Feb 24 : Biaggi Leads WSBK Championship

Max Biaggi leads the World Superbike Championship after the Team Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra rider raced to a victory and second place in today's opening round in
Losail, Qatar.
 

The Italian won the opening 18-lap race from James Toseland (Honda) then finished
second to the Briton in race two, which puts them equal on 45 points.

In a tremendous battle with Toseland in the opening race, Biaggi took the lead with
five laps to go and controlled the race from the front. He ran out the winner by
nearly one and a half seconds from Toseland and Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati). By the time
he returned to the parc ferm, his emotions had got the better of him, but by the
time he sprang up onto the podium, he had a huge smile on his face.

His team mate Yukio Kagayama had front tyre problems in the race, but managed to
finish fourth.

Race two was another terrific battle between Biaggi and Toseland, but this time
Toseland emerged the victor with Troy Corser (Yamaha) third and Kagayama 6th.

Max Biaggi- Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 2nd:
"What a fantastic start to my new Superbike experience. To begin with, a win is
wonderful and I dedicate it to our Team Boss Francis Batta who couldn't be here with
us today. I'm sure he watched it on TV and it must have made him wish he was here.
This championship is tough and for sure there are a lot of good riders, so I don't
think it's always going to be like this. I want to thank my team for all their hard
work and support over the past few months, which has made all this possible.

"This racing is fun! I wished I had discovered this championship years ago. In the
second race, I was catching James Toseland and I think I could've caught him if
there had been three or four more laps. We made a small adjustment to the bike for
the second race and maybe it wasn't the right thing, but we still nearly managed to
win it! Now we are off to one of my favourite tracks, Phillip Island. I'm looking
forward to it and having more fun."

Yukio Kagayama- Race 1: 4th, Race 2: 6th:
"I am very frustrated today because I expected to do much better. But I had tyre
problems in both races and I couldn't push as hard as I wanted. In race one the
problem was the front tyre and after five laps, I didn't have a good feeling, but I
kept up quite a good pace. We changed the chassis set-up a little for the second
race but this time the problem was at the rear! I suppose the good news is that I
didn't crash and I managed to score some good points."

Qatar World Superbike Results:

Race 1:1 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 2 Toseland (GB-Honda), 3 Lanzi
(I-Ducati), 4 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra),5 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati),
6 Neukirchner (D-Suzuki), 7 Rolfo (I-Honda), 8 Haga (J-Yamaha), 9 Corser
(Aus-Yamaha), 10 Xaus (E-Ducati).

Race 2: 1 Toseland, 2 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 3 Corser, 4 Haga,
5 Nieto (E-Kawasaki), 6 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 7 Lanzi, 8
Bayliss, 9 Xaus, 10 Neukirchner.

Championship Points:1 Toseland, Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 45, 3 Lanzi 25, 4 Corser 23, 5 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 23, 6 Haga 21, 7 Bayliss 19, 8 Neukirchner 16, 9 Xaus 13, 10 Nieto 11.