Motourage

After a season full of successes, race wins, podiums, fastest laps and pole positions, Carlos Checa and the Althea Ducati Racing Team received the ultimate prize at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in Nevers, France, as the Spanish racing veteran was crowned 2011 World Superbike Champion at the penultimate round of the championship. This was not all, as, thanks to Checa’s brilliant results throughout the 2011 season, Ducati was today celebrating its 17th win in the manufacturer’s championship at the end of Race 2.

In Race 1, and starting from third position on the grid, Checa was in third by the end of lap one, behind Alitalia Aprilia’s Camier and Factory Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty. Within a couple of laps he had reached and passed Camier, recording the fastest lap of the race (1:38.643) on lap 4. Pushing hard, Checa began to close the gap between himself and race leader Laverty and on the ninth lap he was able to get ahead and take control of the race. By the end of the fifteenth lap he had a two-second advantage over the Irishman and, wanting to clinch the title in the best possible way, he did not slow up even for a second, crossing the line in first place and claiming the World Championship title as his own.

Despite the fact that emotions were already running high, Carlos got straight back to work in the second race of the day. Fourth at the end of lap one, he got past first Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes and then Camier, making the fastest lap of the race on lap two, a 1:39.136. With this fast lap, his tenth fastest lap of the 2011 season, he also picked up the Pirelli best lap award. A few laps later, Checa made a small error while trying to pass Laverty and lost a couple of positions as a result. He soon made up for this however, and by the eighth lap he was back up to third and only one second from race leader Laverty. On lap 12 he got in front of Honda’s Jonathan Rea, and on the very next lap he was leading the race. Extremely fast all the way to the line, Carlos managed his race to perfection, closing in first place once again, to secure his 14th win of the season.

Having led the 2011 championship right from the opening round, Carlos Checa’s win is extremely well deserved. He brought home the 2011 World SBK title ahead of schedule, with three races still to run. Highlights (and lowlights) of the season have included double wins at Phillip Island, Salt Lake City, Misano, Silverstone and Magny-Cours, a crash at home track Aragon and the stunning win at Ducati’s home track of Imola last weekend.

The season has brought huge success, with the team clocking up 14 race wins and a total of 20 podium finishes over the 12 events held so far. At Silverstone, Carlos also reached the milestone of 100 WSBK race starts while simultaneously scoring the 300th race win for Ducati. Carlos has thus far attained 39 podiums from 106 SBK race starts.

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Team Alstare Suzuki rider Michel Fabrizio endured a frustrating race at this weekend’s 12th round of the World Superbike Championship at the Magny Cours Circuit in Nevers, France.

In race one, he attempted a pass on Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) on lap 17, but clipped the rear end of the Briton’s bike and crashed, remounting to eventually finish 12th. Fabrizio’s second race lasted just two laps, as he fell off at turn seven and was unable to continue.

It was a disappointing end to a weekend that had seen Fabrizio and the team struggle to find a good setup throughout the three days.

Carlos Checa (Ducati) won both races in style, and also took the 2011 World Superbike title. Marco Melandri (Yamaha) took second in the first race, with Leon Haslam (BMW) third. Melandri also took runner-up spot in race two with his teammate Eugene Laverty in third.

Michel Fabrizio – Race 1: 12th, Race 2: DNF:
“Frustrating and disappointing – that’s what the whole weekend has been for me really. We did manage to improve the bike a bit during this morning’s warm-up, but getting good results starting from the fourth-row-of-the grid was always going to be hard. The grip was definitely a bit better – thanks to the changes the team made – and I felt more-comfortable than yesterday or Friday.

“I didn’t make a particularly-good start and found myself battling with Sykes after the halfway mark. I could see that he was having some tire problems and thought I could pass him. I made my move to pass him going into Chateau D’Eau, but he went in a bit slow and I just clipped his rear end and crashed. I got back on the bike and carried on, but it was a pretty lonely ride.

“I was hoping for better luck in race two, but I didn’t get it. After two laps, I lost the front at turn seven and down I went. It happened so quickly I couldn’t do anything about it. This time, I couldn’t rejoin the race.

