Biaggi continues Brno magic

From the WSBK Pressoffice

Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) took his second Tissot-Superpole win of the year on Saturday today by posting a lap of 1 minute 58.580 seconds in World Superbike Championship qualifying in Brno, Czech Republic, holding off the push of his fellow Italian Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike).

"It's been very tough for track conditions, different from last year, different tires as well," Biaggi said. "It's very good for us and I'm so happy for this result to get pole in front of all these people.

"Brno is a really great track, lots of long blind corners, a lot of exit space and it's very wide and I have a much better feeling here than at other tracks. But tomorrow is another story, it'll be a long, long race and hopefully the tire will do a good job."

"Brno has also been a good track for me in the past, and since Friday morning we've done a good job with the Yamaha," Melandri said. "The bike's been working well step by step. A second place for sure is a very good position.

"It's going to be very tough for the tires tomorrow, but very interesting and I'm happy with today."

Third on the grid is championship leader Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati).

"I think we did a great job over all the weekend, at the end of qualifying we are third, which is positive," Checa said. "We know it's going to be hard against Max and Marco because they have done fast laps. Anyway I did a good lap in Superpole, we knew at the start that this was not one of our favourite circuits, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

The top four riders in the championship convened a meeting on the front row when Melandri's team-mate Eugene Laverty went fourth.

"This morning we tried something which didn't work very well , so we had to take a step backwards," Laverty explained. "In the free practice session we made progress in the right direction and I topped the times for the first time this year, which I am quite pleased with. Superpole went smoothly. All I wanted was a front row for two good races tomorrow, it's very important in order to be in a position to fight for a win. That's what I'm aiming for, but I'd be happy with a podium."

Home rider Jakub Smrz (Effenbert–Liberty Racing Ducati) will start from fifth position on the grid, one place up on Suzuki Alstare's Michel Fabrizio.

Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) crashed in Superpole 1 but hurried back to the pits to ride his spare machine and he made it all the way to Superpole 3, and an eventual seventh place ranking.

The last place on row two went to Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) who had to use his two qualifying rear tires in the first two Superpole sessions, meaning he had no realistic chance of getting onto the front row in the final run.

Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK) heads the third row, from Sylvain Guintoli (Effenbert-Liberty Racing) and the ever-improving Mark Aitchison (Pedercini Kawasaki). Maxime Berger headed a host of bigger names to take his Supersonic Racing Ducati to 12th on the grid.

Fabien Foret (Ten Kate Honda) took a Honda bike to pole position in Supersport for the second time this year following Sam Lowes' exploit at Misano Adriatico. The Frenchman's time of 2:03.548 came right at the end of the session.

Foret was just a fraction ahead of the two Kawasaki Motocard.com riders Broc Parkes and David Salom, who are also looking particularly competitive, while Britain's Gino Rea also consolidated his weekend progress with an excellent fourth place for the Step Racing Honda team.

Two Ducatis and two BMWs will make up the front row of the starting grid for the Superstock 1000 race. Pole position went to Italian Danilo Petrucci (Barni Racing Team Ducati), who was just a fraction ahead of points leader Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati). German bikes took the remaining two positions, with Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock Team) in front of Markus Reiterberger (Garnier Alpha Racing Team).

Dino Lombardi (Martini Corse Yamaha) led throughout the entire 10-lap Superstock 600 race by a large margin, but was almost caught by three chasing rivals in the final stages. The Italian managed to take the win however by a couple of tenths from Joshua Day (Revolution Racedays Kawasaki), Tomas Krajci (TK Racing Slovakia Yamaha) and Gauthier Duwelz (MTM-RT Motorsports Yamaha), who finished in that order.

In the championship Lombardi now lies second, 10 points behind Romain Lanusse (MRS Yamaha Racing France), who crashed out. Third place in the table is in the hands of Jed Metcher (MTM-RT Motorsports Team Yamaha), who retired after a trip into the gravel.

World Superbike Qualifying Results
1. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1:58.580
2. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:58.801
3. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1:58.908
4. Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:59.055
5. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1:59.541
6. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:59.908
7. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1:59.925
8. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2:00.303
9. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000RR 1:59.684
10. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1:59.800
11. Aitchison M. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2:00.362
12. Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 2:01.011
13. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000RR 2:00.252
14. Haga N. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2:00.374
15. Lanzi L. (ITA) BMW S1000RR 2:00.619
16. Baiocco M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2:00.864
etc.