WSBK – The crocodile and the kangaroo –

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The crocodile and the kangaroo

WSBK - The crocodile and the kangaroo -

The opposing tactics of the two Troys greatly spiced up the two Superbike races: the fable of the crocodile in a hurry and the enduring kangaroo! In Supersport, Charpentier has once again shown himself to be imperial. Report and video interviews.

The third round of the Superbike and Supersport world championships was held this weekend on the tortuous track in Valencia.

From the 2005 edition, we especially retained the two "single riders" of Troy Corser who had used a simple and effective technique: starting head in the handlebars in order to widen as quickly as possible a gap large enough to be able to manage the end of the race. and offer the public superb slides in the last lap (read).

This year, despite the strong pressure exerted by Bayliss (n ° 21, Ducati Xerox) during the last tests (read), the "crocodile" Corser (n ° 1, Alstare Suzuki) does not let himself be taken down: after having dominated the all the tests, he achieves the superpole in 1 ‘34.992, which is more on racing tires.

Behind him is placed without much surprise the "kangaroo" Troy Bayliss (1 ‘35.175), followed like his shadow by his teammate Lorenzo Lanzi (n ° 57, 1’ 35.203) and the specialist of the qualifying sessions: Steve Martin on his Foggy Petronas (n ° 99, 1 ‘35.255).
Valence, 23/04/2006 – Fabien Foret scores his first points in Superbike. Video Interview Site.

Almost all of the second row features PSG Corse’s Kawa green since Fonsi Nieto (n ° 10), Regis Laconi (n ° 55) and Chris Walker (n ° 9) rank respectively 5th, 6th and 7th in the same tenth of a second. Only Norick Abe (n ° 3) adds a blue touch to the whole with one of the three R1s of Team Yamaha Motor France Ipone.

First Honda, James Toseland (n ° 52, Winston Ten Kate Honda) signs the 9th time ahead of the two official Yamaha of Haga (n ° 41) and Pitt (n ° 88), Kagayama (n ° 71, Alstare Suzuki) completing this third line. Finally, in the fourth row, among the former MotoGP riders Xaus (n ° 11), Rolfo (n ° 44) and Barros (n ° 4) is the French Fabien Foret (n ° 15, 14th of the qualifiers).
Valence, 23/04/2006 – Yoann Tiberio confirms his status as best rookie. Video Interview Site.

The Supersport category sees its big favorites start from the front row. Sebastien Charpentier (n ° 16, Winston Ten Kate Honda – 1 ‘36.913) continues his clear course by signing the third pole position of the season, ahead of Kevin Curtain (n ° 11, Yamaha Motor Germany – 1’ 37.683), Katsuaki Fujiwara (n ° 3, Megabike Honda – 1 ‘37.750) and Broc Parkes (n ° 23, Yamaha Motor Germany), already relegated to a full second behind General Seb.

In second row are Fores (SLM Racing Yamaha), Robbin Harms (n ° 127, Stiggy Motorsports Honda), Barry Veneman on one of the two Suzuki of the field (Hoegee Suzuki) and Kenan Sufuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda). We note the presence at the head of the third row of the French rider Yoann Tiberio (n ° 32, Megabike Honda).

Julien Enjolras on the Yam of Team Beaujolais Racing, Maxime Berger and Stephane Chambon (both on Kawasaki Gil Motor Sport) and Gregory Leblanc (Vazy Racing Team Honda) qualified respectively in 23rd, 25th and 26th place.

First Superbike race

The air temperature is around 20 ° C and the 25 ° C of the track got the better of the light rain on Sunday morning. The pilots therefore set off in optimal conditions.

No sooner had the lights turned green than the two Troys were already freeing themselves from the peloton. Having chosen a softer tire, Corser is a little faster than Bayliss at the start of the race..

Fabien Foret manages to maintain the pace of seasoned drivers such as Ruben Xaus or Andrew Pitt on the first four laps, while Kagayama makes his way among the top ten.

At the same time, Lanzi, Nieto, Abe and Haga are fighting a great battle for third place and behind them Laconi and Walker confirm the good health of the ZX-10R.

At the head, the pace is frantic! Corser achieved his fastest personal lap in the race on his second lap, somewhat reminiscent of the Doohan era! But Bayliss equipped with hard compounds manages to stay in the wheel of n ° 1 and seems to be biding his time in true Rossi style when he was driving on RCV…

In the last third of the race, Kagayama gets rid of the three Ninjas and gets behind his two compatriots Haga and Abe..

