Courtesy of Aprilia
ASSEN GP, BIAGGI GETS IMPORTANT POINTS FOR WORLD RANKING
Race 1. First WSBK podium for Leon Camier, Aprilia Alitalia third place. For Max Biaggi sixth place and important points in the world rankings.
Yet another podium (this is the fifth in a row thanks to the previous two victories, a second and third place all for Max Biaggi) for Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team.
But this time it was Leon Camier coming in third for his first world podium. The young Englishman started off well from the fifth position on the grid sticking close behind Corser (BMW) who led for much of the race. Leon battled in the group of the first seven, immediately on the run. And, in his first race on the Assen circuit, fascinating as it is difficult, he achieved an extremely important podium, coming in just over a second (1.248) behind the winner Rea (Honda) and 142 thousandths behind Toseland, second on his Yamaha.
Max Biaggi raced with great determination, launching forward from the eleventh position and, thanks to a magnificent start, stuck with the leading group of the race always staying in contact with the head of the rankings. Right down to the last lap launching a comeback and finishing just 2 seconds and 8 tenths behind the winner and only 75 thousandths behind Corser's fifth place.
For Max this is all about important points in the world rankings. In fact, thanks to this placing, Biaggi recovers 5 points against the leader, Leon Haslam, reinforcing his world second rank status, and he closes the gap to just 13 points from the lead.
Race 2. Max Biaggi fourth in race two gains important points for the world standings. Leon Camier confirms great progress and after race 1 he is also a key player in an unlucky (for him) race 2.
Race 2 in the Dutch World Superbike round also proves itself worthy of the Assen track. Max Biaggi on his Aprilia RSV4 obtains a nice fourth place (behind Rea, Haslam and Toseland) which, together with the sixth place already earned in race 1, allows him to end the Dutch trip with second place and 20 points gap behind Leon Haslam (Suzuki) in the world championship standings.
For Leon Camier it was a difficult weekend to forget: first the podium, the first in his budding career in WSBK in race 1, and then a race 2 once again on the attack, again a key player. Leon battled in the group of leaders without any awe for his world class adversaries, nor intimidated by the track which he rode on for the first time this weekend. Camier crashed, without any physical consequences, in the penultimate lap while defending third place.
With this standing Aprilia jumps ahead of Ducati in the world championship manufacturer standings and lands in second place just 14 points behind Suzuki which is at the top.
At the end of the race Max Biaggi summed up the weekend like this: "I'm going home quite satisfied, especially if I think about how the weekend began, the difficulties we had in the practice sessions and then in the Superpole and - above all - about the fact that I started in eleventh place on a track where it is extremely difficult to overtake. In race 1 I struggled a bit to maintain the pace. In race 2, on the other hand, I got over the problems I had been having up to that point and it went better. But then certain difficulties came up and I want to concentrate precisely on these problems in the next tests in Misano with my RSV4. The season is long and these are important points".
"I'm obviously very pleased with race 1 - commented Leon Camier - my first WSBK podium. But crashing just 2 laps from the end of the second race really disappointed me. In the second part of the race I was very fast, the tyres slipped, but that was the same for everyone. Unfortunately I lost a lot of time behind Toseland; he was riding in strange lines which made him very difficult to overtake. Once in third place I saw the gap with Haslam getting smaller and I wanted to push for it by braking late, but I lost the bike and crashed. Oh well! We'll have to look at the glass as half full: we worked well, growing throughout the weekend, and this can't help but favour us for the next races. This week we have plans to test in Misano and this will allow me increase my familiarity with my Aprilia”.
