This weekend saw the staging of round four of the 2009 World Superbike Championship at historic Assen in Holland. Max Biaggi qualified in third in the first of the three Superpoles, but an incorrect tyre choice in the second superpole saw Max relegated to tenth position on the grid for the races. Shinya Nakano, who returned to the championship after missing a round due to injuries, qualified in nineteenth position.

“Today was a better day than yesterday,” declared Biaggi, “however, this is still a tough track for us, and as a result we suffer a lot. We have tried to resolve our problems by working on chassis settings, but obviously the situation could not be radically changed. The Superpole could have gone better but in the best case scenario I would have only managed to qualify for the final eight as the first two rows were too far away. Tomorrow will be tough; it will require determination, hope and giving it my all, like always.”

“I am very disappointed,” said Nakano, “because during Superpole I made a lot of mistakes with the qualifying tyres and I did not manage to qualify for the subsequent stages. My physical condition is a bit worse compared to yesterday and I’m in more pain, but it’s tolerable. A good start will be the key to the races.”

For race day, a huge crowd inundated the Dutch circuit to watch some very entertaining and exciting racing. Biaggi got a slow start off the line and as a result was placed behind some slower riders going into the first turn. However, Max is never one to give up and he showed the impressive speed and acceleration of the RSV4 by quickly passing the slower riders before beginning an epic battle with Jakub Smrz, Michel Fabrizio and Jonathon Rea in the early laps.

Although Biaggi’s initial progress through the field was impressive, it was not as impressive as the 283 km/h top speed of the Aprilia – three km/h faster than anything else out there!

By the sixth lap he had managed to pass the Czech rider and by the 10th lap he also passed Fabrizio and found himself in fifth position. Max then set his sights on catching Tom Sykes, however, with only a limited number of laps remaining, he was unable to catch the English rider and crossed the line still in fifth place, just 11 seconds behind winner Ben Spies over the 22 lap distance. Noriyuki Haga was a close second, followed by Leon Haslam and Sykes.

A fall ruined Nakano’s race on the 14th lap after a good start. “It did not go too badly,” declared Biaggi. “It was a very difficult race. I started a bit slowly, so I found myself stuck behind slower riders and it was not easy to pass. Then I managed to get a good rhythm, but fourth position was just beyond me today.”

For Race Two, the race was cut short for Biaggi who was forced to retire after suffering from a clutch problem on the first lap. Nakano did not take part in the second race deciding that due to his earlier fall and the heat, he would not be competitive. Whilst Dutch fans were disappointed at Aprilia’s absence from the second race they were still treated to a fantastic race with Haga taking first place after Spies fell, Haga was followed by Haslam and Smrz.

“I am very sorry,” said Biaggi, “but these technical issues are understandable. I wasn’t expecting it, but it can happen, the bike is young and is still in its development stage. We’re working every day to improve more and more. I did well in Race One and I managed to recover several positions. This made me hopeful for the second race, which instead ended as soon as it began. Now, we must not be discouraged and immediately look ahead to Monza, where I hope to have a great race.”

“I started off well in Race One,” said Nakano. “Then after five laps my shoulder started to hurt, it became difficult to control the bike and halfway through the race at turn 5 I lost control and fell. This weekend’s results were not good, but I’m happy because I managed to get back on the bike and put my health to the test. By Monza, I shouldn’t have any more problems and I’m very excited because it’s a historic track and I’ve never raced there before.”