The weather is confusing the cards !
The Dutch Superbike event opened this weekend in pouring rain gradually replaced by clear clearings. Suddenly, the pilots rolled on eggshells … enough to raise a championship that was already not lacking spice !
This weekend in Assen was held the ninth round of the World Superbike. Largely redesigned this winter (read), it is not the track that posed the most problems for the pilots…
Indeed, after two days of testing in dry conditions despite the announced rain, Sunday offered the drivers of the Superbike and Supersport championships the most destabilizing conditions..
| Assen, 03/09/2006 – Regis Laconi video interview. Video Site. |
The first Superbike race is apocalyptic: downpours form large and deep puddles, trapping 15 times the tightrope walkers forced and forced to take the start … And in this little game, the outsiders are doing brilliantly. !
The Supersport race is no less difficult: started in the rain, it was interrupted by the intervention of the emergency services to two unfortunate pilots, trapped in the same turn. Competitors set off again under a clearer sky, making it harder for the tires.
| Assen, 03/09/2006 – Video interview with Maxime Berger. Video Site. |
And to conclude this crazy day, the second Superbike round sees the return of the sun, assisted by the good evacuation of the water from the curved track: enough to give work to the engineers responsible for completely modifying the settings of the motorcycles. !
In the 1000cc class, it was Troy Corser who started from pole position after mixed qualifying practice. The only driver to drop below 1 ’39, he is ahead of Haga, Kagayama and Bayliss. Then it is an armada of Honda which trusts the second line with Barros, Muggeridge and Toseland in front of Pitt’s Yamaha.
Nieto, Lanzi, Martin and Xaus follow in third place. Sebastien Gimbert sets the 15th fastest time in the Superpole while Laconi starts from a distant 17th place…
In Supersport, Charpentier achieved his best time on Friday (1 ‘41.906), which Curtain could not beat the next day. The Australian however secures the second place ahead of his teammate Parkes and the French rookie Tiberio.
The second row consists of Harms, the two Hoegee Suzuki ridden by Andersen and Veneman and the Swiss Zaiser. You have to go to the 4th line to find Checa (GMT94) and Leblanc. Lagrive is 18th, Berger 20th, Chambon 26th, Enjolras 29th and Duterne 34th.
First Superbike race
The opening race was by far the one that gave fans the most twists and turns. So from the first turn, Nieto goes to garden in the grass while his teammate Walker rakes even further in the gravel. !
The rest of the pack more or less holds the line and Bayliss takes command at the end of the first lap. Just behind him are the two official Suzuki of Corser and Kagayama while Haga on his R1 is a little more careful in 4th place.
But from the next round, Nitro Nori overtook his compatriot and fell into the wheel of the reigning world champion. The latter, who probably feels the threat growing, places a good attack on Bayliss and takes the lead in the 4th lap..
Troy Corser could not contain the rise in speed of his two pursuers and was overtaken in quick succession by the Ducati n ° 21 and the Yamaha n ° 41 the following lap. Stung, the Croco-Corser tries to stay in contact with the two championship leaders but ends up losing the front in the right Stekkenwal…
While he was fighting with Sebastien Gimbert for 8th place, Regis Laconi fell but immediately set off again, preceded by his teammates Walker and Nieto who kept moving up the standings. On the 6th lap, Regis was forced to return to the pits, not being able to pilot his ZX-10R correctly (see our video interview).
And the fate persists on the French since two laps later, it is the turn of the Yamaha rider Sebastien Gimbert to fall … Proof that the conditions are very difficult, the leading riders are not spared and soon an event similar will increase tenfold the stake of the race !
Like Corser, Bayliss cannot stand overtaking a supercharged Haga: a first exit from the track sees the Australian lose 6 seconds on the Japanese leader. The following lap, in the same bend, the Kangaroo goes out again and sees his hopes of getting back on the official R1 greatly diminished..
