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2006 WORLD SUPERBIKE  BRNO

2006 R7 OF 13: for latest update

• Circuit: Brno
• Length: 5,403 metres
• Superbike lap record: 2:03.747 - Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha)
• Last year's winners: Troy Corser (Suzuki) ; Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha)

• Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Yukio Kagayama took his first ever World Superbike double victory at Brno in the Czech Republic today.
• In race one he stalked leader James Toseland (Honda) for 14 laps before making his move, and from them on in, he was never headed, taking the chequered flag by nearly four seconds.
• Michel Fabrizio (Honda) took third after passing both Noriyuki Haga and Yukio’s team mate Troy Corser in the final two laps: Reigning World Champion Corser suffered grip problems throughout the 20-lapper but still managed to finish fifth just behind Haga.
• Kagayama had to work much harder in race two but, after fighting his way up from eighth, he charged past Haga just two laps from the end to take his second win of the day. Second was Fabrizio, who had been in fourth place on the last lap, but then barged his way through Haga and Corser with less than two turns remaining. When Fabrizio made his move, Corser was forced to pick up his bike otherwise he would have collided with Fabrizio and Haga, as he would’ve been taken out as well. Haga ended up an angry third, with a very frustrated Corser fourth.
• Yukio Kagayama - Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 1st: “I am so happy today and I want to thank my team for all the great work they have done. Also, thank you to Batta-san, who is not here today, but I hope was watching on TV. In both races, I had to use patience - and this is not my normal style - but it was worth it. I was close to Toseland from the start of race one so it was just a case of waiting to make my move at the right time and my plan worked perfectly.
• “The second race was much more difficult because I had to pass many riders before I could attack the leader - my friend Nori-chan. In the closing stages of the race he knew that I was faster than him and he very kindly waved me through. After that I just concentrated on keeping a good pace and not making any mistakes. I have always thought of myself as a little crazy, but today I showed another side of Yukio. Maybe this will be my new style for the rest of the season!”
• Troy Corser - Race 1: 5th, Race 2: 4th: “Considering what position we were in on Friday and even Saturday morning, I guess that a fourth and a fifth is not too bad, but I’m not at all happy. I had some grip problems in the first race so we changed the balance and front and rear ride height for race two. It was a bit better but, because it was more or less Yukio’s set-up, it took me a while to get used to it - and by that time the leaders were gone. I managed to reel them back in and I thought that I’d get at least a third or maybe a second. I got past Haga and into second, but then Fabrizio came along with a couple of desperate moves. Honestly, if I hadn’t picked up my bike when he tried to make his move, I would’ve hit him and we’d both gone down, taking Nori with us as he was so close at the time. There’s racing and there’s desperation. He’s a young kid, but it could’ve ended very badly. After I had crossed the line in race two, I was so frustrated that I was sick - but luckily I opened my helmet first!”
• Fabien Foret - Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 20th:
  “After Superpole, I really thought that I could get a couple of good top-10 finishes today. In race one, everything was ok for the first five laps and then I crashed! It took place at the same place where Toseland had crashed in the morning warm-up today and there was a lot of dust down to clear up the oil that had been spilled. Maybe I just hit some oil that hadn’t been cleared up properly - I don’t know. It was a slow speed fall so I didn’t hurt myself, but it was a very disappointing and early end to the race.
• “In race two, my bike started feeling strange after a lap or so. It was juddering or something like that and I just couldn't push hard at all. I should’ve pulled in, but I wanted to keep going and see if I could score any points. When riders overtook me, I couldn’t do anything about it and so I finished outside the points. It turned out that the tyre was spinning on the rim and that was causing the problem.”

