Courtesy of Aprilia

SUPERPOLE

A brilliant Max Biaggi makes the Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team happy by rocketing his number 3 RSV4 to the first Superpole with a time of 1'42.121. It is the first time for the very young RSV4 and the first time in Superbike for Max. In a day of firsts, yet another peak for Biaggi stands out: 330.2 km/h top speed, almost another prize for the guys in the Racing Division who are committed daily to taking Aprilia to the pinnacle of world motorcycling.
But all of the adversaries did very well today which shows the high level of competition: separated by only 33 thousandths from Biaggi we find Crutchlow on his Yamaha and then Fabrizio (Ducati) followed by Rea (Honda) closing out the first row of the starting grid.

An unfortunate qualifier on the other hand for Leon Camier who participated in all of the sessions this weekend. Easily making it into the second Superpole session, the young Englishman lost the bike in a slide on the " variante Ascari " precisely during the good lap which would have put him in the top eight. In any case, the pace he displayed places Leon among the most feared riders for the race.

"It is a great Saturday for the team and for me - Max Biaggi commented - a Saturday which takes us to our first pole which - unfortunately - doesn't earn any points, but it gives us great satisfaction. It is a result which gives proof of the quality of our work and which I would like to dedicate to all of the guys on our team; people who have worked hard and with great skill to help me shave hundredths off of hundredths. Today the track was better, even compared to the free practice sessions this morning and we were more aggressive than usual with the qualifying tyre, so we were able to reap the fruits of the hard work we did. Now we cannot back down. There is still another test session which we will use to find the best settings to use for the races. We can't forget that for us this is only the second time on this track while our opponents know Monza very well thanks to years of races and tests. We have a nice package but our best adversaries are all right there very close, so we know that tomorrow will be difficult, as it always is in Superbike".

"A bad qualifier, to use politically correct terms... - stated an annoyed Leon Camier - at the beginning of pole2 I wasn't able to take any really clean laps; I constantly had Toseland on my wheel. Then, when I came in to put on the last qualifier I was able to push hard; I had an excellent chance of getting into the top eight. Hard luck about the slide, but the front closed on me and I couldn't stay up, even if the lap would have been compromised anyway. Fortunately we have a good race pace. Obviously I need to take advantage of a good start to avoid missing the train of leaders: everyone is fast here, so it's important not to lose any time and let them get away".

RACE 1

Max Biaggi, Aprilia, Monza. The victory on the most famous Italian track in the world is an all Italian one.
In race one of the World Superbike Monza round Max Biaggi celebrates his first victory in the temple of speed.
Max, astride his Aprilia Alitalia RSV4, he preceded the British Yamaha flag bearers Crutchlow and Toseland. Leon Haslam, leader of the world rankings, came in fourth. But the three British riders made the race extremely uncertain, highlighting even more Max's skill in resisting all of their attacks. Launching out in front from the beginning, Biaggi led the race practically the entire time and earned his first victory at Monza. With this affirmation Max has recovered 12 points on Haslam and is not just 8 points from the top position in the rankings.
Leon Camier, in his first race in Monza, leapt forward from thirteenth place and rode an excellent race, recovering position after position and ending in fifth place. With these results Aprilia strengthens their hold on second place in the world manufacturer standings, widening the gap from Ducati by 20 points and closing in on Suzuki, only two points ahead at the top.

Max Biaggi, descending from the podium, stated: "I am truly pleased. It was a great race. I felt the pressure of the Brits behind me. Monza is a long circuit where it's just as easy to be fast as it is to make decisive mistakes.
Thanks goes, obviously, to all of the Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team who always work their hardest. My bike has been fast all weekend. It's still a bit edgy. We'll have to see whether or not to change something for race 2.
The result is particularly special because Mr. Roberto Colaninno, the Chairman and CEO of our Group, my girlfriend and my little daughter were in our pit”.

RACE 2

After having won race 1 astride his Aprilia Alitalia RSV4, Max Biaggi doubles the festivities and joy of the 115,000 Monza enthusiasts by winning - this time by a large margin - race 2 as well.

Launching out of the pole position he earned yesterday, Max held the lead for almost the entire race. Cal Crutchlow was the closest adversary to the Italian champion, but a crash in the 12th lap put the Yamaha colours bearer out of the race. At that point Max's opponents, Haslam on the Suzuki and Corser on his BMW, were too far behind to worry Biaggi who, controlling the race, ended with an advantage of 4.547 seconds.

