Round 10 of the Superbike World Championship will be held at the latest version of the classic Silverstone circuit this weekend, with British-based Aussie hotshot Josh Brookes set to join compatriots Troy Corser and Broc Parkes on the startline.

Brookes, from Bringelly on the outskirts of Sydney, is currently running a close second in this year’s British Superbike Championship on a factory Honda, and will compete at Silverstone as a wildcard alongside team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Just last month, Brookes completed the ideal warm-up for the world superbike cameo when he clean swept the British superstock title round at Silverstone.

The inclusion of Brookes will provide a short-term boost in quality Aussie stocks, especially now that Queenslander Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki) will be sitting out the rest of the year with injury. Vermeulen recently underwent surgery on his damaged right knee in Barcelona.

As for Corser (BMW), he slipped back to seventh in the championship in the last round at Brno after a big qualifying crash saw him sit out the rest of the meeting with heavy bruising.

Since then, he’s been working hard on his fitness, and a test at Mugello yesterday confirmed he’ll be ready for action at Silverstone.

“I’m looking forward to Silverstone. I spend a fair amount of the year in Great Britain and expect to see a lot of family friends at the track, so it will be something of a second home race for me,” said Corser.

“I’ve already had a chance to take a look around the new track. The new layout looks very good and surface grip seems pretty consistent. There are a few bumps, especially where the new asphalt has been laid.

“I’m expecting us to do a good job here with our bike; we’ve done a lot of work on chassis set-up and the bumps shouldn’t be a particularly big problem. Engine power is a major factor at Silverstone, as the circuit has several long straights.

“There are also a handful of long, sweeping corners, which load up the tyres on one side, so it’s important to have a good throttle connection.”

The WSBK title has been to Silverstone on six previous occasions, the most recent in 2007 when only one race took place (won by Australia’s Troy Bayliss) due to relentless rain that flooded the track before race two could get underway.

This year’s Silverstone is a very different venue from previous versions, with massive investment in both a heavily modified circuit layout and infrastructure improvements resulting in a 5.902km circuit where speed is a key element.

The revised circuit has an average speed just a fraction slower than Phillip Island, something that championship leader Max Biaggi will relish on his ultra fast Aprilia.

Biaggi has a massive 68pt lead with four rounds remaining, and Briton Leon Haslam (Suzuki) also holds a huge cushion over third-placed Jonathan Rea (Honda).

If Biaggi maintains his searing form, he may wrap up the championship in round 11 at Nurburgring on September 5.

Haslam and Rea are but two of the seven British riders in this year’s championship, and they’ll be pushing hard to win in front of a partisan home crowd alongside the likes of Yamaha pair Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland and Leon Camier (Aprilia).

Other potential race winners include Ducati duo Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio and Spain’s Carlos Checa (Ducati).

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Jorge Lorenzo’s Championship lead was stretched to 72 points at Laguna Seca as the Fiat Yamaha rider won the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix ahead of Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi, in a round nine race that saw Dani Pedrosa crash out while leading.

A trademark lightning start from Pedrosa saw him lead into turn one of the first lap and the Spaniard appeared to be making a similar break for victory as he had done last time out at Sachsenring, as he set a fierce pace at the front of the race.

However, on Lap 11 and with Lorenzo pressuring him for the lead the Repsol Honda rider crashed out at turn five, leaving his fellow Spaniard to take his M1 to a sixth win of the season as he tasted victory at the Californian circuit for the first time.

In second place, 3.517s behind Lorenzo’s Fiat Yamaha, Ducati’s Casey Stoner scored his best result of the season so far – his fourth podium in a row – and a comfortable finish with a distance of almost ten seconds back to third place. That was taken by Valentino Rossi, the reigning World Champion achieving a superb podium finish in only his second race back from injury and one in which he worked hard throughout the race.

There were early ends to the race for Spanish rookies Álvaro Bautista and Héctor Barberá, the former crashing whilst the latter retired, with neither making it past the fourth lap. By that stage Pedrosa was already away at the front with Stoner matching him for pace, but on lap five Lorenzo – who had dropped to fourth at the start – managed to pass the Australian who ran wide at turn three.

