Andrew Pitt took his first ever win in the Superbike World Championship at Misano today as team-mate Noriyuki Haga gave the Yamaha Motor Italia squad its first ever double podium finish in the class. After colliding with another rider and failing to score in the opening race, the Australian rode intelligently to win race two while many top riders crashed out behind him. Making his intentions clear from the start, Pitt set the fastest lap of race two as he pulled away from the pack with world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki). When Corser crashed out on lap eight, Pitt found himself out in front of former world champions James Toseland (Honda) and Troy Bayliss (Ducati). When both Toseland and Bayliss made mistakes the Yamaha Motor Italia rider was able defend a five second lead over the battle for second, contested by Haga, Alex Barros (Honda) and Chris Walker (Kawasaki). Pitt rode sensibly to finish over two-and-a-half seconds ahead of Barros to give his team their first win of the season. Barros eventually took second place in what was a ferocious race long battle, with Haga getting the final podium spot from Walker on the last lap. Earlier in the day Haga finished fifth, his 27 point haul moving him up to second place in the championship. There were more mixed fortunes in the Yamaha Motor France camp. Norick Abe turned around a horrific qualifying session to score tenth and 13th place finishes from 22nd on the grid. Team-mate Sebastien Gimbert was 12th in race one but retired in race two, while Shinichi Nakatomi was unable to capitalize on his 13th place qualifying. The Japanese rookie crashed out of the opener and finished outside the points in the second heat.
With half of the season gone, Bayliss continues to lead the championship, 94 points ahead of Haga. Pitt's win sees him remain sixth in the championship but moves Yamaha into third place in the manufacturers standings. Round seven of the series takes place at Brno in the Czech Republic on July 23. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "It feels incredible to get that first win. I saw that Troy (Corser) was making some mistakes so I tried to keep the pressure on him. When he went down I saw that the lead was about 1.3 seconds over the next guy. For all I knew there was a big line of guys behind me so I tried to concentrate as there were a lot of laps to go. When I went past and saw 'six seconds' on my pit board I thought the mechanics had made a mistake and it was 0.6 seconds. Then, when we got down to the last five laps I knew that I could take it easier and enjoy things a bit more. It's a great feeling and I really have to thank my team. We did a lot of testing on used tyres because we knew that it was important to be consistent throughout the race. In the first race the bike was running wide on a full fuel load but for the second we completely changed the front end and run harder springs which made a big improvement." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Two very hard races. It was so hot and the tyre was gone after about five laps. I pushed very hard and spent the last 20 laps of each race fighting with the bike as well as with the other riders. I am very happy with the result though as it moves me to second in the championship. We had a good test at Brno recently so I am looking forward to riding there next month." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "To me this is the worst track! Until this morning I was so bad, always 20-something! We tried a few different settings for the race and they worked a bit better. In the first race a lot of riders fell and I gained some positions, but I think I passed about ten riders. I was losing the rear a lot in race one so we adapted the settings again for race two and in the beginning the lap times were better. In the hotter conditions in the afternoon, towards the end of the race, I was having lots of slides again and pushing the front. Compared to qualifying, it was much better." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "A very hot race but in race one I made a mistake and fell. I had a better rear tyre choice of race two and felt better in this one but did not score any points. My injuries did not give me any real problems in the race." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "A great day for us as a team and individually for our riders. I am very happy to see Andrew take his first win in superbike and I am sure this will be so important for his confidence. Nori has moved into second place in the championship and this is the first time that our team has had two riders on the same podium in superbike. I'm very proud of the progress we have made, because at the start of the season I would have said that this would be one of the worst tracks for our bike. Now our target is to ensure we maintain these results at every track between now and the end of the season." Race classification WSB Round: 6 - Misano Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.525 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Race: 25 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 40' 6.480 2 J. Toseland Honda GBR +6.493 3 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN +10.141 4 A. Barros Honda BRA +15.017 5 N. Haga Yamaha JPN +15.376 6 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA +16.763 7 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA +23.857 8 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP +34.167 9 R. Xaus Ducati ESP +35.254 10 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +35.335 11 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS +39.423 12 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA +39.609 13 F. Foret Suzuki FRA +39.755 14 V. Iannuzzo Suzuki ITA +44.065 15 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA +48.495 16 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS +48.587 Race 2: 25 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 40' 18.671 2 A. Barros Honda BRA +2.717 3 N. Haga Yamaha JPN +6.559 4 