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Bayliss takes double in last race at home
Mar 2, 2008
It was an incredible day for the Ducati Xerox Team with both Bayliss and Fabrizio performing impeccably. Twice world-champion Troy Bayliss took the double win in front of his home crowd, in what is to be his last ever Superbike race day at Phillip Island. Despite the elbow injury he sustained in a high-side yesterday morning, Bayliss rode the two races perfectly, leading the field from the start in Race 1 (restart) and leading for most of Race 2 after rival Corser crashed out in the early stages. Fabrizio had a much more difficult start to race 1 after failing to leave the start line. He sustained muscular contusions to his right calf and although in pain returned to the grid for the race 1 restart. After a less than perfect start, Fabrizio soon moved up from eighth place to fourth and, after a battle with Corser and Xaus, was able to take an impressive third place and his first podium with the Ducati Xerox Team. Unfortunately in Race 2 a jump start for Fabrizio meant a drive through penalty, leaving him unable to catch up and with an eventual nineteenth place finish.
A dramatic race one had to be restarted after a startline incident, when Michel Fabrizio's machine stalled on the line and was struck first by the unsighted David Checa (Yamaha GMT94 Team) and then more powerfully by privateer Vittorio Iannuzzo, who was injured in the impact, breaking his left wrist. As Iannuzzo lay trackside the race was red-flagged, and a complete 22-lap restart called.
Troy Bayliss - Ducati Xerox
It's something you dream of, to have a double win and I knew this year it would be difficult to achieve but I have a great team behind me who all worked really hard. overnight They had to build a new bike for me from scratch after my crash yesterday. I had a few ups and downs this weekend. After Race 1 I was struggling with the last 6 laps but in the end I managed to take the win. In the second race the tyres were a little slower but I felt better on the bike which was more consistent and a pleasure to ride. After race 1 I was so tired but after the second one I felt great. I had to concentrate hard today as in the second race, even though I was ahead I was aware I had to keep it together and put in some consistently good laps. It's been incredible, great weather and some good racing. I know there will be fighting to come later this season so two wins like that was just fantastic.
Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox
All in all, it was a good day. I'm sorry for what happened this morning on the grid but the bike failed to leave the start line and that unfortunately caused an accident. The blow to my leg from the impact from David Checa's bike meant that of course my leg was hurting a lot during the restarted race 1 but I gritted my teeth and did what I had to do. Then there was the jump start in race 2. I realised straight away that I'd done it and unfortunately after the ride-through penalty that they gave me, I wasn't able to catch the others. A big thank-you goes to my team today as they had to completely rebuild my bike between the two races, literally from the frame, so I'm very grateful to them.
Max Biaggi - Sterilgrada Go ElevenIt has been a bad week-end. I had what it takes to do well but in race-1 I slid off on the front at the slow-speed hairpin, falling to the ground unexpectedly. In race two I was really near Nieto, he braked early so I had too downshift with the gear which was quite hard in this race so I lost the control of the machine falling to the ground again. Anyway the biggest problem was the 16th position on the starting grid due to the gear level hitch occurred yesterday during the Superpole. That event influenced also today's two race.
Reuben Xaus - Sterilgarda Go Eleven
I achieved two good results, very precious for the championship final ranking. I chose to run wise races because I didn't want to take a chance as the next two rounds will take place on two tracks where I got my best results last year. Today in race-1 I had an hard fought until the final lap, while in race 2 I paid for the higher speed of Suzuki and I chose not to attack Fonsi Nieto at the three last laps to the chequered flag.
Fonzi Nieto - Alstare Suzuki
I am happy because I got a podium on a very tough day of racing and also because I am now second in the championship. In the first race, my gearing was too short and, because of the wind, I was on the limiter all the way down the straight. So, fifth was not so bad. In race two, I pushed as hard as I could, but Bayliss was impossible to catch, but I am happy because I ended up on the podium. My idea is to be very consistent this season and keep taking points whenever and wherever I can, because it is a very long season. I want to thank my team for all their hard work. The guys had to change both engines in the bikes and that was a lot of work for them, but I hope my podium was a good way of saying thank you.
Max Neukirchner - Alstare Suzuki
My general feeling is that I am a little happy because I managed two good finishes and had no crashes! We made the rear a bit stiffer for race two, but I felt that it wasn't much improvement from the first race. I thought a podium would be possible but I got held up by a group of riders and couldn't get past. But I think my main problem in the second race was that I lost a lot of time in the very first lap. At the moment, I am not entirely happy with how the chassis of the bike is working and I feel sure that we can improve it. I am having trouble getting on the gas exiting the turns and that is costing me a lot of time - especially at a circuit like Phillip Island. That could be a chassis problem, set-up problem or tyre problem, or it could be a combination of those things. We'll work at finding the solution, but hopefully we will do this at the Valencia tests.
Carlos Checa - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda
We are still new to this, a new rider on a new bike but at one stage of race two I thought I could win. Then I realised that Bayliss, like in race one, had a bit in reserve. Second is a good result for this stage of the season. My pace was enough to pull away from Xaus and Nieto, but there are still areas of the bike to improve. I didn't have a lot of time to get back from the medical centre after the crash in race one, but we just made it for the restart. I didn't feel ready to race right then and considering this we did OK in sixth.
