WSBK Qatar 2008 - A review
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The first weekend of the World Superbikes season in Qatar is over and what a great racing and entertainment!
Race one was taken by the evergreen Troy Bayliss, with Max Biaggi second and Troy Corser in third. At times in race one Bayliss was a good distance behind the front runners, he clawed himself back up to the front only to run wide, go grasstracking and end up with a few seconds to make up again. As ever though he kept at it and passed Max Biaggi on the final lap, giving the Roman a sideways glance as he passed him, to take the chequered flag.
Other things of note in race one were the quite unbelievable Noriyuki Haga! Haga and Max Biaggi aren’t what you would call “good friends” so when Biaggi passed Haga in an aggressive move the red mist descended. Noriyuki took his left hand off the bars to shake his fist towards Max Biaggi and promptly high-sided the bike, landing upside down on his head.
Young German Max Neukirchner on the Alstare Suzuki began the race well and led for a number of laps, only to end up finishing 5th as his bike looked to be losing grip. Biaggi was on great, entertaining form, running too hot into a number of corners and running wide as he realized he couldn’t stop.
Race two was a different beast altogether as Bayliss, Haga and Corser (who had all been quick in race one), faded away leaving it a three horse race between Nieto, Biaggi and Xaus. Nieto took the victory, his Suzuki GSXR-1000 showing some unbeliveable straight line speed, with Ruben Xaus edging out teammate Biaggi for second place.
Last year’s championship winning Hannspree Ten Kate team were disappointing. Carlos Checa managed a sixth place finish in race one, Sofuoglu was twelth and Kiyonari was well off the pace finishing 22nd. Race two saw Sofuoglu finish 10th, followed by Checa in 11th and Kiyo down in 19th place.
World Supersport
A quick word on the World Supersport race in Qatar, disappointment for Johnny Rea as he highsided his Hannspree Honda taking out team mate Andrew Pitt at the same time effectively ending his team’s interest in the race early on.
Briton Craig Jones fought hard and got a well deserved third place finish, unfortunately Graeme Gowland after looking impressive early on failed to finish the race (as yet we’re not sure why?).
The race was won by Broc Parkes as he took advantage of the mis-fortune of his team mate Fabian Foret. The Frenchman, who had dominated the race, appeared to run out of fuel on the final lap ending his challenge.
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February 25th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Very entertaining stuff, something for MotoGP to live up to this year.
Bayliss was seemingly operating on the edge of disaster the whole of race 1, as indicated by the concerned (scared?) faces of his pit crew in the occasional cut-aways from the action.
Has HannSpree lost the championship already?
February 25th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Yeah was some great racing, hopefully it’ll rub off on MotoGP. Bayliss was on the edge on race one (sometimes over it!
) and i was pleased when he took the win.
Little too early to rule out the Hannspree team but i was really disappointed with them.