Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Brno, Czc.h I WORLD SUPCRBIK€ tuly 23, 2lJO6 I elD DCO. @J - ffi iF, ! I 5 tr IIIffi I I I I 2 L,-l T T BY GorooN RncHrE Pxoros ev Gor.o & Goosr liar practice sessions and Superpole uncertainties. An astounding contest for the linal podium place in race one, behind the clear eventual winner Kagayama and sec- ond-placed Toseland, was taken by World Superbike rookie Michel Fabrizio, all despite a recently broken collarbone. Kagayama claimed his first win ofthe year after sitting behind longtime leader Toseland and then making a break with six laps to go. "l am so happy today and I want to thank mI team for all the great work they have done," f.agayama said. 'Also, thank you to Batta-san, who is not here today, but I hope was watching on TV ln both races, I had to use patience - and this is not my normal style - but it was worth it. I was close to fiames] Toseland from the start of race one, so it was just a case o{ waiting to make my move at the right time, and my plan worked perfectly. The second race was much more diflicult A N:':JJ: [:T:.H'J1: ,,!a\ t-".,, oi arsrare Suzurr !------l Corona Extra s Yurro , \"r"r.", but two wins at the latest fiery tarmac crucible - Brno - were a double underlining of his talents, Though those talenB had obviously gone for an extended vacation since his near win at Qatar in February, rhe Japanese rider got back to his winning ways after running down longtime leader James Toseland and his Winston Ten Kate Honda in race one, then repeating it even more impressively in race two, when he hunted down Superpole winner Noriyuki Haga and his Yamaha Motor ltalia. ln race two he was particularly impressive, as Haga had taken a significant lead before it was simply wiped out by Kagayama's Wonld Sup€rbik€ Championship t .., 1 I !,1 ) ( \ -.a ,.- 7 ,J pace in the last few laps Despite all this utter magnificence, and being the fastest rider pre-Superpole, another candidate for rider ofthe day was DFX Treme Honda's l"lichel Fabrizio, who scored his first two podium finishes since his promotion from World Supersport, More on him later, but we can be sure that Haga and at least one for- mer World Champion will be taking his name off their Christmas card list - with an ax. A simpb/ disastrous race day for cham- pionship leader Troy Bayliss saw him fall off his Ducati Xerox after he tangled with PSG-I Kaw-dsaki Corse's Regis Lrconi in race one (prompted by another force ini- tially), and fell from contention in the first corner. A strong start in the second leg gave him onty an eighth-place finish, and even then he had to rely on his teammate Lorenzo Lanzi giving him the spot, He lost ground to both Haga and Toseland in the championship chase, and now has a total of 262 points, with Haga on 189 and Toseland on 188. The latter two gained ground on most of their pursuers. and at least Bayliss has shown to be fallible (or "fellable," if another rider caus$ it) and Ducati had a generally terrible time in the races, after recovering some composure after pecu- YUKI THE O KAGAYAMA DOES BLE AT BRNO u I U 58 AUGUST 2, 2006 cYcLE NEWS