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2006 WORLD SUPERBIKE  MISANO

2006 R6 OF 13: for latest update

• Circuit: Misano, Italy
• Track length: 4060m
• Opened: 1972
• Fastest lap ever: 1:33.525 (Troy Bayliss, 2002)
• Lap record: 1:34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002)
• Last year's winner: Regis Laconi (Ducati)

RACE RESULT   (TOP OF PAGE)

• Pitt takes first superbike win as Haga moves second in the championship
• Andrew Pitt took his first ever win in the Superbike World Championship at Misano today as team-mate Noriyuki Haga gave the Yamaha Motor Italia squad its first ever double podium finish in the class.
• After colliding with another rider and failing to score in the opening race, the Australian rode intelligently to win race two while many top riders crashed out behind him. Making his intentions clear from the start, Pitt set the fastest lap of race two as he pulled away from the pack with world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki). When Corser crashed out on lap eight, Pitt found himself out in front of former world champions James Toseland (Honda) and Troy Bayliss (Ducati). When both Toseland and Bayliss made mistakes the Yamaha Motor Italia rider was able defend a five second lead over the battle for second, contested by Haga, Alex Barros (Honda) and Chris Walker (Kawasaki). Pitt rode sensibly to finish over two-and-a-half seconds ahead of Barros to give his team their first win of the season.
• Barros eventually took second place in what was a ferocious race long battle, with Haga getting the final podium spot from Walker on the last lap. Earlier in the day Haga finished fifth, his 27 point haul moving him up to second place in the championship.
• There were more mixed fortunes in the Yamaha Motor France camp. Norick Abe turned around a horrific qualifying session to score tenth and 13th place finishes from 22nd on the grid. Team-mate Sebastien Gimbert was 12th in race one but retired in race two, while Shinichi Nakatomi was unable to capitalize on his 13th place qualifying. The Japanese rookie crashed out of the opener and finished outside the points in the second heat.
• With half of the season gone, Bayliss continues to lead the championship, 94 points ahead of Haga. Pitt's win sees him remain sixth in the championship but moves Yamaha into third place in the manufacturers standings.
• Round seven of the series takes place at Brno in the Czech Republic on July 23.
• Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia): "It feels incredible to get that first win. I saw that Troy (Corser) was making some mistakes so I tried to keep the pressure on him. When he went down I saw that the lead was about 1.3 seconds over the next guy. For all I knew there was a big line of guys behind me so I tried to concentrate as there were a lot of laps to go. When I went past and saw 'six seconds' on my pit board I thought the mechanics had made a mistake and it was 0.6 seconds. Then, when we got down to the last five laps I knew that I could take it easier and enjoy things a bit more. It's a great feeling and I really have to thank my team. We did a lot of testing on used tyres because we knew that it was important to be consistent throughout the race. In the first race the bike was running wide on a full fuel load but for the second we completely changed the front end and run harder springs which made a big improvement."
• Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia): "Two very hard races. It was so hot and the tyre was gone after about five laps. I pushed very hard and spent the last 20 laps of each race fighting with the bike as well as with the other riders. I am very happy with the result though as it moves me to second in the championship. We had a good test at Brno recently so I am looking forward to riding there next month."
• Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
  "To me this is the worst track! Until this morning I was so bad, always 20-something! We tried a few different settings for the race and they worked a bit better. In the first race a lot of riders fell and I gained some positions, but I think I passed about ten riders. I was losing the rear a lot in race one so we adapted the settings again for race two and in the beginning the lap times were better. In the hotter conditions in the afternoon, towards the end of the race, I was having lots of slides again and pushing the front. Compared to qualifying, it was much better."
• Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France)
  "A very hot race but in race one I made a mistake and fell. I had a better rear tyre choice of race two and felt better in this one but did not score any points. My injuries did not give me any real problems in the race."
• Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "A great day for us as a team and individually for our riders. I am very happy to see Andrew take his first win in superbike and I am sure this will be so important for his confidence. Nori has moved into second place in the championship and this is the first time that our team has had two riders on the same podium in superbike. I'm very proud of the progress we have made, because at the start of the season I would have said that this would be one of the worst tracks for our bike. Now our target is to ensure we maintain these results at every track between now and the end of the season."
• Yamaha Team Italia youngster Massimo Roccoli took his and the latest Yamaha YZF-R6's first world supersport win in a tough round six at Misano today.
• In blisteringly hot conditions, the boy from nearby Rimini held his nerve to fend off compatriot Simone Sanna (Honda) for an emotional win. The 21-year-old former Yamaha R6 cup champion led the race from lap three and showed maturity beyond his years to withstand intense pressure from the former 125cc Grand Prix winner who remained just centimetres from the Yamaha's rear wheel throughout the race.
