The last two rounds have seen
Noriyuki Haga hit superb form on the second Yamaha Italia, based a stone's throw away from the Autodromo. The 33-year-old from Japan picked up a win and a second place at Valencia and Assen, but would certainly be much further up the table than his current sixth place had he not suffered two DNFs from the last four starts. However Haga scored a dominant double victory at Monza twelve months ago (pictured) and will doubtless be aiming to do the same again this weekend to restart his title ambitions.
Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) scored a podium and a fifth place in the Netherlands and is fast becoming the top Suzuki contender. The 25-year-old German from Stollberg has been in World Superbike since 2005 but now he has the right machinery to emerge Max is becoming a regular front-runner. From one Max to another, this time Biaggi, whose positive recovery from a wrist fracture took a wrong turn at Assen as a lack of feeling with the front end of his Ducati 1098RS caused him to miss out on Superpole and score two disappointing results in the two races.
Gregorio Lavilla (VentAxia VK Honda) and
Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Ducati) make up the top 10, the Spaniard will be looking to exploit his machine's impressive top speed, while
Michel Fabrizio will be fit to race following recent forearm surgery. Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati) is another rider to watch as he tries to transform his recent impressive qualifying form into positive race results.
Meanwhile
Makoto Tamada and Régis Laconi will be looking to make further progress at Monza after both ran comfortably inside the top 10 on their improving PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX-10R machines.
The Dutch round of the World Supersport championship saw a return to the classic 'wild bunch' battles of the past, and at one stage 13 riders were all within the space of 3 seconds up at the front.
