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Sensational weekend at Misano for the Dark dog riders
Leon maintains his podium at every round, Sylvain scores his best result of the year
Misano, San Marino:
The eighth round of this yearīs Superbike World Championship took place at Misano Adriatico near to Rimini. The 4.226km long circuit was built in 1972, and completely renovated and modernized in 2007 with a capacity of around 60,000 spectators. It has been almost a month since Team Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli last raced, but that does not mean that they and the team have been idle.
The first day of qualifying ended for Team Suzuki Alstare with different feelings. Rider Leon Haslam finished with the third fastest lap, his team mate Silvain Guintoli ended up as 12th quickest but wasnīt happy at all with his performance.
After taking sixth and seventh at the frantic final Superpole session with a little crash of Silvain who was hit by Troy and few issues with electronics on Leonīs bike, the DARK DOG riders started the pair of 24-lap races side by side on row two of the grid. The team was happy about its grid positions after the little problems throughout the weekend and Leon could even maintain his impressive runs of at least a podium in every round on race day.
Still struggeling with some clutch/electronic problems, Leon was fighting hard and finally took eighth place in race one. His team came up with some ideas to improve the bike for race two and fortunately they worked and enabled a normal competition for Leon. After having started seventh on the grid, he battled up to a superb second place only four seconds behind Max Biaggi, and his eleventh podium of the season in total! Leonīs team mate Sylvain had his best result of the year, since the opening round in Australia, Phillip Island, back in February. He finished race one on 5th and race two on 6 th position.
DARK DOG - the official Energy Drink provider - congratulates his riders and hopes that Leon and Sylvain are going to keep fighting for more sensational result with MORE ENERGY at Brno, Czech Republic.
Leon Haslam
Race 1: 8th, Race 2: 2nd
After the issues we've had this weekend (to do with the clutch and electronics) I thought that 8th in race one was probably the best we'd get this weekend. But, all credit to the team because they went back to a setting that we used in USA and South Africa and the bike was much better in the second race. Race two felt like normal and the bike felt a million times better than in race one, but I've got so many blisters on my hands because I was trying so hard. I took a lap or two too long to pass Troy Corser and Michel Fabrizio in the second race and by then Max was too far ahead to catch. Max is riding well and the Aprilia is currently the package to beat, but I'm confident that, as long as we all work hard, we can beat him. We do all our own development work and it's because of all the hard work, that we are competitive. I'm going to keep fighting for more and podiums. That was my aim before the season began, and it's still the same now.
Sylvain Guintoli
Race 1: 5th, Race 2: 6th
Well this has been a pretty good weekend for me and I feel I am now becoming a better Superbike rider. This championship is so competitive that you have to be right on your game in every practice, qualifying and race and it's not something that comes easily - it requires a lot of work, from me and the team. That's not to say that we have not been working hard up to now, because we have been working hard. It's just that WSBK is different to BSB and I have to work in a different way. Today, I had a better feeling with the bike in race one, but funnily enough my lap times were better in race two! The good news though, is that today I had the podium pace and I really enjoyed my racing. Now, I just need to keep this feeling up and be even more competitive next time. Next up is Brno. It is a track I know and like a lot, so I am expecting a lot.
Results / Race 1
1 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia)
2 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati)
3 Troy Corser (AUS-BMW)
4 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati)
5 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare)
6 Leon Camier (GBR-Aprilia) ...
8 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) ...
Results / Race 2
1 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia)
2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare)
3 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati)
4 Cal Crutchlow (GBR-Yamaha)
5 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati)
6 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare)
7 Shane Byrne (GBR-Ducati) ...
Overall standing
1 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia) 307
2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) 270
3 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati) 172
4 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda) 158
5 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Ducati) 151
6 Troy Corser (AUS-BMW)149 ...
11 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare) 116 ...