• Polesitter Broc Parkes ended the race third on his Yamaha Motor Germany YZF-R6. The Australian run set a new lap record on lap two and ran with the leading duo for much of the race, only to slip back as he struggled for rear grip in the closing laps due to selecting a different rear tyre option to the majority of the grid.
• Yamaha GMT94's David Checa recovered from a poor start to gain his best result in the class. The Spaniard started from the front row but found himself swamped going into the first corner but fought through from tenth to take fourth at the chequered flag.
• Kevin Curtain had a tough weekend on the other Yamaha Motor Germany machine. Last year's runner-up was forced to start from the fourth row of the grid after being plagued by set-up problems during qualifying. The Australian was further hampered by a bout of sickness on race day but he was still able to ride a gritty and professional race to sixth place, keeping his hopes of lifting the championship well and truly alive.
• In a good day for the R6 riders, Yamaha Team Italia's Gianluca Vizziello ended the race seventh after being passed by Curtain on the final lap. Spanish privateer Xavi Fores made it six Yamahas in the top ten and continued his fantastic season with tenth position on his SLM Racing-entered machine.
• World champion Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) retains his place at the head of the leader board, despite missing the race at Misano through injury. He leads Curtain by the reduced gap of 30 points. Parkes is third, 12 points behind his team-mate, with Roccoli a further three points behind in fifth.
• Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia)
  "It's incredible. My bike was perfect today. I went fast from the first lap and pushed hard for the whole race. I had no problems with arm pump like in previous races and I knew from Friday that I could have a good race here. I hoped for a podium but I did not expect to win. I was not sure if Sanna could pass me on the last lap so I just pushed as hard as I could. I'm very happy for the team and my fans and want to thank them for their support."
• Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany)
  "That was such hard work it feels like I've ridden about three races out there! I just struggled for rear grip today. I knew after about four or five laps that it was going to be tough and I had a lot of slides and big moments. I could see that Roccoli and Sanna had a lot more grip than me and I just had to settle for third. Maybe we could have chosen a different rear tyre and that would have improved things. Third is not a bad result, but I felt that we could have got more than that today."
• David Checa (Yamaha GMT94)
  "I am still too used to the bigger bikes I race in endurance. I was fifth into the first corner but then I got pushed wide by Harms, then I was pushed wide by Sofuoglu, so I decided that I should keep my tyres and get by those guys later. I had a soft front set-up to conserve the tyre in this heat. If there were more laps left I would have caught up with Broc in front, because he had killed his tyre at the end."
• Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany)
  "We have had problems with the front this weekend, and we thought it was one thing, but it wasn't so we went the wrong way with set- up for two days. We had a bit of a change of set-up overnight and things seemed better, but by this time we had not had a chance to test which tyre was going to go the distance for the race. I ran out of rear grip and I think Broc was in the same boat. I woke up this morning and I wondered who was rocking the motorhome! I went to the Clinica Mobile and I was all right before the race - and when you get on the bike you forget everything anyway."
• Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha Team Italia)
  "I did my best today. I had a good start but when I pushed hard the bike started sliding and I lost the riders in front of me. With seven laps to go tyre was really finished so I decided to stay in my position and score some good championship points."
• Yamaha Team Italia rider Claudio Corti brought his YZF-R1 SP home fifth in a dramatic fourth round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup at Misano.
• Starting from the front row, the 18-year-old Italian led briefly in the opening stages before slipping back as he struggled with set-up problems. After crashing in the morning warm-up, the current European Superstock 600 Champion was forced to race with his spare bike and was unable to exactly replicate the settings of his preferred machine.
• Corti spent most of the race battling for third with Luca Scassa (MV Agusta), Brendan Roberts (Suzuki) and Riccardo Chiarello (Kawasaki) but looked set for sixth until picking up a position on the final lap, when Chiarello slid off. The Yamaha rider took to the grass but stayed upright to gain 11 championship points. Corti now lies fourth in the championship, on 50 points.
• The championship top three was reflected in today's race. Alessandro Polita (Suzuki) was the runaway winner and now leads the championship by 27 points from today's second placed rider, Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta). Scassa eventually claimed the third spot on the Misano rostrum to move one point ahead of Corti in the championship standings, in third.
• Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia)
  "I had a big crash in the morning practice and although I was ok the bike was very badly damaged. We didn't have enough time to repair the bike, so we had to use a spare. We didn't have enough time to set it up properly and I didn't have the same speed I had the rest of the weekend. Fifth is not so bad in the circumstances but I had wanted to do better at this circuit."

