Sep 7, 2008 - Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) and Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) powered to the two wins in the eleventh round of the Superbike World Championship, which was held in front of 45,000 spectators at Donington Park. In difficult track and weather conditions, the Australian won the first race, but then crashed out in the second, leaving his Japanese rival to take his third win of the year.
Race 1 became complicated as a track that was drying out caused more than several riders to fall in the initial laps, which in turn left an excess of oil on the track leading to a red flag after just nine laps. The race was restarted, with the remaining riders lining up on the grid again, in the order in which they had completed those first laps, meaning that Bayliss restarted in second and Fabrizio in tenth place. Troy battled it out at the front against wild-card rider Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) and ultimately reigned supreme - despite a gutsy performance from Sykes.
Race 2 was declared wet just mintes from the the start, with heavy rain falling in the opening laps that then eased off as the race progressed and Kiyonari was back at the front after his crash in race 1. The Honda rider took his third win of the season, holding off a late surge from Cal Crutchlow (HM Plant Honda). The final podium slot went to a battered and bruised Corser, who finished his difficult weekend with a gutsy third place. James Ellison (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda) was fourth, ahead of Italians Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) and Biaggi. The race was held in the pouring rain, and the tricky conditions caught out Bayliss, who crashed while in second place. Race 2 was again disappointing for Neukirchner and Checa, while Haga was black-flagged for not coming in for a ride-through penalty.
Troy Bayliss - Ducati Xerox - 1st/DNF I'm really happy to have finally taken a win at Donington today (in Race 1) after all the years that I've been coming here! Then in Race 2 I was feeling equally good at the start, even though the rain was so heavy I almost thought they might cancel it a couple of laps in. But conditions improved and I felt comfortable so at a certain point, when it looked like Kiyo might have been starting to have a bit of trouble, I thought I could push bit harder and try to catch him. Unfortunately though I lost the back at a certain point and came off at a pretty fast speed, though luckily I haven't hurt myself. We've improved on our points lead overall and we leave here with an advantage of 101 points over Corser and 105 over Neukirchner which was our aim for this round so we're all very happy with that.
Race 1 Highlights
Race 2 Highlights
Ryuichi Kiyonari - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda - DNF/1st It was very difficult for me, the race was hard and I made a few mistakes because I pushed very hard. At the start of the race it was just too wet, which made things even more difficult, but I had a good setting and a good machine. The last ten laps were even tougher because Cal was getting closer and closer all the time!
Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox - DNF/5th I can say I'm satisfied with the results of this weekend's work in the sense that I've gained more valuable points with my Race 2 result. We were lucky that the championship organisers gave us extra time to change tyres before that race started though! I needed a few laps to build up confidence with the tyre and at the start visibility was also extremely bad, but once the rain eased a bit I was able to start passing some of the others. I'm sorry for Race 1 because I was going well before the restart but then in "part 2" of that race, I simply slid, without hurting myself thankfully, and we unfortunately couldn't continue.
Tom Sykes - Rizla Suzuki - 2nd/10th The first part of race one all went to plan and it was fantastic. I was watching the time on my board increasing with Troy behind and I felt I had good pace. The red flag was frustrating but I hid it well and composed myself. I got a clean start grabbing the hole-shot, but a slide and an incident at the Esses allowed Troy to get past me and then get away. Race two was a tough one but what can you do in conditions like that, I just kept it steady as I was struggling for grip. Overall it has been a good day, I've taken a podium at World level, we've gained some valuable wet settings and I'm now looking to Croft. I'd like to say a big thank you to all of the Rizla Suzuki team and the fans, this has been a brilliant experience.
Leon Haslam - HM Plant Honda - 8th/DNF I'm very disappointed with the results to be honest, but it's tinged with the fact that I've shown once more today that I can run with a World-class field, as I've done in the past. A podium was ours in the re-started race one until Robbie Rolfo took me down with a rash move up into the Foggy Esses. I came back as strong as I could, but that was as high up as I could finish. In race two again I was holding a strong fourth when I went down at the Old Hairpin and that was that. We've got to move on from this now and look to Croft where I'm chasing second in the Bennetts British Superbike title.
