World Superbikes
The World Superbikes round at Monza promised to be full of action and it didn’t disappoint but not always in the way several riders would have wanted.

Racing had hardly got under way before there was carnage at the first corner when Tamada fell and caused collisions with Neukirchner, Roberts, Corser and Hill.   As a result the race was red flagged and the restart was considerably delayed whilst the injuries suffered by Neukirchner and Roberts were dealt with and Corser and Hill’s bikes, which caught fire were cleared from the track.

Max Neukirchner came off worst suffering a broken femur and a dislocated foot which is likely to see him out of action for the rest of the season.

The re-started first race thankfully saw all racers clear the first corner without incident and soon Nori Haga, Ben Spies and Michel Fabrizio were battling for the lead.  The battle continued mostly between Haga and Fabrizio for the rest of the race and sometimes the racing was so close that Ducati team manager Tardozzi must have been having kittens!

Spies managed to pull an advantage on the two Ducati riders and the win looked to be his, but it was not to be.  Coming out of the final corner the Sterilgarda Yamaha dramatically ran out of fuel and unexpectedly the win went to Fabrizio with Spies coasting to a disappointing 15th place.

There was yet more drama to come with the Italian circuit judges being hot on riders using the corner run-offs to gain a potential advantage and were handing out 20 second penalties all over the place, the most surprising victim of what appeared to be a rather harsh ruling, was Max Biaggi who finished third on track but was handed one of these penalties at park ferme which dropped him back to 11th leaving fourth place rider Kiyonari to pick up the final podium position.

Tom Sykes, Spies teammate, and Leon Haslem also ran out of petrol on the final lap.

The second race had a lot to live up to if it was to be as full of drama as the first race.  In the event it was a much calmer affair.   Nori Haga got off the grid cleanly and took an early lead but he surprisingly and suddenly dropped back to mid pack after a couple of corners as the result of, it later emerged, hitting a bird.  Nori never really recovered and a couple of laps later he had a massive off after when he was unable to brake into the Parabolica, as a result of the injury sustained earlier, his race finished.
This left the way open for Ben Spies who pulled out an unassailable advantage and was able to turn this in to a win without a repeat of his race one misfortune.

Fabrizio was again strong in race two but was unable to make any inroads into Spies’lead, especially after battling with Kiyonari, and eventually took second place with Kiyo taking third.

Jonathan Rea finished fourth after battling both with Max Biaggi and Tom Sykes who finished 5th and 6th respectively.  Leon Haslem finished an excellent eighth to make up for his terrible grid position and retirement from race one.

World Supersports
I don’t think Cal Crutchlow ever doubted that the win would be his and right from pole position on the grid he rode a very determined race.   2007 World Champion, Kenan Sofuoglu, took an early lead but the other racers on the grid were soon running with him and showing him just how much racing in this championship changed whilst he was in the Superbikes paddock.

The usual close riding was again a feature of this race with Crutchlow’s teammate, Fabien Foret, racing just as determinedly and somewhat agressively plus Eugene Laverty taking the lead several times during the race.  Throw Joan Lascorz and Andrew Pitt into the mix and edge of the sofa excitement was never far away.

In the end after much changing of the lead, Crutchlow took the win with Lascorz, Foret and Laverty close on his heels.

Superbike Race 1 results:
POS NO. RIDER BIKE TIME
1  84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 31’50.758 (196,459 kph)
2  41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 0.239
3   9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 8.175
4  71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 11.001
5  65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 12.447
6  66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 13.693
7 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 19.172
8  55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 24.989
9   7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 26.930
10  23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 27.418
11   3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 27.752
12  96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 29.545
13  56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 30.952
14  67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 31.414
15  19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 36.998
16  31 Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 42.732
17  15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 48.835
18  98 Zemke J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 48.888
19  25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 50.612
20  33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 51.706
21  77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 55.510
22  94 Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R1 58.214
23  99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’01.130
24  88 Resch R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’16.850
RET  91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR
RET  11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR

Superbike Race 2 results:
POS NO. RIDER BIKE TIME
1  19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 31’49.252 (196,614 kph)
2  84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 2.665
3   9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 2.810
4  65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 7.706
5   3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 7.863
6  66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 10.383
7  91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 11.586
8  96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 21.112
9 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 22.112
10   7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 22.261
11  55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 23.453
12  56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 32.956
13  23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 37.166
14  99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 43.085
15  15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 43.088
16  33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 43.825
17  71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 53.211
18  67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1’00.917
19  94 Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R1 1’17.915
20  98 Zemke J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’28.545
21  25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’29.016
RET  88 Resch R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9
RET  77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR
RET  31 Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9
RET  41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R
NP  11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR

Supersport Race results:
POS NO. RIDER BIKE TIME
1  35 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 29’34.605 (188,029 kph)
2  26 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2.660
3  99 Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 2.716
4  50 Laverty E. (IRL) Honda CBR600RR 2.780
5   1 Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 9.270
6  21 Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 9.332
7  51 Pirro M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 20.178
8  24 McCoy G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 20.221
9  54 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 22.681
10  69 Nannelli G. (ITA) Triumph Daytona 675 26.993
11  12 Battaini F. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 31.343
12 117 Praia M. (POR) Honda CBR600RR 32.236
13  77 Veneman B. (NED) Suzuki GSX-R600 32.695
14 105 Vizziello G. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 33.216
15  53 Polita A. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R600 33.652
16  14 Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 37.937
17   5 Pradita T. (INA) Yamaha YZF R6 44.249
18  30 Günther J. (GER) Honda CBR600RR 44.860
19   9 Dell’Omo D. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 56.772
20  28 Vos A. (NED) Honda CBR600RR 1’13.876
21  32 Lai F. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1’14.344
22  71 Morillas J. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R6 1’45.778
RET  55 Roccoli M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR
RET  83 Holland R. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR
RET   8 Aitchison M. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR
RET  88 Guerra Y. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R6
RET  13 West A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR