Once more the Losail racetrack presented difficult conditions for the riders to read. The first two days of practice were messed up by the wind moving sand into the racetrack and the track had a lower temperature than expected. Despite some tests made in the last weeks the teams were asked to find a new solution to a new problem, making things even more difficult for those on new bikes. They lost valuable time due to the bad conditions and had to try out many different settings.
Corser had been really fast in all the sessions and took Superpole as well, but the situation was still not completely clear. On Saturday, raceday, the conditions changed again with less wind and warmer temperatures, changing the game once more.
Race 1:
Air Humidity: 30%
Air Temperature: 24°C
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 37°
A great race, entertaining until the very last corner. At the green light the fastest guy off the line was Neukirchner, followed by Corser and Haga on Yamahas, Biaggi and Xaus on Ducatis, Nieto, Kagayama and then Bayliss behind. This bunch of riders soon created a gap back to followers, despite riders like Rolfo, Checa and Fabrizio being in place.
Different tyre choices were made, particularly on the rear, with a harder compound for Yamaha, medium for Ducati and soft for the Suzuki. On the sixth lap the first important action took place: Biaggi overtook Haga, who then crashed and rejoined in 25th position. Biaggi then overtook Corser too, and started following Neukirchner and one lap later he took the lead itself.
Behind the Italian, Bayliss moved up to second. The two Ducati were followed by a Yamaha with one lap to go.
Pirelli Diablo Superbike tyres played their role at the highest level: Biaggi and Bayliss conducted the whole race with lap times under two minutes and the bikes still seemed to be stable, didn’t move around - and ultimately there was Bayliss, who passed Biaggi with only two corners to go. There was still room for a passing attempt, and Biaggi tried it, but at the end he had to accept second place.
Haga finished 14th thinking already of revenge in race two.
Race Standings:
1. Bayliss - Ducati 1098 F 08 - Ducati Xerox 36’11.468
2. Biaggi - Ducati 1098 RS 08 - Sterilgarda Go Eleven +0.396
3. Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB +1.878
4. Xaus - Ducati 1098 RS 08 - Sterilgarda Go Eleven +4.487
3. Neukirchner - Suzuki GSXR1000K7 - Team Alstare Suzuki +7.505
Race 2:
Air Humidity: 30%
Air Temperature: 22°C
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 36°
Race two was again full of excitement, with Haga and Corser away at full throttle, like in race one, followed by the Ducatis of Biaggi and Xaus and the Suzuki of Nieto.
The two Yamaha couldn’t keep quite the same pace of the others, while Nieto and his Suzuki showed they were in really good shape.
With higher temperatures the tyre choices were slightly different than in race one, and at the end the winner was Nieto on an “A” soft solution at the front and a “B”, medium at the rear. Nieto started from the third row, making a really great race for himself and fighting hard, especially with Biaggi and Xaus, before gaining a famous victory.
The total race time was almost the same as in race one, with an even faster pace set by Nieto: 1’59.156, a new lap record on the third lap.
On the podium with him were Xaus and Biaggi, on Ducatis from the Sterilgarda Go Eleven Team, while Bayliss finished fourth, ahead of his team mate Fabrizio.
There is little time for celebration as the SBK circus is already on the move: tonight most of the teams will leave Qatar to go to Australia, where we are racing next weekend.
Race Standings:
1. Nieto - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - Alstare Suzuki 36’12.963
2. Xaus - Ducati 1098 RS 08 - Sterilgarda Go Eleven +0.301
3. Biaggi - Ducati 1098 RS 08 - Sterilgarda Go Eleven +1.321
4. Bayliss - Ducati 1098 F 08 - Ducati Xerox +6.452
5. Fabrizio - Ducati 1098 F 08 - Ducati Xerox +7.627
Championship Standings:
1. Bayliss - Ducati 1098 F 08 - Ducati Xerox 38
2. Biaggi - Ducati 1098 RS 08 - Sterilgarda Go Eleven 36
3. Nieto - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - Alstare Suzuki 34
4. Xaus - Ducati 1098 RS 08 - Sterilgarda Go Eleven 33
5. Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 25
6. Neukirchner - Suzuki GSX-R1000 - Team Alstare Suzuki 19
7. Fabrizio - Ducati 1098 F 08 - Ducati Xerox 18
8. Checa - Honda CBR1000RR - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 15
9. Smrz - Ducati 1098 RS 08 - Guandalini Racing by Grifo 13
10. Lanzi - Ducati 1098 RS 08 - R. G. Team 10
World Supersport:
Air Humditiy: 30%
Air Temperature: 24°C
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 38°
Many of the Supersport observers could not see past Fabien Foret and his new Yamaha R6, but plenty of riders started the race thinking about a big result.
Unfortunately after a few laps, due to crashes and technical problems, some of the protagonists went out, like Pitt, Rea, Nannelli, Roccoli and the race was led - predictably - by Foret, fighting with Parkes, Lascorz and Jones.
The Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa offered really outstanding performance on this racetrack, allowing the riders to push to the limit for the whole race distance, without losing the feeling you need when riding only three seconds slower than the SBK lap times.
At the very last lap the turning point came: leader Foret ran out of fuel and left the win to his team-mate Parkes, who was able to overtake Lascorz by slipstreaming on the final straight.
Race Standings:
1. Parkes - Yamaha YZF-R6 - Yamaha World SSP Racing 37’05.271
2. Lascorz - Honda CBR600 RR - Glaner Motocard.com +0.048
3. Jones - Honda CBR600 RR - Parkalgar Racing Team +0.755
4. Brookes - Honda CBR600 RR - Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport +9.502
5. Lagrive - Honda CBR600 RR - Intermoto Czech +11.962
Championship Standings:
1. Parkes - Yamaha YZF-R6 Yamaha - World SSP Racing 25
2. Lascorz - Honda CBR600 RR - Glaner Motocard.com 20
3. Jones - Honda CBR600 RR - Parkalgar Racing Team 16
4. Brookes - Honda CBR600 RR - Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport 13
5. Lagrive - Honda CBR600 RR - Intermoto Czech 11
6. Veneman - Suzuki GSX-R600 - Ressoftware Hoegee Suzuki 10
7. Harms - Honda CBR600 RR - Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport 9
8. Salom - Yamaha YZF-R6 - Yamaha Spain 8
9. Walker - Kawasaki ZX-6R - Kawasaki Gil Motor Sport 7
10. Vizziello - Honda CBR600 RR - Berry Racing 6