Then the drama really kicked in as Pedrosa crashed, leaving Lorenzo first with Stoner not far behind, and Andrea Dovizioso in third with a two-second margin over his pursuers. However, Rossi quickly closed the gap on his compatriot, eventually passing the Repsol Honda rider for third place with five laps to go.

As the tyres started to go off towards the end there were changes further down the order, as Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden fought for the honour of finishing as the highest placed American, a duel that presented plenty of enthralling moments of its own.

Lorenzo eventually crossed the line with a comfortable margin over his pursuers, to take his sixth win of the season.

“This track has been a painful one for me in the past, which was why it was important to come here, finish the race and win,” said Lorenzo. “I was sat in third place after the start and I said ‘okay, we’re here and it’s time to push now’. Casey made a mistake and I got past him and I could see that Dani was riding at 110% and could crash. And he did.”

“Now I can go on my holiday and relax; throw away all the tension and pressure and comeback ready to continue the season at Brno,” added the Championship leader.

Stoner brought his Ducati Desmosedici home in second place to secure the best result of his 2010 campaign thus far.

“Everything seemed to be working perfectly at the start,” explained Stoner. “I wanted to close on Dani to put in a pass, but I lost the front a couple of times trying to reduce the gap. The third time the front closed on me Jorge came past. I was lucky to keep the bike on two wheels today; with a bit more confidence in the front I might have been able to close the gap on Jorge, and I did try, but today I had to settle for second place.”

“Jorge is riding well; he’s very fast, very consistent and, at this point, he’s a worthy champion,” concluded the Australian.

Rossi managed to hold off a late charge from Dovizioso, retaining third place at the chequered flag and finishing on the podium just seven weeks after breaking his leg in practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

“It was a good result for us and very important to come back on the podium so soon after the crash,” declared Rossi. “It’s been a difficult weekend for us, with problems in every session, but this morning we found a good set-up for the race. It took me a few laps to find my rhythm and I had a great battle with Dovizioso at the end. After Casey beat me last week I was determined not to make the same mistake and I rode a very good last lap.”

Hayden edged out Spies for fifth place, with the latter’s teammate, Colin Edwards, seventh. The top ten was completed by Marco Melandri, Mika Kallio and Loris Capirossi. The remaining two riders to finish the race in 11th and 12th were Roger Lee Hayden, a temporary replacement for the injured Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda and Alex de Angelis, who was standing in for Hiroshi Aoyama on the Interwetten Honda for the second time.

Marco Simoncelli suffered the disappointment of crashing out two-thirds of the way through the race when battling with teammate Melandri for eighth, whilst Aleix Espargaró fell three laps from the end when in a top ten position.

Lorenzo now has 210 points, with Pedrosa remaining second in the standings on 138 and Dovizioso third on 115.

Results next page.

Jorge Lorenzo took his fifth consecutive pole position of the campaign on Saturday with a fantastic display in qualifying at Laguna Seca, in which he and Casey Stoner battled to the very end for top spot on the starting grid. The World Championship leader won a marvellous contest with the Australian for pole at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, with a blistering late lap of 1’20.978 to take his 40th career pole.

A satisfied Lorenzo commented, “It is an impressive achievement to take five poles in a row but it was hard. It’s not so important to get pole position, but it is better to make it. Casey set some very quick lap times and I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I did one lap which wasn’t fast enough and I just thought to myself to push even harder one more time and I did it.”

Ducati’s Stoner had competed with Lorenzo and his Yamaha for the latter half of the session and led for much of it, his time of 1’21.169 the best of a consistent set of fast laps. The Australian looked to be on the verge of his second pole of the season but eventually ended the session 0.191s off the Spaniard. The battle for victory at the Californian track at 2pm local time tomorrow afternoon looks certain to feature the two rivals.

Securing third spot on the grid and taking his first ever front-row start in the MotoGP class, Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso was a fraction over six-tenths off Lorenzo’s marker, thus underlining the level to which the top two had pushed one another. The Italian set his best time on his 36th and final lap.

Heading up the second row, which was separated by 0.071s, will be last year’s race winner Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), who was just under four-hundredths off his team-mate. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Ben Spies was impressive once more and will go for home glory from fifth after his final lap slotted him in front of Valentino Rossi, as the reigning World Champion secured sixth, repeating his position from both free practice sessions as he continues his recovery from a broken leg.

