Start line- Release
1st- Sunset bend
2nd- dreamboat
3rd- work-out
4th- scream
5th- Black Rock Hairpin
6th- Right Hook
7th- Knock Out
8th- Witchcraft
9th- First Attitude
10th- Second Attitude
11th - Bad Attitude
11th- Tooele Turn
12th- Kink
13th- Club House Corner
14th Wind up
Statistics: From Kyalami to Miller
SPIES GOES DOWN IN HISTORY: Six straight poles for the American, who equalled his compatriot Doug Polen for the longest ever all-time sequence. Polen recorded his streak in 1991, from Osterreichring to Hockenheim. Spies obtained his record by a whisker, since his gap to second qualified Fabrizio was only 0"001, the smallest in history, beating the 0"002 recorded between Akira Yanagawa and Wataru Yoshikawa at Sugo, 1997.
11 OUT OF 12: After the Kyalami races, Noriyuki Haga counts eleven podiums in twelve races, his only retirement being the second race at Monza. In championship history the riders who managed to score eleven or more podiums in twelve races were always crowned champions at the end of the season. This is the list: Carl Fogarty, 12 podiums out of 12 races in 1995, 11 out of 12 in 1999; Colin Edwards in 2002 (11 podiums); Neil Hodgson in 2003 (12); Troy Corser in 2005 (12). Also the riders with ten podiums out of twelve races were crowned champions: Raymond Roche in 1990 and Troy Bayliss in 2006.
HAGA'S ADVANTAGE: 85 points over the second classified in the championship is a safe margin towards the world title. That's what the statistics say. Only three times in history after twelve races has the championship leader managed to have a larger advantage, and in all cases he was crowned champion: in 2003, Neil Hodgson had 130 points over James Toseland; in 1995, Carl Fogarty, 114 points advantage over Aaron Slight; in 2006, Troy Bayliss, 94 points over Haga. The "safety margin" after the twelfth race goes down to 34 points. With this advantage or more, all the riders managed to secure the title. This is the list: Corser in 2005 (73), Doug Polen in 1991 (50), Carl Fogarty in 1999 (45), Colin Edwards in 2000 (42), James Toseland in 2007 (35), Raymond Roche in 1990 (34). Haga at Kyalami set a milestone related to number of points gained: in his career he racked up 3049 points, the third all-time rider to pass the 3000 mark. The other two are Carl Fogarty (3020) and Troy Corser (3708.5).
STEVE MARTIN: Thanks to his participation with the BMW squad, Steve Martin extended his longevity records in the World Superbike Championship: he is the only rider who has participated in eighteen different seasons, keeping the distance to Corser, who at the moment counts fifteen, and he is the rider with the longest timespan between his first and last race: 19 years, 6 months and 5 days. His first race was at Oran Park in 1989. The second in this ranking is always Troy Corser, with 16 years, 6 months and 22 days separating Phillip Island 1992 and Monza 2009.
NATIONS: Noriyuki Haga at Kyalami scored the 58th win for Japan, which now needs only one win to reach Italy at the fourth place all-time. The current ranking is Australia with 119 wins, USA with 109, Great Britain 98, Italy 59 and Japan 58. Sheridan Morais was the eighth South African rider to take part in a World Superbike race and the first to score points since Lance Isaacs at Oschersleben, 2000 (14th). Shaun Whyte was the first Zimbabwean rider in World Superbike history.
KYALAMI RACE NOTES
Maiden podium for Jonathan Rea, the thirteenth youngest in history with 22 years, 3 months and 15 days;
Ducati set its 20th straight front row. The absolute record belongs to the Italian manufacturer, with 71 straight front rows from USA 1991 to Australia 1996;
First Supersport podium for Mark Aitchison.
MILESTONES IN THE UNITED STATES:
(from 1989 to 1991 the race was held at Brainerd, from 1995 to 2004 at Laguna Seca)
1989: first win for the future World Champion Raymond Roche;
1990: first win for Doug Chandler, who in qualifying scored the first Kawasaki pole;
1995: another milestone for Kawasaki, which scored its 25th win with Anthony Gobert;
1997: tenth win for John Kocinski;<
1999: first win for Ben Bostrom;
2000: tenth win for Noriyuki Haga, first pole position for Troy Bayliss;
2001: 150th win for Troy Corser;
2002: 100th race for Noriyuki Haga;
2008: first pole and win for Carlos Checa, 100th win for Honda.
