Max Biaggi took podiums in both 24-lap races at the Eurospeedway Lausitz today. He took a superb second place in race one and then followed it up with a third in race two. Max’s team mate Yukio Kagayama was unable to take part in proceedings today due to a hand injury sustained yesterday. His wrist was badly swollen this morning, so he went to the Clinica Mobile this morning for a check-up. X-rays of his right wrist revealed that he had a fracture of his fifth metacarpal and so was unable to race.

Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) led the charge in the first race, but later on Haga took advantage of his opponent’s tyre problems and pulled away, finishing the clear winner, eleven seconds ahead of Max. Third went to Troy Corser (Yamaha), with Bayliss a distant fourth. Bayliss and Haga once again charged off into the distance at the start of race two, but this time Bayliss was in no mood to surrender. He took the chequered flag, just over a second ahead of Haga, with Max third and series leader James Toseland (Honda) fourth.

Max - Race 1: 2nd, Race 2: 3rd
It is always good to be on the podium, though I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t finish higher up in race two. It was a much faster race and the two guys in front kept up a better pace and I could not catch them. After two days of weather that was not so good, it was a relief that it didn’t rain today. Our set-up for the dry wasn’t so bad, but maybe it wasn’t quite as good as Bayliss or Haga today. I had a few little problems with the bike missing gears a couple of times and so I modified my riding to get round the problem.  Both my starts today were not so bad, but once the I lost touch with the leader in race one and the two of them in race two, it was too late. I hope that the team are able to do work on soem of the lttle problems before the next race because I feel we could be very competitive. I really tried my best today, just like I normally do.

Yukio  DNS

Results
Race 1: 1 Haga (J-Yamaha), 2 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 3 Corser (Aus-Yamaha), 4 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati), 5 Rolfo (I-Honda), 6 Laconi (F-Kawasaki), 7 Nieto (E-Kawasaki), 8 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 9 Toseland (GB-Honda), 10 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda)
Race 2: 1 Bayliss, 2 Haga, 3  Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 4 Toseland, 5 Corser, 6 Xaus (E-Ducati), 7 Rolfo. 8 Nieto, 9 Neukirchner (D-Suzuki), 10 Muggeridge,

Points: 1 Toseland 375, 2 Haga 334, 3  Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 322, 4 Bayliss 296, 5 Corser 254, 6 Xaus 177, 7 Lanzi 173, 8 Rolfo 166, 9 Neukirchner 130, 10 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 116,