Troy Corser secured his fourth podium of the 2008 season after scoring second in race one, while his team-mate Noriyuki Haga overcame the pain and weakness of his multiple right collarbone fracture to take sixth place in race two, despite suffering yet another crash in the opening race at Miller Motorsports Park. In the first event, delayed by a starting grid mix-up between a few riders, Corser was only 2.8 seconds from his first win in Yamaha race colours, pushing hard once settled into position behind eventual leader Carlos Checa. He was a strong podium finisher, almost four seconds ahead of third placed rider, Michel Fabrizio. Haga's bravery was rewarded for a time with a strong top five position, but he fell on lap six, luckily on the other side from his broken right collarbone. Shortly after, championship leader Troy Bayliss also fell, causing the following Corser to take sharp avoiding action. In the second race, again won by Checa, Haga was running fifth for much of the time, but got passed by Yukio Kagayama on the last lap. Corser was lying third until he fell on lap 17, losing the front on a fast left-hander, and he was unable to restart his machine. Bayliss had to withdraw from race two, scoring no points and throwing the championship wide open again. Haga is now fifth overall, on 122 points, with Corser one place back, on 121.
Team YZF Yamaha rider Shinichi Nakatomi posted a 16th place finish in race one, just missing points, while Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) was 18th in race one, 17th in race two. David Checa was forced to retire on lap seven of race one and did not race in the second outing due to his recent injury. Troy Corser (2nd and DNF - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "The first race was pretty good and even the second one was going well although I was having to ride hard in the corners to make up the time. So I pushed a bit too hard. We changed the fork settings between race one and race two and it was better, but it gave a bit less warning. I felt I could have had another podium in that race. Race one was a good confidence booster but I just made a slowish start." Noriyuki Haga (DNF and 6th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "In race one I lost grip in the same corner as I did on Saturday. I think I opened the throttle a bit too much at maximum lean angle. In the end it was impossible for me to do more than I did in the second race. I scored ten points more than Troy Bayliss so that is the most important thing. Now I will have an operation to pin my collarbone and be ready for the next race. I was happy to race today because nobody thought I would be able to." Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "What Noriyuki did was like a miracle; I don't remember anything like it. Probably he will go to California tomorrow to get an operation on his collarbone. Now we are waiting to see if we can schedule in the operation. Today we saw the Troy that we saw in the first two races of the year and I am very pleased about that. He really deserved his podium in race one. The championship is still open and we will start to make up more ground from the next race." Martial Garcia (Team Manager Team YZF Yamaha) "Our choice of tyres was optimistic in race two and after ten laps it was finished. This tyre would have been good if the temperature was higher. We tried an 'A' solution and it was a gamble - but we lost. The bike was good and the top speed was fine, but we tried to make a jump and it was too much." Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 37'4.991 2, Troy Corser, Yamaha, AUS, 0'2.809 3, Michel Fabrizio, Ducati, ITA, 0'6.546 4, Max Neukirchner, Suzuki, GER, 0'7.764 5, Fonsi Nieto, Suzuki, ESP, 0'16.475 6, Jakub Smrz, Ducati, CZE, 0'17.126 7, Karl Muggeridge, Honda, AUS, 0'17.284 8, Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, JPN, 0'17.416 9, Max Biaggi, Ducati, ITA, 0'18.117 10, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, JPN, 0'20.467 11, Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati, ITA, 0'21.742 12, Kenan Sofuoglu, Honda, TUR, 0'27.533 13, Gregorio Lavilla, Honda, ESP, 0'32.609 14, Ruben Xaus, Ducati, ESP, 0'33.165 15, Russel Holland, Honda, AUS, 0'34.182 16, Shinichi Nakatomi, Yamaha, JPN, 0'34.500 17, Ayrton Badovini, Kawasaki, ITA, 0'36.155 18, Sebastien Gimbert, Yamaha, FRA, 0'41.685 19, Makoto Tamada, Kawasaki, JPN, 0'43.579 20, Roberto Rolfo, Honda, ITA, 0'54.195 21, Jason Pridmore, Honda, USA, 1'0.388 22, Vittorio Iannuzzo, Kawasaki, ITA, 1'2.104 23, Scott Jenson, Suzuki, USA, 1'9.953 24, Loic Napoleone, Yamaha, FRA, 1'12.258 Race 2 - 21 Laps Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 38'44.105 2, Max Neukirchner, Suzuki, GER, 0'3.547 3, Michel Fabrizio, Ducati, ITA, 0'6.613 4, Max Biaggi, Ducati, ITA, 0'7.878 5, Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, JPN, 0'10.568 6, Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, JPN, 0'11.539 7, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, JPN, 0'18.381 8, Fonsi Nieto, Suzuki, ESP, 0'20.646 9, Regis Laconi, Kawasaki, FRA, 0'21.264 10, Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati, ITA, 0'24.863 11, Karl Muggeridge, Honda, AUS, 0'25.672 12, Ayrton Badovini, Kawasaki, ITA, 0'31.711 13, Makoto Tamada, Kawasaki, JPN, 0'35.628 14, Kenan Sofuoglu, Honda, TUR, 0'42.816 15, Gregorio Lavilla, Honda, ESP, 0'45.034 16, Roberto Rolfo, Honda, ITA, 0'50.220 17, Sebastien Gimbert, Yamaha, FRA, 0'50.653 18, Jason Pridmore, Honda, USA, 0'51.188 19, Vittorio Iannuzzo, Kawasaki, ITA, 1'4.533 20, Scott Jenson, Suzuki, USA, 1'12.049 21, Loic Napoleone, Yamaha, FRA, 1'19.221 Rider Standings 01/06/2008 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Points 1, Troy Bayliss, Ducati, AUS, 194 2, Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 166 3, Max Neukirchner, Suzuki, GER, 144 4, Fonsi Nieto, Suzuki, ESP, 126 5, Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, JPN, 122 6, Troy Corser, Yamaha, AUS, 121 7, Ruben Xaus, Ducati, ESP, 92 8, Michel Fabrizio, Ducati, ITA, 87 9, Max Biaggi, Ducati, ITA, 85 10, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, JPN, 80 11, Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, JPN, 73 12, Gregorio Lavilla, Honda, ESP, 63 13, Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati, ITA, 60 14, Jakub Smrz, Ducati, CZE, 51 15, Karl Muggeridge, Honda, AUS, 49 20, Shinichi Nakatomi, Yamaha, JPN, 16 23, Sebastien Gimbert, Yamaha, FRA, 6 24, David Checa, Yamaha, ESP, 5 Manufacturer Standings 01/06/2008 Pos., Manufacturer, Points 1, Ducati, 249 2, Yamaha, 201 3, Suzuki, 191 4, Honda, 185 5, Kawasaki, 51
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