Welcome back!

Well the weather at the Misano WSB made for interesting racing to say the least.

It was absolutely chucking it down for the start of the World Superstock race and after two incidents on the start/finish line the race was red flagged after less than one lap had been run. Though it was clear that the amount of rain would have made continuing impossible.

By the time the first World Superbike race started the track had dried significantly and a flag to flag race was declared (the first one in WSB history apparently) as motorcycles were taken out on full wets with the option to change machines mid race.

Qualifying had seen some changes at the top with Jakub Smrz ending Ben Spies run of seven pole positions and take his best ever qualification. Brit Jonathan Rea had a fantastic Superpole to qualify 2nd on the grid leaving Spies to take the final position on the grid. Fabrizio took 4th, Shakey Bryne 5th (a fantastic result for him) and Nori Haga 6th.

Qualifying less well were Max Biaggi in 9th, Leon Haslem in 10th and Spies teammate, Tom Sykes in 14th.

However, the drama started before even a wheel had been turned in competition as Rea was missing from the grid with a problem with his bike and had to start from pit lane. Corser also managed to slide off on the warm up lap aggravating a shoulder injury which put him out of race one.

Taking full advantage of the gap left by Rea on the grid, Shakey Byrne on the Sterilgarda Ducati, was soon had a massive lead over the rest of the pack and seemed to be relishing the wet conditions.

Mid race with Byrne an impressive 17 seconds in the lead the riders started to pit and bring out their spare bikes. This was not without drama as both of the Hannspree Ten Kate Hondas stalled on the changeover, making a grim race for Rea – who had also suffered a ride through penalty to add to his woes.

Ben Spies turned out to be the rider who best judged the conditions and was soon up to race pace on full slicks. Byrne perhaps left it a bit late to capitalise on his early lead by changing bikes a few laps after the rest of the field.

Spies took the win, eight seconds ahead of Byrne leaving Fabrizio and Smrz to battle for third position with a gripping scrap then went to the line, Fabrizio eventually taking the position.

Haga took fifth place on a track he never does well at, Kagayama sixth and Rea and impressive seventh given his nightmare of a race.

Results: 1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 45′02.773 (135,093 kph); 2. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 7.931; 3. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 11.836; 4. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 11.886; 5. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 31.670; 6. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 33.241; 7. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 35.772; 8. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 41.931; 9. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 51.507; 10. Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 59.921; 11. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1′04.285; 12. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1′04.313; 13. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′19.822; 14. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1′22.412; 15. Polita A. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1′31.635; 16. Hacking J. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′39.830

Normal service was resumed in race two. With the weather playing ball everyone was on slicks and Rea was in his place on the grid.

Rea and Fabrizio had a fantastic scrap for first place for a lot of the race,Rea had a mammoth task holding off the two Xerox Ducatis with Haga also pushing for the win.
In the end after much crowd pleasing action Jonathan Rea took his maiden World Superbike win with Fabrizio close behind. Rea feels that he is in a good place for the Donington round this coming weekend.

Haga was pleased with his third position admitting that he did not have the pace of the two riders in front of him.

Spies in what seems to be a recurrent pattern for him, went backwards early on due to a clutch problem and although he was able to come back later in the race he was never in contention for a podium, eventually finishing ninth.

Smrz took another fourth position which he will be hoping will silence the doubters who consider him to be a good qualifier who is not able to run at race pace.

Shakey Byrne had a good weekend with a 6th in race two. Tom Sykes took 7th and Leon Haslem 8th making four Brits in the top ten.

Results: 1. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 39′11.204 (155,293 kph); 2. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 0.063; 3. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 0.457; 4. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 3.635; 5. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 4.460; 6. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 4.538; 7. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 12.679; 8. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 12.763; 9. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 13.237; 10. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 14.412; 11. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 20.073; 12. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 20.239; 13. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 22.351; 14. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 24.547; 15. Lavilla G. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 24.696; 16. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 25.615

Points (after 8 of 14 rounds): 1. Haga 292; 2. Spies 244; 3. Fabrizio 237; 4. Rea 167; 5. Biaggi 135; 6. Haslam 134; 7. Sykes 130; 8. Checa 109; 9. Smrz 108; 10. Kiyonari 98. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 351; 2. Yamaha 287; 3. Honda 240; 4. Aprilia 142; 5. Suzuki 128; 6. Bmw 62; 7. Kawasaki 41

World Supersport

As usual the Supersport race gave us plenty thrills. Unexpectedly Pitt took an early lead with Fujiwara, Lascorz and Roccoli looking threatening not far behind. Unfortunately Pitt crashed out and Laverty soon put paid to the rest of the pack with some great passing manoeuvres to take the lead. Laverty was then able to pull some distance between himself and the following riders.

Due to oil on the track the race was red flagged but Laverty and Crutchlow were had soon stretched a lead and before long the familiar battle ensued between the two Brit riders. Neither wanted to give the other any quarter, but in the end it was Crutchlow who took the spoils and Laverty who took second place. Roccoli took the final place on the podium.

Elsewhere the Ten Kate team completed a forgettable weekend when Kenan Sofuoglu crashed out.

Results: 1. Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 36′51.032 (151,377 kph); 2. Laverty E. (IRL) Honda CBR600RR 0.263; 3. Roccoli M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 16.289; 4. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 20.894; 5. Aitchison M. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 21.615; 6. Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 22.272; 7. West A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 25.099; 8. Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 26.374

Points (after 8 of 14 rounds): 1. Crutchlow 160; 2. Laverty 146; 3. Sofuoglu 108; 4. Lascorz 86; 5. West 75; 6. Pitt 73; 7. Foret 63; 8. Aitchison 61; 9. Pirro 48; 10. Roccoli 40.