Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team rider Noriyuki Haga could not have had two bigger contrasts in his raceday at Valencia, taking a superb win in the second 23-lap contest, but crashing out of the opener at high speed.

His team-mate Troy Corser was rewarded for a consistent first race ride with a podium finish in third, and then went on to score a fighting fifth in race two.

Corser’s podium came in a race where 20 riders finished and there were many high profile incidents. Corser was a lonely third eventually, some seven seconds from the win. Haga crashed out of race one, losing the front at the first corner on lap four as he tried to make up for qualifying 10th in Superpole.

In race two Haga led for the second half of the race, and his margin of victory over championship leader Troy Bayliss was 1.551 seconds. Corser, who had been pushing hard throughout and got tangled up with Ruben Xaus for some time, found it impossible to keep his early pace and finished eight seconds from his team-mate.
Il pilota italiano Lorenzo Lanzi si e’ imposto in gara-1 del Gran Premio di Valencia, terza prova stagionale del Mondiale Superbike. Il pilota azzurro, in sella alla Ducati 1098 RS 08, ha approfittato dello scontro che ha visto protagonisti all’ultima curva il tedesco Max Neukirchner e lo spagnolo Carlos Checa: i due piloti hanno dato vita ad un ultimo giro ricco di emozioni, prima della caduta avvenuta a pochi metri dalla bandiera a scacchi. Lanzi ha preceduto al traguardo gli australiani Troy Bayliss e Troy Corser. Solo 16esimo Max Biaggi.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha YZF-R1) ha vinto gara 2 a Valencia nel terzo appuntamento del Mondiale di Superbike. Haga ha preceduto di 1”551 l’australiano Troy Bayliss (Ducati F08) e di 2”903 lo spagnolo Carlos Checa. Nono posto per Max Biaggi (Ducati RS08). Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati RS08), che aveva vinto gara-1, ha chiuso invece dodicesimo.
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Confetti was falling and liquids were spraying as Carl Edwards celebrated Sunday’s Sprint Cup victory at Texas Motor Speedway.

But two of the most important people outside of the driver were missing from Victory Lane. Robbie Reiser and Bob Osborne.

Reiser, Roush Fenway Racing’s general manager and Edwards’ interim assistant crew chief, was headed for the airport. Osborne was at his North Carolina home.

Reiser, better known as Matt Kenseth’s crew chief before this season, chose to skip the celebration much to the surprise of team owner Jack Roush and Edwards. Osborne had no choice, serving the fourth race of his six-race suspension by NASCAR.

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Graham Rahal, in his first IndyCar Series start, takes the checkered flag at the rainy, Honda Grand Prix of St. Peteresburg. The large crowds on all three days at St. Petersburg brought a smile to George, who saw series newcomer Graham Rahal become the youngest (at 19) to win a major American open-wheel race Sunday. Friday’s crowd alone appeared larger than the combined total for the two-day IndyCar opening weekend at Homestead, which was estimated as the largest ever for an IRL race at the South Florida oval.

Felipe Massa scored his first points of 2008 with a dominant victory ahead of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, with BMW’s Robert Kubica third. British star Hamilton damaged his McLaren after running into the back of his old sparring partner Fernando Alonso, having lost seven places at the start. He eventually trundled home in 13th.

A Sakhir grande doppietta delle rosse che dominano con il brasiliano Felipe Massa davanti a Raikkonen che ora guida il Mondiale (Hamilton solo 13°). Terzo e quarto posto per le Bmw di Robert Kubica e Nick Heidfeld.

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