“I feel frustrated and disappointed. The last four rounds have not been good for me and that’s a big shame because things had gone reasonably well before then. My podium in May now seems a long time ago, but the funny thing is that I believe that I can get on the podium again. But first I have to qualify well in Superpole and give myself a chance. There is only one round – and two races – remaining and I do not want to end the season continuing this recent run of poor results. I will do everything I can to do better in Portimao and end the season on an up.”

Magny Cours WSB Results:

Race 1: 1 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati), 2 Marco Melandri (ITA-Yamaha), 3 Leon Haslam (GBR-BMW), 4 Leon Camier (GBR-Aprilia), 5 Eugene Laverty (GBR-Yamaha), 6 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Ducati). 12 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Alstare Suzuki).

Race 2: 1 Checa, 2 Melandri, 3 Laverty, 4 Haslam, 5 Guintoli, 6 Joan Lascorz (ESP-Kawasaki). Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Alstare Suzuki) DNF.

World Championship Points: 1 Checa 467, 2 Melandri 360, 3 Laverty 283, 4 Biaggi 281, 5 Haslam 216, 6 Camier 194. 10 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Alstare Suzuki) 145.

After his recent scoreless streak, Team Alstare Suzuki rider Michel Fabrizio is more determined than ever to secure good results at Magny-Cours in France this weekend at the 12th round of the World Superbike Championship.

The Italian finished third in the second race at the 2010 event and is hoping that he can repeat that performance this year aboard his GSX-R1000.

The 2.74-mile circuit features a mixture of fast and slow corners, and, like most tracks, it requires a good bike setup. The ‘Adelaide’ hairpin is one of the slowest corners in the World Superbike calendar, with the bike going from close to 175mph down to 30mph. With a little crest in the track just after the exit, the bike wants to wheelie, and it’s difficult to keep the front wheel on the tarmac. Although the surface is generally pretty smooth, it gets slippery when it rain,s and good track knowledge is vital.

Michel Fabrizio:
“The last time I raced in Magny-Cours I finished on the podium, so it would be really good to do that again – especially after my recent poor results. Not finishing the last four races has not been good for me, nor the team, and I really need a couple of positive results this coming weekend.

“The frustrating thing is that I know that my race pace is good and so I should be finishing races and getting top-six results or better. Maybe I have been a bit too aggressive at the start of both the first races in the last two rounds, but that’s probably because I was not high enough up the grid and knew I had to make very good starts. It’s easy to get a bit carried away at the start of a race because so much is happening and I want to be a part of the lead group, not battling for 10th position.

“I need to get a better grid position in Superpole and then not have to charge so hard at the beginning of the races. But, as you know, Superpole has been a bit of a problem for me and I have not managed a front-row grid place all year so far: That in itself is frustrating and so once again I will try and do my best in Qualifying and Superpole and give myself a good chance come race day. Time is running out for some good results, so Magny-Cours would be a good place to start and that’s what I aim to do.”

2010 results:

Race 1: 1 Cal Crutchlow (GBR-Yamaha), 2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Alstare Suzuki), 3 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati), 4 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia), 5 Jakub Smrz (CZE-Aprilia), 6 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati).

Race 2: 1 Biaggi, 2 Crutchlow, 3 Michel Fabrizio, 4 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Alstare Suzuki), 5 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Ducati), 6 Smrz.

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team has won the opening round of the 2011 Qtel World Endurance Championship – the 24-hour 75th-Anniversary Bol d’Or at Magny Cours in France.

The GSX-R1000-mounted reigning world champions crossed the line at the 3pm finish with 814 laps completed; six laps clear of race-long rivals SRS Kawasaki (808 laps), BMW Motorrad France 99 (803) and Bolliger Team Switzerland (802).

SERT riders Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray and Anthony Delhalle dominated from the start – even though the first rider off at 3pm on Saturday – Philippe – was still feeling the after-effects of a heavy fall in the morning warm-up that meant the team had to use its number-two machine for the race.

At the five-hour mark, SERT had clocked-up 173 laps; one more than SRS Kawasaki and BMW. Through the night, the Suzuki trio opened the gap to three laps over SRS, with the Bolliger Team Switzerland Kawasaki climbing into the top three places when BMW broke a chain.

From sunrise on Sunday, SERT used its experience to gradually increase its lead – to seven laps at one stage – plus time its pit stops precisely to bring the GSX-R1000 home to an emphatic home victory for the Le Mans-based squad.