As he regains the track, Kagayama loses the front and gives up. Bayliss, who does not intend to give up the slightest point to Haga, attacks with more vigor … until his 999 makes him understand that it is too much: the Australian goes over his handlebars during re-acceleration and does not can leave…
The way is therefore free for Haga who can recover 25 points from the championship leader. At the halfway point, the Japanese have indeed no less than 17 seconds ahead of the second, the young Fabrizio in the middle of a fight with Pitt.
Nori increases this gap by more than two seconds in the 12th lap, fearing an attack – however impossible – from Bayliss. And the next round, "without warning", its front wheel slips away when braking on the corner and its 2006 title hopes evaporate !
This series of fall at the forefront therefore benefits the second hunting group made up of Fabrizio, Pitt and … Walker! The Briton whom the crowd cheers at each passage in the straight line seems to have taken advantage of his discreet but devilishly effective ascent to transform his Kawa into a hovercraft !
Despite Chris’ still muscular driving, his ZX-10R does not flinch and goes up each of his opponents. GSX-R, R1, CBR, 999 … None can resist !
In the last laps, the Briton turns a second faster than his competitors. Left in very last place after the first corner, he takes control of the race to never let go !
With almost 5 seconds ahead of Pitt, the Green Devil signs his first World Superbike victory and the first for the ZX-10R. A symbol all the more striking since Kawa’s last victory in SBK dates back to 2000 with the legendary ZX-7RR.
SBK Assen first race results:
| Pilot | Team | Time | Tours | |
| 1 | Walker C. | PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica | 44 ‘23.501 | 22 |
| 2 | Pitt A. | Yamaha Motor Italia | 44 ‘28.466 | 22 |
| 3 | Fabrizio M. | D.F.X. Honda Treme | 44 ‘47.631 | 22 |
| 4 | Nieto F. | PSG-2 Kawasaki Corsica | 45 ‘00.469 | 22 |
| 5 | Abe N. | Yamaha Motor France Ipone | 45 ‘00.679 | 22 |
| 6 | Neukirchner M. | Alstare Suzuki Eng. | 45 ‘00.825 | 22 |
| 7 | Lanzi L. | Ducati Xerox | 45 ‘04.431 | 22 |
| 8 | Rolfo R. | Ducati SC – Caracchi | 45 ‘05.358 | 22 |
| 9 | Muggeridge K. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 45 ‘16.883 | 22 |
| 10 | Toseland J. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 45 ‘19.370 | 22 |
| 11 | Clementi I. | Team Pedercini Ducati | 46 ‘03.336 | 22 |
| 12 | Martin S. | Foggy Petronas Racing | 46 ‘23.225 | 22 |
| 13 | Nakatomi S. | Yamaha Motor France – Ipone 2 | 44 ‘50.446 | 21 |
| 14 | Van Beek H. | Motosport Den Bosh – Suzuki | 45 ‘23.035 | 21 |
| 15 | Iannuzzo V. | Celani Team Suzuki Italia | 46 ‘24.755 | 17 |
| 20 | Gimbert S. | Yamaha Motor France Ipone | 16 ‘18.110 | 8 |
| 24 | Laconi R. | PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica | 10 ‘35.876 | 5 |
Supersport Race
When the Supersports set off, the rain did not diminish in intensity and the track is still so wet. However, more would be needed to discourage the 38 registered pilots … and the 61,000 spectators who came to witness a fight for the 600cc title, completely relaunched (read) !
Left like furies, the lieutenants of the two main teams – Parkes for Yamaha Motor Italia and Sufuoglu for Ten Kate Honda – let their respective bosses Curtain and Charpentier explain themselves with the young Tiberio and the Suzuki of Andersen and Veneman. But three falls disrupt the course of the round…
The first is that of the leader, Broke Parkes, who falls heavily in the third lap and does not come out unscathed: "three broken ribs, a punctured lung and a damaged shoulder". Or how to stop a race for the title in its tracks…
Sufuoglu is therefore in the lead and, despite the absence of a direct competitor, maintains a high pace that neither Curtain nor Charpentier seem able to maintain! Could the Turkish rookie take his first victory ?
