WSBK Round Round 5 - Monza, Nuff Said

jhansen · 7 May 2009, 22:48 (Ref:2457590)

World Superbike is back in action at another sacred track. It's time for the high speed test that is Monza. We have the fan favorite, leading the points, on an Italian bike at an Italian track? What could be better? Um, half a dozen riders fighting tooth and nail on the last lap!

Current Superbike Points
1 Nori Haga, Ducati 180
2 Ben Spies, Yamaha 120
3 Leon Haslam, Honda 94
4 Michel Fabrizio, Ducati 80
5 Max Neukirchner, Suzuki 75
6 Tom Sykes, Yamaha 70
7 Max Biaggi, Aprilia 65
8 Regis Laconi, Ducati 64
9 Jonathan Rea, Honda 53
10 Jakub Smrz, Ducati 44

That's pretty dismal really. Ben and Nori both have 4 wins a piece, but the championship race wont be the story for a while with Haga way out front. Will Biaggi be a factor after a few quiet races? Can a non-Ducati or non-Yamaha win a race? Jake Zemke is filling in for John Hopkins on the Stiggy Honda. Nice opportunity, but Zemke has definitely been dropped in at the deepend.

Meanwhile, World Supersport continues to be the best four stroke racing series on the planet. And Assen did not disappoint. Maybe Lascorz can put Kawi on top of the box. They certainly wont wind up there in Superbike. One thing that has been nice, is watching Ten Kate struggle a bit.

Current Supersport Points
1 Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha 74
2 Eugene Laverty, Honda 68
3 Kenan Sofuoglu, Honda 65
4 Anthony West, Honda 52
5 Andrew Pitt, Honda 43
6 Mark Aitchison, Honda 34
7 Fabien Foret, Yamaha 28
8 Joan Lascorz, Kawasaki 27
9 Matthieu Lagrive, Honda 25
10 Barry Veneman, Suzuki 25

jhansen · 8 May 2009, 18:56 (Ref:2458156)

Fabrizio, Sykes and Haga top provisional qualy. Nice to see some good pace from Sykes. Checa was fastest through the speed trap at 201.3 mph. That's fast!

Major announcement, Sterilgarda have backed the Yamaha Italia team from Monza onward. There is no word yet what this means for Byrne and the Sterilgarda Ducati team.

Crutchlow and Lascorz topped supersport practice. Would love to see the Kawi on top of the box.

DavidStHubbins · 8 May 2009, 19:57 (Ref:2458203)

Haga is a nutter around Monza - absolutely frightening in the last turn! every Monza that goes by without a bad accident is a good one by me. so happy to have satellite live feed at last.

As nuts as Haga is, I reckon Spies will get a double this weekend. Heard it here first.

**gomick** · 8 May 2009, 23:58 (Ref:2458326)

Shall be interesting to see how the BMW & Aprilia fair on those long straights...

**gomick** · 10 May 2009, 04:21 (Ref:2458884)

Another super-pole for Ben Spies - thats 5 from 5...

Cal Crutchlow got his 4th consecutive Supersport pole aswell.... Go the Yamaha's

cg7aa · 10 May 2009, 10:16 (Ref:2459006)

Am I the only one who has picked up on Neukirchner's horrible crash into Robert's bike? The Eurosport coverage hasn't mentioned it yet..

chavez169 · 10 May 2009, 10:22 (Ref:2459009)

that was a nasty crash im surprised at how calm they were.

chunder · 10 May 2009, 10:34 (Ref:2459011)

Des anyone know what times the races are on UK time?

The WSBK site is useless at times and they only show live stream these days?

Any ideas

Robin_D · 10 May 2009, 10:39 (Ref:2459013)

Just seen a replay of that incident. Haslam is being interviewed and reported that Neukirchner has broken his leg.

After an incident of that scale, if he comes away with that and that only, he is lucky.

Dani Filth · 10 May 2009, 13:20 (Ref:2459140)

it was a bit scary ..
shame for Spies . he had it won .. hope they will fill the bike for Race2

Andy77 · 10 May 2009, 14:56 (Ref:2459231)

1-2 month for Neukirchners recovery
Bad luck for Spies parking the bike right in front of start/finish on the last few meters. Haven't seen much of race 2 yet

DavidStHubbins · 10 May 2009, 16:35 (Ref:2459342)

Should have been double for Spies... Those Duke boys are mental! Has there ever been such a psycho line-up as Haga and Fabrizio? Death wish riders.

WOOT for Cal.

Put that in your pipe, Foret..

Max N - OUCH. Get well soon, unlucky bas****!

BootsOntheSide · 10 May 2009, 16:54 (Ref:2459360)

Eurosport were pretty slack on keeping the viewers up to date, Jack Burnicle sounded like an out-of-touch slightly confused old duffer and the toher guys didn't do enough to cover the gaps and inaccuracies.

I don't know what Sterilgarda are playing at, switching sponsorship deals midseason. I hope they've got some kind of legal recourse on all this.

Tragic incident for Neukirchner after he'd made such a great start. Maybe in future they can skip the chicane on lap one and use the original section of track. The rest of the meeting was dramatic, although Spies' race 1 failure and Haga's early exit in race 2 left a bit of a bad taste. The Supersport race was probably the highlight.

chunder · 10 May 2009, 22:59 (Ref:2459628)

Very dull stuff on reflection I cant stand Fabrizio so not keen on seeing him win!!

Great for Cal but Foret is such a muppet, holding everyone up in desperation to get second

I think Jack and the guys are only relying on the uttterly useless tv feed from Italy, give them a break, theya re usually superb!

jhansen · 11 May 2009, 14:25 (Ref:2460159)

Race 1 was pretty epic. They were looking really ragged on the breaks. You have to be gutted for Spies. He really put his head down at the end and seemed to have it won. Nice to see the WSBK guys have to control their fuel consumption instead of a computer doing it. Spies said he short shifted at times during Race 2 in order to conserve fuel.

Bummer for Max N. I think he would have had a good weekend without that mishap.

jhansen · 11 May 2009, 14:26 (Ref:2460162)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

I don't know what Sterilgarda are playing at, switching sponsorship deals midseason. I hope they've got some kind of legal recourse on all this.

Has it been confirmed that they are leaving the Ducati team? That hasn't been said as far as I have seen.

DavidStHubbins · 11 May 2009, 18:22 (Ref:2460330)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Eurosport were pretty slack on keeping the viewers up to date, Jack Burnicle sounded like an out-of-touch slightly confused old duffer and the toher guys didn't do enough to cover the gaps and inaccuracies.

I don't know what Sterilgarda are playing at, switching sponsorship deals midseason. I hope they've got some kind of legal recourse on all this.

Tragic incident for Neukirchner after he'd made such a great start. Maybe in future they can skip the chicane on lap one and use the original section of track. The rest of the meeting was dramatic, although Spies' race 1 failure and Haga's early exit in race 2 left a bit of a bad taste. The Supersport race was probably the highlight.

cheer up, boots. i want to see some cheery posts from you for once

Burnicle is fantastic. I don't care if half of what he says is slightly wrong. He rocks.

WSBK race 1 was buttclenchingly good. WSS was top. WSBK race 2 was nice to see Spies win. Top show all in all.

jhansen · 12 May 2009, 13:48 (Ref:2460922)

I forgot to mention the Rossi like pass (left foot hangin out) that Spies put on Fabrizio in the closing stages. Never saw him do that during his time in AMA. I'm sure he's tried it before, but it really took me by surprise.

**gomick** · 13 May 2009, 09:13 (Ref:2461501)

Seems to be the "in thing" with a few riders doing it now...

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