It was on the 19th lap, after having broken the track record and after a beautiful interior, that Bayliss jumped on the lead in the race to never let go. Corser realizes that the Ducati of Bayliss "makes the tire work less"…

Behind them, Lanzi distances the Japanese trio Haga, Abe and Kagayama. It wasn’t until the penultimate lap that Nitro Nori was forced to let Abe pass: "traction was not great but I think I could have finished third if my engine hadn’t run out of power", explains Nori, victim of deficient electronics.

On the contrary, Norick – who like Bayliss had chosen a more enduring compound – is delighted with the changes made to its engine and its return to the forefront..

At the end of the first race, the kangaroo wins over the crocodile, but the revenge is planned…

On the Honda side, the disappointments are great: James Toseland only finished in ninth place and Muggeridge’s replacement (Giovanni Bussei) in 18th position.

Even Barros, who was very impressive at Phillip Island (read), had to fight hard to get to 11th position after a disastrous start: he was in 23rd place in the first lap !

Results first race SBK Valence:

Pilot Team Time Tours
1 Bayliss T. Ducati Xerox 37 ‘04.634 23
2 Corser T. Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 37 ‘07.399 23
3 Lanzi L. Ducati Xerox 37 ‘18.859 23
4 Abe N. Yamaha Motor France Ipone 37 ‘21.760 23
5 Haga N. Yamaha Motor Italia 37 ‘22.859 23
6 Kagayama Y. Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 37 ‘23.129 23
7 Xaus R. Sterilgarda – Berik 37 ‘27.327 23
8 Laconi R. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica 37 ‘28.867 23
9 Toseland J. Winston Ten Kate Honda 37 ‘33.433 23
10 Pitt A. Yamaha Motor Italia 37 ‘33.580 23
11 Barros A. Klaffi Honda 37 ‘39.192 23
12 Nakatomi S. Yamaha Motor France Ipone 37 ‘41,785 23
13 Fabrizio M. D.F.X. Honda Treme 37 ‘48.002 23
14 By Gea J. Honda BQR 37 ‘50.387 23
15 Drill F. Alstare Eng. Corona Extra 37 ‘51.220 23

Supersport Race

The Supersport race sees the temperature on the ground rise. The two cadors Charpentier and Curtain starting with the same tires – soft at the front and medium at the rear – we expect a good fight….

Nay! The Frenchman takes the lead from the first corner and sets a pace that no one seems to be able to keep up !

It is behind that the fight rages: Curtain who somewhat missed his start recovers his usual second place in the third lap. But Sebastien Charpentier is already far away and in the fifth lap, the Charentais has two seconds ahead of the horde of pursuers….

In the third round, Kenan Sufuoglu made a mistake by trying to follow Katsuaki Fujiwara: "I should have limited my pace at the beginning and tried to push harder at the end", he explains. For their part, Maxime Berger and Gregory Marchand are fighting at the gate of points.

But the second best placed Frenchman is none other than Yoann Tiberio, 4th in the last event in Australia (read). The young Honda rider is in sixth place and fights without complexes with the best riders of the field including Robbin Harms.

Sebastien for his part conscientiously connects the laps and nibbles at each passage several tenths of a second on Curtain. The Australian can only watch the reigning world champion soar to another victory: "I tried to catch him, but I had hit my rear tire too much and he had no more grip", he regrets.

Well started and very combative, the second official Yamaha Broc Parkes rider was the victim of an unusual incident: halfway through the race, the Australian noticed that liquid was flowing slightly on his footrest. Fearing that it is the oil of his shock absorber, Broc loses a little confidence and prefers to stay behind the Honda of Fujiwara…

"It turned out that my boot had taken off the brake fluid cap, but I still had in mind that it could fit on my tire, so I had to hold back a bit", explained Broc who finally signed a nice fourth place.

In front, the seats do not change but the performance of the drivers is no less impressive! Only Fujiwara who still suffers from his right wrist is forced to slow down, which does not prevent him from securing the third step of the podium, thus earning his very first points of the season..

Sebastien Charpentier crosses the finish line with a wheelie and continues his 2006 course without fault: pole, fastest lap in the race and undisputed victory … From the great Seb !