TIMES AND STANDINGS
1. Jonathan Rea GBR Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 34.944s
2. Jakub Smrz CZE PATA B&G Racing Ducati 1198 1min 35.062s
3. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 35.306s
4. Leon Haslam GBR Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1min 35.330s
5. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 35.533s
6. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1198 1min 35.892s
7. Shane Byrne GBR Althea Ducati 1198 1min 35.909s
8. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198 1min 36.405s
9. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 1min 36.027s
10. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 1min 36.061s
11. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 36.069s
12. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 36.094s
13. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1min 36.327s
14. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 1min 36.348s
15. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198 1min 36.574s
16. Max Neukirchner GER Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 36.581s
17. Luca Scassa ITA Supersonic Ducati 1198 1min 36.906s
18. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Ducati 1198 1min 36.989s
19. Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 1min 38.378s
20. Broc Parkes AUS Echo-CRS Honda CBR1000RR 1min 38.622s
21. Matteo Baiocco ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 38.471s
22. Roger Lee Hayden USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 38.769s
1. Jonathan Rea GBR Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 35mins 38.483secs
2. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 +1.106s
3. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +1.249s
4. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1198 +1.548s
5. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +2.738s
6. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +2.813s
7. Jakub Smrz CZE PATA B&G Racing Ducati 1198 +6.296s
8. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 +12.022s
9. Shane Byrne GBR Althea Ducati 1198 +12.146
10. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198 +19.753s
11. Leon Haslam GBR Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +22.204s
12. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +22.282s
13. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198 +22.780s
14. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +23.364s
15. Luca Scassa ITA Team Supersonic Ducati 1198 +37.097s
16. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Ducati 1198 +39.467s
17. Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +46.468s
18. Matteo Baiocco ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +57.170s
19. Roger Lee Hayden USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 01.634s
20. Max Neukirchner GER Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +1min 04.296
Not Classified
21. Broc Parkes AUS Echo-CRS Honda CBR1000RR 9 laps completed
22. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 8 laps completed
1. Jonathan Rea GBR Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 35mins 43.137secs
2. Leon Haslam GBR Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1.942s
3. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 +3.928s
4. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 +4.067s
5. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +4.176s
6. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1198 +4.525s
7. Jakub Smrz CZE PATA B&G Racing Ducati 1198 +4.682s
8. Shane Byrne GBR Althea Ducati 1198 +7.698s
9. Max Neukirchner GER Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +9.903s
10. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR +11.465s
11. Luca Scassa ITA Team Supersonic Ducati 1198 +15.489s
12. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198 +23.604s
13. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 +29.085s
14. Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R +35.401s
15. Matteo Baiocco ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +44.330s
16. Roger Lee Hayden USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +50.830s
17. Broc Parkes AUS Echo-CRS Honda CBR1000RR
Not Classified
18. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 20 laps completed
19. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 11 laps completed
20. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198 6 laps completed
21. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 0 laps completed
22. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Ducati 1198 0 laps completed
(Previous round standings position in brackets)
1. (1) Leon Haslam Suzuki Alstare 148 points
2. (2) Max Biaggi Aprilia Alitalia 128
3. (5) Jonathan Rea Ten Kate Honda 110
4. (3) Carlos Checa Althea Ducati 103
5. (6) James Toseland Yamaha Sterilgarda 86
6. (4) Noriyuki Haga Ducati Xerox 85
7. (9) Troy Corser BMW Motorrad 68
8. (7) Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki Alstare 55
9. (8) Michel Fabrizio Ducati Xerox 53
10. (10) Cal Crutchlow Yamaha Sterilgarda 49
11. (12) Leon Camier Aprilia Alitalia 48
12. (11) Shane Byrne Althea Ducati 48
13. (14) Jakub Smrz PATA B&G Ducati 38
14. (13) Lorenzo Lanzi DFX Ducati 26
15. (15) Ruben Xaus BMW Motorrad 25
16. (16) Tom Sykes Kawasaki SRT 17
17. (17) Max Neukirchner Ten Kate Honda 15
18. (18) Luca Scassa Supersonic Ducati 10
19. (19) Andrew Pitt Reitwagen BMW 3
20. (20) Joshua Brookes Echo CRS Honda 2
21. (-) Chris Vermeulen Kawasaki SRT 2
22. (-) Matteo Baiocco Pedercini Kawasaki 1
(Previous round standings position in brackets)
1. (1) Suzuki 148 points
2. (3) Aprilia 134
3. (2) Ducati 130
4. (4) Honda 111
5. (5) Yamaha 93
6. (6) BMW 69
7. (7) Kawasaki 19
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