It was the team’s fourth-consecutive victory at the Bol d’Or and Philippe’s seventh, which equals the record number of rider wins.

Bol d-Or Results: 1 SERT – Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray, Anthony Delhalle (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 814 laps, 2 Team SRS Kawasaki – Julien Da Costa, Gregor Leblan, Olivier Four (Kawasaki) 808 laps, 3 BMW Motorrad France – Sebastien Gimbert, Damian Cudlin, Erwan Nigon (BMW) 803 laps, 4 Bolliger Team Switzerland – Horst Saiger, Roman Stamm, Jerome Tangre (Kawasaki) 802 laps, 5 Honda TT Legends – Steve Plater, John McGuiness, Keith Amor (Honda) 796 laps, 6 National Motors – Eme Jonchiere, Luc De Carolis, Etienne Masson (Honda) 794 laps, 7 YMES Folch Endurance – Bisch Ribalta, F Vallcaneras, Jose M Luis Rita (Yamaha) 789 laps, 8 Yamaha France GMT 94 – David Checa, Kenny Foray, Matthieu Largrive (Yamaha) 785 laps, 9 Metiss JLC Moto – Christoph Michel, Marc Fissette, Emman Cheron (Metiss) 781 laps, 10 T Motors Events Bo – Mathieu Gines, Vincent Bocquet, Emilien Humeau (Suzuki) 779 laps.

World Endurance Championship Points

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team will start tomorrow’s opening round of the 2011 Qtel World Endurance Championship at Magny Cours in France from Pole Position after team rider Vincent Philippe set the only sub-1:40 lap on the team’s GSX-R1000 in today’s final qualifying.

Reigning world champion SERT, which is aiming for its 11th WEC title this year, dominated from the start of qualifying, and Philippe’s lap of 1:39.740 put the team at the front with an average time of 1:40.589.

Four riders are entered for SERT. Alongside Philippe is Freddy Foray, Daisaku Sakai and newcomer Anthony Delhalle, but Team Manager Dominique Meliand will make his final three-rider choice before tomorrow’s 75th running of the Bol d’Or, which gets underway at 3pm local time.

Also in contention for honors in the Superstock class is the Junior Team Suzuki LMS who finished 10th overall and top in class with a time of 1:42.973.

Qualifying results (Best individual rider lap times): 1 SERT (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 1:39.74, 2 Team SRC Kawasaki (Kawasaki ZX10R) 1:40.048, 3 BMW Motorrad France 99 (BMW S1000RR) 1:40.436, 4 Monster Yamaha YART (Yamaha R1) 1:41.636, 5 Yamaha France GMT 94 IPONE (Yamaha R1) 1:41.743, 6 National Motos (Honda CBR1000R) 1:42.592, 7 Honda TT Legends (Honda Fireblade) 1:41.680, 8 Maco Racing Team (Yamaha R1) 1:43.414, 9 Team Sapeurs Pompiers (BMW S1000RR) 1:41.879, 10 Junior Team Suzuki LMS) 1:42.973.

World Endurance Champions Suzuki Endurance Racing Team will defend its title in 2011 with a permanent team in the six-round FIM World Endurance Championship that gets underway next month at Magny Cours in France.

The French squad, who won the 2010 title despite not competing in all rounds, will comprise long-standing member Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray, Japanese regular Daisaku Sakai and newcomer Anthony Delhalle on the new Suzuki GSX-R1000.

For Team Manager Dominique Meliand, this will be his 31st season in WEC and a passionate career that has seen him and SERT collect 10 World Endurance titles.

The Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship opener takes place on April 16-17th with the 24-hour Bol d’Or at Magny Cours; the normal 24 Hours of Le Mans season-opener is now moved to September 24-25th.

A total of 53 teams are entered for the opening round – the 75th running of the Bol d’Or – and SERT’s main rivals will be the 2009 World Champions, the Monster Yamaha (YART) team of Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani, plus 2004 Champions Yamaha Racing France riders David Checa, Kenny Foray and former SERT rider Matthew Lagrive.

Suzuki will also be in contention for Superstock glory as the Qatar Endurance Racing Team – FIM World Cup winners for the past three years – aim to put their GSX-R1000 on the top of the podium.