But as the No. 54 Honda chases its rider alone and the members of the peloton fight like ragpickers, Stephane Duterne and Luka Nedog fall almost simultaneously in the same bend. In order to call in the emergency services, the marshals wave the red flag, synonymous with immediate interruption of the event….
After having scrupulously noted the gaps recorded during the 10th round, a second start is given while keeping the grid resulting from the qualifiers. And on an almost dry track this time around, Sufuoglu is once again the fastest.
Nevertheless on the penultimate lap, the Turkish gestured to a General Seb who was on the lookout to pass him on his left. But Curtain is just behind and Charpentier does not manage to regain the six seconds delay he counted on his enemy n ° 1 at the end of the first ten laps..
Thus, if Sebastien crossed the checkered flag first, it was indeed his teammate who took the victory in corrected times … More troublesome for the Charentais, Curtain finally finished second while Andersen and his GSX-R s ‘take third position.
For the first time in two years, Sebastien is no longer at the top of the general classification. This honor goes to the Curtain metronome: 151 points against 144. "The championship remains open and I have to catch up with seven points", notes Sebastien who congratulates Kenan and counts on him as well as on Yoann"to take points from my opponent"during the last three tests.
Parkes’ counter remains stuck at 119 points, while Harms and Sufuoglu are getting closer with 94 and 92 points respectively. Among the French, only Maxime Berger improved his score by classifying his ZX-6RR in 11th position.
In the constructors’ championship, Honda slightly increased its lead against Yamaha (202 points against 188). Ducati (54) and Kawasaki (49) score a few points but remain very far from the two leaders, while Suzuki (28) more than doubles their score thanks to the third place of the Norwegian Andersen…
SSP Assen race results:
| Pilot | Team | Time | Tours | |
| 1 | Sufuoglu K. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 41 ‘49.124 | 23 |
| 2 | Curtain K. | Yamaha Motor Germany | 41 ‘53.705 | 23 |
| 3 | Andersen K. | Hoegee Suzuki | 41 ‘58.365 | 23 |
|
4 |
Carpenter S. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 41 ‘58.613 | 23 |
| 5 | Your A. | J-E Sport Ten Kate Honda | 42 ‘19.118 | 23 |
| 6 | Veneman B. | Hoegee Suzuki | 42 ‘20.982 | 23 |
| 7 | Vizziello G. | Yamaha Team Italia | 42 ‘43.436 | 23 |
| 8 | Roccoli M. | Yamaha Team Italia | 42 ‘45.209 | 23 |
| 9 | Harms R. | Stiggy Motorsports. Honda | 42 ‘58.859 | 23 |
| 10 | Easton S. | Team Manila Grace SC. Ducati | 43 ‘03.023 | 23 |
| 11 | Berger M. | Gil Motor Sport Kawasaki | 43 ‘10.575 | 23 |
| 12 | The Grelle S. | Legrelle – Honda Belgium | 43 ‘15.582 | 23 |
| 13 | Velini A. | Umbria Bike Yamaha | 43 ‘21.261 | 23 |
| 14 | Kallio V. | SLM Racing Yamaha | 43 ‘26.501 | 23 |
| 15 | Nannelli G. | Team Manila Grace SC. Ducati | 43 ‘34.481 | 23 |
| 23 | Enjolras J. | Tati Team Beaujolais Yam | 31 ‘09.492 | 15 |
|
24 |
Leblanc G. | Vazy Racing Team Honda | 26 ‘57.895 | 13 |
| 25 | Checa D. | Yamaha – GMT 94 | 27 ‘50.603 | 13 |
| 29 | Tiberio Y. | Megabike Honda Team | 20 ‘24.440 | 10 |
| 30 | Duterne S. | Tati Team Beaujolais Yam | 19 ‘05.220 | 9 |
| 32 | Lagrive M. | Intermoto Klaffi Honda | 17 ‘56.829 | 8 |
| 36 | Chambon S. | Gil Motor Sport Kawasaki | 7 ‘09.848 | 3 |
Provisional general classification SSP:
| Pilot | Team | Points | |