DUCATI RACE REPORT   (TOP OF PAGE)

• Ducati Xerox Team riders Troy Bayliss and Lorenzo Lanzi had two below-par races in the seventh round of the World Superbike Championship at Brno today. Bayliss was eliminated by Régis Laconi in a first-corner first-lap incident in the opening counter, while Lanzi struggled with lack of grip in his front tyre and had to come into the pits for a change. Both riders then suffered with severe lack of grip in the second race and could only manage eighth and ninth. Troy Bayliss's lead in the championship with five rounds remaining is now 73 points.
• "The whole day had been going to plan up until the first corner and I guess you could say it was one of those racing incidents" explained Troy. "Pitty got in a little hot and bumped into me which pushed me wide. Régis had already gone wide and then ran into me as well, down I went and that was my morning over. Like I said before you never know with racing what's around the corner. In the second race I had to work harder than to have a win but I only lost four points and I have to take it on the chin and move on. Lorenzo gave me a place at the end and you never know a point could be important at the end of the year. I put a softer tyre on for race 2 but after two laps my grip was going down and I had to ride it home, but even that was a struggle."
• "We had been protagonists all weekend and had set quickest time in the morning warm-up. There was just time for a bit of relaxation and ....then two races to forget" declared Lorenzo. "For the second race I had managed to sort out the front but then I had problems with the rear. Me and my team are a bit disappointed to say the least. We worked hard as always, we were looking good on the front row and ready for two good races. The conditions were the same as yesterday, the same as in the tests, I don't know what else I can say. Now let's move onto the next round and hopefully things will be better at Brands Hatch."

• Brno lap record holder Noriyuki Haga once again showed his liking for the Czech circuit by obliterating the opposition to claim pole position for tomorrow's two Superbike World Championship races, the first time he has started at the front of the grid since 2002.
• The Japanese Yamaha Motor Italia ace gunned his YZF-R1 around the fast and flowing circuit in a time of 2:00.457, over half a second quicker than second placed James Toseland (Honda). Ducati riders Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy Bayliss complete the front row for tomorrow's race. It is the third time Haga has won pole position in a world superbike event and the first pole for his Yamaha Motor Italia team since they moved up to the class at the beginning of 2005.
• Yamaha Motor France's trio of riders narrowly missed out on superpole, with Frenchman Sebastien Gimbert less than two-hundreds of a second behind Alex Barros (Honda) in the 16th and final superpole position. Meanwhile the team's Japanese riders Shinichi Nakatomi and Norick Abe had difficulty with the surprisingly low grip levels on the circuit. Nakatomi made big progress in the afternoon session. He was the 12th fastest rider in the one-hour session, one place behind Haga and one ahead of Pitt, but will start in 19th based on his time from the morning qualifying session. Abe will start the two 20-lap races one place behind his team-mate after struggling to find rear grip with his YZF-R1 in practice.
• Andrew Pitt took over a second from his best lap of the weekend in superpole, recording a 2:01.482 to move from tenth in regular qualifying to seventh position and a slot on the second row on the final grid. Pitt was plagued with some minor electrical problems that forced him to switch to his spare machine for superpole but, despite running different gearing and suspension to his preferred machine, he was still able to post a 2:01.482 lap time.
• Times tumbled during today's qualifying sessions, with the surface providing considerably more traction than in Friday's sessions. With hot conditions set to make for a tough day's racing tomorrow, both riders worked hard to find a set-up that will work over 20 laps of the challenging circuit. Haga and Pitt were able to run fast and consistent times as they worked on finding an optimum race setting during the day's two one-hour practices, before showing the ultimate pace of their YZF-R1s in the grid deciding one-lap superpole.
• Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) POLE
  "Yes, of course, I am very happy with pole position. The feeling with the bike is very good and even before superpole I knew the settings and tyres I will use for the race. I was able to ride a good lap and get the pole. Tomorrow will be very hard work and I hope that the temperature will be cooler for the races. The tyre wear is very high in this heat but that is the same for everyone and I am happy that we have such a good setting for the bike, as I expect some very hard races."
• Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
  "In the end second row's not too bad. My bike stopped before superpole so I had to go on my second bike and it wasn't set up at all how I'd like it. It was a bit chaotic as we tried to change some things around but I'm quite happy. We were able to do some consistent lap times and as long as we don't have any more problems we should be ready for the races."
• Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France)
  "I am a little bit frustrated because my qualifying time is almost three seconds faster than last year, yet I am again starting on the fifth row - that shows how the level of competition has gone up this year. Overall though, I am happy with how practice has gone. We have made some steps forward with the bike and the times of all the riders are close. I'm only just behind guys like Barros, so I am quite positive for tomorrow's races."
• Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France)
  "I'm not so happy with today. The temperatures are much higher than when we tested here and because of this the grip levels are much lower. I tried a new swingarm in the practices and I like this and will use it in the race. The afternoon was better, although I have not yet been able to decide on a tyre choice and therefore suspension settings for the race."
• Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
  "Still we are struggling with rear grip on the exit of corners. As a result I tried entering the corners faster, but this has caused some chatter to occur. We will try some more settings in the warm-up to try and find a solution for the races."
• Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia)
  "A great job from Noriyuki today. It was hard to know how superpole would go as each session had been quite different. He rode such a great lap and was very smooth - in fact when I watched the lap on TV I commented to the team that he didn't seem to be pushing so hard. It was very satisfying to win our first superpole, especially to do it with such a big gap to second. Andrew did an excellent job too. He had to go out on his second bike and that was set-up differently, so to get the second row was good."