2011 WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR:
April 16- 17: Magny Cours (24 Hours) – Bol d’Or, France.
May 21 (Saturday): Albacete (8 Hours) – Albacete, Spain.
July 31: (only Formula EWC) Suzuka (8 Hours) – Japan.
August 21: Donington (8 Hours) – Great Britain.
September 24- 25: Le Mans (24 Hours) – France.
November 12 (Saturday): Losail (8 Hours) – Qatar.

SERT HISTORY:
2010: World Endurance Champions
2008: World Endurance Champions
2007: World Endurance Champions
2006: World Endurance Champions
2005: World Endurance Champions
1999: World Endurance Champions
1997: World Endurance Champions
1988: World Endurance Champions
1987: World Endurance Champions
1983: World Endurance Champions

Wrist and collarbone injuries weren't enough to keep Jonny Rea from grabbing a spot in row two

Jonathan Rea confounded seasoned World Superbike Championship observers today by snatching a gutsy second row start on the grid for tomorrow’s final two races of the 2010 series at Magny-Cours in France.

The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider, who broke his wrist and dislocated his collarbone just a week ago at Imola in Italy, made it through to the Superpole knockout stages of qualification, setting the sixth fastest time in Superpole 3 – less than half a second off Cal Crutchlow’s pole position time and a tenth away from a front row start.

Rea’s crew sent him out on a race tire for the opening Superpole session, saving his two allotted qualifying tires for the latter stages. The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland duly delivered, improving his chances of retaining third place overall in the championship standings in tomorrow’s two 23-lap races around the 4.411km Magny-Cours circuit.

His Hannspree Ten Kate Honda teammate, Max Neukirchner, qualified 17th fastest today after struggling to keep his Honda CBR1000RR on a line through some of the tighter Magny-Cours turns. The German is still optimistic of an improvement in his machine’s handling in tomorrow morning’s warm-up.

Jonathan Rea – P6, 1m38.155s
“Well, I made it through to Superpole 3, which I was surprised but really, really, happy about. Last Tuesday, we were still making the decision about whether to come to Magny-Cours, but my surgeon and physio hooked me up with a cast that I can ride with. I couldn’t have done it without them and the guys in Clinica Mobile, who have been strapping my shoulder every session. You know, it’s hard to believe what we’ve just achieved given the state I’m in, but I want to thank all my team. They’ve kept my spirits up and been patient with me on the bike when I’ve been doing a bit of moaning about being sore, but we pulled it out of the bag. We took a bit of a gamble not going out on a qualifier until Superpole 2 but it worked and I ended up having a Q for the last session. I didn’t make the most of it and messed up on my first lap but second row is a lot more than I expected and thanks to everybody that got me in.”

Max Neukirchner – P17, 1m39.341s
“We tried a different swingarm today and it definitely improved the grip levels on the side of the tire but we still have the problem of the bike not holding a line when I let it off the brakes. It’s a particular problem at the tighter turns here at Magny-Cours, where I believe I am losing maybe two tenths each time around. It’s something we’ll try to work on for warm-up in the morning and then, hopefully, I’ll be able to stay with the guys in front and see what happens. “

Ronald ten Kate – Team-manager
“I think Jonathan deserves a lot more than just a big compliment today. To put the bike on the second row with the injuries he has – and only a tenth off the front row – is really amazing stuff. We arrived here without even being sure if he could be on the bike, but after two days on it he has shown some incredible determination and will-power to do what he did. Max still has some work to do but hopefully he and his crew can improve things to try for a couple of decent results tomorrow.”

2010 World Superbike championship – round 13
Magny-Cours, France (4.411km) – final qualifying results:
1. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha 1m37.699s
2. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Suzuki 1m37.768s
3. Jakub Smrz (CZE) Aprilia 1m37.784s
4. Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia 1m38.039s
6. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1m38.155s
15. Max Neukirchner (GER) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1m39.341s

Treasure Racing Take 6th In The 2010 FIM Sidecar World Championship
by Dewy

The final round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship was held at Magny Cours France in association with the Bol Dor 24 Hour race, Australia’s Adam Treasure and Darren Dewhurst of Treasure Racing were there to finalize their challenge on the World Championship and attempt to improve their world ranking.