| 1 | Curtain K. | Yamaha Motor Germany | 151 |
| 2 | Carpenter S. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 144 |
| 3 | Parkes B. | Yamaha Motor Germany | 119 |
| 4 | Harms R. | Stiggy Motorsports Honda | 94 |
| 5 | Sufuoglu K. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 92 |
| 6 | Roccoli M. | Yamaha Team Italia | 86 |
| 7 | Tiberio Y. | Megabike Honda Team | 67 |
| 8 | Stigefelt J. | Dark Dog Stiggy Mr. Honda | 57 |
| 9 | Fores J. | SLM Racing Yamaha | 49 |
| 10 | Vizziello G. | Yamaha Team Italia | 46 |
| 11 | Checa D. | GMT 94 Yamaha | 29 |
| 12 | Sanna S. | Megabike Honda Team | 27 |
| 13 | Fujiwara K. | Megabike Honda Team | 22 |
| 14 | Andersen K. | Hoegee Suzuki | 21 |
| 15 | Brookes J. | Ducati SC – Caracchi | 21 |
| 17 | Chambon S. | Gil Motor Sport Kawasaki | 18 |
| 20 | Berger M. | Gil Motor Sport Kawasaki | 17 |
| 26 | Lagrive M. | Intermoto Klaffi Honda | 11 |
| – | Enjolras J. | Tati Team Beaujolais Yam | – |
| – | Leblanc G. | Vazy Racing Team Honda | – |
| – | Duterne S. | Tati Team Beaujolais Yam | – |
Second Superbike race
Finally, the sun makes its appearance: it is on a dry track, in very different conditions, that the Superbikes are preparing to face each other….
Like the first round, the second has some big surprises in store. Starting with the fall of three cadors from the first corner: Haga, Corser and Toseland !
Haga got off to the best start but Corser crashed into him with full acceleration: "he must have missed a speed", estimates the Suzuki pilot. And when it comes time to slow down to enter the curve, Corser’s brakes no longer respond !
The Australian crashed into Toseland, the two dragging the Japanese Haga in their fall. Alone to regain the track, Toseland on his CBR is in a strange state: "the brakes worked but I no longer had a fairing", specifies James who still finished in 9th place, thus snatching second place in the general classification from a helpless Nitro Nori..
But on the track, the race continued and Bayliss wasted no time in widening the gap: 1.492 seconds on the first lap! Fortunately, Kagayama managed to get back on the Australian, taking on his wheel a horde of "cosmopolitan" motorcycles..
In the second round, Troy the fugitive was joined by Kagayama (GSX-R), Pitt (R1), Xaus (999), Laconi (ZX-10R) and Muggeridge (CBR). Only the Foggy Petronas is missing, pointing to 13th position !
A series of frantic laps follows where the pilots compete in talent to stay at the forefront. The first to slow down are Muggeridge and Laconi. In the 7th lap, they are joined by Nieto who makes short work of the two pilots…
Fonsi continues his meteoric progression and in the next four laps overtakes Xaus, Pitt and Kagayama. The young Spaniard is therefore virtually on the second step of the podium … But Nieto does not seem to want to stop there. !
In the 14th lap, Bayliss was only 8 tenths ahead of the No. 10 Kawa. Suddenly, the Australian who seems to have kept in the grip increases the pace. The following round, he wins 4 tenths over his pursuer who does not admit defeat so far and leaves Pitt almost on the spot.
But a new twist occurs: "I went off the track after the bike wobbled and the brake pads came off", explains Fonsi."I couldn’t pump enough to reposition the pistons for the next turn and went out again"…
Kagayama follows the Spanish straight ahead but regains the track faster. However, this crossing gave Pitt the opportunity to regain his second place while the Japanese left third, a second ahead of Xaus and Nieto..