The top ten was completed by American duo Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3), and rookies Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar).

Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) had a crash at the top of the corkscrew at the very end of the session, following his fall in the morning practice, and Roger Lee Hayden (LCR Honda) had a run off at the same spot and another at turn nine in a complicated session for the stand-in.

1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1′20.978
2 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team Ducati 1′21.169
3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1′21.617
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1′21.655
5 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1′21.679
6 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1′21.688
7 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 1′21.920
8 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1′22.217
9 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1′22.300
10 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 1′22.366
11 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1′22.407
12 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1′22.647
13 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1′22.712
14 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1′22.770
15 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1′23.127
16 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM Interwetten Honda MotoGP Honda 1′23.226
17 95 Roger Lee HAYDEN USA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1′23.764

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The MotoGP riders and teams complete what will have been a busy schedule of five races in six weekends at Laguna Seca on Sunday as round nine of the 2010 campaign, the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, heralds the halfway point in the season – one which has already been packed with plenty of drama.

Arriving at this stage in the season Jorge Lorenzo sits atop of the Championship with a 47-point advantage, and his second place in Germany maintained his form of finishing inside the top two in every race so far this season. The Fiat Yamaha rider is also the first since Valentino Rossi in 2005 to have opened the campaign with eight successive podiums. Last year Lorenzo finished third in the race despite injuries in qualifying, and he will be going for a first premier class win at Laguna – the shortest circuit on the current GP schedule at 3.61km long.

With victory at Sachsenring in the last round Dani Pedrosa drew Honda level with Yamaha on 57 wins each in the four-stroke MotoGP era, and on a personal level maintained his hold on second in the Championship. Winner of last year’s race at Laguna the Repsol Honda man is going for his first back-to-back victories in the premier class this weekend.

Andrea Dovizioso is still hunting his first win of the season and will aim to improve on his best previous result of fourth at the American circuit from 2008, the Repsol Honda rider currently sits third in the standings. In fourth Casey Stoner is also striving for his first 2010 win, and he has a good record at the track having won and finished second and fourth in the previous three seasons.

Heading up the home contingent will be Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, currently fifth overall. Since his victory at the circuit in 2006 no American rider has been on the podium at Laguna, something he, Ben Spies – who has AMA superbike experience at Laguna and finished eighth as a 2008 MotoGP wildcard there – and Colin Edwards of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team will be desperate to change.

Valentino Rossi’s recovery will continue, although the reigning World Champion displayed in his battle until the last corner the final podium spot at Sachsenring that he is already highly competitive after his return from injury. The Fiat Yamaha rider has a single victory at Laguna, from 2008, and last year finished second, and now continues his attempt to recover ground in the Championship. The Italian and his team-mate Lorenzo will be displaying special new liveries on their M1 machines as well.

Randy de Puniet suffered fractures to both the tibia and fibula in his left leg in Germany and will be substituted for by Roger Lee Hayden on the LCR Honda team, making it a fourth American on the grid.

San Carlo Honda Gresini pair Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri, Páginas Amarillas Aspar rookie Héctor Barberá, Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista and Pramac Racing duo Aleix Espargaró and Mika Kallio will all be looking for strong results, with Alex de Angelis continuing on the RC212V of the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team as a substitute for the injured Hiroshi Aoyama.

The first practice session gets underway on Friday at 1.55pm local time.

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Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa reduced the gap to Jorge Lorenzo in the championship standings to less than 50 points with victory in today’s restarted eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at Sachsenring.

The original race was red flagged on lap nine when a crash for Randy de Puniet at turn four brought down both Álvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaró, neither of whom could avoid the Frenchman’s bike as it burst into flames in the middle of the track. The top five order at that stage was Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Rossi, which is how they lines up on the grid for the restart after the race had been red flagged.

Espargaró and Bautista were not allowed to start the shortened 21-lap race as both failed to return to pit lane with their bikes within the allowed five-minute window after the showing of the red flag. De Puniet was physically unable to retake the grid, having sustained fractures in his left tibia and fibula in the incident.

Espargaró was later diagnosed with a cracked C6 vertebra.

