Biaggi extends lead with Misano double

Max Biaggi (Alitalia Aprilia) continued along the rich seam of form he has been displaying for the past two rounds by taking his fourth double win of the year, the Italian utterly dominating race day at Misano and moving further ahead in the championship standings. 

In front of 69,000 fans, Biaggi was eventually imperious after some early flurries of overtaking activity, but Superpole winner Troy Corser (BMW) was a co-star in race one, leading for 16 laps before yielding to Biaggi, then finishing third. Leon Haslam (Alstare Suzuki) fought back from eighth in race one to go second in race two, and keep Biaggi in his sights for the final five rounds of the year. In the overall championship Biaggi has 307 points, Haslam 270 and Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati) 172.

Race 1

Biaggi took his seventh win of the season in race 1, finally overtaking long time leader Corser and then proving able to hold off Checa's Ducati in the final laps. Checa was second, Corser third, the top three veteran riders covered by only 0.822 seconds at the flag. Michel Fabrizio (Xerox Ducati) was fourth, Sylvain Guintoli (Alstare Suzuki) fifth. Leon Camier, on the second Aprilia RSV4, was an eventually lonely sixth. Noriyuki Haga (Xerox Ducati) ended race one seventh after working hard at Misano; Haslam a disappointed eighth, having some technical set-up issues that held back his possible charge. Shane Byrne (Althea Ducati) and James Toseland (Sterilgarda Yamaha) were ninth and tenth respectively.

"I'm obviously happy with this victory," said Biaggi. "Especially because I didn't expect it and because doing so well in Italy, in front of our supporters has a very special flavour for us. The conditions are difficult because of the lack of grip. Already after five or six laps I started to "drift". After overtaking Troy I tried to push as hard as possible because I saw that the times were still high, but I couldn't shake him or Checa because the risk for mistakes was too high."

"I felt we had a good chance here, we've been working very hard," said Checa. "Tyres with hotter temperatures mean that the race is not the same for all the riders, but we stayed quicker throughout the race and it was a very close battle with Max at the end, but not close enough and I had to settle for second."

"I got another good start and dropped back inside Max to get the lead," said Corser. "The track was really slippery compared to this morning, so it took a few laps to get a feel for the tyre and get a good rhythm. I made a mistake and Max came past, I tried a bit too hard and that was about it for me. It was positive all the same because we managed to stay in front for a good while."

Race 2

Biaggi was in unbeatable form in race 2, surviving some hard early passing moves by his main rivals to get clear of the pack and push on to win, easing up across the line, by 4.095 seconds. This was double number four for the season. Haslam was a committed second after changing his machine and rear tyre as he attempted to halt Biaggi's championship surge. Fabrizio returned to some of his best form by going third, holding off the determined Cal Crutchlow (Sterilgarda Yamaha). Checa was fifth after being ambushed in the early laps, Guintoli sixth and Byrne seventh. Luca Scassa was an impressive eighth for the local Supersonic Ducati Team, with Haga ninth and early leader Corser tenth after losing ten seconds in one lap.

"In such a tough and well balanced championship, all of the victories are earned with hard work and sweat," said Biaggi. "In race 2, to be honest, maybe I rode... pushing the envelope a bit, maybe even risking too much. But on the other hand, without risk there is no gain! This race represents a crucial moment for us and for our season we are coming out with our heads held high. As always I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart: from the guys on the team to our supporters. Victories like this never happen by chance and these ones in particular are well deserved by a large family which works together toward a common goal"

"We have had a tough weekend and after the first race eighth was the best we could have done because we had a few issues," said Haslam. "The team came up trumps for me in race two and we finished in second place behind Max in race two. Second is never good for me behind Max as he is the championship leader but today we will take it."

"In the second race we didn't win but we got on the podium, which is a good result," said Fabrizio. "It wasn't easy and once Max passed me, I had no chance of counterattacking him, and I had to do everything possible to hold onto third place with Crutchlow behind me. I'd like to dedicate the podium to my team because every week my engineers are working hard and continuing to believe in me".

World Supersport

Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) got the better of his peers at Misano and in taking another win he went back into the lead in the championship. Pole man Michele Pirro (Hannspree Honda) crashed out of contention early on, leaving Joan Lascorz (Motocard Kawasaki) to finish second. Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Honda) could have taken that runner-up position but ran off line or off track on several occasions, and finished third. Britain's Gino Rea had an awesome start on the Intermoto Honda machine but was taken out in the collision with Pirro. In the championship Laverty now has 161 points, Sofuoglu has 158, and Lascorz 148.

Superstock 1000

Ayrton Badovini (Italia BMW) set a new track best and lap record of 1'39.189 on his way to the race win at Misano, in a race which was red-flagged after 11 laps of the scheduled 14. This was his fifth win in five starts this year, and he now has 125 points to second place rider Maxime Berger's 66. The Ten Kate Junior rider was also second in the race today, ahead of local man Michele Magnoni (Shiner Honda). Magnoni is now third in the overall rankings, on 63 points.

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