2008 Hannspree World SuperBike Championship Round 12, Vallelunga, Italy, September 21st Race Report

  HAGA TAKES THE DOUBLE AS BAYLISS FALLS

In warm sunny conditions 85,000 race fans descended of the Vallelunga circuit near Rome in Italy to cheer on local hero Sterilgarda Go-Eleven Ducati's Max Biaggi and hopefully witness Xerox Ducati's Troy Bayliss lift the title for a third time in his career, but it was another Italian team that took all the glory as Yamaha Motor Italia's Nori Haga took victory in both races as Troy Bayliss pushed to hard on the final lap, and with three corners to go the Xerox Ducati rider crashed out while pushing for the lead that would secure his third world title, but what has left a bitter taste in Bayliss's mouth that while he was in second team-mate Michel Fabrizio had demoted Troy Corser to third and a second place finish would have give the title. Now he has to wait for two weeks until the penultimate round at Magny-Cours in France.

Race One. Pole sitter Xerox Ducati's Troy Bayliss took the lead for only two laps as the hard charging Yamaha Motor Italia's Nori Haga took the lead and controlled the pace throughout the race as Bayliss slipped back through the field to sixth. With the pace hot at the front local hero Sterilgarda Go-Eleven Ducati's Max Biaggi tried every trick in the book to pass Haga but had to settle for second to an on form Nori Haga who took victory with team-mate Troy Corser in third ahead Alstare Suzuki's Max Neukirchner and Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Carlos with series leader Troy Bayliss in sixth.

Race Two. Nori Haga was the man to beat after a stunning display of riding in race one saw Xerox Ducati's Troy Bayliss lead the chasing group into turn one only for Nori Haga to clip Max Biaggi resulting in the Italian ace to collide with Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Kenan Sofuoglu and both crashing out at over 150mph resulting in both riders able to walk away from the crash. Meanwhile all the action was hotting up as Nori Haga knew that a win for Troy Bayliss would give him his third world title as the Japanese rider kept his cool to keep Bayliss at bay throughout the race and with only four corners remaining on the final lap Troy Bayliss lost the front end in a low-slide and crashed out, but what makes this situation worse that Bayliss's team-mate Michel Fabrizio had passed Yamaha Motor Italia's Troy Corser for third resulting if that Bayliss only needed to finish second to claim the 2008 World Superbike Championship title. The chequred flag eventually went to Nori Haga with Xerox Ducati's Michel Fabrizio second, Yamaha Motor Italia's Troy Corser third with Troy Bayliss managing to rejoin the race and finish in 16th. Now with a 99 points leads Troy will now have to wait until Magny-cours in two weeks time.

WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP

Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Johnny Rea has kept his title hopes alive by winning his third race of the year at Vallelunga in Italy. The Northern Ireland racer has now closed the title race to just 11 points as series leader and Rea's team-mate Andrew Pitt crashed out with four laps remaining while fighting for third with Ireland's Eugene Laverty who Pitt believes is responsable for his crash. While Rea took victory it was the Yamaha World Supersport rider Broc Parkes who finished second ahead of Eugene Laverty in third.