After two days of qualifying records - in Supersport with Foret and Superbike with Bayliss - the question was how the weather would turn out on raceday. Dry conditions for warm-up suggested the softest tyres to the riders for race use, and they expected to exploit its great performance for the whole race distance.
Even before the green light people were talking about strategies, looking after their tyres, maybe setting a conservative early pace. Then they started - at full throttle. Toseland took the lead (overtaking Biaggi) and started pushing hard.
Lap after lap the times were close to last year’s best. After Toseland came Bayliss and on lap 18 Troy took the lead and eventually won, from Toseland and Max.
Almost everybody was racing with the softest solution, and its consistency of performance allowed them to improve the previous year’s race time. Bayliss got round in 34’11.276, 22 seconds better than 2006.
This means an improvement of more than one minute in two years, and this is a good demonstration of the level of development, clearly showing the performance offered by the new generation of Pirelli Diablo Superbike tyres.
Race 1:Air Humidity: 50%
Air Temperature: 23°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 37°
Race Standings:1, Bayliss - Ducati 999 F07 - Ducati Xerox Team 34’11.276
2, Toseland - Honda CBR1000RR - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda+1.483
3, Biaggi - Suzuki GSX-R 1000K7 - Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra+13.906
4, Haga - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia +14.819
5, Corser - Suzuki GSXR - Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra
Race 2: Air Humidity: 44%
Air Temperature: 26°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 47°
Track temperatures were on the increase for race two, suggesting a more conservative race pace. Riders went fast but more attention was paid to the lap times in the early laps. Toseland was leading but not trying to escape. Bayliss was following but not attacking - and the two top Yamahas followed on. Race pace was in the 1’33s, until Toseland changed things.
With five laps to go, instead of slowing down, he started pushing and only Bayliss could follow him. On the last laps they took some a measurable advantage over the others, so that both riders set their best laps on the last one.
In this race, the rear tyres were particularly stressed, especially the left side, because of all the fast corners taken under acceleration. But Pirelli and the DIABLO SUPERBIKE showed they really offered the best of performance.
Toseland won another two-rider race with a last lap of 1’32.651. The best proof of the outstanding level of performance offered by the slick 16,5” tyres, produced by Pirelli and developed during last season, and in the winter test programme. Behind JT and TB, three riders slugged it out; Haga, third from Biaggi and Corser, making four different bikes on the top four places.
Race Standings:1, Toseland - Honda CBR1000RR - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda34’16.990
2, Bayliss - Ducati 999 F07 - Ducati Xerox +0.274
3, Haga - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia +6.916
4, Biaggi - Suzuki GSX-R 1000K7 - Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra+7.013
5, Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia +7.052
Championship Standings:1, Toseland - Honda CBR1000RR - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda90
2, Biaggi - Suzuki GSX-R 1000K7 - Alstare Suzuki 74
3, Bayliss - Ducati 999 F07 - Ducati Xerox 64
4, Haga - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 50
5, Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia 45
6, Lanzi - Ducati 999F 07 - Ducati Xerox 44
7, Xaus - Ducati 999F06 - Team Sterilgarda 32
8, Neukirchner - Suzuki GSX-R 1000K7 - Suzuki Germany31
9, Kagayama - Suzuki GSXR - Alstare Suzuki 23
10, Nieto - Kawasaki ZX10 R - PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse 20
Worls Supersport:Air Humidity: 54%
Air Temperature: 21°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 41°
A fantastic Supersport race wowed the record crowds at PI. Foret proved to be fast during the whole weekend but there were others ready to win ready: Curtain, Parkes, Sofuoglu, Charpentier... maybe more. The tarmac temperature was higher than SBK race one and the final laps were key to the result.
At 18th lap long-time leader Parkes was passed by Foret, then also by Sofuoglu. And a new manufacturer won this year, Kawasaki.
The race pace was so hot that it was 12 seconds faster than last year… Once more the Pirelli DIABLO SUPERCORSA set a record. It was first time on this track for this generation of tyre, because they started at Misano last year in June and since then they have beaten all the records, just as they did here.
Race Standings:1, Foret - Kawasaki ZX-6R - Team Gil Motor Sport 33’46.218
2, Sofuoglu - Honda CBR 600 RR - Winston Ten Kate +0.704
3, Parkes - Yamaha YZF R6 - Yamaha Motor Germany +2.243
4, Charpentier - Honda CBR 600 RR - Winston Ten Kate +6.415
5, FujiwaraHonda - CBR 600 RR - Althea Honda Team +15.085
Championship Standings:1, Sofuoglu - Honda CBR 600 RR - Winston Ten Kate 45
2, Foret - Kawasaki ZX-6R - Team Gil Motor Sport 38
3, Fujiwara - Honda CBR 600 RR - Althea Honda Team 27
4, Curtain - Yamaha YZF R6 - Yamaha Motor Germany 25
5, Riba - Kawasaki ZX-6R - Team Gil Motor Sport 21
6, Harms - Honda CBR600 RR - Stiggy Motorsport Honda 19
7, Parkes - Yamaha YZF R6 - Yamaha Motor Germany 16
8, Veneman - Suzuki GSX-R600 - Team Hoegee Suzuki 15
9, Charpentier - Honda CBR 600 RR - Winston Ten Kate 13
10, AlfonsiHonda - CBR 600 RR - Althea Honda Team 10
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