Neukirchner, Xaus win at Misano

From worldsbk.com

Germany's Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) and Spain's Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) picked up the two wins in Sunday's eighth round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship at the Misano World Circuit in front of 68,000 spectators.

With two third places, Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) increases his lead in the championship to 49 points.

Neukirchner grabbed the win in the first race to take his second victory of the year. After playing a waiting game in the early laps, the German stepped up the pace in the second part of the race to catch and pass frontrunners Xaus and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who went on to finish fourth and second respectively.

"My team did a really good job this weekend," Neukirchner said. "In the practice we changed a lot, up and down with the bike, and couldn't find the right settings, but in the race it was unbelievable.

"In the beginning it was not possible to get close to Bayliss and I had to push very hard, but then it was easier to find a good line. The other guys were a little bit slower than me, the two Troys, and I'm just so happy."

"I didn't make it easy for myself from the start of the race because I didn't get into the first corner too well, then I touched a few riders and was about sixth or seventh on the first lap," Corser said. "I pushed really hard, and maybe used my tire up a little bit because by the end of the race I had nothing left. I could see that I was a little bit faster than Bayliss and once I got past him, I pushed to catch Max, but just couldn't get him and once the tires are greasy it's easy to throw it away so I settled for second."

Third place on the podium after an inconsistent run went to points leader Bayliss.

"It was really hot like every year here," Bayliss said. "I was feeling pretty confident before the race and we ended up choosing the hardest tire in the rear. But I sort of struggled with it the whole race and then did my best laps towards the end, when it was too late, but can't take anything away from Troy and Max, they were riding really well."

Following a disappointing qualifying session, Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) managed to hold off the competitive privateer Ducatis of Lorenzo Lanzi (RG) and Jakub Smrz (Guandalini).

Nurburgring winner Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) had a difficult race, finishing 10th after starting from row 4, while Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) was taken out by Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) in a collision on lap 12.

The second race of the day saw a sensational and unexpected 1-2 win for the private Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati team. The 25 points went to Xaus, who took his first win of the year, ahead of Biaggi, who capitalized on a mistake by Bayliss to grab the second podium slot.

"It was a nice win but at the beginning it was hard," Xaus said. "We had three starts today and the last one was the worst. I think the clutch slipped a bit and I lost a little time. I wanted to recover because I knew that Corser and Bayliss would pull away.

"For the first 10 laps I had a lot of movement at the rear. Then my teammate attacked me twice, I closed the door and with 10 laps to go I started to do 37s, 37s, 37s."

"I think it was a pretty good race," Biaggi said. "I was so fed up after race 1 when Fabrizio hit me at the back and took me out. Too bad, I didn't expect that. I think this year is the most difficult or unlucky of my career, but I have to say that in Superbike we always have a second opportunity with race 2."

"Honestly I think this has been one of the hardest days of my career," Bayliss said. "I felt pretty good all weekend, but we thought the hard tire in the first race could have been the problem. We changed that for race 2 and it was a bit better, but towards the end I was struggling and the back was coming round."

Fourth and fifth went to the two Yamahas of Haga and Corser, with "Nitro-Nori" making amends for his disappointing race 1.

Lanzi again went well to finish sixth, while Neukirchner was unable to repeat his brilliant race 1 win. With his eighth place finish Checa has now been overtaken by Neukirchner in the points standings.

Race 1 Results
1. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 39:27.918 (154.197 km/h)
2. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.542
3. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 +2.249
4. Xaus R. (ESP) Ducati 1098 RS 08 +3.028
5. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR +5.408
6. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 +5.518
7. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 +6.202
8. Lavilla G. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR +18.279
9. Nakatomi S. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 +19.072
10. Haga N. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 +19.132
11. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +28.098
12. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +34.385
13. Aoyama S. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR +34.572
14. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR +34.902
15. Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF-R1 +39.979
16. Gimbert S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 +44.669
17. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR +49.290
18. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR1000RR +59.304
RET Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R
RET Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR
RET Biaggi M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08
RET Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08
RET Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-10R
RET Pridmore J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR
RET Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R
RET Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R

Race 2 Results
1. Xaus R. (ESP) Ducati 1098 RS 08 39:19.710 (154.734 km/h)
2. Biaggi M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 +1.035
3. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 +4.158
4. Haga N. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 +5.466
5. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 +6.759
6. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 +13.468
7. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +15.221
8. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR +16.687
9. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 +17.030
10. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +17.681
11. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 +21.356
12. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +28.676
13. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR +31.304
14. Lavilla G. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR +32.339
15. Nakatomi S. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 +33.716
16. Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF-R1 +34.171
17. Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R +40.638
18. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR +41.136
19. Aoyama S. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR +49.699
RET Pridmore J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR
RET Gimbert S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1
RET Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R
RET Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R
RET Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-10R
RET Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR
RET Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR1000RR

Point Standings (courtesy Yamaha Racing)
1. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, AUS, 259
2. Max Neukirchner, Suzuki, GER, 210
3. Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 207
4. Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, JPN, 191
5. Troy Corser, Yamaha, AUS, 185
6. Fonsi Nieto, Suzuki, ESP, 151
7. Ruben Xaus, Ducati, ESP, 148
8. Max Biaggi, Ducati, ITA, 117
9. Michel Fabrizio, Ducati, ITA, 111
10. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, JPN, 94
11. Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, JPN, 82
12. Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati, ITA, 80
13. Gregorio Lavilla, Honda, ESP, 75
14. Jakub Smrz, Ducati, CZE, 72
15. Karl Muggeridge, Honda, AUS, 59