Kyalami in the Republic of South Africa, has seen some amazing racing in the past. Some of the greatest superbike battles took place on this circuit, surprisingly reminiscent of Brands Hatch in the way it flows and the elevation changes. Apart from the remarkable lack of rain and almost perpetual sunshine, of course. And the wildlife. Anyway, we've not been here for seven years, a mixture of security fears and some on track safety questions keeping the circuit off the calendar. But now the security situation apopears to have improved, the circuit has been fiddled with to improve safety and so we're back.

With the slightly modified layout there was nobody who was going to actually know the place, but Haga and Laconi had at least been here before. Laconi nearly left the championship, and everything else, completely in the first practice session when he had an almighty crash that left him critically ill with broken vertebrae and a head injury. Happily the latest update is that Regis is out of danger, has had surgery and is expected to make a full recovery with no lasting physical effect, though what it means for his racing career is uncertain. Either way, we wish him the best of luck for what will be a lengthy recovery period.

Including Laconi, we've got a pretty reduced field at the moment. Max Neukirchner, of course, is out for a while with a severely broken femur while his co-crashee in that first corner smash Brendan Roberts has major soft tissue injuries and isn't racing for a while. Neukirchner's seat is taken by Fonsi Nieto - no stranger to the factory Suzuki team - while likeable Spaniard Gregorio Lavilla is covering for Roberts. Troy Corser is not fit after two nasty crashes at Monza aggravated an old injury, and is sitting this round out in favour of fellow Australian Steve Martin who is gathering data and experimenting with setups as there is no pressure for him to score points. Makoto Tamada is out with a broken wrist after Monza, and his seat for this event is being kept warm by local hero Sheridan Morais, who immediately set out to make a name for himself by taking some better known scalps in practice and qualifying.

Anyhow, practice saw Michel Fabrizio in dominant form, taking all but one session while Haga languished further down, clearly suffering some ill effects from his enormous race two crash at Monza last weekend. Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam both made forays toward the top, though, with Rea taking the top place from Fabrizio in the final session. Spies, of course, was there as well, the Texan again demonstrating his uncanny ability to learn circuits.

Superpole saw Spies take the top in all three sessions without any problem at all, though the final session was a little tight, with Fabrizio just a thousandth of a second off the pace. Max Biaggi and the Aprilia have been steadily improving this season, and the Roman's third place on the grid is testament to how far the little factory have come in a short time. Haga pushed through the pain to take a highly credible fourth, while the second row saw Rea heading Smrz, Carlos Checa and Tom Sykes. Shinya Nakano on the second Aprilia and Leon Haslam made up the top ten, joined on the third row by Sheridan Morais on the Paul Bird Kawasaki (an oustanding result for his first ever SBK round) and Hannspree Honda mounted Ryuichi Kiyonari, who was having a bit of a torrid time.

Race day, it will come as no surprise at all to learn, dawned bright, sunny and warm. Hot, actually. At 0920, when warmup started, the air temperature was already seventeen degrees (that's sixty three for those of you working in Fahrenheit) and climbing steadily. So by the time we got everyone lined up for the Race One it was getting sticky. Lights out and it was a three way run for the front. Ben Spies losing out to Haga and Fabrizio, with Checa in hot pursuit. Biaggi, as so often is the case, got a great start before being duffed up in the first couple of corners and dropping back to sixth behind Rea. And to be honest after the first two or three laps the action was essentially over. I mean, the front trio were swapping positions, paintwork, friendly (yes, really) gestures and possibly even bodily fluids for the whole twenty four laps, with the final gap between them coming out at just three seconds and most of the time they were within a second from first to third. But they were a country mile ahead of the next action, which saw Rea holding off Checa and Biaggi in another race long battle which, while close was fairly static. Ruben Xaus crashed out early after a disappointing qualifying left him with a lot of work to do before tangling with, probably, Jakub Smrz. At least he wasn't hurt. Leon Haslam also crashed out around the midway point while pushing hard to stay ahead of Kagayama and catch Nakano in seventh position, again happily unhurt.

So after twenty four laps it was Haga who took the chequered flag by under a second from Fabrizio, with Spies a further couple of seconds back in third after rolling off in the closing stages when it was obvious that the Ducatis had it. Johnny Rea came in an excellent fourth, just a tenth of a second ahead of Biaggi, with Checa five seconds behind. Shinya Nakano was all over the back of the Honda in seventh, with Kagayama eighth and Shakey Byrne a distant ninth, holding Tom Sykes off to the line.

Race two started off much the same, with the lead group of Haga, Spies, Rea, Biaggi and Fabrizio making an early break. Spies took the lead on lap two, only to have the gear linkage fail on the Yamaha just one lap later. Fabrizio took three laps to climb from fifth to second and that's where he stayed to the chequered flag. This time out Haga never really looked threatened, and though the final margin was closer at just a third of a second it wasobvious that Fabrizio was never going to get past and make it stick.Though on the last lap he certainly tried very hard, making at least three attempts but overcooking it each time and allowing Haga back through.

Johnny Rea rode an excellent, controlled and disciplined race, holding off determined assaults from Max Biaggi and then Leon Haslam to take third place a yawning eight and a half seconds behind Fabrizio with Haslam ending up a further second back, just a fifth ahead of Biaggi. Carlos Checa took another sixth, again with Nakano and Kagayama behind him while Tom Sykes managed a better position, climbing to ninth ahead of Smrz. Xaus crashed out again, apparently after tangling with Smrz again and this time taking Muggeridge with him.

So not really the most riveting of races to report on, though the actual racing was close and good to watch. But nothing much actually happened. Apart from Haga's vice-like grip on the championship getting ever stronger, that is.

We're back in the United States next, as we return to Miller Motorsport in Utah. It's hot and dusty, and it's Ben Spies' home round. That might make him go better than usual as he's not having to learn it from scratch. Then again, with six pole positions on the trot, can he really go much better anyway? Whatever, though, this looks like a good time to get your Fantasy Superbikes team in...

Race One

1 Nori Haga (Ducati)
2 Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)
3 Ben Spies (Yamaha)
4 Jonathan Rea (Honda)
5 Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
6 Carlos Checa (Honda)
7 Shinya Nakano (Aprilia)
8 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki)
9 Shane Byrne (Ducati)
10 Tom Sykes (Yamaha)

Race Two

1 Nori Haga (Ducati)
2 Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)
3 Jonathan Rea (Honda)
4 Leon Haslam (Honda)
5 Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
6 Carlos Checa (Honda)
7 Shinya Nakano (Aprilia)
8 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki)
9 Tom Sykes (Yamaha)
10 Jakub Smrz (Ducati)

Championship Standing after six rounds:

1 Nori Haga 250
2 Michel Fabrizio 165
3 Ben Spies 162
4 Leon Haslam 116
5Jonathan Rea 106
6 Max Biaggi 103
7 Tom Sykes 103
8 Regis Laconi 77
9 Max Neukirchner 75
10 Carlos Checa 73

SB

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