The seventh of 12 World Superbike events on the 2006 calendar takes place at Brno in the Czech Republic this coming weekend, with the promise of even closer racing than has been witnessed in the first half of this action-packed year.
Brno is no stranger to World Superbike competition and offers one of the most majestic venues imaginable, being set in the pine forests above the Czech Republic's second city. The 'modern' design of the current day Brno nonetheless offers the high speeds of the old road circuit which it replaced, and makes great use of the natural features which have virtually dictated its layout of six left and eight right hand corners. A challenge to the riders, a popular destination for the fans, Brno is a true modern classic, boasting a 'family' history few circuits can match.
After an incident-packed Misano round in late June, in which several top contenders crashed out of contention for wins, Andrew Pitt on the Yamaha Motor Italia scored his first ever World Superbike victory, in race two. He joins an illustrious band of fellow SBK race winners, having previously scored the World Supersport Championship outright in 2001. In race one at Misano, this year's most rapacious win-machine,
Troy Bayliss of Ducati Xerox scored his eighth full-pointer in a row, to squeeze out a significant 94 point advantage over second place rider,
Noriyuki Haga riding the Yamaha Motor Italia. A win is yet to be taken by Haga this year, but after a recent tyre test session at Lausitzring in Germany, Haga showed he is as fast as anyone in the championship when his machine's set-up works to his advantage.