The fight between the two Spaniards was superb but quickly turned to the advantage of the younger, who then overtook Kagayama to regain his place on the podium. At the same time, former MotoGP accomplices Barros and Laconi delight the public, with the Brazilian taking 7th place with four laps to go.
Far ahead of everyone, Bayliss won his tenth victory of the season ahead of Pitt, who again climbed to the second step of the podium. Nieto gives Kawasaki a second podium ahead of Kagayama, Xaus and an isolated Lanzi.
In the championship, Troy Bayliss now has 100 points ahead of James Toseland, who took advantage of Nori Haga’s double retirement to move up one place in the provisional standings. Likewise, Andrew Pitt took advantage of Troy Corser’s draw to take 4th place. Thanks to his victory, Walker reaches 8th place, as a good Kawa leader.
On the constructor side, Yamaha achieves the best operation thanks to Pitt: Ducati is still first with 351 points, but the tuning fork mark (299) goes second ahead of Honda (292). Kawasaki scores the most points this weekend (41) and thus reaches a total of 181 but still remains far from Suzuki 4th (282). Finally, Petronas triples his score … by scoring 9 points.
See you next weekend for the Lausitzring test, which will surely see Corser and Haga react … and hopefully, Charpentier!
SBK Assen second race results:
| Pilot | Team | Time | Tours | |
| 1 | Bayliss T. | Ducati Xerox | 37 ‘29.307 | 22 |
| 2 | Pitt A. | Yamaha Motor Italia | 37 ‘38.649 | 22 |
| 3 | Nieto F. | PSG-2 Kawasaki Corsica | 37 ‘40.955 | 22 |
| 4 | Kagayama Y. | Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra | 37 ‘42.050 | 22 |
| 5 | Xaus R. | Sterilgarda – Berik Ducati | 37 ‘42.118 | 22 |
| 6 | Lanzi L. | Ducati Xerox | 37 ‘49,152 | 22 |
| 7 | Barros A. | Klaffi Honda | 37 ‘58.548 | 22 |
| 8 | Laconi R. | PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica | 38 ‘03.392 | 22 |
| 9 | Toseland J. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 38 ‘11.420 | 22 |
| 10 | Fabrizio M. | D.F.X. Honda Treme | 38 ‘21.122 | 22 |
| 11 | Martin S. | Foggy Petronas Racing | 38 ‘22.915 | 22 |
| 12 | Rolfo R. | Ducati SC – Caracchi | 38 ‘25.439 | 22 |
| 13 | Muggeridge K. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 38 ‘26.475 | 22 |
| 14 | Walker C. | PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica | 38 ‘30.363 | 22 |
| 15 | Brookes J. | Kawasaki Bertocchi | 39 ‘03.736 | 22 |
|
– |
Gimbert S. | Yamaha Motor France Ipone | – | – |
SBK provisional general classification:
| Pilot | Team | Points | |
| 1 | Bayliss T. | Ducati Xerox | 332 |
| 2 | Toseland J. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 232 |
| 3 | Haga N. | Yamaha Motor Italia | 230 |
| 4 | Pitt A. | Yamaha Motor Italia | 197 |
| 5 | Corser T. | Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra | 193 |
| 6 | Barros A. | Klaffi Honda | 175 |
| 7 | Kagayama Y. | Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra | 139 |
| 8 | Walker C. | PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica | 123 |
| 9 | Lanzi L. | Ducati Xerox | 115 |
| 10 | Nieto F. | PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica | 112 |
| 11 | Fabrizio M. | D.F.X. Honda Treme | 109 |
| 12 | Xaus R. | Sterilgarda – Berik | 95 |
| 13 | Abe N. | Yamaha Motor France-Ipone | 88 |
| 14 | Laconi R. | PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica | 80 |
| 15 | Muggeridge K. | Winston Ten Kate Honda | 76 |
|
19 |
Drill F. | Alstare Eng. Corona Extra | 19 |
| 20 | Gimbert S. | Yamaha Motor France-Ipone | 18 |
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