Neukirchner claims historic win

Neukirchner is fourth in the rider standings

Max Neukirchner became the first German to win a World Superbike Championship race as he claimed one of the rounds in Monza, Italy.

The Alstare Suzuki rider won race one, beating the Yamaha Motor Italia of Noriyuki Haga by just 0.058 seconds.

Championship leader Troy Bayliss was third on his Ducati Xerox, with nearest rival Carlos Checa down in eighth.

In race two, Haga edged out Neukirchner by just 0.009secs with Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari in third.

Both Haga and Neukirchner were behind Kiyonari as they braked for the final entry into the Parabolica but they got through to complete the fifth closest finish in Superbike history.

"It's the first win by a German rider in World Superbike and I'm really happy about that," said Neukirchner. "My team did a great job this weekend.

"Our engine for sure is very fast, Suzuki have done a lot of development work on it."

An engine problem ended Bayliss' afternoon but Checa also retired to ensure the Australian extended his already-daunting championship lead.

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Race one results:
1 Max Neukirchner (Ger) Suzuki 32mins 02.851secs
2 Noriyuki Haga (Jpn) Yamaha 32:02.909
3 Troy Bayliss (Aus) Ducati 32:03.523
4 Yukio Kagayama (Jpn) Suzuki 32:03.622
5 Max Biaggi (Ita) Ducati 32:06.720
6 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Jpn) Honda 32:08.846
7 Fonsi Nieto (Spa) Suzuki 32:11.639
8 Carlos Checa (Spa) Honda 32:12.225
9 Michel Fabrizio (Ita) Ducati 32:13.518
10 Jakub Smrz (Cze) Ducati 32:13.622

Race two results:
1 Haga 32mins 07.576secs
2 Neukirchner 32:07.585
3 Kiyonari 32:07.627
4 Nieto 32:12.065
5 Fabrizio 32:17.848
6 Karl Muggeridge (Aus) Honda 32:17.952
7 Ruben Xaus (Spa) Ducati 32:18.072
8 Troy Corser (Aus) Yamaha 32:20.074
9 Ayrton Badovini (Ita) Kawasaki 32:27.005
10 Gregorio Lavilla (Spa) Honda 32:33.949

Rider standings:
1 Troy Bayliss 194pts
2 Carlos Checa 116
3 Noriyuki Haga 112
4 Max Neukirchner 111
5 Fonsi Nieto 107
6 Troy Corser 101
7 Ruben Xaus 90
8 Ryuichi Kiyonari 65
= Max Biaggi 65
10 Gregorio Lavilla 59

Manufacturers' standings:
1 Ducati 217pts
2 Yamaha 171
3 Suzuki 158
4 Honda 135
5 Kawasaki 44