June 29 : Double Podium for Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) in extremely hot conditions at Misano

Both Race 1 and 2 at the Misano World Circuito saw a hard fought battle between several of the Ducatis, both factory and privateer, the two
factory Yamahas and the Suzuki of Neukirchner, with Ducati Xerox factory rider Troy Bayliss eventually taking two third places on the podium.
 

Bayliss and Corser dominated the first half of Race 1 until Neukirchner
managed caught them both to ultimate pass and take the win ahead of the
two Australians. A run-in during lap eleven of the same race between
Fabrizio and Max Biaggi saw the premature end to Fabrizio’s race, an
unfortunate finish after making such a strong start.

In Race 2 Fabrizio suffered a technical problem on the second lap but the
race was then almost immediately red-flagged due a technical problem for
Muggeridge also, which left oil on the track, and led to a restart of the
race, a fortunate outcome for Fabrizio allowing him to make the restart
too. Bayliss made a flying start to the restart and the first nineteen
laps saw him and Corser swapping between first and second positions,
before Xaus and then Biaggi too picked up the pace to overtake, with
Bayliss struggling to keep up due to his soft tyre choice. Ducati took all
three podium places as a result, with the two Ducati Sterilgarda Go Eleven
riders finishing just ahead of Troy Bayliss. Michel rode in seventh place
for most of the race before tyre wear meant he lost a few places to finish
in eventual eleventh place.

Troy Bayliss now holds 259 championship points, while Neukirchner moves
into second place with 210 points ahead of Carlos Checa (207). Michel
Fabrizio lies in eighth place with 111 points.

After a very positive weekend, Ducati continues to lead the manufacturers
championship with 323 points ahead of Yamaha (284 points).

Troy Bayliss

“It was really hot here today like every year. I had been feeling good all
weekend and was feeling confident before race 1. We had chosen a hard tyre
which we thought would be good but then I struggled throughout the race. I
can’t take anything away from Neukirchner and Corser though as they rode a
great race. After Race 1 we changed the tyre for the second race, thinking
that was the problem, and that was as a bit better but it was still
difficult and towards the end I was losing grip with the rear. Again I
take my hat off to the guys ahead of me, Ruben and Max (Biaggi), who did a
fantastic job. I can say that the day has been one of the hardest of my
career, but in the end we’ve gained more points. I’d have liked to have
done better today but there you go.”

Michel Fabrizio

“In Race 1 unfortunately I touched Max right at the start during the
second lap and I came off, there’s nothing else to say. I went to
apologise to Max immediately. Then in race 2 we had a technical problem
with a cable and so we had to go out with the second bike for the restart.
This meant that we had exactly the same set-up as in Race 1 - as we didn’t
finish the first race we couldn’t know exactly how good the set-up was or
whether we would finish the race with the tyre choice we made. We chose a
softer tyre but unfortunately it wasn’t the best decision. I’m sorry for
today’s results as, after a positive Friday and Saturday I hoped we could
go better, I was hoping for a different result.”