After a 25-minute interval the new shortened race got underway, with Mika Kallio sliding out at turn one in an unfortunate end to his weekend. As he had done in the original race Pedrosa got his nose in front on the first lap, but Lorenzo quickly assumed the race lead – that would change again however.

The top order was much the same as it had been before the red flag, with Lorenzo holding off Pedrosa, Stoner in third, and Rossi and Dovizioso battling for fourth. The reigning World Champion was in front of his Italian compatriot before too long, and the Repsol Honda man was caught by the chasing pack shortly after.

The battle between Lorenzo and Pedrosa was developing into a thriller with the two Spaniards swapping the lead as they constantly looked for ways through on one another. Pedrosa was at his best as he set a new circuit lap record on lap 10 and then again on lap 12, assuming the race lead and breaking his own record from the previous year and consistently riding in the low 1’22”s bracket.

There was a good scrap going on for fifth between Marco Simoncelli, Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, with the latter two going through on the rookie when he had a bit of an out of the saddle moment on the drop down to turn 12.

Rossi was defying his precarious physical condition to engage in a great contest with Stoner for third, the two side by side with only a few laps to go and taking their duel to the bitter end.

Pedrosa crossed the line in first position, 3.355s clear of championship leader Lorenzo thanks to a faultless ride.

“I’m very happy because we are back winning races and it’s a great feeling,” said Pedrosa. “Today’s win was even better than Mugello, because I was battling with Lorenzo and finally beat him, so this is even more important. This weekend has ended perfectly.”

“I don’t think I rode as well in the second part of the race as I did in the first,” explained Lorenzo. “Dani was very strong and I was on the limit trying to stay ahead. When he passed me I tried to stay with him, but he was much faster than me today.”

Stoner managed to edge Rossi for third with a final corner move that handed the Italian fourth on his return from injury, a highly impressive result.

“Valentino was taking big chunks of time out of me and, once he went past, I didn’t think I’d be able to follow,” admitted Stoner. “I tried really hard to stay in there and had a good battle with a lot of nice passes. We touched at the bottom of the hill, but it was a good, clean fight and I’m pleased to come away with a podium.”

“I thought it was maybe possible to make fourth or fifth place, but I thought it would be very difficult. I certainly didn’t expect this,” declared Rossi. “I felt some pain from my leg and my shoulder, but the battle with Casey was so much fun I didn’t really think about it. Unfortunately though, he got the better of me on the last corner. This is a fantastic result though after missing four races.”

Dovizioso finished fifth, with Simoncelli achieving his best premier class result to date in sixth. American duo Hayden and Ben Spies were seventh and eighth respectively, with Héctor Barberá and Marco Melandri completing the top ten.

The final two riders to complete the race in 11th and 12th were Loris Capirossi and stand-in rider Alex de Angelis. Colin Edwards had crashed out on lap seven of the original race.

Lorenzo now has 185 points at the top of the standings, with Pedrosa second on 138 and Dovizioso third on 102. Stoner moves into fourth, 19 points off Dovizioso.

Results next page.

Jorge Lorenzo took his fourth consecutive pole of the 2010 MotoGP campaign with the top time in qualifying for the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Championship leader had a dramatic session, in which an oil spill from his Yamaha M1 resulted in the session being halted after crashes for Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet, but he went on to ensure he will go for a fourth straight win from top spot on the grid on Sunday, with a fastest lap of 1’21.817.

Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) will launch his challenge for a first victory of the season from second place with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) will also be on the front row as he was the third and final rider under the 1’22” mark.

Stoner was looking on course to steal pole from Lorenzo until he found Colin Edwards in his path going into the final corner and as he hesitated deciding whether to pass or not he lost crucial time and eventually finished just 0.024s behind Lorenzo.

Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso heads up the second row as he followed three-tenths behind the Spaniard, whilst Valentino Rossi will start his first race back from his enforced break from racing in fifth spot. Having made a miraculous recovery from a broken leg at his home round in Mugello, the reigning World Champion ended up 0.578s off the pace of his Fiat Yamaha collegue Lorenzo. Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) will be alongside after he achieved his best premier class qualification to date with sixth.

