World SBK: A look back at Brno - The last three editions

World Superbike Press Release

2006 - The star of the Championship, Troy Bayliss, was out at the first turn after a collision with Laconi and thus the fight for the win was wide open. A group formed of Toseland, Kagayama, Haga and Pitt took the lead, but after a handful of laps Toseland and Kagayama parted company, fighting for the win alone. Yukio had the upper hand and on the fifteenth lap attacked and passed James. On the following lap he had one and a half seconds over Toseland and started to pull away for the win. Behind Kagayama and Toseland, Fabrizio took third, his first Superbike podium, obtained with a broken collarbone. 

In race 2 Haga rocketed away at the start and after five laps had an advantage of a couple of seconds over his rivals, a group composed of Toseland, Corser, Bayliss and Kagayama. Bayliss however dropped off soon: he opted for a softer compound that gave him traction problems. Troy was forced to race in the middle of the pack and in the closing stages Lanzi gave him the eighth place for an extra point in the World Championship standings. Among Haga's pursuers Kagayama was in a class of his own: he passed Toseland and Corser and on the fifteenth lap he started chasing Noriyuki. It took him only a couple of laps to recover his 2.5 seconds deficit and when he arrived on his back, Haga waved him past: he was in trouble with his tyres and he wasn't able to fight for the win. Kagayama then took the double and on the last lap there was a spectacular fight for second place that saw Haga, Corser and Fabrizio involved. The Italian was behind his more experienced rivals but in the last couple of turns he was able to pass them and score his best career result, a second place.

2007 - Biaggi came to Brno for the first time in the World Superbike Championship as the king of the circuit, boasting a scoreboard of seven wins collected in the 250 and MotoGP classes and he confirmed his state of form by qualifying in second. He was beaten only by a spectacular Haga, the only man to go below the two minutes mark in the history of the circuit with an incredible lap in Superpole. In race 1 after a few laps Toseland, Biaggi, Hagaand Kagayama formed a group that fought for the lead. Haga maintained the lead until traction problems sent him back and thus Toseland remained in front, followed closely by Biaggi. Everyone expected Biaggi to attack in the last laps, but his rival was perfect and Max couldn't make his move, Toseland won, Biaggi behind him and further back Kagayama and Haga. A memorable moment involved Troy Bayliss: the Aussie had setup problems and was fighting for a lowly tenth place when he was rammed by Muggeridge and both ended their run on the gravel trap. Troy right after the collision went to Muggeridge and... thanked him because he wasn't having much fun so far back in the pack.

The start of race 2 was delayed for a few drops of rain, the race was declared wet, but the tarmac was practically dry (everyone was on slicks). Biaggi was not so sure about the conditions, he didn't take any risks in the first laps and he fell in seventh place, while out in front the two Yamahas of Haga and Corser were able to make the difference and set off in formation, pulling away from the rest. After five laps however Corser's engine expired and Haga was left alone with a couple of seconds over Toseland and Biaggi; the Italian had recovered the positions he lost at the start and sat behind the Honda Ten Kate machine, which he was able to pass on the eleventh lap. Haga's pace was good and everyone expected a win by the Japanese rider, but after ten laps a problem that often afflicted the Yamahas hit Noriyuki: lack of traction. His lap times increased dramatically and he was passed by Biaggi and then Toseland. Soon afterwards Max changed pace and pulled away, winning by a good margin over Toseland. Behind them was Fabrizio, who passed Haga four laps from the end. Biaggi won the race with three stitches in his left hand, after he had been hit by a stone raised by Toseland's bike in race 1 that pierced the fairing of his Suzuki.

2008 - Going into Brno very few people would have placed their bets on the Ducati Xerox squad, given the hard times they had had in the past at the Czech track, but the 1098 worked wonders and was also able to turn the tables in Brno. Bayliss took pole in front of Corser, Fabrizio and Biaggi, and with three Ducatis in the four top spots, the outcome of the race seemed pretty clear. In race 1 Biaggi took the lead at the first corner, only to be repassed by Corser soon afterwards. The duo kept on changing places in front with Bayliss right behind, overlooking the whole affair. After a handful of laps Biaggi managed to hit the front for good, just as Neukirchner joined the company, but he wasn't a factor as he started dropping back after ten laps or so. The tyres started to tell and after a couple more laps also Biaggi had trouble with his front and on the twelfth lap both Bayliss and Corser passed him. Bayliss had saved his tyres and recorded some impressive laps leaving Corser behind. The Ducati rider had so much in reserve that he was even able to set the fastest lap of the race three laps from the finish, when pretty much everybody else was struggling for front-end grip. Corser came home second, while Biaggi eventually fell into the clutches of Fabrizio and Kiyonari and was passed by his fellow countryman at the penultimate corner, losing third place.

Race 2 was a repetition of race 1, with Biaggi taking a cautious approach: he changed the front compound to a harder one and stayed on Bayliss' and Corser's tail to save his rubber. Corser led the first laps, then Bayliss took the lead by lap 9 and led the group of the front runners, who included Corser, Biaggi and Neukirchner, the German after ten laps dropped back like in race 1. Bayliss five laps from the end accelerated abruptly and left Corser and Biaggi to fight for second. The Roman was able to pass on the penultimate lap, but on the last lap Fabrizio came from behind and again pipped him completing the Ducati Xerox 1-2. Biaggi was third confirming that the 1098 had no rivals on this track. Compared to the 999 the new 1200 cc engine had more grunt that helped Bayliss & Co. considerably out of the corners and up the hills of the Czech track. The four cylinders were left powerless and Bayliss' lead in the Championship became huge: the Australian left Brno with 79 points over Neukirchner and 91 over Corser. The leitmotiv of the season continued as the rivals of Bayliss kept on having highs and lows: Checa was never in the game, soundly beaten by Kiyonari and also suffering a traction control failure in race 2, while Haga wasn't able to match Corser's pace in the races. In race 2 he came into the pits before the start claiming that the engine was not working properly and swapped bikes starting thus from the back. That maybe was a case of paranoia as the team said afterwards that there weren't any problems on his bike.