The last three editions of the US Round
<2008>
At the start of race 1 Bayliss was the fastest off the line and was first into the first corner in front of Neukirchner and Biaggi, who had a rocket start from ninth in grid. The rider who didn't have such a good start was Fabrizio, who was down in fourteenth at the end of the first lap. Biaggi's good luck however was short-lived as he was passed by Checa and Corser in the space of a couple of turns, then on the second lap he was touched by Haga, went wide and came back on track only seventeenth; in the meanwhile Neukirchner passed Bayliss for the lead. Checa was the man on the move and didn't stay long in third as on the very next lap he passed Bayliss and moved onto Neukirchner's tail, one more lap and he was in the lead and started pulling away. Behind him Bayliss caught Neukirchner. On the fifth lap however two major falls affected the race: first was Bayliss, who lost the back end of his bike on the final turn and highsided, landing in the middle of the racing line, with bikes screaming past around him. There were scary moments before the Australian managed to gain a safe place on the outside of the track. Bayliss had just managed to get to safety when another rider was on the ground: Haga, who lost the front and slid off. When the Japanese rider came to his feet he was clearly suffering with his right arm, the one with the collarbone he broke in practice. Bayliss' accident scattered Checa's rivals and Carlos gained momentum to pull away. At the end of the following lap he was over two seconds clear of the rest and from that moment on he could never be caught up to the end when he gained his first ever Superbike win. Behind him Neukirchner seemed to be a safe second until the final stages, when first Corser and then Fabrizio overtook him and left him fourth.
In race 2 Max Neukirchner seemed to be fueled up to win as he moved from the third place he occupied on the first turn behind Bayliss and Corser to the lead on lap three and started pulling away. Checa however was having none of it and after a cautious approach at the first stages started to fight back and on the fifth lap passed both Corser and Bayliss, setting after Neukirchner, who already had more than a second over him. On the very next lap another drama: Bayliss slowed down because a gearbox lever went loose, leaving him with no gears. The disappointed Australian reached the pits, where the problem was fixed, but when he regained the track he was two laps down. Checa in the meantime closed on Neukirchner, while behind them there was Biaggi, leading the two Yamahas of Corser and Haga, the latter always suffering and nonetheless giving it all as usual. On the ninth lap Checa passed Neukirchner and soon pulled away to his second win, while behind Neukirchner there was much fighting, because Biaggi had problems in keeping Corser at bay and behind them Michel Fabrizio was charging and catching up. Troy managed to pass the Italian on the fifteenth lap, while Fabrizio sets his sights on Haga and passed him on the next lap, but on the seventeenth lap the situation changed completely as Biaggi went wide and Fabrizio snatched fourth position, which became third after a couple of turns when Corser slid off the track all alone and was out of the race. The remaining laps were a piece of cake for Checa: Neukirchner had a good margin over Fabrizio and the trio finished in this order.
2004 (Laguna Seca) : In race 1 Chris Vermeulen was on a class of his own and he left only some laps in the lead to Toseland, then he pulled away and won with a great margin. In race two Toseland was able to stay with the Australian for the entire race, but wasn't able to challenge him for the win.
2003 (Laguna Seca) : Ruben Xaus was the only rival of Neil Hodgson for the world title and at Laguna Seca the Spaniard tried to reduce his disadvantage in the standings. In race 1 he tried to pull away, but he fell on the ninth lap and left Mat Mladin, Laconi and Chili to fight for the win. Mladin after a handful of laps wasn't able to sustain the pace and dropped off, then Laconi fell and Chili had only to keep an eye on Hodgson to conquer the win. In race 2 Xaus finished what he started in race 1, taking a lonely win, while behind him the battle for second was between Toseland and Hodgson. James eventually fell at the Corkscrew and Hodgson, in order to avoid him, had to take a trip across the sand trap, losing three positions, that he would eventually recover before the end to finish second behind his team-mate.
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