WSBK heads to fresh pasture

The Superbike World Championship heads into uncharted territory this weekend, when round seven is held at road racing’s newest centrepiece – Motorland Aragon in Spain.

And the fresh surroundings may have just come at the ideal time for Australia’s Troy Corser, who is now in the middle of a rocky road which has seen him finish just one of the last four races, for a best result of 13th.

The last round at Misano was particularly a bitter pill to swallow for the two-time world champion, who came out all guns blazing in practice on his factory BMW only to crash in opening qualifying, which left him with heavy bruising. The Wollongong ace tried to race, but he just wasn’t in a fit enough state for battle.

Corser has fallen to 15th in the championship during the slump, and is looking forward to adding some confidence-boosting points on the board at Aragon.

“The Motorland Aragón circuit reminds me a little bit of Portimão in Portugal, with lots of blind crests and corners, long off-camber corners and up and down sections,” said Corser. It is a quite technical track to get the bike to work at. I am looking forward to going there.

“Unfortunately my last race day in Misano was short, due to my injuries. But now I have nearly one week to rest and recover. And with that, I am confident that all will be okay in Aragón.”

While Misano was a forgettable one for Corser, it was something of a watershed for his Kawasaki-backed countryman Chris Vermeulen, who completed a full race weekend -- albeit with a shortened race two – for the first time this year, scoring points in both races.

The outing certainly stretched the former world Supersport champion’s endurance, but he’s at least now racking up plenty of miles as he begins the slow process of returning to peak form and fitness.

And Vermeulen tested at Aragon the other week while his contemporaries were racing in America, so he should be ready to push hard from opening practice on Friday morning.

“We did alright at Misano with a couple of point-scoring results,” said Vermeulen. “We did get a bit lucky with a few guys going down, but the team did a really good job.

“I was a bit sore after the races, and it wasn’t easy getting through the whole program. But it’s onwards and upwards from here. If we can improve from this, we’ll be looking good by the end of the year.”

At 5.345km, Aragon is the second longest circuit on the calendar, and lap times for the top riders are expected to be around the one-minute 53-second mark.

And the huge crowd – Spanish interest in WSBK is growing all the time -- will be expecting to witness the continuation of local hero Carlos Checa’s all-conquering season, which has already seen him roll the opposition in eight of the 12 races.

The Troy Bayliss-like output already has him 72pts in front on his Ducati, with world champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia) leading the chasing pack from Marco Melandri (Yamaha), Eugene Laverty (Yamaha) and Leon Haslam (BMW).

Other Aragon aspirants will include Leon Camier (Aprilia) and Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki), while Honda’s star turn Jonathan Rea will miss after breaking his arm and collarbone at Misano last Sunday.

In world Supersport, Australian Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) will head into Aragon galvanised by his first victory of he year at Misano, which saw him move into the championship lead at ahead of Yamaha’s Chaz Davies.

Parkes defeated Honda pair Fabien Foret and Sam Lowes last Sunday, and both will again be in the thick of it at Aragon, as well as Davies and his Italian team-mate Luca Scassa.

There will be live coverage on SPEED at 7:30pm on June 19.

WORLD SUPERBIKE STANDINGS (AFTER ROUND 6 OF 13):
1 Carlos Checa, Spain, Ducati 245
2 Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia 173
3 Marco Melandri, Italy, Yamaha 150
4 Eugene Laverty, Great Britain, Yamaha 123
5 Leon Haslam, Great Britain, BMW 106
6 Leon Camier, Great Britain, Aprilia 101
7 Michel Fabrizio, Italy, Suzuki 95
8 Jonathan Rea, Great Britain, Honda 94
9 Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic, Ducati 83
10= Sylvain Guintoli, France, Ducati 72
10= Ayrton Badovini, Italy, BMW 72
15 Troy Corser, Australia, BMW 49
19 Mark Aitchison, Australia, Kawasaki 9
20 Chris Vermeulen, Australia, Kawasaki 8