Following his dominant victory and hard-fought second place finish on home turf at Vallelunga last weekend, Max Biaggi has ridden firmly into World Superbike title contention with just one round left to run.
The Italian has moved into second place in the riders' standings after taking some 24 points out of season-long pace-setter
James Toseland's championship lead over the course of the penultimate meeting on the 2007 calendar. Having passed early leader
Troy Bayliss on lap three of race one, the 36-year-old then went on to pull out an advantage of almost six seconds at the chequered flag, with Toseland crossing the line third.
“It felt good,” he told
Crash.net Radio afterwards. “World Superbikes haven't raced here for 19 years, and since then the track has changed a lot. It has a new surface and is a longer track compared to ten years ago when I last competed here, but I'm the local boy and to come back here in front of the Italian crowd makes me feel at home. It was amazing, an incredible feeling.
“The first race was a good result and a good battle with Troy. He always tries very hard and never gives up. To see all the people going crazy after I crossed the line first was a really good feeling. Winning a race is always special, but to win at your ‘home' track in front of your own fans is even more special.”
Indeed, the result mirrored that from when he last raced at the Roman circuit, and the Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra ace also battled Bayliss hard for the lead in the second outing, only this time matters were not quite so straightforward, as he explained.
“In race two there was a lot of cement dust on the track after an oil spillage in the race before,” he recounted, “meaning we had to take some different lines. In some places there was so much dust flying around that it got onto my visor and it was hard to see where I was going! I had a bad start and was only sixth on the first lap. We all settled into the race after a few laps and I was able to recover from that, but Troy was just so fast.