DUCATI RACE REPORT   (TOP OF PAGE)

• Troy Bayliss extended his unbeaten run to eight at Misano Adriatico as the first race saw the Ducati Xerox Team rider take a superb win from seventh on the grid. With clinical efficiency Bayliss picked off the six riders ahead of him on the track one by one to take the lead on lap 11 and power to the 25 points. The second race of the day could have produced a similar result until Bayliss slid onto the grass on lap 17 while challenging for second place and then remounted to finish twelfth as Andrew Pitt (Yamaha) headed for his maiden WSBK win. With championship contender Troy Corser (Suzuki) crashing out twice, Bayliss now has a 94 point lead over Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) as the World Superbike Championship enters the second half of the season.
• "We are all very happy with the result but a dampener has been put on things because the Team's warehouse guy Lorenzo Ghiselli lost his life in a road accident on Friday night so I'd like to dedicate this win to "Lollo" who will be sadly missed by everybody" declared Troy after race 1. "To be honest I really wanted to win the second race and after a mixed start it took me a long while to get into the rhythm. Then finally when I caught the guys the bike just didn't feel as good as in the first race at the front and I stepped over the edge a bit. Maybe I should have settled for third, but I'm a racer and I wanted to keep the winning streak going. Now it's broken but we increased our points lead from 76 to 94 so I'm happy for everyone and now we move on".
• Lorenzo Lanzi had a difficult race 1 to finish seventh after starting from eighth on the grid. The result was the same in race two, seventh place, but the Italian's performance was much improved as he put in a surge on the final lap to pass Toseland. "It was a great battle with James, but I really wanted to finish ahead of Fabrizio as I was constantly quicker than him" commented Lorenzo. "The last few laps I was one of the fastest guys out there but I got bogged down a bit because the bike wasn't quite right in certain parts of the track. I really have to get better starts because I know I can stay up there with the guys in front as I proved last year. But I've got a great team around me; hopefully we can improve as quickly as possible because I want to get back to winning again".
• "Pity, Troy was going very well and the crash happened when he wasn't pushing that hard" declared Ducati Corse Director General Filippo Preziosi. "With his race 1 win he demonstrated to be the best rider out there and for this we are very proud of him and what he is doing in the championship. Lorenzo also contributed to the good result because he managed to pass Toseland on the last lap and take points away from a tough rival so a big thanks to him as well".