The track at Magny Cours is not often used as a motorcycle race venue for sidecars and therefore created an unusual scenario in that only a few riders, passengers or teams had actually competed on this track. This fact alone pointed towards there being many unexpected results; add in the highest number of entries for the sidecar field for the year (26) with a large number of French Wildcards with more knowledge of the circuit than the regular World Championship, non French, contenders and the weekend promised to be eventful.

Going into the final round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship, Adam & Darren are in 7th place in the Championship on 37 points, equal with Jacob Rutz and Ueli Waffler (37 points). Both teams, in turn, just 2 points behind Janez Remse and Jamie Biggs who are in 6th place in the Championship on 39 points. Scott Lawrie and James Neeve are an outside chance at jumping up in the standings from their 9th place and 31 points if they have a good meeting at Magny Cours.

With the Bol Dor 24 hour event starting on Saturday afternoon and running until Sunday afternoon the Sidecar World Championship race was held on Saturday, so most teams rolled into Magny Cours on Wednesday to setup in preparation for Thursdays 1st free practice. As seems to be the normal here in Europe this summer, rain followed Treasure Racing all the way from their base in Ludinghausen, Germany late Tuesday night until they arrived in Magny Cour Wednesday afternoon and it continued to rain until mid morning Thursday which created a damp track for the Sidecar teams to use as their 1st adventures onto the interestingly fast but technical layout of the circuit. The track surface was damp, but not excessively wet, but still offered very little in the way of grip and for most teams the session could only really be used as an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the direction and layout of the track. Not a lot could be achieved in learning braking markers or entry and exit points for fast lap strategies at this stage, though at the finish of the session the boys found themselves 9th fastest while riding on slicks in the tricky damp conditions

Friday morning’s 1st timed qualifying session was held in much different, drier, conditions to the previous day. Adam & Darren applied their usual analytical approach to learning another new track, this time for both of them, their lap times were unfortunately quite a lot off the expected qualifying and race pace, but with the 20 minute session only having just begun and a 2nd session still to come in the afternoon there was plenty of time to pick up the pace. As with all new tracks, each lap completed tends to be faster than the last as braking markers are extended and finding better lines through each corner are learned and therefore Treasure Racings lap times were always reducing until disaster struck on just their 5th lap when Adam could no longer find the gear lever under his foot due to the mounting bracket that holds the gear lever to the engine breaking off after months of torturous use became to much for the bracket. With a welder required to repair the problem the boys were left with no other option than to pull out of the 1st qualifying session early and miss valuable track time, leaving the qualifying session early meant that they had only managed to qualify in 25th position.

Repairs were made to the gear lever and with a mounting plate borrowed from Pekka Paivarinta & Adolf Hanni; the No 38 sidecar was ready for Friday’s Afternoon qualifying session 2 with just a small amount of time to spare. Now way behind the 8 ball as far as track time goes Adam and Darren pushed as hard as they could as they battled to improve on their earlier qualifying time, by the end of the session Treasure Racings lack of track time was apparent with the boys posting a qualifying time that had them starting from 15th place on the grid. With a lot of the French wildcards holding grid positions in front of them, the boys had their work cut-out for them for Saturday’s race, their only salvation being that Janez Remse/Paul Knapton and Jacob Rutz/Rita Aeberli had qualified even further down the grid. The Lawrie/Neeve team had qualified in 9th after Lawrie found some good speed and lines throughout his qualifying time on the track.

On the Friday night before the final race of the 2010 World Championship Adam and Darren performed the 1st bit of unexpected maintenance to their Suzuki power plant when they removed the clutch to look for a reason behind some previously un-noticed notchiness in the gear box, with no apparent reason found to explain a notchy gear box the extra curricular work was put down to some nerves and paranoia after the broken gear lever mount earlier in the day had drawn focus to the gearbox.

Saturday’s final race for the 2010 World Championship was shaping up to be an interesting one with Pekka Paivarinta & Adolf Hanni requiring just 6 points to tie up the championship ahead of Tim Reeves & Gregory Cluze who were starting on pole and had a huge determination to win in the hope that Paivarinta & Hanni would not finish giving them the points they needed to steal the title away from the Finish/Swiss pairing. Treasure Racing’s battles to improve their final world ranking were just as serious to the boys from Australia.

