Xerox Ducati’s Noriyuki Haga defied the odds yesterday to emerge from the Brno round of the 2009 World Superbike championship with his series lead intact despite riding only weeks after he fractured his right ulna and cracked his left scapula in 3 places at the Donington Park round.

After severe pain from his injured scapula (which ducatinewstoday knows full well unfortunately) meant he could qualify only 14th fastest, it seemed a foregone conclusion that unexpected pole-sitter, Yamaha’s Ben Spies, would fight for a double win and take the points lead for the first time this year.

Race 1
However Haga’s teammate, Michel Fabrizio, and a fast Max Biaggi on the new Aprilia RSV4 had other ideas. During the first race Fabrizio did Haga a huge, presumably inadvertent favor when he lost the front and took himself and Spies out of the event as you can see below.


This left Max with a lonely race win ahead of the two Ten Kate Honda machines of Carlos Checa and Jonathan Rea. Shane Byrne put in another fine performance on the Sterilgarda Ducait 1098R for 4th as did local hero Jacob Smrz who finished 6th.
Fabirzio was immediately apologetic for the crash saying he needed to remain calmer:

“I am very sorry for what happened in race one,” he said. “It was my fault, I need to stay calmer, what more can I say? Before the crash I saw that Ben was breaking early at that point of the track, so I thought I could get past him there. We’re fighting for a world title so I am angry with myself but at least neither of us were badly hurt.
link: Yahoo! Eurosport UK

This was little comfort for Spies who had been counting on a strong finish in both races in order to wrestle the lead away from Haga. Noriyuki finished a brave 8th some 21 seconds behind the victorious Biaggi. Doctor Corbascio of the Clinica Mobile continued to administer painkillers and injections to his sore shoulder during the day, doing everything possible to enable Nori to complete the race distance. The Aprilia win was the Roman’s first victory since Vallelunga in 2007 and Aprilia’s first since Laconi won in Imola 2001 on the RSV V-twin. Also of of note, Troy Corser took the BMW to 5th place, it’s best finish so far this season.

Max Biaggi: «It’s great! What can I say! When I crossed the start-finish I was so happy to be winning this race and I had so many flashbacks of Brno, I can feel that it is one of my favourite circuits. Of course I don’t want to take anything away from Spies and Fabrizio, they were both very fast, but I remember Barry Sheene used to say ‘To finish first, first you have to finish’ and this is a part of the deal. I put my head down and did not make any mistake, so a big thanks to all my crew, Aprilia and in particular Gigi Dall’Igna, the ‘papa’ of our bike!.»

Jonathan Rea: «Well, in Superpole we had to ride through the problems and get a good result and we did the same here in the race, so I feel quite fortunate to get a podium. We didn’t quite have the pace of Max, but my team have done a really good job. I really love this place, but I can’t understand why I had a slow start to the weekend.»

World Superbike Race 1 Results from Brno
1. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 40′18.306 (160,863 kph);
2. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 3.631;
3. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 9.948;
4. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 12.952;
5. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 14.599;
6. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 19.359;
7. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 19.680;
8. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 20.731;
9. Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 21.923;
10. Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 27.807;
11. Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 35.263;
12. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 36.535;
13. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 38.586;
14. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 40.061;
15. Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 40.280;
16. Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 40.641

Race 2
Spies made amends in the second race by winning but it wasn’t easy as he had to fend off race one winner Biaggi as well as Fabrizio. This time Michel behaved himself and Spies crossed the line only just tenths ahead of the 2 Italians. Haga ran an even more heroic second race to finish in sixth place, holding off a trio of Tom Sykes (Yamaha), Byrne and Smrz in the final stages.

Ben Spies: «It was a tough race, Fabrizio was there and I had to push and make good lap times. When I saw Max was there, he arrived quite quick and I had to start braking very late and stopping almost in the middle of the corner to get good drive so he couldn’t come by me. The first race obviously wasn’t so good but we rallied together for the second race. That pass attempt was not the best move in the world, but that’s how racing goes sometimes. A big thanks also to the Clinica Mobile guys because I wasn’t feeling so good this weekend.»

Max Biaggi: «It’s a great result, I’m quite pleased, it’s not a victory but we proved that we have a lot of muscle and could fight with Fabrizio and Spies all the time. I stopped behind Fabrizio for quite a time, while Spies managed to pull away. In the end I passed him and went to catch Spies. I tried to brake very late, but I didn’t want to take him out like it was in the first race. We got a good result and it was a very good weekend here for Aprilia.»

Michel Fabrizio: «It was really difficult to fight against Aprilia and Yamaha today. The only problem we had was coming out of the turns where I never quite managed to stay behind first Ben and then Max, but we should be happy with this third place and now we must look ahead.»

World Superbike Race 2 Results from Brno
Results:
1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 40′15.420 (161,055 kph);
2. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 0.213;
3. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 0.657;
4. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 8.311;
5. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 8.915;
6. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 21.175;
7. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 21.384;
8. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 21.599;
9. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 21.726;
10. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 25.180;
11. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 25.612;
12. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 25.622;
13. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 26.246;
14. Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 31.098;
15. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 32.706;
16. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 33.173

Noriyuki Haga: «I am not very happy but we have worked well this weekend despite the difficulties. The fractured scapula prevented me from performing as I hoped to. Having said that, I gained valuable points and find myself still in the lead, seven points ahead of Ben. I want to thank Doctor Corbascio and the Clinica Mobile doctors and also Rok, my trainer, for their help and support in these weeks. I also thank my team and Ducati for doing all they could to make me more comfortable on the bike and make the bike easier to ride. In the circumstances it’s a good result. Now I can go home to Japan with a smile on my face and there I will get down to some serious training to be in top form in time for Nurburgring, a track that I like a lot and where I hope I can rebuild my advantage.»
link: Superbike Planet

With just 4 rounds to go, Haga retains his series lead, 7 points ahead of Spies. Fabrizio’s tilt at the championship seems to be fading after his crash which now puts him 46 points behind Spies. Rea is 4th and Biaggi now 5th. Noriyuki now gets another 4 week break to further recover from his injuries before the German Nurburgring round on September 6th.

If Haga is to take the title he will now need to routinely beat Spies in head to head races. Can he do it? Well last year he took the double in German so the omen is good and his fight in the races this last weekend after a very poor qualifying experience shows he is still fighting very hard. Nori will have to finish this season stronger than ever. Probably nothing less than 4 more victories and absolute consistency will be needed to triumph come the end of the season at Portimao, Portugal. At least there are 4 weeks to allow our nails to grow back before the battles recommences!