The session was red-flagged with 25 minutes remaining as Lorenzo’s M1 started to spill oil, and flames then began to pour out of the side of the Spaniard’s bike as he approached turn one before he managed to pull off the track. Following behind, Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) fell in the split oil, as did De Puniet (LCR Honda) and the Frenchman collided with Spies’ stationary bike as he slid off.

De Puniet went for X-rays on his right leg in the medical centre, which confirmed no breaks, and he will be hopeful of taking his seventh spot on the grid having started 189 consecutive races since 1999.

Riding as a replacement for Hiroshi Aoyama, Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) had a crash towards the end of the session and was uninjured. He will start from last place on the grid in seventeenth, whilst compatriot Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) had a run-off late on but will start fourteenth.

2010 MotoGP Sachsenring qualifying

1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1′21.817
2 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team Ducati 279.7 1′21.841
3 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1′21.948
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1′22.263
5 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1′22.395
6 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 1′22.454
7 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1′22.610
8 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1′22.624
9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1′22.910
10 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1′22.917
11 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1′22.961
12 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1′23.026
13 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1′23.028
14 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1′23.040
15 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 1′23.090
16 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1′23.193
17 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM Interwetten Honda MotoGP Honda 1′23.515

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Jorge Lorenzo arrives at Sachsenring for the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland in the best shape possible this weekend: with a 52-point lead in the Championship and off the back of a hot run of three successive wins. Having finished in the top two in every race of 2010 so far (five of those being wins), the Fiat Yamaha man is the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 2005 to have been on the podium in the first seven races of the season. He will however be aiming for a first premier class win at Sachsenring, one of four circuits he is yet to taste victory at in any class with last year’s second place his best result there.

Closest to Lorenzo at this stage of the season is Dani Pedrosa, and the Repsol Honda man has mixed memories of the circuit. In 2007 he won there, in 2008 he was leading the Championship standings when he crashed out of the race and suffered an injury that effectively ended his title challenge, and last season he finished on the podium. His team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, now 22 points behind in third, has a best premier class finish of fifth (in 2008) and will be going for a first podium in any category at the venue.

Level on 69 points in fourth and fifth respectively are Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda). The American has more podium finishes at Sachsenring than at any other circuit, thanks to his run of third places from 2004 to 2007. De Puniet’s season continues to be one of impressive results and he will be confident of improving on his previous best MotoGP placement of eighth from 2008, the only time he has completed a premier class race at the track.

Casey Stoner is two points further back in sixth but the signs of a resurgence are already there and the Ducati Team rider comes into this weekend having taken back-to-back podiums in the two previous rounds. A first win of 2010 for the Australian will be fancied by many, and he has taken victory once before here in 2008.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) finds another new track in what is already proving to be a strong debut season, and he holds a 20-point advantage over San Carlo Honda Gresini pair Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli who are level and complete the top ten in the standings going into the weekend.

Making a return to the premier class this weekend is Alex de Angelis, who begins his spell as the substitute rider on the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team in place of the injured Hiroshi Aoyama. Fiat Yamaha and Valentino Rossi will make a final decision on Wednesday as to whether the World Champion makes his return from injury this weekend, with Wataru Yoshikawa prepared to ride in place of the Italian once more if he decides Sachsenring is too early.

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Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) moved an impressive 68 points clear of his nearest challenger after two 20-lap races held in hot and steamy conditions in front of 64,000 fans at Brno. Max has now won ten races at Brno in all classes of competition, but today he had to share top billing with race one winner Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda). The British rider added to his Assen double with a virtual flag-to-flag win, to take his victory tally for 2010 to three. Biaggi could not do his usual double today but was peerless in race two, after changing his set-up between races and capitalizing when the track temperature jumped up by almost ten degrees.

The other podium places were shared by Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda) and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), but in the championship fight itself, the fate of Leon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare) in each race had the most effect. Eighth in race one and tenth in race two for Leon put him on 284 points to Biaggi’s class-leading 352. Rea is now third on 203, Checa (Althea Ducati) is fourth on 189, after finishing ninth and sixth today.