For Saturdays 15 lap race, Adam & Darren got a great start, but found themselves boxed in going into the double left sweeper, turns 1 & 2, and still could not get any clear track by turn 3’s big sweeping right, everywhere they looked there were bikes blocking almost all passing attempts that could be made by Treasure Racing, by the completion of the 1st lap the boys found themselves basically holding ground around 14th or 15th place. Half way round the track for the 2nd lap the race was red flagged due to an incident at the last right turn before the start/finish chicane, whilst on the 1st lap Remse & Knapton rolled their sidecar and would no longer be able to continue for the restart of the race. With the DNF of Remse/ Knapton, Adam & Darren just needed to finish in front of Rutz/Aeberli and in 12th place or higher to move up in the World Championship standings, but the pace of the Lawrie/Neeve team had now become a point of concern and Treasure racing needed to keep them insight, or at least finish within 5 places of the Scottish/British team to keep in front of them in the Championship standings.

The restart of the race had Adam and Darren driving hard off the start line and with lessons learned from the 1st start Adam made his way to the outside of turns 1 & 2 to pass several bikes through the double left before swapping to the outside again for the long right turn 3 to pass Milan Spendal & Peter Hill around the outside. The boys found themselves in a group with Mike Rosher/Jonathon Huet, Andy Peach/Charlie Richardson, Scott Lawrie/James Neeve and Josef Moser/Manfred Wechselberger. Many times throughout the next 3 laps Treasure Racing swapped places with Mike Rosher under brakes only to be passed again at another part of the track, until the 4th lap when the red flag made yet another appearance due to another sidecar rolling over after driving over spilt oil on the track.

The race was restarted one more time, for this restart Treasure Racing started from 11th place on the grid due to the race being run as a “2 part race” and all the confusion that creates, with all teams starting from their race positions from lap 3 of the previously interrupted race. Adam got away to another brilliant start and again Treasure Racing found themselves battling with Moser/Wechselberger and Lawrie/Neeve, with all 3 teams having a turn in front of their own little battle for track position, be it for 9th, 10th & 11th, with the race shortened to a total of 8 laps (3 laps (part 2) then 5 laps (part 3)) after the time taken to clean up the track between 2 restarts had set the program way behind schedule. Adam & Darren passed Lawrie/Neeve under brakes, Lawrie then put a heavy passing move straight back on Treasure Racing involving some contact of the 2 sidecars in the process, but this was all good fun and made for exciting racing, eventually both teams moved passed Moser/Wechselberger and cleared out to finish the 3rd part of the race with Lawrie/Neeve in 8th and Treasure racing in 9th place on track but when overall race times were taken into account Moser/Wechselberger just edged out Treasure racing for 9th over all, Adam & Darren dropped back to a 10th place finish overall for the combined “2 part race”.

Finishing in front of Rutz/Aeberli, and within 2 places of Lawrie/Neeve gave Adam and Darren the points they needed to move from equal 7th to finish the year in 6th place overall in the 2010 FIM Sidecar World Championship.

Adam and Darren would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Pekka Paivarinta & Adolf Hanni for winning the 2010 Sidecar World Championship, this is Pekka’s 2nd World Championship, his 1st coming in 2008, and this is Adolf’s 1st World Championship victory after competing in the championship for 28 years, so persistence eventually does pay off for some.
Congratulations Guys!

Adam and Darren would also like to thank Albert Raesfeld from B&R Tire Services and Henry Schwaten for their hard work in the pits and pit wall with the lap board. Adam was always able to be confidant the bike was well prepared and constantly aware of his position on the track and what was needed to achieve the teams best World Ranking so far due to these guys’ efforts.

Finally, The Mick DeWith Performance GSXR 1000 power plants, of which there were 2 for the year were absolutely flawless and at this meeting they were perfect yet again, heaps of power on tap and never an issue, the so called notchy gearbox issues never amounting to anything more than nerves and paranoia as mentioned earlier and the possible need to keep busy doing something the night before the race to ensure a good result in the final race, a distraction if you like. Sorry Mick, how could we have ever doubted your bulletproof engine building skills!

Spies takes another race victory in drama-filled Magny Cours

It was yet another tough race weekend for Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies at Magny Cours. The penultimate round of the 2009 championship saw Spies take one race victory, and then hang on desperately for points with a front tire that struggled to perform in race two.

