After his explanations on Sky Sport 24 and Virigin Radio, Max Biaggi has penned a few personal thoughts on his personal website to his fans, regarding his bitch slapping, super diva meltdown with Marco Melandri at Donington Park.

“After a few days from the English weekend, thinking with calm, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts: Melandri and I are two people with different levels of responsibilities, today racing to me is not just a life risk, but I face these appointments professionally, because I have a greater responsibility, given to me by the presence of my two children.”

“Melandri can still permit himself to take risks with his own life, as teenagers do. On track, as on road, the irresponsible behaviour of one can be fatal for the other, just like passing on the highway using the emergency lane. I understand his anxiousness to win, but I don’t believe that their are people prepared to justify such behaviour on track or on the road. As it sometimes happens when you’re in your car and driving , you get upset for someone elses bad behaviour, that puts you and your family in danger, and at the first service area you want to stop and have a word with him … and that’s what happened to me.”

Maybe Biaggi should really just let it go and get over it, because accusing Melandri of being irresponsible and not caring about his own life is just digging himself into a deeper hole with fans.

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Effenbert-Liberty’s Sylvain Guintoli has had rough start to his 2011 season. The French rider crashed out during race 1 at Phillip Island and didn’t ride in race 2, but reports at that time said he wasn’t suffering from any serious injuries or broken bones.

At the Donington round, Guintoli scored two 11th place finishes despite carrying some pain issues which prompted him to undergo further medical examinations, which revealed that he had a double fracture to his hand and one to his ankle.

“I spent all of Monday trying to find out why I had so much pain during the weekend in Donington. After some more X-rays and an MRI scan in Manchester, these are the conclusions of my doctors in UK. There are two fractures on my hand, one of which is quite bad. Fortunately, the bones have not moved and I should get better and better without surgery. There is also a fracture on my ankle that is not healed and is at risk of non-union. The bones have not moved.

“This means I will have to wear a support for 10 days and get some rest. More exams will be made after the Assen race to make a decision about surgery or not.”

Source | liberty-racing.com

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If you thought the Max Biaggi vs Marco Melandri incident during Saturday’s Superpole had finally been laid to rest, forget it. Money can’t even begin to buy this type coverage especially here in Italy between two hot blooded racers with a history and play it to the hilt.

Melandri interviewed by Sky Sport 24 news explained his point of view: “Unfortunately during Superpole 2 I was on my fast lap with a qualifying tire and I found Max who was just coming out and ready to start his fast lap, so he was going slower. The fact is that he saw me from far away and put himself on my line on purpose to ruin my lap. It was clear that he saw me coming because he lifted his hand in sign of sorry even before I passed him. He knew I was there. I pulled up alongside him after he blocked me and I gave him my compliments, and then passed him a couple of times, and they weren’t even hard passes, it was just to let him know he should pay more attention and be more professional and that he isn’t the only rider on track. At the end of the session he was upset and when he passed by my garage, I applauded him and he got heated under the collar, but I think this comes from some old stories that he’s never forgotten. Really, if we ended up on the podium together I would have shaken his hand, but I’ve never would have invited him to dinner.”

In two different interviews, with Virgin Radio’s Revolver show and with Sky Sport 24, Biaggi apologized to everyone for his conduct. A seemingly necessary gesture for a reigning World Champion, especially after all the criticism he received, but if he really wanted to make it sound like a sincere apology, and this is our personal take, maybe he should have avoided imitating Valentino Rossi’s accent and exploiting some of Melandri’s complaints when he was in MotoGP, just to lighten up the atmosphere.

Continue reading: Biaggi vs Melandri - Italian media plays it to the hilt

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Despite the chilly temperatures at Donington Park and luckily it wasn’t pissing rain, both races went off without any big hitches.

Marco Melandri’s media value certainly went up a couple of notches after the ‘Biaggi Affair’ and his coming back from 9th on the grid to battle to victory and win his first Superbike race made fans sit up and take a big notice of the Italian and how fast that Yamaha R1 has become.

Carlos Checa and his third victory of the season and Jakub Smrz taking a second place podium in race 1, just confirmed that no one is really missing those Ducati factory bikes.

Check out the highlights of race 2 after the jump and what the two winners had to say.

Continue reading: Video highlights from the WSBK Donington round

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Sometimes Max Biaggi can be his own worst enemy. Every rider can have a bad weekend, but the Donington Park round revealed a very nervous and erratic Roman Emperor. Not only did he get into a handbag fight with Marco Melandri, that even his staunchist supporters found hard to defend, but he picked up a penalty for the jump start in race 2 and then didn’t pull in for the ride through (Guintoli did the same last year at Magny Cours) and was black flagged.

“I realized that I had moved on the grid,” said Biaggi. “So I was well aware that my race had been compromised. I tried to push right away to recover, but I lost my concentration because of that mistake, losing several positions. Unfortunately I didn’t see the boards – when you’re in the pack that can happen. I’m extremely sorry for the Team, two results below expectations that must not ruin the good that has been done thus far. To the contrary, this is the time when we need to be united, learning even from these bad days. The season is long, we’ll have the opportunity to make amends”.

Unbelievable was one of the Aprilia techs who speaking to a pitlane reporter of the LA7 network after Biaggi pulled in, who said that the Italian was probably expecting not to get a ride through for his jump start, but a position penalty at the end of the race. As if we’re that gullible.

Biaggi has now dropped down to fourth after round 2 and is now 42 points adrift from Carlos Checa who leads in the general standings.

