Since the beginning of the weekend it was clear we were going to have fun at Brno, thanks to an exciting track layout and the will to win of so many competitive riders. In the WSBK class the circuit best was reduced even on the first day, and for James Toseland, one quick lap was enough to perform this task. Maybe there was room for further improvement, but rain in the last minutes of the session froze the frame.
SBK riders raced with the latest Pirelli Diablo SBK 16,5 inch tyres which Pirelli first presented this year at Qatar. Since that first race, they have beaten many records.
We are talking about a race spec tyre of course (qualifying tyres are intended solely for the 16 riders that earn a start in Superpole, after Saturday morning’s final qualifying session); the same race tyres on which Yukio Kagayama set a wonderful time of 2’01.779. This was enough to assure him of taking the fastest lap and the status of last rider away in the afternoon Superpole session, which had five different manufacturers represented in the top 5 positions.
In Superpole, and with qualifying tyres fitted, the times went down again. Haga got on pole with a lap time of 2’00.457 – more than 2 seconds faster than the previous one - and 14 riders went under the previous lap record (2005, Troy Corser: 2’02.694).
The Supersport World Championship grid included its leading rider Charpentier once more, on the second row, behind Curtain, Sofuoglu, Parkes and Tiberio. Again there would be a great fight between Honda and Yamaha riders.
On Sunday, SBK started with a difficult warm up, with very hot conditions and two red flags, due to oil being spread on the racetrack by two crashing machines.
Race1:Air Humidity: 31%
Air Temperature: 31°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 47°
Just a couple of corners gone and one of the main players in the Championship, Troy Bayliss, was out of the scene. Toseland and Haga were then the two riders most likely to battle for the victory, but then Kagayama came and overtook Noriyuki, then began stalking James’ Honda. Also Pitt passed Haga, but then he suffered a failure of his bike when fighting for supremacy with his team mate. In the last laps Kagayama found an advantage, while from 7th position Michel Fabrizio, in three laps, earned his first podium in the class. A fine result for the Italian Rider, able to find the optimum set up from his bike to allow him to push hard until the last laps, all the while pain from a recent shoulder fracture.
Most of the riders decided to fit the softest solutions in the Pirelli Diablo SBK range, both in the front and in the rear, because the hot temperatures made the track less grippy than it was in recent tyre tests.
Race Standings:1 Kagayama, Suzuki GSXR, Alstare Suzuki, 41’27.271
2 Toseland, Honda CBR1000RR, Winston Ten Kate Honda, +3.900
3 Fabrizio, Honda CBR1000RR, D. F. X. Treme, +6.255
4 Haga, Yamaha YZF R1, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB, +6.432
5 Corser, Suzuki GSXR, Alstare Suzuki, +7.463
Comparing the race time with last year there’s a big improvement. Thanks to the new Pirelli Diablo Superbike, presented this season in Qatar, race one at Brno 2006 was 15 seconds faster than the 2005 version; (2005 Race 1: 41’42.829).
Race2: Air Humidity: 26%
Air Temperature: 34°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 52°
In race two the track surface reached 52°C, a demanding situation for the riders to deal with but also or the bikes and the tyres. 20 laps like this was a heavy task, but despite the merciless weather the race was amazing.
Haga took the lead and tried to escape, but as in race 1 Kagayama stretched out to catch him (after finishing the first lap in 8th position) and win the race. The man of the day was Michel Fabrizio, and in Race 2 his setup allowed a great final rush, allowing Michel to finish second, just in front of Haga, and thus scoring his second podium of the day. The 2005 World Champion, Troy Corser, finished 4th, while the Championship leader Troy Bayliss had to be content with a single 8th position, coming at the end of a difficult weekend for the Australian pilot and his teammate Lanzi (9th in race two ).
On the podium, three different bike manufacturers were represented, proving the highly competitive nature of this Championship - thanks in major part to the capacity of the Pirelli tyres to perform at the highest level, on different bikes and with different riding styles.
