Once again a dramatic end was in store for the SBK championship, with three riders still battling for the title on the eve of raceday. James Toseland arrived at Magny-Cours leading by 29 points over Max Biaggi and Noriyuki Haga, and since the first session ‘JT’s’ idea was clear: he came here to prove he truly deserves the number 1 plate. With his fabulous Superpole time, under 1’39, Max Biaggi re-entered his pitbox celebrating, but immediately after his opponents stuck in some really fantastic laps, relegating him to 7th place.
The first row comprised Haga (fourth), Corser, Neukirchner - on his first race on the Alstare Suzuki bike substituting Yukio Kagayama - and, in pole position, James Toseland who set the new record with his impressive time of 1’38.501.
Race1:
Air Humidity: 94%
Air Temperature: 15°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 19°
Superbike is always something more than just exciting, even after a long wait for the early fog to clear.
At the start the air was baited with communal excitement, and all the eyes were on the three title contenders: Toseland, Biaggi and Haga. At the green light the crowded first bend saw Toseland and Lanzi touch. Lanzi went down, Toseland re-joined the race - in last position. The leading group featured Haga, leading from Corser, Neukirchner and Bayliss.
Toseland was trying to recover to gain as many points as he could; Haga trying to escape for keeps.
A truly amazing race, with Corser battling furiously behind his team mate, with Max and Troy for company, while Biaggi seemed out of the game.
There were numerous passes and full contacts, in a fair but furious race. Haga succeeded in winning leading Bayliss and Corser. Atop the podium three riders had raced with different tyres: B font and A rear for Bayliss, while a double soft (“A”) was used by Haga and Corser. The softest ones offered performance and a great consistency, improving last year’s best race time (in Race two) by 20 seconds.
Toseland finished 7th behind Biaggi, both out of the leading game.
Man of the race (together with Haga) was German young rider Max Neukirchner, able to fight through the whole race for the podium on the official Suzuki.
Race Standings:
1. Haga - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 38’33.762
2. Bayliss - Ducati 999 F07 - Ducati Xerox +2.770
3. Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB +3.735
4. Neukirchner - Suzuki GSXR1000K7 - Suzuki Germany +8.570
5. Nieto - Kawasaki ZX-10R - Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse +12.925
Race 2:
Air Humidity: 57%
Air Temperature: 24°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 31°
With warmer temperatures the riders had to go ahead with another tyre decision - to confirm race one’s solution or put a on different spec. Toseland, Haga and Biaggi made the same choice, changing the front “A” tyre to a “B”, but confirming the softer “A” rear.
At the start Haga immediately took the lead and everybody started to make calculations as Toseland first crossed the line in safe fifth position, closely followed by Bayliss, Neukirchner and Laconi.
Neukirchner passed the English rider, but crashed after two laps, giving Toseland his fifth place back.
No one could catch Haga until the podium ceremony, but in his slipstream the battle went on between Biaggi and Corser, and then Corser and Nieto, changing positions many times and even colliding with each other. “This is the fun of SBK and that’s why all the crowds come to the races” said Nieto later, when celebrating his third position with the fans, having finished behind Haga and Biaggi.
Bayliss passed Toseland, who was managing his gap up to Haga: eighth would have been good enough for Toseland to be World Champion and James managed to finish sixth, winning with only two points advantage over Haga.
Fabrizio lost his tenth place in the championship standing, therefore losing the Pirelli award for the youngest top ten rider, which now goes to Max Neukirchner.
The SBK Championship found its 2007 World Champion only after the second race at the last round, offering us a fantastic season that once again proved that the control tyre rule, managed by Pirelli since 2004 (when again the championship also ended in a dramatic last race) means entertainment, battles, and competition on fair basis. Since 2004 three different bike manufacturers have won the title, and this season all five volume manufacturers appeared on the podium at some stage, proving that engineering tyres with the development teams allows Pirelli and the championship to have tyres that offer the best performance for every bike in the series.
Toseland won the 2007 Riders’ Championship with his Honda, while Yamaha can now celebrate their first Manufacturers’ Championship title.
“I’m happy about the way we ended this fourth season because once again we had a championship fought out by very different riders,” stated Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Tyre Racing Manager, “Our tyres played their role, which must be the role of allowing every rider to express his talent, and never this year did we have a race conditioned by a tyre. Now we are starting to work again for next season, with the winter tests looming, and we look forward to the entrance of some new bike manufacturers.”
Race Standings:
1. Haga - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 38’53.353
2. Biaggi - Suzuki GSXR1000K7 - Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra +3.518
3. Nieto - Kawasaki ZX-10R - Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse +9.142
4. Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB +9.257
5. Bayliss - Ducati 999 F07 - Ducati Xerox +12.825
Championship Standings:
1. Toseland - Honda CBR1000RR- Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 415
2. Haga - Yamaha YZF R1- Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 413
3. Biaggi - Suzuki GSXR1000K7 - Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 397
4. Bayliss - Ducati 999 F07 - Ducati Xerox 372
5. Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 296
6. Xaus - Ducati 999 F06 - Ducati Sterilgarda 201
7. Lanzi - Ducati 999F 07 - Ducati Xerox 192
8. Rolfo - Honda CBR1000RR - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 192
9. Neukirchner - Suzuki GSXR1000K6 - Suzuki Germany 149
10. Laconi -Kawasaki ZX-10R - Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse 137
World Supersport
Air Humidity: 71%
Air Temperature: 21°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 23°
Once again Sofuoglu was the winner, taking his last race in WSS before next season’s move to SBK.
Today’s race was not an easy one, the World Champion almost crashed, but didn’t give up, eventually finishing the race in first position. Kenan set the fastest lap of the race at the fourth lap, and leaves France with the new record: 1’42.057 set with the same Pirelli DIABLO SUPERCORSA tyres which set records of almost every circuit this year.
Behind ‘Sofu’ came Yamaha man Parkes, then Jones, with the second Honda bike on the podium earning him an important place in the final championship standings. After a good Vallelunga, Vizziello made a great job, taking a fantastic fourth place that means he takes 10th position in the final world standings.
Race Standings:
1. Sofuoglu - Honda CBR600 RR - Hannspree Ten Kate 37’55.892
2. Parkes - Yamaha YZF-R6 - Yamaha World SSP Racing +2.794
3. Jones - Honda CBR600 RR - Revè Ekerold Honda Racing +11.135
4. Vizziello - Yamaha YZF-R6 - RG Racing Team +11.551
5. Hill - Yamaha YZF-R6 - Yamaha World SSP Racing +12.359
Championship Standings:
1. Sofuoglu - Honda CBR600 RR - Hannspree Ten Kate 276
2. Parkes - Yamaha YZF-R6 - Yamaha World SSP Racing 133
3. Foret - Kawasaki ZX 6R - GilMotorsport 128
4. Fujiwara - Honda CBR600 RR - Team Althea Megabike 101
5. Jones - Honda CBR600 RR - Revè Ekerold Honda Racing 94
6. Roccoli - Yamaha YZF-R6 - Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni 90
7. Harms - Honda CBR600 RR - Stiggy Motorsport 83
8. Veneman - Suzuki GSX-R600 - Pioneer Hoegee Suzuki 70
9. West - Yamaha YZF-R6 - Yamaha World SSP Racing 66
10. Vizziello - Yamaha YZF-R6 - RG Racing Team 60
Superstock 1000 FIM Cup:
Air Humidity: 68%
Air Temperature: 22°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 24°
The Superstock 1000 FIM CUP came to France without a champion. After 10 races the Championship was still open, and only on the final lap of the race, with Badovini overtaking the leader Claudio Corti, was title assigned.
Corti made a great race but at the end, third place for Canepa was enough for him to grab the title. Canepa was ahead of Corti and Baiocco - with a full Italian 1-2-3.
Pirelli’s DIABLO SUPERCORSA SC2 proved to be the best racing tyre available on the market and its performance provided a great show at all the races.
Race Standings:
1. Badovini - MV Agusta F4 - Biassono Racing Team 22’08.540
2. Corti - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Team Italia +0.817
3. Canepa - MV Agusta F4 312 R - MV Agusta +2.884
4. Scassa - Ducati 1098 S - Ducati Xerox Jr Team +4.678
5. Aitchinson - Suzuki GSXR 1000 - Celani Team Suzuki Italia +7.058
Championship Standings:
1. Canepa - Ducati 1098 - Ducati Xerox Jr Team 161
2. Corti - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Team Italia 157
3. Baiocco - YZF R1 - Umbria Bike 153
4. Simeon - Suzuki GSXR 1000 - Alstare Suzuki Corona Exta 138
5. Aitchison - Suzuki GSXR 1000 - Celani Suzuki Italia 132
Superstock 600 European Championship:
Air Humidity: 90%
Air Temperature: 18°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 22°
Superstock 600 took place on Saturday afternoon, the first race of the weekend, offering - as always - a great show for the spectators. Berger started from pole position and immediately tried to run away with it, with only Antonelli able to follow. After them came another battling duo, comprising Black and Barrier, who made a mistake on the eighth lap, losing four seconds.
At the end of the 10 laps Berger won the race, underlining his title credentials, while Antonelli finished in second place both in the race and the season, ahead of Black (third today and fourth in the championship final standings).
Race Standings:
1. Berger - Yamaha YZF R6 - Team Trasimeno 17’40.422
2. Antonelli - Honda CBR600RR - Team Italia Megabike AX +2.522
3. Black - Yamaha YZF R6 - Capaul Black Racing +7.775
4. Magnoni - Yamaha YZF R6 - Bevilacqua Corse +12.461
5. Ten Napel - Yamaha YZF-R6 - MQP Racing Team +12.617
Championship Standings:
1. Berger - Yamaha YZF R6 - Team Trasimeno 204
2. Antonelli - Honda CBR600RR - Team Italia Megabike AX 162
3. Magnoni - Yamaha YZF R6 - Bevilacqua Corse 155
4. Black - Yamaha YZF R6 - Capaul Black Racing 118
5. Ten Napel - Yamaha YZF-R6 - MQP Racing Team 108
6. Barrier - Yamaha YZF-R6 - Coutelle Junior Team 95
7. Colucci - Ducati 749R - Ducati Xerox Junior Team 93
8. Savary - Yamaha YZF-R6 - Millet Yamaha Team 76
9. Beretta - Suzuki GSX-600R - Cruciani Moto Suzuki Italia 67
10. Lonbois - Suzuki GSX-600R - MTM Racing 61