The American rider took the lead from the start of the first race, hotly pursued by championship rival Noriyuki Haga. Spies held onto the lead until the last lap, where Haga managed to pass. His lead was short lived however as Spies retook the front position a few seconds later to cross the line and claim his 13th win of the season. Race two saw him off the line into third chasing Biaggi and Haga into the first corner. It soon became apparent that Spies was finding it hard to lay down power in the corners, as his front tire hampered his attack. Rea made a pass at the end of the first lap dropping Ben to fourth, a position he managed to hold until the line, despite dropping nearly a second a lap from the front group over the last few laps of the race.

Tom Sykes endured a disastrous race day; the second lap of the first race saw the rider over brake slightly, causing a huge crash sending his bike catapulting down the track, narrowly missing him. Sykes was uninjured barring a small break to his right little finger, so rejoined for race two. Unfortunately on the second lap of the second race, a yellow flag caused rider Carlos Checa a moment of indecision, resulting in him running too hot into Sykes at the hairpin and taking him out. Fortunately he has just a bruised shoulder but will be fit for the Portimao races.

Spies now heads into the final two races at the Portimao circuit with 426 points, trailing championship leader Haga on 436 by ten points. A double win in Portugal will secure the title for the all-time greatest rookie in the series. Teammate Tom Sykes remains in eighth position heading to the last round, on 176 points and trailing seventh placed rider Checa by 24 points.

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 4th)
“The whole first race had some good parts and bad ones. We made some small mistakes, costing us a tenth here and a tenth there letting the riders come back and not really taking advantage of the lead. I made a mistake on the last lap and let Nori through, so I had to get on the outside and get back past. Honestly I’m just super disappointed with the second race. We made a rear tire choice which was neither better nor worse, but the front tyre we had on in the second race was hard to go at a pace with. I was consistently half a second off what we were doing in practice. I’m honestly surprised we didn’t finish in tenth with the way the bike felt. Even if we had won today we would still go to Portimao having to win both races so it doesn’t really change too much.”

Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (DNF, DNF)
“Race one I made a bit of a mistake, I went for the brake lever and it was just a touch further out than I normally have it so my initial brake pressure was really strong and I knew that, but I had a split second and I lost the front and couldn’t save it. It was a massive crash and I was lucky to get away with it. For race two we changed the rear tire, which I wasn’t convinced was the right one but we went with anyway, unfortunately I was proved right and was struggling with it. Before I could do anything, going into the hairpin Carlos Checa made a big mistake and I got caught up in that and landed badly, pulling the muscles in my shoulder. Luckily nothing broken – so a weekend to forget, and I’m looking forward to something better in Portimao.”

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“We won the first race, and we were thinking we would catch up some more points to Nori in the second. Something went wrong, unfortunately outside of our control, and there was nothing Ben could do to ride round it. We are going to Portimao with just one target, to win both races, which I think is possible. Tom had a really bad weekend with three crashes, I’m sorry for him as he was trying really hard to get results and unfortunately for him everything went wrong. We will see what happens in Portugal.”

Circuit Length: 4411
Temp: 19
Crowd: 81000
Weather: Cloudy
Lap Record: 1’40.601 (Lorenzo Lanzi, 01/01/2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1’37.709 (Ben Spies, 04/10/2009)
Last Year’s Winner: Troy Bayliss

Yamaha Race Report, Supersport – Magny Cours

Crutchlow takes a big step towards the championship title at Magny Cours

Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow stepped closer to taking the 2009 World Supersport championship title today, increasing his lead over rival Eugene Laverty in another Supersport race marred by incident. Crutchlow started well from his pole position on the grid, momentarily taking first going into the second lap before dropping to second again behind Lascorz with a comfortable pace below his proven race pace. Rival Laverty came past on the second lap before going wide a lap later allowing Crutchlow back through along with his team mate Foret. Laverty then came back through, but low sided on lap 12, rejoining in 15th position. Crutchlow then began to close in on Lascorz, and was gaining ground for a pass when the race was red flagged with another rider dropping oil, giving the win to Lascorz. Crutchlow’s team mate Fabien Foret had a frustrating race day. Having shown excellent race pace all weekend Foret started well in the race, moving up from his sixth position start he quickly moved through the field, capitalizing on a mistake from Laverty to reach as high as third before crashing out on lap five after losing the front end going into a tight right hander.

