Brno. We love Brno. The people are friendly, the atmosphere is great, it still hasn't got too expensive, the local beer is brilliant and plentiful...oh and there's a really really nice racetrack there as well. Brno is an old circuit that has been gradually refined. Well, concentrated may be a more accurate description as it's shrunk massively from the meandering forest road track that it used to be and has become just a distillation of all that's good. To be honest, I'd say that Brno rivals anywhere else in the world as being a simply amazing circuit, given it's blend of absolutely everything a racer (or indeed trackday rider) could reasonably ask for. The only thing missing is a first gear hairpin, and to be honest I don't think that's a great loss.

There are a couple of riders not strating this weekend, which is a loss though. James Toseland is still trying to get that broken wrist to heal properly and Troy Corser is hors de combat for at least another round following that nasty crash in Aragon. We look forward to seieng them back in action soon. Just not too soon...

Anyway.

Free practice saw a few people top the timesheets. Brno isn't a circuit that necessarily favours power, though there are a fair few quite steep climbs. No, overall it favours the total package - handling and power - and definitely rewards track knowledge and experience. So it should be no surprise to read that Jakub Smrz topped the timesheet in the first session, ahead of Biaggi, Melandri and Fabrizio. Smrz is local, of course, Biaggi and Melandri have both done loads of GPs here and Fabrizio first really shot to fame in SBK with a couple of spectacular surges through the field to take a podium here in 2006.

And in qualifying it was, unsurprisingly, Carlos Checa who took that whole package Ducati to the front, ahead of Smrz. Checa, of course, has the experience and local knowledge from many GP races here, plus the factory mechanics to give him an edge. The second session saw a bit of a change, though, as the Aprilia mechanics dialled their prodigiously powerful bike in properly, wound Biaggi u pa bit and pointed him in the right direction. The result was a scorching lap, almost matched by a similarly fired-up Michel Fabrizio on the Suzuki. Nori Haga was next, followed by Tom Sykes and Marco Melandri. The usual suspects, in fact.

Alex Lowes, standing in for the injured Jonathan Rea, sadly failed to make the cut for Superpole. as did the still injured Chris Vermeulen. Rounding Castrol Honda's weekend off. Ruben Xaus also failed to make Superpole, though in his case by just two tenths of a second.

While we're talking about Superpole... Session one was led by Melandri from Checa and Smrz, while at the back of the field we lost (in order) Biaocco, Lorenzo Lanzi (standing in for James Toseland on the BMW Italia bike), Nori Haga and Leon Haslam. I really feel for Leon - he's an incredibly talented rider and a smashing bloke as well. But the BMW just doesn't work this season. Last year it was getting there, this year it's really not. Astonishingly, despite crashing out partway through the session, Leon Camier made it back to the pit and onto his spare bike in time to put in a solid fast lap that saw him through to the next session. Session two saw the early departure of Maxime Berger, Mark Aicheson, Sylvain Guintoli and Ayrton Badovini.

So the final superpole session was actually close but at the same time not. Because Biaggi put in a blistering second lap which was never beaten by anyone else. Others shuffled around, but Biaggi stayed at the top, his time being unassailable even by the man himself. At the end of the twelve minutes then, Biaggi was on pole, two tenths of a second ahead of Melandri and three tenths ahead of Checa, with Laverty completing the front row, another tenth of a second back. Row two was headed by Jkaub Smrz, nearly half a second behind Laverty, ahead of Fabrizio, Camier and Sykes. Row three had Badovini in front of Guintoli, Aicheson and Berger.

Race day, then, was dry, sunny and hot in the way that only a sun drenched circuit hundreds of miles from the cooling coast can be. Oh, and the mosquitoes are enormous, presumably because they are fattened by the vast numbers of enthusiastic fans who visit from across the world. Warmup saw Checa and Smrz back on top, though the lap times were considerably down on qualifying. Perhaps that was a good omen - that the Ducatis worked better (or at least were more evenly matched) on race tyres rather than qualifiers. With Guintoli third it was starting to seem like a reprise of the old days where a Ducati was the only thing that would win. Anywhere.

So. We came to race, so should probably get on with it. Race One and Biaggi got a great start, taking the lead from the first corner ahead of Laverty and Melandri. Tom Sykeswas sat in fifth behind Checa. Leon Camier somehow went backwards off the line, ending the first lap i twelfth. Ruben Xaus had amassive highside exiting Turn 12 - the right hand part of the chicane leading up the big hill at the back. He got up, which is always a Good Thing but appeared to have, at the very least, winded himself severely. Later reports established that the likeable Spaniard had actually bruised his leg severely on the tank, and in fact was so battered that he would take no further part in the day's proceedings. It only took a lap for melandri to put the pressure on, and pass, his team-mate to take second place. Fabrizio and Sykes had a bit of a scrap, decided initially in Sykes' favour before Fabrizio managed to make the pass stick on the third lap. Up at the front, Checa sneaked past Laverty on the third lap as well, though the Yamaha pilot took the place back straight away, only to lose it again a couple of turns later.