• Troy Bayliss pulled a last minute quick lap out of the bag to clinch provisional pole position for the Ducati Xerox Team at a hot and humid Misano Adriatico circuit on Friday. The Australian was languishing in a lowly top 10 position for much of the session as he completed a race simulation, but then bolted a fresh tyre on towards the end to produce two stunning laps that just edged him ahead of fellow Australian Troy Corser (Suzuki) and the Kawasaki duo of Règis Laconi and Chris Walker.
• "I had just done a long run with the hardest tyre Pirelli have got" declared Troy. "The first lap was just like the last lap which was not incredibly fast but at the end of the race it could come in handy and tomorrow I'll do another long-run with the next softer one and we'll see which one is the safest and fastest and go from there. I want to go faster than two months ago but you can't because the track's not in good condition as it's really hot. But we did a bit of a long run and we've got one tyre picked already. The tyre I did my quick lap on is the one I'll use for the long-run tomorrow and those are the two options I've got. We've basically got the same bike from Brno, not the same as the one we used in the tests here because today it's 15° warmer and that makes a big difference."
• Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi qualified in provisional thirteenth place but with the top 15 riders all within one second of each other, the 24- year-old Italian is within striking distance of the men in front.
• "I was feeling really good this morning when I set fourth quickest time but this afternoon we concentrated on testing several different tyres seeing as my race pace is already pretty good. I was lapping close to Troy so that gives me confidence for tomorrow and the race day" commented Lorenzo. "When we fitted a slightly softer tyre to do my time there were a lot of riders out on the track and I made a big mistake, which ruined my lap and then there was no more time left to do another one."

SUZUKI FRI REPORT   (TOP OF PAGE)

• World Superbike Champion Troy Corser put his Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra GSX-R1000 into provisional second place during today’s qualifying for Sunday’s World Superbike Championship sixth round at Misano.
• The Australian lapped the sun-scorched 4.06km San Marino circuit in a time of 1:35.016 - a fraction behind fellow countryman Troy Bayliss as team mates Yukio Kagayama and Fabien Foret finished in ninth and 16th places.
• Troy Corser - 2nd, 1:35.016:
  “Second quickest is ok, considering I wasn’t chasing a lap time. We’re trying to find a good set-up and that’s what we’ve been working on today. We made some changes to the bike after Silverstone and this has been my first chance to try them out. In some areas the bike feels stronger and in other areas a bit weaker, so now we’ll try and find a good balance. I had a little tip-off this morning when the bike went into neutral going into the first left-hander, but fortunately I didn’t hurt myself. Because of my recent attack of chicken pox and the high temperatures today, my energy levels are bit down now, but it’s no problem when I’m on the bike.”
• Yukio Kagayama - 9th, 1:35.561:
  “I’m happy today because I am enjoying riding the bike much more. The clutch feeling is better and I have more control of the bike which means I can rider harder and still stay consistent. So much more fun! My hand gets a bit sore after many laps and also my back. My back is a bit of a problem in the long turns and the chicanes but I only notice the discomfort after I get off the bike. But this is my life and it’s no problem when I am on the racetrack.
• Fabien Foret - 16th, 1:36.037:
  I was very happy after our Brno tests because we found what we thought was a good solution. We started with that set-up here, but the characteristics of this track are different and that set-up didn’t work as well as we had expected. We’ve been trying to modify the set-up today and I’m sure we’re going in the right direction. I know I can improve tomorrow and my first aim is to make sure I qualify well for Superpole. “

