Bayliss's WSBK Double in Misano
closes in on Toseland by winning both Superbike races
A double win at the revamped Misano circuit moved Troy Bayliss up to second place in the 2007 World Super Bike Championship, as leader James Toseland falters.
Even though Misano is in the Republic of San Marino, fans from neighbouring Italy dominate the crowd, including MotoGP legend, Valentino Rossi. Misano is Rossi’s “home” track as it is very close to his Italian hometown.
Even though he is an Aussie Bayliss has plenty of hometown support in Misano, as he is the lead rider for Italian Ducati factory team.
"Misano is a very special place for me to come and win here for all the Italians,” said Bayliss.
Another Aussie, Troy Corser on a Yamaha-Italia machine, achieved his 40th career WSBK Superpole; Bayliss still won both races starting from second place on the grid.
Bayliss seems to have overcome the injuries suffered in his high-speed crash at Donington that cost him part of his little finger. Domination of this meeting, following his success at Silverstone, signals Bayliss is back and is in top form defending his World Championship.
Noriyuki Haga, on another Yamaha-Italia machine provided the main challenge to Bayliss in race one until Suzuki’s Italian rider, Max Biaggi, took them both out in a failed overtaking attempt with two laps remaining.
This all occurred right in front of Rossi, watching from the inside of the corner, as one of his former arch rivals from MotoGP, Biaggi, end up in the gravel.
“Mistakes can happen to anyone; I'm not angry about the incident in race one but I'm very disappointed that there has been no acknowledgement or apology for what happened. That isn't professional in my book,” said Haga.
With two front-runners out Championship leader, James Toseland, salvaged fourth spot. Toseland’s poor form at Misano may have been due to Ten Kate Honda team’s decision to miss Misano’s test day.
In the second race Haga challenged Bayliss until a reaction to a pain killing injection forced him to settle for second place.
“I hurt my right elbow and wrist in the race one incident and so had to have some painkillers for the second race. The race was going well when, about halfway through, I started to feel sick, which was caused by the painkillers. I had to slow down,” said Haga
The dice of the race was for third with Biaggi overcoming a slow start to beat Corser and Yukio Kagayama for the last spot on the podium.
“I changed bikes between the two races and the engine in the second bike felt better but the set-up wasn't quite right, giving me all sorts of problems. I kept losing the front throughout the second race,” said Corser.
Kagayama is another rider recovering from early season injury now finding form, making the final part of the season very close.
Without some of the quick riders crashing Toseland could only manage a distance sixth, further reducing his points lead to only 21 points. Now the reigning champion, Bayliss, is looming in second place.
“There's not much more to say, we changed one click for the second race just to make me a little bit more comfortable on the bike. I did some really fast laps and saw that Nori wasn't making any ground, I thought of letting him past to do some of the work but I've done that before and it didn't work,” said Bayliss.
There was plenty of drama off the track with two Aussies missing from the action, Josh Brookes and Karl Muggeridge. The Alto Evolution Honda team had their team transporter hijacked and the driver kidnapped as they were returning from the Silverstone meeting by the Italian team’s former owner.
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