Ryuichi Kiyonari - HANNspree Ten Kate Honda
I am too slow at the start of the race but every time I go out our settings get better and I am more and more comfortable. I am very happy with my result, but not happy with the beginning of the race. I will have to improve my qualifying in order to get a better position at the start. But I will continue to work hard. The feeling with the bike is getting better, the machine feels good and the set up was fine, I just need to go faster.
Troy Corser - Yamaha Italia
There were a few tough passes in that first race, but I never panicked even when I got run wide a couple of times. The bike wasn't perfect and we were moving around a bit too much. We were going as fast as we could sideways! We made changes for race two and it was a lot better. Overall a podium in race one was not too bad. They definitely held the start too long in race two. It was like the starting light was on, on and then on some more, then it went off. It was way too long to wait. I knew I had moved, but I had stopped again. Anyway I felt much more confident on the bike and in control in race two but it seemed to me that there was a small line of oil on the corner and that's what it felt like - tucking the front on oil. I thought there would be bikes coming into the gravel trap after me. We learned many things this weekend and I think we could have finished second in race two at least, maybe even challenged Troy Bayliss.
Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Italia
My physical condition was OK today because I had a very effective massage from the Clinica Mobile people, so thanks to them. This whole weekend has just been down to a lack of grip. It feels like the first two races this year have just been an exercise for me. We have not had the chance to build our performance on the bike so it feels like our season will start in the European races.
Phillip Island - Race 1 Results - 22 laps
1. Troy BAYLISS (Duc 1098F08) 34:22.933
2. Troy CORSER (Yam YZF-R1) -4.221
3. Michel FABRIZIO (Duc 1098F08) -4.738
4. Ruben XAUS (Duc 1098RS) -5.171
5. Fonsi NIETO (Suz GSX-R1000) -5.543
6. Carlos CHECA (Hon CBR1000RR) -5.895
7. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000) -5.964
8. Noriyuki HAGA (Yam YZF-R1) -14.826
9. Ryuichi KIYONARI (Hon CBR1000RR) -18.899
10. Roberto ROLFO (Hon CBR1000RR) -20.633
11. Gregorio LAVILLA (Hon CBR1000RR) -21.601
12. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Hon CBR1000RR) -29.281
13. Lorenzo LANZI (Duc 1098RS) -29.500
14. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Hon CBR1000RR) -30.030
15. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yam YZF-R1) -30.223
16. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yam YZF-R1) -30.800
17. Russell HOLLAND (Hon CBR1000RR) -50.107
18. Shuhei AOYAMA (Hon CBR1000RR) -67.385
19. Max BIAGGI (Duc 1098RS) -7 laps DNF, crash
20. Makoto TAMADA (Kaw ZX-10R) -10 laps DNF, ret
21. Ayrton BADOVINI (Kaw ZX-10R) -13 laps DNF, ret
22. Loic NAPOLEONE (Yam YZF-R1) -15 laps DNF, ret
23. Regis LACONI (Kaw ZX-10R) -16 laps DNF, ret
24. Jakub SMRZ (Duc 1098RS) -20 laps DNF, crash
25. David CHECA (Yam YZF-R1) -22 laps DNF, ret
26. Luca MORELLI (Hon CBR1000RR) DNS
27. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Kaw ZX-10R) DNS
Phillip Island - Race 2 Results
1. Troy BAYLISS (Duc 1098F08) 34:35.284
2. Carlos CHECA (Hon CBR1000RR) -1.127 secs
3. Fonsi NIETO (Suz GSX-R1000) -4.395
4. Ruben XAUS (Duc 1098RS) -6.621
5. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000) -11.550
6. Ryuichi KIYONARI (Hon CBR1000RR) -11.620
7. Noriyuki HAGA (Yam YZF-R1) -12.049
8. Gregorio LAVILLA (Hon CBR1000RR) -12.134
9. Russell HOLLAND (Hon CBR1000RR) -13.462
10. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Hon CBR1000RR) -15.519
11. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Hon CBR1000RR) -16.225
12. David CHECA (Yam YZF-R1) -21.959
13. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yam YZF-R1) -21.989
14. Makoto TAMADA (Kaw ZX-10R) -29.106
15. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yam YZF-R1) -29.219
16. Roberto ROLFO (Hon CBR1000RR) -32.994 jump start penalty
17. Regis LACONI (Kaw ZX-10R) -34.380 jump start penalty
18. Jakub SMRZ (Duc 1098RS) -42.537 jump start penalty
19. Michel FABRIZIO (Duc 1098F08) -46.623 jump start penalty
20. Lorenzo LANZI (Duc 1098RS) -47.030
21. Ayrton BADOVINI (Kaw ZX-10R) -68.601
22. Max BIAGGI (Duc 1098RS) -16 laps DNF, crash
23. Troy CORSER (Yam YZF-R1) -18 laps DNF, jump start/crash
24. Shuhei AOYAMA (Hon CBR1000RR) -19 laps DNF, ret
25. Loic NAPOLEONE (Yam YZF-R1) -19 laps DNF, ret
World Championship Point Standings (after 4 of 30 races):
1. Bayliss 88
2. Nieto 61
3. Xaus 59
4. Corser 45
5. Checa 45
6. Neukirchner 39
7. Biaggi 36
8. Fabrizio 34
9. Haga 22
10. Lavilla 18
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