As for Yoann Tiberio, in addition to his seventh place in Valencia, he climbs from 11th to 5th position in the general classification! We also salute the superb performance of guest driver Jordi Torres, who finished fifth in the Spanish race..

Once again, Kevin Curtain is content with second place: "well done Sebastien, he was the best driver today and he deserved to win! Hopefully we will have new engine specs at Monza – if not at Silverstone – and Pirelli will provide a new front tire which we have tested and works better with our bike.".

Because if Yamaha places five R6s in the top 10 – against four Honda, one Suzuki and no Ducati -, it still remains to climb the first step! And on the constructors’ championship side, the scores correspond to those of the best drivers: Honda is in the lead with 75 points ahead of Yamaha (60), Ducati (22), Kawasaki (8) and Suzuki (5).

SSP Valence race results:

Pilot Team Time Tours
1 Carpenter S. Winston Ten Kate Honda 38 ‘12.713 23
2 Curtain K. Yamaha Motor Germany 38 ‘19,250 23
3 Fujiwara K. Megabike Honda Team 38 ‘22,167 23
4 Parkes B. Yamaha Motor Germany 38 ‘24.463 23
5 Torres J. Yamaha Speed ​​Moto 38 ‘28.677 23
6 Harms R. Stiggy Motorsports Honda 38 ‘29.720 23
7 Tiberio Y. Megabike Honda Team 38 ‘32.261 23
8 Fores J. SLM Racing Yamaha 38 ‘35.113 23
9 Roccoli M Yamaha Team Italia 38 ‘35.226 23
10 Vizziello G. Yamaha Team Italia 38 ‘37.421 23
11 Veneman B. Hoegee Suzuki 38 ‘38.030 23
12 Brookes J. Ducati SC – Caracchi 38 ‘39.907 23
13 By Angelis W. Intermoto Czech Klaffi Honda 38 ‘44.453 23
14 Lauslehto T. Dark Dog Stiggy Mr. Honda 38 ‘49.795 23
15 The Grelle S. Legrelle – Honda Belgium 38 ‘54.664 23
16 Leblanc G. Vazy Racing Team 39 ‘00.852 23
17 Berger M. Gil Motor Sport Kawasaki 39 ‘01.428 23
33 Chambon S. Gil Motor Sport Kawasaki 5 ‘37,467 3
34 Enjolras J. Tati Team Beaujolais Racing – –

Provisional general classification SSP:

Pilot Team Points
1 Carpenter S. Winston Ten Kate Honda 75
2 Curtain K. Yamaha Motor Germany 60
3 Harms R. Stiggy Motorsports Honda 32
4 Parkes B. Yamaha Motor Germany 29
5 Tiberio Y. Megabike Honda Team 23
6 Fores J. SLM Racing Yamaha 23
7 Roccoli M. Yamaha Team Italia 23
8 Brookes J. Ducati SC – Caracchi 21
9 Stigefelt J. Dark Dog Stiggy Mr. Honda 20
10 Vizziello G. Yamaha Team Italia 17
11 Fujiwara K. Megabike Honda Team 16
12 Sufuoglu K. Winston Ten Kate Honda 16
13 Zaiser C. LBR Ducati Racing 15
14 The Grelle S. Legrelle – Honda Belgium 12
15 Thomas D. Gil Motor Sport Kawasaki 8
– Berger M. Gil Motor Sport Kawasaki –
– Chambon S. Gil Motor Sport Kawasaki –
– Enjolras J. Tati Team Beaujolais Racing –
– Leblanc G. Vazy Racing Team –
– Checa D. GMT 94 Yamaha –

Second Superbike race

Despite warmer race conditions and the latest adjustments to the bikes, the results of the second race are almost identical to those of the first. Still, Troy Corser was off to a good start…

The reigning world champion, annoyed at having been stolen the victory in the very last laps, decides to start even faster than in the first round. So that Bayliss is "disgusted"to see the crocodile run away so quickly !

Behind Bayliss, Haga is also showing himself particularly recovered but the Japanese cannot find the kangaroo fault … A few lengths away is a first group made up of Lanzi, Abe, Walker, Pitt, Kagayama and Laconi, followed by a second by Nieto, Toseland, Xaus, Foret and Fabrizio.

Shortly before halfway, Corser was two seconds ahead of Bayliss. Could the strategy of Troy 1 (Corser) this time win over that of Troy 21 (Bayliss) ?

