The Biker Place

Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner was heading for his first ever World Superbike win, but was taken out on the last corner on the last lap of the first race today. He had led the race from the start and even though Carlos Checa (Honda) closed in on his rear end on the last lap, Max was in front as they entered the last turn. Then Checa tried an impossible manoeuvre up the inside of Max and his rear wheel hit Max, causing both of them to crash. In the fall, Max broke his left collarbone, so could not get back on the bike, but Checa was able to remount and finish in fifth place.

After yesterday’s euphoria, raceday did not live up to the team’s expectations. Fonsi Nieto finished a strong fourth in the first race and tenth in the second, despite suffering the same problem with grip he’s had all weekend. Yukio crashed out of race one, fortunately without injury, and took a hard fought for sixth in race two. After Neukirchner and Checa crashed in the first race, it was Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) who crossed the line first, followed by Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Troy Corser (Yamaha). Race two was won by Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha), with Bayliss second and crowd favourite Checa third.

Fonsi - Race 1: 4th, Race 2: 10th

Well I’m not happy about the results but at least I am still second in the championship and the season is a very long one. You get days (or weekends) like this in racing, but I was able to stay on the bike and collect some points, despite problems with grip. Today I had the same problems I’ve had all weekend, but I just tried my best even though there was no front or rear grip. I think if I had pushed harder, I would’ve crashed, so I just carried on as best I could.

Yukio - Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 6th

I am not happy. Throughout the weekend everything has gone well and there have been no problems really. But today, we had problems and I could not make the results I expected. I don’t know why I crashed in the first race, but because it happened so suddenly I think I must have hit some water or oil on the track. I had braked normally and then I was on the floor! I was not injured, but my bike was damaged too badly to continue. I had to use my spare bike in race two and although it had the same set-up, there did not seem to be the same level of grip as my number one bike and the feeling was not good. The grip went down after just five or six laps and after ten laps my front tyre was destroyed, so the bike became very difficult to ride. But I was determined to keep going as long as I could and finish the race, and that’s what I did.

Max - Race 1: DNF, Race 2: DNS

I am more then disappointed. I could almost see the chequered flag when suddenly I was hit by Checa. He tried to dive up the inside of me in the last corner, but I don’t think there was enough room for him to do what he did and we both crashed. I broke my collarbone but, to make matters worse, he was able to get back on his bike and score some points. My weekend had gone perfectly up to that moment. I had been consistently fast and I had felt very comfortable on the bike. There was no problem for me leading the race, the only problem all weekend was what happened in the last corner.

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