Brno World Superbike Insider 2011

Marco Melandri, Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa are fast developing into the ‘Aliens’ of WSB. Between them they have won a total of 13 of the 16 races so far in 2011, including the last eight. And if their performance at Brno was anything to go by, their domination of the championship is only set to continue.

World champion Max Biaggi arrived in Brno as the favorite. Having won his first race of 2011 at Aragon three weeks earlier, he was back on form and at a track where he has positively excelled throughout his illustrious career. Since 1993 Biaggi has won at Brno more than any other track, having secured a total of 11 wins in 250GP, 500GP, MotoGP and now WSB.

But while his weekend performance was worthy of a five-time world champion it wasn’t quite perfect. Despite leading off the line and for nine laps, Biaggi could not shake the fiercely determined Melandri. It’s been well publicized that the two men are not the best of friends, and on track they swapped places with regularity. While some of the moves were hard, there was never a lack of respect. In the end Biaggi could not make a break, and when Melandri hit the front he held his line to secure his third win of his World Superbike career for the Yamaha squad.

“As soon as I saw Max [Biaggi] leading at the beginning I tried to push very hard,” said Melandri. “I managed to catch him and my plan was to pass him as soon as I could. The tires were starting to slide around but I got to the front. From then on whenever Max passed me I tried to pass him back as fast as possible. The grip was not very good and the bike was moving around. The pace was slow but as soon as I saw the other guys I could see they were sliding like me and I was happy about that. This is an important win in my career and I feel proud to be in WSB.”

In contrast Biaggi remained philosophical about his defeat, putting the fact that he was unable to challenge down to a technical problem with two laps to go.

“I don’t know what happened,” Biaggi said. “But as I entered one of the turns my rear wheel locked and I ran wide. This is something that has never happened before, but it cost me some time. I pushed hard to come back but Melandri’s bike was working well and there was not enough time.”

While lining up for Race 2 the significance of Melandri’s Race 1 victory and the possibility that he could take the double was obvious. A double defeat by Melandri at Brno would have been hard for Biaggi to stomach, but like Aragon the 39-year-old Italian raised the bar yet again to fight with and beat Melandri by 0.222 seconds.

“This is an important result,” Biaggi said. “It’s just too bad for the first race. I lost it by two-tenths, otherwise it could have been a double.”

While it wasn’t the best day for Championship leader Carlos Checa, the Spanish rider left Brno more than satisfied having fought at the front and secured two third-place finishes. Before the start of the weekend Checa was fearful of his chances at the Czech Republic circuit, citing the long straights and uphill drag at the end of the lap which makes big BHP crucial for fast lap times. However, despite clearly being down on speed in these two crucial areas, Checa gleaned every ounce of performance from himself and his Althea Ducati around the rest of the track to ensure he was competitive in both races.

In the championship stakes are heating up. Biaggi’s two wins and two second-place results in last four rounds have dented Checa’s seemingly unassailable championship lead. Checa remains in control, but instead of a 72-point advantage he enjoyed after Misano in June, his lead has been slashed to just 30 points with five rounds remaining.
Italian Michel Fabrizio showed that there is still life in the old Alstare Suzuki yet by securing back to back fourth-place finishes with factory Yamaha man Eugene Laverty taking fifth in both outings. After qualifying on the front row, Laverty looked likely to be the only man capable of running with the three ‘aliens’ of WSB, but his challenge did not materialize, which he put down to an acute lack of speed from his R1 in both races.

The best rides of the day for BMW came from Ayrton Badovini. The 25-year-old Italian embarrassed the factory team once again by out-qualifying and out-racing them to secure two sixth-place finishes. In comparison, lone factory BMW rider Leon Haslam finished eighth and seventh in the two races. Haslam’s teammate, Troy Corser, attended the Brno race but did not ride. The 38-year-old Australian is still recovering from his broken forearm sustained in Race 2 at Aragon.

Two-time world champion James Toseland made his return to WSB following his serious wrist injury, but is still far from being fully fit. He was only able to ride in the opening free practice session before being substituted by Italian Lorenzo Lanzi.

In Supersport British rider Gino Rea claimed his first ever world championship race win after a race long battle with Frenchman Fabien Foret before the race was stopped on Lap 16. However, the big winner of the weekend was Yamaha rider Chaz Davies, who moved 36 points clear at the top of the standings after securing a well-earned third place. Meanwhile, his main championship rival, Broc Parkes, crashed out.

Away from the track it was a significant weekend for the future of the World Superbike Championship. Top teams met with the FIM (Federation of International Motorsport) and WSB organizers Infront to discuss future regulations and possible cost-cutting initiatives. Although there were no definitive decisions, it’s believed some of the topics discussed included one bike per rider, controlled testing and limited engines per season.