Race Standings:1 Kagayama, Suzuki GSXR, Alstare Suzuki, 41’31.118
2 Fabrizio, Honda CBR1000RR, D.F.X. Treme, +2.431
3 Haga, Yamaha YZF R1, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB, +2.479
4 Corser, Suzuki GSXR, Alstare Suzuki, +2.514
5 Toseland, Honda CBR1000RR, Winston Ten Kate, +4.939
Championship Standings:1 Bayliss, Ducati 999 Fo6, Ducati Xerox, 262
2 Haga, Yamaha YZF R1, Yamaha Motor Italia WS, 189
3 Toseland, Honda CBR1000RR, Winston Ten Kate Honda, 188
4 Corser, Suzuki GSXR, Alstare Suzuki, 173
5 Barros, Honda CBR1000RR, Klaffi Honda, 151
6 Pitt, Yamaha YZF R1, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB, 128
7 Kagayama, Suzuki GSXR, Alstare Suzuki, 106
8 Lanzi, Ducati 999F 06, Ducati Xerox, 87
9 Fabrizio, Honda CBR 1000RR ,D.F.X. Treme, 83
10 Nieto, Kawasaki ZX10 RPSG-1, Kawasaki Corse, 81
World Supersport:Air Humidity: 28%
Air Temperature: 32°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 47°
The two riders from the Yamaha Germany team finally dominated the race in Brno. With Charpentier not in perfect shape the aforementioned pairing didn’t miss the opportunity and exploited to the full the chance of scoring heavy points, despite a good race from Charpentier’s teammate, Kenan Sofuoglu.
The new Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa, after its first outing in Misano, also set incredible times here. Kevin Curtain improved the qualifying record (scored last year by Charpentier) by nearly 1,5 seconds (2’07.316 SC, 2’05.900 KC), while during today’s race the new race lap record was taken by Yoann Tiberio, who stuck in a great 2’06.604 on only his second lap.
Even more important is the total race time, as the Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa proved it could offer great performance through the whole race: this year race was 21 seconds faster than 2005.
Race Standings:1 Curtain, Yamaha YZF R6Yamaha Motor Germany, 38’23.594
2 Parkes, Yamaha YZF R6Yamaha Motor Germany, +1.535
3 Sofuoglu, Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate, +3.940
4 Tiberio, Honda CBR 600 RR Megabike Honda Team, +19.396
5 Vizziello, Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Italia, +21.495
Championship Standings:1 Charpentier, Honda CBR600 RRWinston Ten Kate, 121
2 Curtain ,Yamaha YZF R6Yamaha Motor Germany, 111
3 Parkes, Yamaha YZF R6Yamaha Motor Germany, 94
4 Harms, Honda CBR600 RR Stiggy Motorsports, 74
5 Roccoli, Yamaha YZF R6Yamaha Team Italia, 71
6 Tiberio, Honda CBR600 RR Megabike Honda, 63
7 Stigefelt, Honda CBR600 RR DarkDog StiggyMotorsport, 52
8 Sofuoglu, Honda CBR600 RR Winston Ten Kate, 51
9 Fores, Yamaha YZF R6SLM Racing, 49
10 Vizziello, Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Team Italia, 37
Superstock 1000: Air Humidity: 26%
Air Temperature: 34°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 51°
The Superstock 1000 race suffered a delay and instead of the usual morning start it was re-scheduled at 2.20 pm. As in many an SBK race weekend, nothing can be entirely predictable, and crash brought out the red flag for the Superstock 1000 riders. At 4.40 pm, after WSBK Race2, the lights went green again.
Late, but not enough for the riders to take refugee from the hot weather. The race was tough, and with the leader of the championship out of the action his two closest followers arrived 1st (Badovini) and 2nd (Scassa), with their MV Agustas, giving the first win to that historic manufacturer in this class of racing.
Race Standings:1 Badovini, Mv Agusta Biassono – Unionbike, 15’08.344
2 Scassa, Mv AgustaEVR Corse – Ormeni Racing, +0.137
3 Cooper, Honda CBR 1000RR - MS Racing, +6.161
Championship Standings:1 Polita, Suzuki GSXR Celani Suzuki Italia, 95
2 Badovini, Mv Agusta Biassono – Unionbike, 93
3 Scassa, Mv AgustaEVR Corse – Ormeni Racing, 71
Superstock 600:Air Humidity: 53%
Air Temperature: 29°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 40°
Once more the Superstock 600 class offered a great spectacle, even if the youth of these riders means that the entertainment is often a matter of mistakes, resulting from a desire to be fast and prove their abilities. That’s why we had a double start, because of yet another red flag on the first lap.
Canepa and Simeon started very fast and as always they displayed a very bright pace. The final laps were just breathtaking, with many overtakes and the riders really on the limit. The Diablo Corsa III tyres they’re racing with are sporty tyres for a road usage, but these guys definitely prove, in every race, that the track performance of these tyres is more than enough to have fun with, allowing bikes to be exploited to their full, not only on the street but also on a circuit.
Race Standings:1SimeonSuzuki GSX 600RAlstare Suzuki Corona Extra22’16.277
2CanepaDucati 749RDucati Xerox Junior0.484
3AntonelliHonda CBR 600RRJunior Team Italia Honda8.605
Championship Standings:1SimeonSuzuki GSX 600RAlstare Suzuki Corona Extra90
2CanepaDucati 749RDucati Xerox Junior81
3GiuglianoKawasaki ZX6RRLightspeed Kawasaki 71
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