Biaggi Takes Race One

Paul Carruthers | July 26, 2009

Max Biaggi won his seventh race of the season today in Misano, Italy, the Aprilia-mounted Italian storming to victory and taking control of the World Superbike Championship in the process.Biaggi took over the lead in the first of two races at Misano from pole sitter Troy Corser with nine laps to go and held it to the end, though he was pressured to the finish by Althea Ducati’s Carlos Checa, the Spaniard having relegated Corser to third. Biaggi beat Checa to the line by .387 of a second after 24 laps.Corser was another half a second down in third, giving BMW it’s second podium of the season.In addition to winning the race and taking home the maxiumum amount of points, Biaggi’s race one was made even better by the fact that his championship rival Leon Haslam could only muster up and eighth-place finish on the Alstare Suzuki. Thus, Biaggi now leads the title chase by 32 points heading into race two at Misano.Ducati Xerox’s Michel Fabrizio ended up a lonely fourth, some five seconds down on Biaggi and a second ahead of Haslam’s teammate Sylvain Guintoli, the Frenchman having his best result of the season for the Suzuki team.Biaggi’s teammate Leon Camier ended race one in sixth, well clear of Ducati Xerox’s Noriyuki Haga, the Japanese rider barely besting Haslam. Althea Ducati’s Shane Byrne and Sterilgarda Yamaha’s James Toseland rounded out the top 10.Among the notables who failed to finish were Sterilgarda Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow, the Brit crashing out of the race in the early stages.American Roger Lee Hayden rode the Pedercini Kawasaki to 17th.

Race One

1. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)

2. Carlos Checa (Ducati)

3. Troy Corser (BMW)

4. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)

5. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)

6. Leon Camier (Aprilia)

7. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati)

8. Leon Haslam (Suzuki)

9. Shane Byrne (Ducati)

10. James Toseland (Yamaha)