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If you saw today’s WSBK Superpole, you witnessed reigning world champion Max Biaggi not at his utmost best at Donington Park after blocking both Marco Melandri and Noriuki Haga.

What you probably didn’t see was this not so very edifying scene in front of the Yamaha garage filmed by the LA7 crew after the end of Superpole, which we already described in our previous post.

“Melandri isn’t sporting, and what he did wasn’t very classy. I didn’t see him behind me on track, and for him to say that I did ((An angry Melandri revealed this to the pitlane commentator after he was knocked out of SP2) is shocking.” declared a defensive Biaggi. “His sarcastic applause when we returned to the pits was ugly and uncalled for.”

Both Melandri and Biaggi have been warned by the Race Direction for their actions, and Biaggi has been fined € 3.000 for his behaviour. Which is just one less handbag that Biaggi can afford to use.

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The first qualifying session at Donington saw Max Biaggi take over the lead from a rampant Carlos Checa. The Aprilia Alitalia rider stopped the clock at 1.28.794 which was only 0.047s faster than Marco Melandri on the Yamaha R1

Checa was third and an even four tenths of second from the top of the timsheet, but like at Phillip Island, he has a constant race pace that will definitely put him into the running on Sunday’s two races. Eugene Laverty on the other R1 claimed the fourth fastest time, ahead of Jakub Smrz and Leon Haslam, who had a technical problem on his BMW during the hour session.

No technical issues for team mate Troy Corser who grabbed the seventh spot followed by Ruben Xaus and Leon Camier who were eighth and tenth respectively, with Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz sandwiched between the two. Leon Camier who is testing his fitness after his bout of glandular fever closed out the top ten.

Continue reading: WSBK Donington: Max Biaggi topples Checa in Q1

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After his double victory at Phillip Island last month, Carlos Checa is still on the roll. The Althea Ducati rider lead the first practice session at Donington Park posting a best lap time of 1’29″978 and so far the only rider to break the 1.30 mark at the renewed circuit, however the others were not so far off pace, with eleven riders within a second of from Checa’s lap

Second spot went to rejuvenated and very competitive Marco Melandri just 0.156s from the Spaniard, while Jonathan Rea picked up third.

Fourth went to BMW’s Leon Haslam followed by a suprisingly fast Joan Lascorz on the Kawasaki, Suzuki’s Michel Fabrizio and reigning champion Max Biaggi, who is always slower on the first day out.

Ayrton Badovini as the sole rider for privateer team BMW (James Toseland is out after breaking his wrist last weekend in testing) finished the first session in eighth have lead briefly the top of the timesheets. Closing out the top ten were Tom Sykes and Jakub Smrz.

Continue reading: WSBK Donington: Carlos Checa leads in first practice

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After the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami that struck the north east of Japan last week, Noriyuki Haga sent this message to all his fans thanking them for their concern, as he was in his home country when nature decided to let loose in all its catastrophic anger.

Nitro Nori reassured everyone that he and his family were unhurt and also confirmed that the Kagayama and Fujiwara families were also spared from harm.

“First of all I would like to say thank you so much to everyone that has texted me and called me, concerned about my family and friends in Japan. I just wanted everyone to know how much it meant to me and I appreciate it very much! Thank you so much for all the kindness you show me. All my family (Yurie, Akito, Ryota and Kanon) are OK and our relatives who live in the suffering area are safe too.”

Continue reading: Noriyuki Haga: "Don't give up Japan, Don't give up Tohoku!"

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Chris Vermeulen decided to skip not only testing but the first World Superbike round of the season at Phillip Island, which would have been not only his home race, but his first race after the very long post-op rehabilitation because he wasn’t fit enough, but now the Aussie rider is ready to return to action for the upcoming Donington round.

Vermeulen has been nominated Motorcycling Australia’s new ambassador to promote the sport and writing his first of a series of exclusive blogs for them said: “I had my heart set on racing at Phillip Island in front of a big home crowd and all of my friends and family. Unfortunately my knee wasn’t quite right, but to know that I will be closer to 100 per cent fit for the round at Donington gives me great confidence, so when I get back on my Kawasaki I will be competitive from the first lap.”

The Kawasaki rider will certainly have his work cut for him because he’s had only one day of pre-season testing at Sepang to get to know his all new ZX-10R.

Source | bikeracing.it

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After his crash at WSBK Donington, Noriyuki Haga has undergone successful surgery to his right arm and will return to Italy today. A plate and screws were inserted to set the bone and no complications arose during the procedure.

Haga is suffering multiple fractures to his scalpula though, but requires no surgical intervention. He is set to fly back to Italy to undergo physiotherapy and while his appearance at Imola has been cancelled, Haga should participate in Brno.

Source | Ducati Press and Motoblog

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Xerox Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi has confirmed this morning from that Noriyuki Haga will not need to undergo surgery on his vertebrae.

The fractures that they saw on the first scan were from a previous injury on his T8 and T9 vertebrae. Nori has a crooked back, but he’s told us that he’s had so many knocks and injuries that he can’t remember all of them. He’s got an incredibly strong constitution, you just have to remember what he did last year at Miller Sportspark.

He’ll be operated on this afternoon by Dr. Rajan and they’re going to insert a plate and screws in his ulna, but we don’t know how long his recovery will take, but he told me he wants to be back for Brno at all costs.

Tardozzi also denied speculation that he will be looking for a substitute rider in case Haga cannot make it back for the Brno race.

Source | gpone

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