Cal Crutchlow - HM Plant Honda - DNF/2nd This result is going to Jonesy - my good mate Craig Jones. Obviously I was disappointed in the first outing with the problem I had, but I so wanted to make amends in race two, which I did. I was confident of catching Kiyo when we were clear of the pack, but as soon as I got close I was getting spray and debris on my visor so it was difficult to close on him to make a pass. Discretion is the better part of valour and eventually I decided to stick in second and get a good result for HM Plant Honda and myself. Thanks to the team for all the hard work they put in this weekend.
Max Biaggi - Sterilgarda Ducati - 3rd/6th In race-1 I had some problem in the first part because of a lack of rear grip. I took advantage of the first stop in order to make a change which has proved to be good. Since that time I was able to be forceful and after all I took the third place. In race-2 I performed very well despite the really hard condition of the track. For the forth time in a row I finish on the podium, race by race I increase the feeling with the motorbike and I hope to give a win to the team within the end of the season.
Ruben Xaus - Sterilgrada Ducati - DNF/8th I'm really sorry to have lost the podium in race-1. I think that this rule is deeply wrong because it took away from me a result taken on the track. In race-2 I had an hitch at the electronic gear after just a couple of laps. I was forced to shift closing the gas and so losing precious time.
Troy Corser - Yamaha Italia - DNF/3rd This is one of the toughest weekends we have had, and the conditions have been quite slippery in qualifying. I have had lots of crashes so I am pretty sore. Thanks to the guys in the team who have done a great job repairing the bike each time and putting me back on the track. I don't know how many spares the team has left after this meeting!
Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Italia - DNF/DNF In race two I knew I had to come in for a ride through penalty but there was so much spray in the early laps I could not see if there was a board out for me. So I came in to do my ride through on my own. I restarted out of pitlane and then I saw a black flag for me. I could not understand it as I had already done my ride through. But not when they wanted me to, apparently. So I had to pull in. Not a good day for me but thanks to all in the team for all the hard work, and for the support from the fans.
Yukio Kagayama - Alstare Suzuki - 5th/19th This day was very difficult, just like the whole weekend! I am almost pleased with fifth position in the first race, but for me, fifth is not good enough! Because we had no dry track time, we had to guess what dry settings to use and so the bike was not as good as it could've been. So I think that to finish fifth after qualifying 24th is maybe not so bad. In race two, we changed to full wets and a wet set-up after the rain came down while we were on the grid and I always knew it would be a very long and difficult 23 laps. Just like Friday and Saturday, I could feel no grip at the rear, so I just had to ride round and try and get to the end of the race. This is not my style and so I am not happy, but when you feel the bike aquaplaning and slipping in the corners, it is hard to ride. Our engineers now have a lot of data to analyse and think about and I hope that they find solutions to our problems.
Fonsi Nieto - Suzuki Alstare - 7th/DNF Like everybody else, I think, I used slicks on the front and rear in race one and although we didn't have a good dry set-up, I managed seventh, which is not too bad considering I started from 23rd on the grid. I would prefer to forget race two! All weekend we've had problems with rear grip and we never found any set-up that worked well. I really found it hard just keeping upright in race two and after 18 laps I decide to pull in because otherwise I am sure I would've crashed. For me this was a weekend to forget.
Max Neukirchner - Suzuki Alsare - DNF/14th Not all of the track was dry in the first race and I was a bit unlucky because I hit a puddle and high-sided and that was that. Our dry set-up was a gamble, because there had not been any dry track time in the past two days and we had to take a chance - like everybody else. But still, I was angry because I had crashed and could not continue. The conditions in race two were very difficult and the track was very, very slippery and I had no rear grip at all - just like yesterday and Friday! When the rain fell while we were on the grid, we had to put on wet tyres and soften the suspension, but it wasn't anyway near a good set-up and I struggled throughout the race. It has been a frustrating weekend for us all, so I hope the next round in Vallelunga will be better - and dry!
Shinichi Nakatomi - YZF Yamaha - 13th/18th The conditions were difficult in race one. We made a mistake when we decided to use intermediate tyres, when the other riders used slicks. After ten laps, my feeling with the bike was coming better. For the second race, we changed a few things on the setting of the bike. In this race, I did my best on this very wet and difficult race track.