Crutchlow goes to Portimao for the final race on 230 points, leading rival Laverty by 19. Team mate Foret heads to the final round in sixth place on 115 points, just two points behind fifth placed rider Anthony West with 117.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd)
“It was a good enough race in the end, I felt like I could have won it, and it was about time we had some more luck. Eugene crashed but he was no real problem during the race, the pace was really slow and I knew I could go to low 1:41s towards the end of the race if I needed to. We did what we needed to do, and we got a good second place which was nice. The team has worked really hard, so we’re all looking to keep it going for the next one at Portimao.”

Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (DNF)
“I’m obviously very disappointed because I think I had a good pace to do a good race, unfortunately I had an issue going into the corner and unfortunately crashed out. I think I could definitely have got to a good podium finish so it’s a real shame. I’m going to look forward to the final round in Portimao and see if I can get up to fifth in the championship.”

Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager
“What a race, it was unbelievable. A really exciting one to watch, the guys were really riding for the championship the first few laps. Cal was very tight and relaxed, and we saw Eugene crashed after losing the front when pushing on. I think Cal was quite relieved after that as he immediately went half a second faster and continued to be consistent. Lascorz was very fast, and although Cal was catching him I was really happy when the red flag came out and the race was stopped, two or three guys crashed out which brought Eugene up to 12th from 15th. We have to stay very sharp, a 19-point lead is great but it’s not done yet. I feel really sorry for Fabien, he did a really good job in the first couple of laps, he’s definitely back in his old shape, unfortunately as he shifted to second going into the corner the gearbox jumped out of second and he lost the front. It wasn’t his fault so we have to see if he touched the lever or something. He deserved to get a better result today but I think he can be proud of what he did.”

Circuit Length: 4411
Crowd: 81000
Weather: Cloudy
Lap Record: 1’44.071 (Michel Fabrizio, 01/01/2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1’40.980 (Cal Crutchlow, 04/10/2009)
Last Year’s Winner: Andrew Pitt

Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies was back on form today, working up speed through the Superpole sessions to end the final heat with an incredible lap, smashing last year’s record by nearly seven tenths and leaving the other qualifying riders nearly five tenths of a second behind. The ten poles by Spies mean he has now equaled Doug Polen’s 1991 record for the number of pole position starts in a season. Spies also enjoyed a productive earlier qualifying session, continuing to fine tune the set up for tomorrow’s two races, he ended in second behind Michel Fabrizio.

Tom Sykes had worked solidly through qualifying, hitting ninth position by midway. As the session drew to a close he ended with a provisional 13th on the grid in advance of qualifying. An unfortunate crash in free practice in the afternoon session deprived him of his number one bike, throwing the British rider off balance for the Superpole heats. Despite the setback Sykes still made it through to the second Superpole session and will start tomorrow’s two races from 14th position on the grid.

Ben Spies

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (1st, 1’37.709)
“The Superpole lap was a great lap, we’ve spent the weekend and the qualifying sessions working more on race tyres and fuel loads and really looking to make sure the bike is ready come Sunday. Superpole was the first time we really got down to banging out a lap and it was a good one. It’s good to see Johnny is up there again, it’s pretty much the same four guys as last time so it should be a good race. I don’t think anybody is going to be getting away and I think it will be settled in the last few laps. I’m pretty confident with the bike so I’m happy going into Sunday.”

Tom Sykes

Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (14th, 1’39.361)
“It was a tough day today. We were making good progress in the qualifying session, and were finding improvements to the bike. Unfortunately in the free practice I had a very strange crash, I’m not sure why it happened at all. When we came out on the second bike the set up was completely different and so it was a struggle to get back on the pace. We don’t have an ideal start position from the grid but if we can get off the line well, we can get in there and fight for the front.”

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“After yesterday we found some good improvements with the bike and Ben managed a really incredible lap, but most importantly we’ve found a really good set up for the race and our tyre choices are ready as well. Tomorrow will be a really tough race but we will be part of the front group and fighting for the win. Unfortunately Tom crashed during the free practice session and his second bike had a very different set up, so he didn’t have as much confidence as with the first bike. He did his best and did manage to achieve the second qualifying session. It will be a tough race for him tomorrow but we know he will give it 100%.”

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