Race 1

Rea ground out a great win, by 2.5 seconds from Biaggi’s Aprilia, putting himself back into the spotlight after some tough races in the past few weeks. His last podium before this had been at Kyalami, back in May. Rea had been third on the grid, with Biaggi second and pole man Crutchlow rode hard and well to take third place. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki Alstare) equalled his best race finish of fourth, while Ruben Xaus (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) had his best result yet on his German machine, fifth. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), fast in early qualifying but 15th after Superpole, recovered well to go sixth, holding off James Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda) who has been suffering from a chest infection at this race.

Jonathan Rea: “At the start I didn’t really know what was going on but I ended up going to the front. This race win I’d like to dedicate to my team boss, Ronald ten Kate, who is not here with us this weekend. Today it was like out there on the bike I could do nothing wrong, now I’ll go back to the guys and prepare a better bike for race 2 and see what we can do. I just had to capitalize on Max’s weaknesses in some corners, it was a really difficult race out there and very hot.

Max Biaggi: “We came here on Friday and we didn’t really have the same feeling as I had last year so we tried to set up the bike as close as last year’s machine. Basically we improved, but my feeling was not great. Unfortunately this weekend has been like this, but we will make some modifications for race 2 and hopefully there will be some surprises.”

Cal Crutchlow: “To say I’m disappointed is probably an understatement. I went into the race with high hopes, the grip yesterday was really good for us and in the heat but as you saw we were struggling with rear grip from the start. Johnny rode fantastic and rode away from me, and also Max. I tried my best and that’s all I can do.”

Race 2

Biaggi found the last one percent of speed he was missing in race one to record his ninth win of the season, giving him a 50% win ratio so far. Rea was an early leader but finally finished a clear second, 4.6 seconds behind the Italian, after Max eased past, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) third, the only Ducati podium spot of the day. Two-times champion Toseland made a great recovery from 12th on lap one to fourth, catching and passing Haga with one lap to go.

Checa was sixth, Guintoli seventh and Biaggi’s team-mate Leon Camier eighth. Shane Byrne (Althea Ducati) got ninth, one place up on the luckless Haslam, who now goes to his home race of Silverstone to try and claw back points from Biaggi. Cal Crutchlow pitted to change a rear tyre in race two, and when he went back out he set a new lap record in race conditions, with a 1′59.291.

Max Biaggi: “Knowing the track quite well here and the passion of the fans in the Czech Republic, we tried something really special and made some changes on the bike, weight distribution and gearbox and the result was very good so I’m happy. For me it’s the tenth victory here, and this is my second home country. I love this place!”

Jonathan Rea: “Max did an unbelievable pace, I know how hard it was to hold on to second and he was going away from us, but anyway it’s been a good weekend with a 1-2 today. Thanks for all my team for digging deep this weekend and giving me a package that I could race with.”

Michel Fabrizio: “I hope I can continue this way for the rest of the season, we did a very good result in race 2 especially after the problem I had in the first race. I had to defend my position of course in the battle with Xaus but I’m pleased to be back on the podium again.”

Results next page.

Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda) saved his best for last to take a new track best and head up Superpole qualifying, his fourth pre-race ‘win’ of the 2010 season. Crutchlow was over 0.7 seconds faster than the next best rider, and in nine Superpoles this year, he has the best individual record. Behind him, Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) was second at his favourite circuit on the calendar, as he prepares to go out tomorrow and defend a 37-point championship lead. A resurgent Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) was a positive third, as he rebuilds from some less than satisfying recent results. Ruben Xaus (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) finished an impressive fourth, earning himself a front row start. He had crashed heavily here last year but today’s result wiped out many memories of his 2009 misfortune.

Xaus’s BMW being fourth means that there are four different machines on the front row, and with Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki Alstare) and Luca Scassa (Supersonic Ducati) fifth and sixth restively, there are six different bikes in the top six grid slots. Scassa, a privateer, was top Ducati rider of any kind, with Ducati Xerox factory pilot Michel Fabrizio one place behind. Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati) will start from row two, taking eighth place as the last rider home in the final Superpole session. Lorenzo Lanzi (DFX Corse Ducati) just missed the final eight places of Superpole three, with James Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda) tenth. Max Neukirchner went 11th for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda and Tom Sykes ended a fruitful day 12th and on the third row for the Kawasaki Racing Team. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) crashed in two Superpole sessions, and now starts from the fourth row; championship contender Leon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare) is only one place ahead of him.

