriyuki Haga didn’t get the best of starts are got pushed back to seventh entering the chicane while it was the three Pepephone Suzuki’s and Troy Bayliss on the Xerox Ducati out front.

Ryuichi Kiyonari the double BSB champion had made a better start to race two and was looking to improve on his first race performance as he chased Xaus and Biaggi in the early stages just behind the leading quartet. Kiyonari was soon to be passed by the flying Haga though, who was keen to get to the front of the pack and it didn’t take him long, by lap four Haga was with the leading four and looking for a way through.

Sensing that the pass needed to be pressed Troy Bayliss took the lead with Haga in pursuit, two of the Suzuki’s gave chase but Kagayama ran wide into the gravel trap coming out of the Lesmo bends. He did manage to get it back on the track only to highside the bike later in the lap.

At the front the leading group was now a group of five with Neukirchner leading the way from Haga, Bayliss, Kiyonari and Nieto. But disaster was to strike the championship leader on lap eight. As Haga made a pass coming into Lesmo 1 Bayliss’ bike appeared to lose power. Troy pulled the bike off the racing line and managed to pull round to the pits but the championship leader was out of the race.

It was now essential for his championship rivals to score well to keep the pressure on Bayliss entering the middle of the season. However just laps later Carlos Checa ended up in the gravel trap also managing to score no points.Seconds later it appeared as though Haga would also fail to finish as a flume of smoke poured out from the rear tyre of the Yamaha, it appeared that the rear tyre guard had become loose and was rubbing against the tyre as certain points on the circuit. The team watched on nervously from the pits, wondering whether or not the loose trim would come off. However it failed to hamper Haga’s performance as he, Neukirchner and Kiyonari made a break for it at the front leaving Nieto to chase in fourth at a watchful distance.

As the battle raged on out front further down the field Smrz charged up the inside of Biaggi taken the Italian out in spectacular fashion. Max was left to walk away holding on to his damaged wrist hoping that nothing more was broken.

As the leaders started the final lap Kiyonari made his move after sitting in third. He moved past Neukirchner into the first chicane and then made a move on Haga around the curva di Serraglio. As the three riders charged down to the Parabolica for the last time it appeared as though Kiyonari who would lead them across the line, but Haga had other ideas. Haga took a tight line under Kiyo and managed to squeeze through before the line with Neukirchner using the Suzuki’s power to just force his way into second place with the front three separated by just 0.051 of a second. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Noriyuki Haga:

"Actually I couldn't change anything for the engine but I just made a few changes to the suspension and that was better than the first race for the feeling. On that last lap I was thinking about what I had to do to win, my head was totally blank but I arrived at the line and couldn't believe the gap, 0.009 seconds. Monza is special for me, here is our home track and I have been thinking for all last week that I must win. During the weekend I couldn't find the right feeling but yesterday my engineer and suspension engineer made a good combination and I was able to enjoy the riding".

Max Neukirchner:

"I am sure Nori changed something between the two races and he did it really well because he was really quick in the corners. OK, I was a little bit faster on the straights, but I'm happy to be on the podium again, it's been a great weekend".

Ryuichi Kiyonari:

"I am very happy with my results but thinking back I think I missed some chances. I thought it was possible to win and I tried everything on that final lap, but unfortunately I ran wide on the exit of the Parabolica and that stopped me from winning because Haga had the better line".

After 10 races Troy Bayliss still has a commanding lead in the championship. However questions will now be asked about Checa’ s move on Neukirchner at Valencia, Max lost out on a potential 50 points over that weekend and it would certainly have made things a lot tighter in the championship. Also Haga is now on a charge, it wasn’t really until Monza last year that Haga made a move and he only finished two points behind Toseland at the end of the season. Can Haga put the pressure on Bayliss and force him into a mistake? I think there will be many more twists and turns in this championship before its conclusion. The next round is in Salt Lake City, USA on the 1st June.

Championship Standings :

Comments Leave Your Comment: » Register now to leave comments! It's free and only takes a few seconds.