Corser back in the WSBK fast lane

Australia’s Troy Corser is back in business in the world superbike title.

Armed with a new-spec BMW engine at Brno, the rejuvenated double world champion not only made it to the final stanza of Superpole for the first time this year, but he also led the for the opening two laps of race one before eventually finishing fifth.

He then backed it up with a solid 10th in race two, sending an ominous warning to his rivals that he will be a threat for the remainder of 2009 before a full-blown championship tilt in 2010.

“I’m generally pretty happy with how the weekend has gone and it’s been good to be consistently in the top seven or eight in every session and also qualify for the final Superpole,” said Corser.

“I feel so much more comfortable on the bike now, and don’t feel as worn out afterwards as I have been. The recent tests have helped us a lot and it’s good to know that we are going in the right direction and it’s also good to know that there’s more to come.

“It’s a shame that (his teammate) Ruben (Xaus) crashed because I’m sure that he would’ve been right up there in both races. He is as happy with the rideability of the bike as I am and both of us are really beginning to enjoy ourselves.”

The winners at Brno were Max Biaggi (Aprilia) and American Ben Spies (Yamaha), with the latter’s hopes of overtaking the beleaguered Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) in the championship sabotaged by Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) in race one.

Fabrizio, Haga’s teammate, was dicing with Spies when he lost the front end at a high speed left-hander, also taking out the blameless American.

That left the veteran Biaggi out in front from Honda teammates Carlos Checa and Jonathan Rea, and he regulated the lead beautifully to score Aprilia’s first win in the category since 2001, and his first since his debut season in 2007.

Aprilia only returned to world superbike combat this year after a six-year self-imposed exile.

“It’s great! What can I say,” said Biaggi.

“When I crossed the start-finish I was so happy to be winning this race and I had so many flashbacks of Brno.

“Of course I don’t want to take anything away from Spies and Fabrizio, they were both very fast, but I remember Barry Sheene used to say ‘To finish first, first you have to finish’ and this is a part of the deal. I put my head down and did not make any mistake, so a big thanks to all my crew, Aprilia and in particular Gigi Dall’Igna, the ‘papa’ of our bike.”

Meanwhile, Corser was in fourth position for most of race one before a persistent Shane Byrne (Ducati) finally got past with five laps to go.

In the second 18-lapper, Spies led all the way for his 11th win of the year, but he couldn’t afford to ease up with Biaggi and Fabrizio waiting to pounce on any small error.

"Race two was a tough race, Fabrizio was right there at the start so I had to make the push and put in the lap times to get ahead,” said Spies.

“Then I saw Max (Biaggi) was up there, he arrived really quickly so I had to start braking very late and stopping almost in the middle of the corner and turning and getting a really good drive out so he couldn't come by me. It was a great race.

“Obviously the first race wasn't so good, but we came back well for the second which was good for the points. I want to thank Yamaha. It gave me a great bike, it's a shame we didn't get to fight for the first race, but I guess that's just how it goes sometimes."

Spies trimmed Haga’s lead to 7pts (326 to 319) at Brno, with the brave Japanese rider eighth and sixth while still battling injuries, particularly a broken scapula, from a bad fall in the last round at Donington.

Haga really rallied in race two, holding off a snarling pack of riders, including Tom Sykes (Yamaha), Byrne and Jakub Smrz (Ducati), all battling for that sixth position.

Rea and Checa were fourth and fifth in race two, shuffled back down the pecking order with the return of Spies and Fabrizio.

Newcastle’s Broc Parkes was 12th and 16th on his factory Kawasaki, after two big crashes on Saturday cost his valuable set-up time.

"It’s been an up-and-down weekend as the bike was working really well here on Friday, but the two crashes set us back on our bike set-up and made us miss out on moving up the grid during Superpole," said Parkes.

“Starting that far back is always hard and I didn’t get a good start in race one so to end up 12th was a bit of luck due to a few crashes at the front.

“In race two I didn't get a good start again which was a shame as we had much better lap times and rear grip which would have put us in the top ten had we qualified better.

“Overall I feel disappointed things didn't work out as well as we'd hoped as we could have been a definite top ten here in Brno for both races."

In world supersport, Anthony West (second) and Garry McCoy (eighth) were the Aussie bright spots, with the former just missing out on the win by just 0.148secs.

West was sensational, moving forward from a third row start, just falling short of French veteran Fabien Foret (Yamaha), with Spain’s Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) third.

“Halfway through the race I felt really good and it was a strong race for our team, especially to take a podium result into the summer break,” said West.

“We did some good work this weekend. After I got past Laverty I just felt stronger and it’s been great to get this result back again and improve my confidence.”

Foret’s teammate and championship leader, Cal Crutchlow, looked to be a certain winner before his Yamaha expired three laps from the finish.

World champion Andrew Pitt (Honda) was a distant 10th as his campaign continues to tread a bumpy path, while his countrymen Jason O’Halloran and Mark Aitchison both crashed.

Round 11 will be held at Nurburgring from September 4-6.

BRNO RESULTS

Superbike race one: 20 laps
1 Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia
2 Carlos Checa, Spain, Honda + 3.631
3 Jonathan Rea, UK, Honda +9.948
4 Shane Byrne, UK, Ducati +12.952
5 Troy Corser, Australia, BMW +14.599
6 Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic, Ducati +19.359
7 Leon Haslam, UK, Honda +19.680
8 Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Yamaha +20.731
9 Matthieu Lagrive, France, Honda + 21.923
10 Makota Tamada, Japan, Kawasaki +27.807
12 Broc Parkes, Australia, Suzuki +36.531

20 finishers, seven DNFs
Fastest lap: Michel Fabrizio (Italy, Ducati) – 2:00.116

Superbike race two: 20 laps
1 Ben Spies, America, Yamaha 294
2 Biaggi
3 Fabrizio
4 Rea
5 Checa
6 Haga
7 Tom Sykes, UK, Yamaha 141
8 Byrne
9 Smrz
10 Corser
16 Parkes

20 finishers, seven DNFs, one DNS
Fastest lap: Biaggi – 1:59.961

Superbike standings (after round 10 of 14):
1  Haga 326
2  Spies 319
3  Fabrizio 273
4  Rea 206
5 Biaggi 200
6  Haslam 180
7  Sykes 150
8 Checa 145
9 Byrne 134
10 Smrz 132
16  Corser 53
18  Parkes 31

Supersport race: 18 laps
1 Fabien Foret, France, Yamaha
2 Anthony West, Australia, Honda +0.148
3 Joan Lascorz, Spain, Kawasaki +0.289
4 Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan, Kawasaki + 0.400
5 Eugene Laverty, Ireland, Honda 150 + 6.823
6 Sheridan Morais, South Africa, Yamaha +14.896
7 Massimo Roccoli, Italy, Honda +15.092
8 Garry McCoy, Australia, Triumph +15.634
9 Kenan Sofuoglu, Turkey, Honda +18.592
10 Andrew Pitt, Australia, Honda +29.679
DNF Jason O’Halloran, Australia, Honda +2 laps
DNF Mark Aitchison, Australia, Honda +11 laps

Current supersport standings (after round 10 of 13)
1 Cal Crutchlow, UK, Yamaha 185
2  Laverty 168
3  Sofuoglu 128
4  Lascorz 122
5 West 95
6 Foret 88
7  Pitt 85
8 McCoy 63
9  Aitchison 61
10 Fujiwara 52

Click the following link for full results from round 10 of the Superbike World Championship.

Next round: September 4-6, Nurburgring, Germany