With this victory Biaggi (who is the rider who has won the most races this season with this double and with the two victories at Portimao) earns another 5 points on Haslam and now is only 3 points behind the English rider (178 vs 181) who is leading the championship rankings.
The Aprilia Racing festivities are completed by Aprilia's first place in the world manufacturer rankings. The Italian factory is now in the lead with 3 points over Suzuki and 35 over Ducati.
For Leon Camier yet another great race which he ended in fourth place confirming his big improvements.

"A great Sunday, all Italian: from the track, to the rider, to the bike, to the tyres, to the petrol and the three coloured plumage of the sponsor: It is Italy flying". This was how Roberto Colaninno, president and CEO of the Piaggio Group who followed the race from the Aprilia Alitalia Team box commented on the double success achieved today at Monza. "Max Biaggi's double victory at Monza is proof of Aprilia's technological superiority and of it's key product, the RSV4, ridden by an extraordinary champion" added Roberto Colaninno.

A radiating Max Biaggi commented: "Race 2 was the fantastic conclusion of an exceptional weekend. If anyone had ever asked me to think of the perfect race, the result would be very similar to what happened today. I must thank the team, there is great understanding and affection with the guys, everything functions wonderfully and we work well. After race 1 I wanted to gain a little more feeling. A risk, because usually you don't change the winning bike. Instead, we found that we were right and the modifications allowed me to make the difference. My compliments also to Leon Haslam and Troy Corser who also contributed to the great show here at Monza"

Leon Camier leaves Monza satisfied: "The weekend was positive. I started well in race 2 as well; too bad for the contact on the first variante which made me lose some time against the leading group. I recovered, but a few too many mistakes kept me from closing the gap even though I gave it my all down to the end. I'm happy with the fourth place. I'm growing, I can feel it, and I know that we're ready to achieve important results. My compliments to Max for the two brilliant races".

INTERESTING ARTICLES

Crash.net: Biaggi hails first pole for Aprilia
"Biaggi gets up to 330kph on the Aprilia to edge out Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow in Italy.
Max Biaggi has claimed a long-awaited first World Superbike pole position on home soil at Monza after capitalising on his Aprilia's superior straight-line speed. Having broken the speed record for a Superbike during the free practice session prior to Superpole, when he touched 330kph (205mph), Biaggi would produce an identical feat during the deciding session to keep his rivals at bay."

Crash.net: Biaggi sees off British threat at Monza
"Biaggi reduces Haslam's advantage to eight points with a fine display of composed riding at Monza
Max Biaggi has won his third World Superbike race of the season after soaking up intense pressure from James Toseland, Cal Crutchlow and Leon Haslam from start-to-finish at Monza.
Biaggi led for almost race's entirety, but was never able to pull out an advantage of more than a second over his closest rivals. Nonetheless, despite a might last lap effort from Toseland, he was unable to nose ahead of the Aprilia, the top three covered by less than three tenths of a second at the chequered flag. "

Crash.net: Biaggi doubles up as rivals come down
"Problems for James Toseland, Jonathan Rea and Cal Crutchlow allows Biaggi a comfortable second win of the day.
Max Biaggi has moved to within three points of the World Superbike Championship lead after scoring a superb double on home ground, while his rivals fells by the wayside.
The Italian was duelling for the lead with Cal Crutchlow when the Yamaha rider suffered a technical problem and came down at the start of lap 13. "

Crash.net: Biaggi savours ‘perfect result’ on home soil
"Biaggi praises his Aprilia team after securing his third and fourth wins of the season at Monza.
Max Biaggi has revealed he changed his bike between races but was still able to achieve the same result as he romped to a second double World Superbike victory of the season at Monza.
A perfect result for rider, team and title sponsor on home turf, Biaggi may have led for all but three laps over the course of the day, but he was still required to soak up pressure applied by a number of rivals."

Worldsbk.com: Max enjoys his best day yet!
"An outstanding weekend of action at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, played out in front of 115,000 people, culminated in a remarkable double win for Max Biaggi and his Aprilia Alitalia team, and pulled Max up to within three points of championship leader Leon Haslam (Alstare Suzuki). Biaggi made some radical changes to his rear suspension after his race one win and eventually ran out the clear winner of race two. This was Max’s second double of the year, the first coming in Portimao."

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