DUCATI QUALIFYING REPORT - BAYLISS 4TH; LANZI 3RD  (TOP OF PAGE)

• Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy Bayliss will start tomorrow's seventh round of the World Superbike Championship at Brno from the front row of the grid after setting third and fourth quickest times in the Superpole session behind poleman Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and James Toseland (Honda). Italian Lanzi was just a fraction ahead of his Australian team-mate in the one-lap dash, but the two Ducati Xerox riders are confident they will be front-runners tomorrow.
• "I hope I have a chance to get on the podium in both races but it's going to be tough" commented Lorenzo Lanzi. "Today was a very difficult day because at one point in Superpole it looked as if it was going to rain and that would have changed things a lot. My Superpole lap was almost perfect, and I am very satisfied with third place on the grid. Tomorrow for the race, the first laps will be difficult but I have a good race pace and I hope to be able to be amongst the leaders. A big thanks to all my fans for coming, I don't know where they will be around the race track but I hope to give them something to cheer about tomorrow!"
• "It's been a little bit different this weekend but its all coming together now" declared Troy Bayliss. "The lap I did today was far from perfect but I'm reasonably happy because I'm on the front of the grid and that's very important round here. Of course its going to be a very long hard race tomorrow, hopefully the weather will be fine but I'm really happy for Lorenzo and all his fans here and hope he can do a good job for himself and the team. The last tests here we did a full race simulation and it all went very well, basically I'll be on the same tyre tomorrow but honestly after ten laps here everybody's in the same boat and you're just going to have to hang in there to the end."

SUZUKI QUALIFYING REPORT - CORSER 5TH  (TOP OF PAGE)

• Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama will start tomorrow’s Brno World Superbike round in the Czech Republic alongside each other on the second row of the grid.
• Corser is happy as this morning he was struggling to get into the top 15 after suffering problems with wheelspin and lack of grip. But in the afternoon untimed session, he tried Kagayama’s set-up and immediately began to get more comfortable with his bike.
• Corser missed the recent Brno test due to illness and the information that Kagayama and his team provided made up for some of that lost time. Thanks to the information, he managed to finish fifth quickest in the 16-rider Superpole shoot-out.
• Kagayama had qualified fastest in regular qualifying, but he tried a bit too hard on his Superpole lap and lost time finally ending sixth.
• Team Alstare Engineering Corona Extra rider Fabien Foret finished 11th, but his lap time of 2:02.124 is within touching distance of the front row.
• Troy Corser - 5th, 2:01.351:
  “I’m much happier this afternoon than I was this morning or yesterday. Missing the Brno test has made it very hard for me these two days because we just couldn’t get the bike working well at all. I wasn’t happy after this morning’s qualifying so we decided to try Yukio’s set-up in the afternoon. He’d been at the tests, so we thought we might as well give his set-up a go. Normally I wouldn’t have believed that I would be able to get on so well with his set-up, but it was a big improvement on what we’d been getting up until then! It’s not perfect for me but it was a big step in the right direction, so I’ve got to say a big ‘thank you’ to Yukio and his crew for helping me out. I am happy not to have been any lower then the second row of the grid and now if I can get a couple of good starts I feel that I can run with the leaders for sure. It’s going to be two long, hard races tomorrow and I’m sure that we’re all going to suffer tyre problems in the races, so it may be down to whoever uses their tyres best.”
• Yukio Kagayama - 6th, 2:01.453:
  “In my Superpole lap I tried my best but it was not enough! It is my style to open the gas hard and maybe, just maybe, this was not the best thing to do in Superpole. But, the second row is ok and, as long as I make good starts, I can get good results. My physical condition is so much better now than the past few months and I cannot wait for the races tomorrow. My team has worked unbelievably hard recently so I want to get good results tomorrow so that I can say ‘thank you’ to them.”
• Fabien Foret - 11th, 2:02.124:
  “I am quite happy with my Superpole lap and the third row of the grid is not so bad I think. My bike is working well and I am also happy because my lap times are not so far from pole. I didn’t have any big problems today and we spent most of the time trying to find a good set-up and balance for the race. Yesterday I was a bit uncertain as to which tyres I will use for the race, but now I know exactly which ones to choose. I am hoping to make good starts, run with the leaders and get a pair of solid top-10 finishes.”

