Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) may have wrapped up the championship itself at last weekend's Imola round but for most other riders there is still everything to play for - from the very top to the very bottom of the championship table. Bayliss, who has now scored 11 wins, is head and shoulders over the rest in terms of maximum scores, but no fewer than eight riders have won at least one race in this frequently unpredictable season. All five major global manufacturers have also scored at least one victory, proving that the combination of Pirelli's one make tyre support and evenly matched technical rules have once more delivered more than mere theoretical opportunities for all.
West Meets East In Battle For Second Place After James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) edged out Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) in each Imola race he now enters the final round in France with a slender two-point advantage. Magny-Cours was the scene of Toseland's first World Championship success in 2004, and doubtless the British rider will add that to the list of pluses as he enters the final round. Just to add more spice to the dish, each has already won a race at Magny-Cours, in the 2004 season.
Pitt And Barros On The Up But Corser In The Doldrums In current fourth and fifth place respectively, Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) and Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) have both added their names to the list of SBK race winners, and their personal battle for fourth overall has now taken on an extra layer of significance, after Barros finished first and second at Imola, drawing himself to within eight points of Pitt in the process. The Aussie rider is nonetheless on good form, having scored third and fourth in Italy, so this match-up will be one well worth watching. 2005 Champion Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) had another meeting to forget at Imola, but he will be out to show his battling qualities in his last ride for the Alstare squad this year, attempting to narrow an eight-point gap to Barros, and possibly even a 21-point margin to Pitt.
Kagayama Aims For Corser As Top Ten Battle Hardens Some 25-points behind his own team-mate Corser, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) will have to pull out two special race finishes to catch and pass Corser in the final standings - but only Bayliss has won more races than Kagayama this year. His total of three victories could well be improved on in France, and realistically, one of last year's race winners, Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) is almost certainly too far behind to make up the 41-point gap to the Japanese. Lanzi may find the memories of Magny-Cours 2005 the spark that ignites his first full-factory season, but he has to work hard in any case to stop the two following riders, Chris Walker and Fonsi Nieto (both PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) from re-passing him in the championship stakes. Walker will be looking to finish his season on a similar high note to his Assen race win, while Nieto goes for win number one, to follow up his podium finish in race two in Holland. Only a single point separates Walker and Nieto, who are in turn only 12 points behind Lanzi.
Private Riders Going For It In Final Throw Of The 2006 Dice Thanks to a grid full of competitive machines and riding talent the battle for places just beyond the fringes of the top ten will be as immense at Magny-Cours as it has been at every other race this year. Michel Fabrizio (DFX Treme Honda) and Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) are about to experience the denouement of their own Honda civil war, while Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) is out to leapfrog both of them. A double no-score for Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati 999) at Imola has dropped him down the order but as a former race winner in France (in 2003) he knows his way around Magny-Cours on a Ducati. Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) is used to being the top placed French rider in SBK, but as he is currently only 15th in the championship and has never won a race in France his motivation will have a keen edge to it this weekend. The fact that he has yet to score a podium of any colour in 2006 is another unnecessary reminder to watch the number 55 Kawasaki in action at his home track.
Top Twenty Features Class Aplenty Roberto Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi) has had occasional high points in his 2006 SBK rookie season, but Magny-Cours will be the final chance to end a disappointing recent run. Well behind Laconi in the current point standings, he is nonetheless well ahead of another SBK rookie, Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France). Despite missing some of the season, and no-scoring in Imola, Alstare Engineering Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner is overall 18th, with Petronas rider Steve Martin and the third YMF competitor Sebastien Gimbert close behind. Magny-Cours will be the final outing for the Petronas triple, and the second rider in the team, Craig Jones, who will be looking to Magny Cours as another chance to get more points on the board.
Last Race For Chili In SBK™ Pierfrancesco Chili (DFX Treme Honda) has now started a record 276 World Superbike races, and at Magny-Cours he will make it 278, before finally hanging up his racing leathers for good, ending a glittering career in top flight racing. Arguably the most globally popular rider in the near 20-year history of the SBK series, Chili is sure to receive an emotional send-off, irrespective of his final race or championship positions.
Supersport World Championship A perfect first place for Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) and a hardly less impressive second for Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) at Imola have kept the battle for supremacy in the World Supersport championship alive until the very last round of the year. With championship leader Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) third at Imola, he now has his lead trimmed back to 18 points overall - but is still very much in the driving seat to take his first World Supersport crown, and Yamaha's first Riders' Championship since 2000.
Another fight, for third overall, is more finely balanced, with Sofuoglu on 137 and Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) on 129. Robbin Harms (Stiggy Motorsports) may still be looking for his first season win from what is an eminently defendable fifth overall, but this season there have already been six different race winners - the top four, plus Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia - in overall sixth) and Yoann Tiberio (Megabike Honda - in overall seventh).
Superstock 1000 FIM CupAlessandro Polita (Celani Suzuki Italia) has now wrapped up the championship title but the campaign itself has one more pitched battle to go. With the disqualification of Luca Scassa (EVR Corse Ormeni Racing) at Imola, there is now a three way fight for second, with Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) second, Ayrton Badovini (Biassono Unionbike MV Agusta) third, and Scassa fourth. Only 13 points cover those three, and with the unpredictable nature of Superstock racing, all are still in with a chance of second. Eventual Imola winner Brendan Roberts (HP Racing) is fifth, the only rider outside the top four to have won a race in 2006.
Superstock 600 European ChampionshipXavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) is close to home ground at the French round at Magny Cours, but the Belgian has already made himself at home in the status of European Champion, having seen his title rival Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Xerox Junior Team) ruled out even before Imola. The fight for second is now between the still-injured Davide Giugliano (Lightspeed Kawasaki) and Canepa, who is now only six points ahead
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