Cal Crutchlow: “I definitely hoped to be here and I’d rather give away a pole for a race win, but you’ve got to take them when you can. I enjoyed that, it was a good session for us. Most of the sessions have been strong and my Yamaha is working well. Max is hard to beat in the championship and especially round here. I can see a big battle tomorrow, maybe ten guys at least at the start. I thought I could have got into the 57s because I was riding very deep into the corners, and I actually had another qualifier left but I’m happy with that.”

Max Biaggi: “A first row result is good for me, but compared to last year’s race we’ve got a lot more work to do this weekend. Something we changed on the bike makes it a bit different so it’s not the same feeling. It’s better in other tracks but here we’ve got some difficulties. It’s getting a little bit better, the bike is not where I want, but I’m happy with my pace. We’ll see tomorrow.”

Jonathan Rea: “It is hot out there, but there’s a lot of breeze so it’s not too bad. I actually didn’t really know where to go after Superpole because I haven’t been in the top 3 for some time. I’d just like to thank all of my team, our package isn’t perfect but what we do have in the Ten Kate garage is a really hard work ethic and we’re trying. Hopefully we can get away good tomorrow and try and stay with these two guys as long as we can. I’ve got nothing to lose!”

Ruben Xaus: “First of all I’d like to give my best to Troy and hope he recovers as soon as possible because when two riders are on the team on fire, they go ahead. We did a good job today, the bike is now working well, we made a big step in Imola and physically I’m not feeling perfect but I was able to ride fast.”

Results next page.

The world superbike title resumes at the classic Brno this weekend, with all the focus centred on whether anyone can snap Max Biaggi’s recent domination. Biaggi and his Aprilia are currently on the best winning stretch in four years of WSBK competition, which is already a worrying enough proposition for his rivals. Then add in the fact that he’s already a race winner and lap record holder at the Czech Republic circuit, it’s obvious he’s going to be the rider to beat in the two 21-lap races.

Perhaps one of only a few personnel who will be able to wear down the Italian is Australia’s Troy Corser (BMW), who led most of race one in the last round at Misano before Biaggi eventually clawed his way to the front.

And like Biaggi, Corser is also a Brno winner, the last of his three victories coming in his world championship-winning year of 2005.

Last year, riding the all-new BMW in its first year of WSBK competition, Corser stormed to his best result of the season with a fifth in race one.

Now armed with a vastly improved machine, Corser is expecting big things at Brno, which is a temple to racing with its constant elevation changes and magnificent, sweeping bends.

“I’m confident going into Brno, and the bike has come a long way since this time a year ago,” said Corser.

“I like the track itself a lot, as it suits my riding style. The set-up you run here is quite unusual. There are corners which you brake into going downhill and others which you brake into travelling uphill. That means you have to find a compromise.”

Corser joined all the world superbike regulars in a test session at Imola last week, which included his fellow Aussies Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki) and Broc Parkes (Honda).

For Vermeulen, it was his first real chance to go testing since he hurt his knee way back in February, but he was happy to have found new Pirelli tyres that seem to suit the ZX-10R in race trim.

“The new tyres that Pirelli has brought have been good,” said Vermeulen.

“We have gone through some of the parts that have been introduced through the year and this is the first chance I have been able to do something on the bike without being under the pressure of race weekend since my accident. Consistently we are a lot closer to the front, so that is very positive.”

After such an underwhelming season, top 10 finishes at Brno would amount to a positive outing for Vermeulen, while at the sharp end of the pack Biaggi and Corser will be on duty with the regular guard: Leon Haslam (Suzuki), Carlos Checa (Ducati), Jonathan Rea (Honda), Noriyuki Haga (Ducati), Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) and Yamaha pair James Toseland and Cal Crutchlow.

Crutchlow was fastest at the Imola test ahead of Haslam and Fabrizio, with Biaggi back in ninth.

At Brno, Biaggi will be out to extend his winning streak to six, which would only leave him only three behind the all-time record jointly held by Briton Neil Hodgson and American Colin Edwards.

Biaggi leads the championship on 307pts, with a comfortable 37pt buffer back to Haslam (270), followed by Checa (172), Rea (158), Haga (151) and Corser (149). There are a maximum of 250pts up for grabs in the final five rounds. db