After a five-week summer break, the World Superbike teams are heading toward the EuroSpeedway at Lausitz for the first of the remaining three races. Shinichi Nakatomi, after a hard time due to some broken bones, is now back in shape for the German round, before he will end the season at Vallelunga (Italy) and Magny-Cours (France). 
 
Nakatomi did not fell well after a heavy crash during the last race in Brands Hatch (UK) when he fell on Friday morning during the first free practice session. His body was stiff because of the violence of the accident. Courageously, the Japanese rider was 16th in the first qualifying session, and then on Saturday he qualified for Superpole with the 16th time. He finally was 16th in this Superpole, then 13th and 15th on Sunday.

After that, “Tomy” went back to Japan to spend the summertime with his wife and two children. As he was not feeling so well, he went through some medical tests where it was discovered that he had 5 broken ribs! Happily there were five weeks between Brands Hatch and Lausitz, so he is no feeling well.

Martial Garcia (team manager): “We used as much as we could the summer break to have our Yamaha R1 perform better. We worked especially to have a better output from the engine. The result was positive as we could find some more power, which resulted in a more powerful bike. I hope that from the EuroSpeedway race at Lausitz our summer work will bear its fruits.”

Six races for better stats
Last year, Nakatomi was 17th in the final standings, 11 times in the points, 3 times in the top ten, with an 8th place for best result.

This year, with six races to go, he is 15th in the final standings, 10 times in the points, 2 times in the top ten, with a 9th place for best result.

The EuroSpeedway Lausitz racetrack
Lausitz was opened on August 20th 2000. The racing complex follows current trends and includes an oval and a road circuit. This type of configuration originated in the United States but can now be found more and more frequently elsewhere. Examples are Rockingham (near Northampton in England), Jacarepagua (Brazil) opened in 1978, Welkom (South Africa, opened in 1999) and Motegi (Japan, opened in 1997). Stretching over 570 hectares, the Lausitz EuroSpeedway offers sprint events like Superbike a 4265km long circuit. But F1 racing can also be catered for, over a 4.5km long course, Endurance racing has an 11.3km circuit while the Super Speedway tri-oval is 3.2km long.

There are a total of 120,000 seats for spectators with 96,000 of them giving a full view of the circuit. Total tarmac surface is an impressive 90,000m2. Compare that to Valencia’s already large 49,066m2 or Oschersleben’s 60,000m2.

60 km away from Dresden, Lausitz is 130 km from Berlin. It is about the same distance away from Chemnitz’ Sachsenring, where the German Grand Prix has been held since 1998.

World Championship standings:
1-Toseland (Honda) 355 points, 2- Haga (Yamaha) 289, 3-Biaggi (Suzuki) 286, 4-Bayliss (Ducati) 258, 5-Corser (Yamaha) 227 …15-Nakatomi (Yamaha) 41

EuroSpeedway stats
Practice record (2006):
1’37.623 Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 157.280 kph (second timed practice session)

Lap record (best race time 2006):
1’38.635 Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 155.660 kph

2006 Yamaha Motor France practice times:
Nakatomi: 1’40.804 / 25th; Abe: 1’40.204 / 17th

 Race 1 results 2006:
1-Kagayama (Suzuki), 2-Haga (Yamaha), 3-Corser (Suzuki), 4-Pitt (Yamaha)   5-Barros (Honda)

2006 Yamaha Motor France race 1 results:
Nakatomi: 17th; Abe: 16th

Race 2 results 2006:
1-Toseland (Honda), 2-Haga (Yamaha), 3-Bayliss (Ducati), 4- Kagayama (Suzuki), 5-Muggeridge (Honda) 

2006 Yamaha Motor France race 2 results:
Nakatomi: 15th; Abe: 11th

12th round of the Superbike World Championship: September 30th at Vallelunga (Italy)