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR +7.100 5 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN +7.276 6 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA +13.916 7 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA +14.148 8 J. Toseland Honda GBR +15.065 9 R. Xaus Ducati ESP +15.434 10 F. Foret Suzuki FRA +20.579 11 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP +21.440 12 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS +23.417 13 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +25.602 14 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS +26.088 15 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA +26.712 16 V. Iannuzzo Suzuki ITA +33.556 17 S. Martin Petronas AUS +34.766 18 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN +37.406 19 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA +40.146 20 I. Clementi Ducati ITA +47.341 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 35.123 Championship standings WSB Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 254 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 160 3 James Toseland Honda GBR 157 4 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 149 5 Alex Barros Honda BRA 146 6 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 128 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 80 8 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 70 9 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 64 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 61 11 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 60 12 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 56 13 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 52 14 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 52 15 Roberto Rolfo Ducati ITA 48 18 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 18 19 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 11 Manufacturers standings WSB Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Ducati 260 2 Honda 196 3 Yamaha 189 4 Suzuki 188 5 Kawasaki 98 6 Petronas 4 WSS : Roccoli gives Yamaha breakthrough win at Misano Round: 6 - Misano Circuit: Misano Date: 25 June 2006 Crowd: 61000 Temp: 31ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Team Italia youngster Massimo Roccoli took his and the latest Yamaha YZF-R6's first world supersport win in a tough round six at Misano today. In blisteringly hot conditions, the boy from nearby Rimini held his nerve to fend off compatriot Simone Sanna (Honda) for an emotional win. The 21-year-old former Yamaha R6 cup champion led the race from lap three and showed maturity beyond his years to withstand intense pressure from the former 125cc Grand Prix winner who remained just centimetres from the Yamaha's rear wheel throughout the race. Polesitter Broc Parkes ended the race third on his Yamaha Motor Germany YZF-R6. The Australian run set a new lap record on lap two and ran with the leading duo for much of the race, only to slip back as he struggled for rear grip in the closing laps due to selecting a different rear tyre option to the majority of the grid. Yamaha GMT94's David Checa recovered from a poor start to gain his best result in the class. The Spaniard started from the front row but found himself swamped going into the first corner but fought through from tenth to take fourth at the chequered flag. Kevin Curtain had a tough weekend on the other Yamaha Motor Germany machine. Last year's runner-up was forced to start from the fourth row of the grid after being plagued by set-up problems during qualifying. The Australian was further hampered by a bout of sickness on race day but he was still able to ride a gritty and professional race to sixth place, keeping his hopes of lifting the championship well and truly alive. In a good day for the R6 riders, Yamaha Team Italia's Gianluca Vizziello ended the race seventh after being passed by Curtain on the final lap. Spanish privateer Xavi Fores made it six Yamahas in the top ten and continued his fantastic season with tenth position on his SLM Racing-entered machine. World champion Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) retains his place at the head of the leader board, despite missing the race at Misano through injury. He leads Curtain by the reduced gap of 30 points. Parkes is third, 12 points behind his team-mate, with Roccoli a further three points behind in fifth. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) "It's incredible. My bike was perfect today. I went fast from the first lap and pushed hard for the whole race. I had no problems with arm pump like in previous races and I knew from Friday that I could have a good race here. I hoped for a podium but I did not expect to win. I was not sure if Sanna could pass me on the last lap so I just pushed as hard as I could. I'm very happy for the team and my fans and want to thank them for their support." Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) "That was such hard work it feels like I've ridden about three races out there! I just struggled for rear grip today. I knew after about four or five laps that it was going to be tough and I had a lot of slides and big moments. I could see that Roccoli and Sanna had a lot more grip than me and I just had to settle for third. Maybe we could have chosen a different rear tyre and that would have improved things. Third is not a bad result, but I felt that we could have got more than that today." David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) "I am still too used to the bigger bikes I race in endurance. I was fifth into the first corner but then I got pushed wide by Harms, then I was pushed wide by Sofuoglu, so I decided that I should keep my tyres and get by those guys later. I had a soft front set-up to conserve the tyre in this heat. If there were more laps left I would have caught up with Broc in front, because he had killed his tyre at the end." Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) "We have had problems with the front this weekend, and we thought it was one thing, but it wasn't so we went the wrong way with set-up for two days. We had a bit of a change of set-up overnight and things seemed better, but by this time we had not had a chance to test which tyre was going to go the distance for the race. I ran out of rear grip and I think Broc was in the same boat. I woke up this morning and I wondered who was rocking the motorhome! I went to the Clinica Mobile and I was all right before the race - and when you get on the bike you forget everything anyway." Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha Team Italia) "I did my best today. I had a good start but when I pushed hard the bike started sliding and I lost the riders in front of me. With seven laps to go tyre was really finished so I decided to stay in my position and score some good championship points." Race classification WSS Round: 6 - Misano Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 37.628 (Broc Parkes, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 36.846 (Simone Sanna, 2003) Race: 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 37' 55.059 2 S. Sanna Honda ITA +0.242 3 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS +4.936 4 D. Checa Yamaha ESP +6.492 5 R. Harms Honda DNK +9.805 6 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS +10.147 7 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA +13.168 8 K. Sofuoglu Honda TUR +14.740 9 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE +16.107 10 X. Fores Yamaha ESP +19.665 11 M. Berger Kawasaki FRA +19.835 12 W. De Angelis Honda ITA +24.121 13 M. Lagrive Honda FRA +24.221 14 A. Vos Honda NED +25.557 15 M. Sanchini Yamaha ITA +26.474 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 37.628 Championship standings WSS Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 116 2 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 86 3 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 74 4 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 74 5 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 71 6 Yoann Tibero Honda FRA 50 7 Xavi Fores Yamaha ESP 45 8 Johan Stigefelt Honda SWE 42 9 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 35 10 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 26 11 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 22 12 David Checa Yamaha ESP 21 13 Joshua Brookes Ducati AUS 21 14 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 20 15 Christian Zaiser Ducati AUT 15 32 Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 2 Manufacturers standings WSS Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 145 2 Yamaha 118 3 Ducati 34 4 Kawasaki 32 5 Suzuki 10 Superstock : More points for Corti in Misano Round: 4 - Misano Circuit: Misano Date: 25 June 2006 Crowd: 61000 Temp: 28ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Team Italia rider Claudio Corti brought his YZF-R1 SP home fifth in a dramatic fourth round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup at Misano. Starting from the front row, the 18-year-old Italian led briefly in the opening stages before slipping back as he struggled with set-up problems. After crashing in the morning warm-up, the current European Superstock 600 Champion was forced to race with his spare bike and was unable to exactly replicate the settings of his preferred machine. Corti spent most of the race battling for third with Luca Scassa (MV Agusta), Brendan Roberts (Suzuki) and Riccardo Chiarello (Kawasaki) but looked set for sixth until picking up a position on the final lap, when Chiarello slid off. The Yamaha rider took to the grass but stayed upright to gain 11 championship points. Corti now lies fourth in the championship, on 50 points. The championship top three was reflected in today's race. Alessandro Polita (Suzuki) was the runaway winner and now leads the championship by 27 points from today's second placed rider, Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta). Scassa eventually claimed the third spot on the Misano rostrum to move one point ahead of Corti in the championship standings, in third. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) "I had a big crash in the morning practice and although I was ok the bike was very badly damaged. We didn't have enough time to repair the bike, so we had to use a spare. We didn't have enough time to set it up properly and I didn't have the same speed I had the rest of the weekend. Fifth is not so bad in the circumstances but I had wanted to do better at this circuit." Race classification FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Round: 4 - Misano Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 37.526 (Alessandro Polita, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 37.526 (Alessandro Polita, 2006) Race: 15 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Polita Suzuki ITA 24' 48.301 2 A. Badovini MV Agusta ITA +6.602 3 L. Scassa MV Agusta ITA +9.519 4 R. Roberts Suzuki AUS +10.777 5 C. Corti Yamaha ITA +18.127 6 E. Rocamora Yamaha ESP +19.192 7 S. Saltarelli Kawasaki ITA +31.703 8 M. Smrz Honda CZE +31.965 9 R. Cooper Honda GBR +32.011 10 R. Chiarello Kawasaki ITA +33.028 11 A. Martinez Mas Kawasaki ESP +34.306 12 M. Baiocco Yamaha ITA +35.749 13 C. Tangre Suzuki FRA +36.451 14 M. Jerman Suzuki SVK +37.936 15 D. Dell'omo Suzuki ITA +43.021 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Polita Suzuki ITA 1' 37.526 Championship standings FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Alessandro Polita Suzuki ITA 95 2 Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta ITA 68 3 Luca Scassa MV Agusta ITA 51 4 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 50 5 Enrique Rocamora Yamaha ESP 39 6 Riccardo Chiarello Kawasaki ITA 33 7 Alex Martinez Mas Kawasaki ESP 29 8 Denis Sacchetti Kawasaki ITA 27 9 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 23 10 Ivan Silva Kawasaki ESP 20 11 Ilario Dionisi Yamaha ITA 19 12 Simone Saltarelli Kawasaki ITA 18 13 Sheridan Morais Suzuki RSA 18 14 Richard Cooper Honda GBR 14 15 Danilo Dell'omo Suzuki ITA 14
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