Ducati Previews Magny-Cours Superbike round
The 2007 World Superbike Championship draws to a close this weekend at the Magny-Cours circuit in central France with the final round of the season
The 2007 World Superbike Championship draws to a close this weekend at the Magny-Cours circuit in central France with the final round of the season. Despite winning one of the two races at Vallelunga last Sunday, Ducati Xerox Team’s Troy Bayliss is now unfortunately out of contention in the fight for the title, which has been whittled down to just three riders – James Toseland (Honda), Max Biaggi (Suzuki) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha).
Troy’s win in the second race at the Rome track was his seventh this season, one behind the total of points leader Toseland, and the 41st of his career. The tough 38-year-old Australian’s only aim this weekend will be to end the season in style with further wins to sign off the Ducati 999’s glorious career. "My objective this weekend is to take the 999 out in style with a couple of wins" commented Troy.
"This place was pretty good to me here last year, although I didn’t know the track very well. I should be able to slide straight into it now, the bike was working well enough when we left Vallelunga and I’m just looking forward to two really good results, especially now they’ve resurfaced the whole track. Last year we suffered a little bit here but honestly I don’t think the other guys have got much stronger since the last race last year. Yamaha for sure, Suzuki a little bit but the Honda not really that much, so I don’t think we’ll be in that bad a situation."
Lorenzo Lanzi gets ready to tackle his final race within the factory Ducati Xerox Team, hopeful of obtaining two good results to consolidate his sixth place in the final standings. "I’m sorry it’s my last race with the guys in the team because we’ve I’ve had a total of four years together, two of which in the factory Ducati Xerox Team, but at the end of the day this is racing and I’ve had a number of chances in those years", declared Lorenzo. "I’m looking to the future now, I’ve got a nice offer on the table and I’ll still be racing with a Ducati. Now it’s time to focus on this race, which I won in 2005. Obviously for this reason Magny-Cours is a track that I like so I’d just like to be in a position to repeat that result in some way. You never know, nothing is impossible!"
In the Manufacturers’ championship, Ducati currently lie third, just 12 points behind the leaders Honda, but anything could happen this weekend to overturn the final classification.
Championship Points (after 12 of 13 rounds):
Riders –
1. Toseland (Honda) 396;
2. Biaggi (Suzuki) 367;
3. Haga (Yamaha) 363;
4. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 341;
5. Corser (Yamaha) 267;
6. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 192;
7. Xaus (Ducati) 187;
8. Rolfo (Honda) 177;
9. Neukirchner (Suzuki) 136;
10. Fabrizio (Honda) 123.
Manufacturers –
1. Honda 420;
2. Yamaha 417;
3. Ducati 408;
4. Suzuki 386;
5. Kawasaki 165;
6. MV Agusta 1.
The Circuit Name: Magny-Cours Length: 4.411 km Pole Position: right Corners Left/Right: 9/6 Finish line length: 250 m
Statistics : Lap Record – Bayliss (Ducati) 1m40.370s; Best Lap – Corser (Suzuki) 1m39.147s (2006); Superpole – Corser (Suzuki) 1m39.147s (2006);
2006 Results : Race 1 – 1. Toseland (Honda); 2. Haga (Yamaha); 3. Corser (Suzuki). Race 2 – 1. Bayliss (Ducati); 2. Corser; 3. Toseland.