Noriyuki Haga, again victim of his electronics, lets go and is quickly joined by Abe, Lanzi, Walker, Pitt, Nieto and Laconi.

Victim of a big crash the day before, Kagayama rode all Sunday while braking with one finger … But it was more the choice of a softer tire that led the Japanese to fault on the 16th lap: "I dived into the bend, braked as usual and suddenly I found myself on the ground", he explains distraught…

The second hunting group is made up of Toseland – who to his chagrin keeps smoking his rear tire – Fabrizio, Barros, Foret and Nakatomi. They provide a good part of the show together on the Spanish track even if in front, the atmosphere is just as crazy !

In the space of four laps, Bayliss returns to Corser who avoided the worst despite "a false neutral point in the middle of a bend". But even without this error, Corser would not have been able to outrun the Ducati for very long, which, if it seems to be sinning at top speed, catapults its rider more efficiently than the Suzuki in the many series of turns….

The fatal blow was struck on the penultimate lap, at the end of the straight line: Bayliss delayed its braking and moved inexorably away from the crocodile from the first meters. Corser’s efforts invariably translate into slippage of the Suzuki as the Ducati stays more in line.

We see the same situation in the fight for third place: Lanzi gets rid of Haga and then Abe relatively easily: "Troy and I were the only ones turning in the 1 ’37 at the end, so the tire choice was correct", welcomes the Italian.

In front, the two leading Australians roll so fiercely that they each fail to leave the track! But in the end, Bayliss crossed the finish line first, ahead of Corser, Lanzi, Abe and Haga. Then follow the three Kawasaki, the R1 of Pitt, the CBR of Fabrizio and Toseland, the Yamaha of Nakatomi and the Suzuki of Foret.

In the general classification, Corser doubles Toseland. Lanzi goes from 11th to 7th place and Abe climbs from 13th to 8th. Haga takes advantage of the poor performance of Barros and Pitt to take 4th position.

Among the French, Valence is reflected in a real breath of fresh air: Laconi climbs to 14th place overall and Foret scores his first points.

In the constructors’ championship, Ducati increased its lead with 126 points against 113 for Suzuki. Honda (91) is threatened by Yamaha (84) while Kawasaki ramps up (40) and leaves Petronas (4) far behind.

Results second race SBK Valence:

Pilot Team Time Tours
1 Bayliss T. Ducati Xerox 37 ‘06.508 23
2 Corser T. Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 37 ‘07.298 23
3 Lanzi L. Ducati Xerox 37 ‘21.641 23
4 Abe N. Yamaha Motor France-Ipone 37 ‘22.512 23
5 Haga N. Yamaha Motor Italia 37 ‘23.437 23
6 Nieto F. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica 37 ‘23.564 23
7 Walker S. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica 37 ‘26.475 23
8 Laconi R. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica 37 ‘27.903 23
9 Pitt A. Yamaha Motor Italia 37 ‘28.309 23
10 Fabrizio M. D.F.X. Honda Treme 37 ‘38.674 23
11 Toseland J. Winston Ten Kate Honda 37 ‘38.767 23
12 Nakatomi S. Yamaha Motor France Ipone 37 ‘38.863 23
13 Drill F. Alstare Eng. Corona Extra 37 ‘39.156 23
14 Barros A. Klaffi Honda 37 ‘40.383 23
15 Martin S. Foggy Petronas Racing 37 ‘44.560 23

SBK provisional general classification:

Pilot Team Points
1 Bayliss T. Ducati Xerox 125
2 Corser T. Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 103
3 Toseland J. Winston Ten Kate Honda 86
4 Haga N. Yamaha Motor Italia 64
5 Barros A. Klaffi Honda 62
6 Pitt A. Yamaha Motor Italia 58
7 Lanzi L. Ducati Xerox 47
8 Abe N. Yamaha Motor France-Ipone 40
9 Fabrizio M. D.F.X. Honda Treme 34
10 Xaus R. Sterilgarda – Berik 33
11 Rolfo R. Ducati SC – Caracchi 32
12 Nieto F. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica 29
13 Kagayama Y. Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 24
14 Laconi R. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica 22
15 Walker S. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corsica 21

21

 Drill F. Alstare Eng. Corona Extra 4
23 Gimbert S. Yamaha Motor France-Ipone 3

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