The lead pair soon made a break, opening a slight gap. But not big enough to keep Checa at bay, and the wily Spaniard worked and gnawed at the gap until he was ready to strike. But that wasn't going to happen for a while yet. In the meantime, Fabrizio was on the move, sliding past Laverty and demonstrating that yes, he does still have what it takes. And in the opposite direction, Haga was slipping back down the field while Smrz had a huge moment, catching the inside kerb and launching himself out of the seat but somehow managing not only to save it but to barely back off at all. Melandri and Biaggi were at it hammer and tongs at the front, keeping the speed down and playing into Checa's hands as that gap got ever smaller. On lap nine, just coming up to half distance, Melandri made a move on Biaggi that stuck, though he also couldn't make a gap. Biaggi was pushing hard, so hard in fact that he ran wide on a couple of occasions. The first time caught everyone napping, the second saw Checa slip through to take second. Not for long, though, as Biaggi simply opened the taps and blasted past on the straight, tucking back in behind Melandri and then going one better, slipping back in front. Briefly, though, as again Melandri got back into the lead a cuple of corners later.

Further back there was an almighty battle going on for seventh, with Sykes, Camier, Lascorz, Haslam and Smrz all mixed up in it.

The final push saw, up at the front, Marco Melandri get in front of Biaggi and cross the line to take a well earned win. Checa was third, under a quarter of a second behind Biaggi, the top three all well inside half a second. Then there was an eight second gap before Fabrizio's lonely fourth with Laverty a further three seconds behind and Badovini a similar distance behind him. Then Camier, again three seconds back and a second ahead of Haslam, Lascorz, Sykes and Smrz who were separated by just over a second across the group. Alex Lowes finished a respectable fifteenth to pick up a point in hos first ever SBK race.

Race Two started as almost a carbon copy of the first, with Biaggi taking the holeshot from Laverty and Melandri with Carlos Checa behind them. It took less than half a lap for Melandri to get into second, though, while further back Haga was trying to correct the ignimony of the first race and working his way up the field. A few laps in and Alex Lowes, who had been pushing hard in an attempt to overcome the lack of front end feel that had been plaguing him all weekend , threw the Castrol Honda into the gravel. No injury, happily, but an unfortunate end to the weekend. And a little later Jakub Smrz, desperate to improve on his race 1 performance, also crashed out from thirteenth after working his way steadily back down the field from a strong start. Leon Camier crashed as well, losing the front and sliding out quite gracefully. He was able to remount and ride on, but the bike was sufficiently bent that he wasn't going to be competitive and could end up being a hazard ont he track so he sensibly retired and wrote the weekend off as a bad job.

Up at the front it was business as usual, with Biaggi and Melandri betaing each other with their handbags while Checa sat just behind them waiting for a mistake. But no mistake was forthcoming. On the penultimate lap Melandri stuffed it inside Biaggi to take the lead, blocking the world champion's attempt at coming back in an emphatic manner. But later in the same lap, Biaggi returned the complement and pushed his compatriot very wide while blocking the comeback. Clean but clearly the gloves were off. No matter how hard he pushed, and he was pushing very hard indeed as witnessed by the massive wobble and slide that saw him back off not one iota, Melandri had to concede this one and finish another round sharing the homours with Biaggi. Checa again was third, this time three seconds behind the lead pair who were split by just two tenths. About four seconds behind Checa, Fabrizio made it another solid fourth while a second and a half behind him Laverty took his second fifth place of the weekend. Ten seconds hehind, Ayrton Badovini took his second sixth, a second ahead of Haslam who came out two tenths ahead of Lascorz after a race long scrap.

The racing was more exciting than it might appear here, though it should be clear just how close it was at the front. The championship is close tha it was, but it's still Checa's to lose. I wouldn't bet against him...

Though we weren't mentioning it specifically, we all want to congratulate Gino Rea on winning his first World Supersport round, and doing it virtually from the off as well. Especially nice to make the STEP Honda team's home round their first win. Hopefully there'll be many more to come.

Next round is Silverstone in a couple of weeks. And it should be great...

Race One

1 Marco Melandri (Yamaha)
2 Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
3 Carlos Checa (Ducati)
4 Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki)
5 Eugene Laverty (Yamaha)
6 Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
7 Leon Camier (Aprilia)
8 Leon Haslam (BMW)
9 Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki)
10 Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)

Race Two

1 Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
2 Marco Melandri (Yamaha)
3 Carlos Checa (Ducati)
4 Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki)
5 Eugene Laverty (Yamaha)
6 Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
7 Leon Haslam (BMW)
8 Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki)
9 Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)
10 Noriuki Haga (Aprilia)

Championship Standing after eight rounds:

1 Carlos Checa 293
2 Max Biaggi 263
3 Marco Melandri 240
4 Eugene Laverty 168
5 Leon Haslam 137
6 Leon Camier 134
7 Michel Fabrizio 134
8 Ayrton Badovini 107
9 Noriuki Haga 99
10 Jonathan Rea 94

SB