YAMAHA FRI REPORT   (TOP OF PAGE)

• Haga on form as rain thwarts Pitt’s qualifying run
• Noriyuki Haga returned to the scene of one of his finest moments to end first qualifying in fourth position at Brno today.
• The Yamaha Motor Italia rider won at the classic Czech circuit last year, despite qualifying way back on the fifth row, and today confirmed his liking of the circuit by putting his YZF-R1 on the provisional front row for Sunday's race.
• A combination of high temperatures and residue left from car racing meant that the riders struggled for grip on the dirty surface and struggled to match their times from last month's three-day test at the same venue. Haga's best lap of the day was 2:02.904, over a second slower than his best time on race tyres at last month's test, but just half-a-second behind provisional pole man James Toseland (Honda).
• A heavy shower with just minutes of the session remaining meant that team-mate Andrew Pitt was unable to make what he expected to be his fastest lap of the day. The Australian, winner last time out in Misano, ended the day in 13th position. Despite his lower than expected position, the former supersport world champion was happy with his day's work, having made small but important improvements to his YZF-R1's settings and completing a race simulation.
• Yamaha Motor France's trio of riders spent most of the session having their own personal battle just outside the top 16. Norick Abe, Sebastien Gimbert and rookie Shinichi Nakatomi. Just three tenths of a second separated the riders as Frenchman Gimbert ended the day 19th, ahead of Japanese colleagues Abe and Nakatomi, who were 20th and 21st position respectively.
• Final qualifying for Sunday's two-race seventh round takes place tomorrow.
  
• Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Fourth is ok but really I am not so happy. The grip levels are much lower than when we tested here. I think that there have been cars racing on the circuit and they have left some rubber on the track. We only have three different tyres to choose from and I tried the soft and medium ones. The soft was sliding around like a qualifier after a few laps and the feeling was also not so good with the medium. I am surprised because I usually have a good feeling with the bike and the tyres. We can try some things for tomorrow but I think that the heavy rain will change the surface anyway. Maybe that will be better or maybe it will be worse. We have to wait and find out."
• Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
  
  "What can I say, I'd just gone out on a new tyre when it started to pour down! Up until that point it'd gone fine. There's not a lot of grip out there but I was quite happy with the bike and had been able to get in a race simulation. We improved things quite a bit between the morning and afternoon and we're definitely going in the right direction."
  
  Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
  
  "Unfortunately I missed the team's test here through injury but it should not be a big problem as Brno is one of my favourite tracks. Today the problem for me is again rear traction. The surface is very slippery but the team will try a few thing for tomorrow to try and improve the bike and give me a chance to run at the front on Sunday."
  
  Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France)
  
  "Brno is a long and challenging circuit but it is not a new track to me as we tested here recently. I was able to go quickly straight away but at the end it started to rain when I went out with a new tyre on and I couldn't go for a final fast lap. I am sure that we can make a big improvement tomorrow because the bike and the track will probably be in better condition."
  
  Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia)
  
  "After good tests here and at Lausitz I think we expected a little bit more from today. We're having some problems with the grip levels but this seems to be as a result of the track surface. Looking at the lap times it seems that everyone is only able to do two or three fast laps before the performance level drops off. We'll work further on the settings for tomorrow but we'll have to see if the track surface improves overnight."

• Brno in the Czech Republic is the venue for this weekend's seventh round of the Superbike World Championship, with the Yamaha Motor Italia squad looking forward to the event for a variety of reasons.
  
  The historic circuit was the venue of the team's first world superbike race win last year, when Noriyuki Haga came through from 18th in qualifying to win the second race by over three seconds. And with team-mate Andrew Pitt going to Czech on the back of his first win in the class in the last race at Misano, the team is understandably relishing the second half of the 2006 championship.
  At 5.4km, Brno is the longest circuit on the superbike calendar. It is a wide and flowing circuit with grippy tarmac and many elevation changes. It's a circuit that has been proven to suit the characteristics of the YZF-R1 and with the Yamaha Motor Italia squad having tested there alongside the other Pirelli development teams last month, Haga and Pitt go to the venue with good base settings for their machines.
  
  For Haga, Brno comes in the middle of a hectic schedule and kicks off a grueling three weekend run of races. The Japanese star has spent most of the time since Misano back in his homeland, testing the machine he will ride in the Suzuka 8-hour endurance race with MotoGP rider Colin Edwards. He returned to Europe last weekend, where he was the fastest rider in the three-day official Pirelli tyre test at Eurospeedway Lausitz. Haga topped the timesheets on qualifying tyres, his best of 1:37.6 equalled only by world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki). However the Yamaha man demonstrated his superiority in race trim, with a 1:38.2 lap that saw him joint top with series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati). The Japanese rider currently lies second in the championship and, although Australian rider Bayliss has carved out a 94 point advantage in the standings, Yamaha's Japanese star won't stop fighting for the title that has eluded him in his career so far.
  
  "Yes, I am very busy just now," said Haga. "The Suzuka bike has some big differences from the one I ride in world superbikes, especially the tyres, but it was no problem for me to switch back to my usual bike and the Pirelli tyres for the test in Germany. Brno is where we won the first race with the R1 last year and for sure the bike is much better now than it was then, so I hope we can have a good weekend. After Brno we go back to Suzuka for the race and then Brands Hatch is the week after. I am just taking each race as it comes but hope to always be up there and fighting for the win."
  
  Pitt ended the Lausitz test just one-tenth of a second behind his team-mate. The Australian currently lies sixth in the championship and just 32 points behind second-placed Haga. "Both riders had a good test in Lausitz and are ready for the race in Brno," commented Yamaha Motor Italia team coordinator Massimo Meregalli. "Pirelli brought along a lot of tyres for us to test and we were also able to try some small upgrades to the suspension set-up. Noriyuki managed a good race simulation at the end and both he and Andrew were happy at the end. I don't like making predictions for the races but we're all feeling positive for going to Brno. The riders want to win so I hope that we can have a good weekend."
  
  In the Supersport World Championship, Yamaha riders are showing strongly with three of the top five riders mounted on the latest generation YZF-R6: Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes in second and third, and Yamaha Team Italia's Massimo Roccoli moving into fifth following a win in Misano. The Yamaha Motor Germany duo will be looking for a good performance at one of their team's local circuits this weekend after both had disappointing time in Misano. Parkes finished third after making an incorrect tyre choice and Curtain a lowly sixth after failing to find a good machine set-up throughout the race weekend. Both are looking to pull back the advantage of championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) over the second half of the season. The Frenchman currently has a 30 point lead over second-placed Curtain, but with the latest YZF-R6 improving at every race the Australian knows that the destiny of the title is still very much in the hands of him and his team personnel.
  
  "We learned a lot when we tested at Brno," explained Curtain. "We tried a lot of stuff and by the end we maybe lost our way a bit, but we know what works around there and hopefully that means we can go there and be right on it from Friday morning. It's coming up to that important time in the season now. Nothing is ever decided in the first half of the season but now we are getting to that stage where we need to be taking points back from Sebastien if we are to win the title."