• The Superbike World Championship makes its second visit of the year to Italy this weekend, when the Misano Adriatico circuit plays host to round six of what is proving to be an exciting championship.
• The question on everyone's lips is who can stop Ducati's Troy Bayliss from extending his run of seven consecutive race wins. The man most likely to break that domination looks like being Yamaha Motor Italia's Noriyuki Haga.
• Haga has been supremely consistent this season, failing to finish just one race and never coming lower than fifth in the other nine races. He has been Bayliss' main challenger since the start of the European season in April, outscoring all but the Australian over the last three rounds to go to Misano third in the championship.
• The Japanese rider returns to Italy on the back of three consecutive podium finishes and a successful test in Brno. His Yamaha Motor Italia squad have worked hard to make the 2006 YZF-R1 easier to ride than last year's model and with every lap bringing a greater knowledge of the complex electronics systems used to manage the power, the team goes to Misano in good spirits.
• "Last year we had a big traction problem in Misano," says Haga, who qualified a lowly 21st on the grid but still scored a pair of sixths at the seaside circuit last year. "My target for Misano is the same as at all races: to fight for the win. This year the bike is much better on this type of track and we had a good test at Misano in April, when I set the third fastest time and was able to do a good race simulation. I think that the conditions will be much hotter for the race and that this will change the grip levels but we now have a good base setting for the bike and it means that we do not have to make such big changes between each circuit."
• As an official Pirelli tyre test team, Haga and his team-mate Andrew Pitt spent their three days in the Czech Republic last week evaluating the latest products from the tyre company as well as trying out a host of new settings and development parts on their YZF-R1s. Running in hot temperatures as expected in Misano, Pitt set the second fastest time on race tyres with a 2:01.2, Haga was third fastest with a best of 2:01.5. Bayliss was the fastest rider on show with a 2:00.8. Showing the considerable improvements made to the bikes and tyres over the past year, all of the top riders were well under Haga's 2:03.747 lap record from last year's race.
• Pitt currently lies sixth in the series and has been a regular challenger at the front of the field this season. The Australian is in good form, having taken a pair of top five finishes in Silverstone. As always he goes into this weekend's race with a target of a podium finish. Like Haga, he was able to complete a full test programme in Brno and is looking forward to Misano. He says: "Misano is a circuit that I enjoy going to. It's normally very hot there, which along with the fact that you're on the left side of the tyre so long, means that it's a hard track on the tyres. It's mostly left hand corners around here and you're on the side of the tyre for a big part of the lap. There are only one or two right handers and a couple of chicanes. The most critical part at Misano is the triple left hand corner leading into the back straight. You need to get that right to get a good run onto the back straight, because in the race that's really the only chance you get to overtake. Our
  test went well there but we expect it to be hotter this weekend, so the grip levels are likely to be different for the race."
• Having spent two days testing in Lausitz last weekend, Yamaha Motor France will go to Misano hoping to recapture the form that saw Norick Abe take two fourth places in Valencia, a track with some similarities to this weekend's venue. The Japanese star currently lies ninth in the championship and, with last year's races and some valuable testing time around the venue, he will be expected to better the solitary point he scored in last year's races, even though Misano is one of his least favourite tracks. By contrast team-mate Sebastien Gimbert rates Misano as one of his favourites. He missed the race through injury last year but rode strongly to set the 11th fastest time in April's test. The team's third rider, Shinichi Nakatomi, could miss the race due to the arm injury he sustained in Silverstone. A decision will be made later this week as to whether the Japanese star will ride or not.
• As always, the event will also feature a round of the Supersport World Championship, where Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain will look to take advantage of the absent championship leader Sebastien Charpentier. The Honda rider crashed at the Brno test and will miss the Misano race. Curtain currently lies second in the championship on his new-for-2006 YZF-R6, 40 points behind Charpentier. Curtain set the fastest supersport time at the Brno test, his 2:06.0 being over a second under the lap record.
• "The Brno test went real well," explained Curtain. "The bike is improving every time we get out on it. Pirelli brought along a lot of tyres to test and we've found some that work well with the R6. Misano should suit us. We've got to try and pull some points back on Charpentier and keep applying the pressure to him. There's still a long way to go in the championship and I've always maintained that nothing would be decided in the opening races. I had some bad luck in Monza but we will keep focussed and try not to make any mistakes."
• Curtain's team-mate Broc Parkes is a Misano specialist, having won an Italian championship race there last year and setting the fastest ever world supersport lap of the circuit in April's official test. Parkes was just one tenth of a second slower than his team-mate in Brno and will be looking for a good result in Misano to elevate him from his current fourth position in the championship and possibly put himself in a position to challenge for the title in the latter half of the season.