Max Biaggi

Max Biaggi
Max Biaggi in 2007
Nationality	Italian
Current team	Aprilia Alitalia Racing
Bike number	3
Website	max-biaggi.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 1998–2005 Manufacturers Honda (1998, 2003–2005) Yamaha (1999–2001) Championships 0 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 127 13 58 23 14 1624 250cc World Championship Active years 1991–1997 Manufacturers Aprilia (1991–1992, 1994–1996) Honda (1993, 1997) Championships 4 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 87 29 53 33 28 1268 Superbike World Championship Active years 2007–present Manufacturers Suzuki (2007–2008) Ducati (2008–2009) Aprilia (2009–present) Championships 1 (2010) 2010 Championship position 1st (451 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 107 14 47 2 9 1405

Massimiliano "Max" Biaggi (Italian pronunciation: ['maks 'bjaddʒi]; born June 26, 1971 in Rome, Italy)^[1][2] is an Italian motorcycle racer and winner of the 2010 World Superbike Championship. Throughout this racing career, he has won the 250cc World Championship four times, and finished as runner-up in both the 500cc and MotoGP championships. In 2007 he switched to the World Superbike Championship, finishing third overall as a rookie and earned his first Superbike World Championship in 2010 becoming only the 2nd European from outside of the United Kingdom after Raymond Roche to do so.^[3]

He has been nicknamed 'il Corsaro' ('the Corsair') and 'the Roman Emperor'.

Career

125cc

Biaggi was more interested in football as a child. But in 1989, after he was given a motorcycle for his seventeenth birthday, he began his racing career in the 125cc class at age eighteen. In 1990 he won the Italian Sport Production Championship. Following his success in 125cc, Biaggi moved up to the 250cc class.

250cc

In 1991, Biaggi became the European champion on an Aprilia RS250, and that same year he finished twenty-seventh in the Grand Prix motorcycle 250cc world championship riding for the same manufacturer. In 1992, Biaggi completed his first entire season in 250cc Grand Prix for Aprilia, and finished the season fifth overall. In that same season he took his first victory in Kyalami, South Africa. The following season, Biaggi joined Honda, and finished fourth in the championship standings, including a single victory in Barcelona. In 1994 he returned to Aprilia and dominated the 250cc Grand Prix championship by winning three consecutive titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996. In 1997, Biaggi again returned to Honda, riding for Erv Kanemoto's team, and won his fourth consecutive title. Following that, he moved up to the 500cc class.

500cc

Biaggi made an impressive start in his 500cc debut, qualifying on pole, setting the fastest lap and winning his first race in the 1998 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix at Suzuka, riding for the Kanemoto Honda team. He was also victorious at the Czech Republic Grand Prix and finished the season in second place behind Mick Doohan. Biaggi then joined Yamaha to battle against the dominant Hondas. He finished fourth in 1999, third in 2000, and second in 2001.

MotoGP

Max Biaggi with Repsol Honda in 2005

In 2002, Biaggi rode the four-stroke for the first time as development on the new motorcycle remained strong throughout the season. He won in Brno, Czech Republic and Sepang, Malaysia to clinch runner-up in the championship behind rival Valentino Rossi. In 2003, Biaggi finished third in the MotoGP championship after rejoining Honda on the Camel Pramac Pons team. It was expected that Biaggi would be one of the main candidates for the title in 2004, but a crash in Estoril saw his season begin to fade. At the end of the 2004 MotoGP season Biaggi finished the championship in third place, behind Sete Gibernau and series winner, Rossi.

Biaggi started the 2005 MotoGP season as an official factory Honda rider, joining American racer Nicky Hayden on the Repsol Honda Team with technical director Erv Kanemoto. It was hoped that continued cooperation with Kanemoto and the full factory support from Honda would make Biaggi one of the main title contenders in 2005. However, Biaggi finished the season in only fifth place.

Biaggi lost his ride for the 2006 season, his position filled by 2005 250cc Grand Prix champion, Dani Pedrosa. He negotiated with Honda, Kawasaki, and Suzuki, however, was unable to land a contract even with the backing of major tobacco sponsor Camel who ended up signing up to be the factory Yamaha squad's title sponsor for 2006. On January 10, 2006, Biaggi posted on his website that he would not take part in the 2006 MotoGP season.

Superbike World Championship

Max Biaggi at WK SBK Assen 2007

Biaggi attempted to reach an agreement to race the Superbike World Championship for Corona Alstare Suzuki in 2006, but the team could not commit to equal equipment with their existing riders, 2005 champion Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama. As a result, he took a sabbatical, but on September 14, 2006, Biaggi announced he had signed to replace Corser in the team for 2007.

Biaggi began the season by winning the first race at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar and finishing second in race two. In doing so Max Biaggi became one of only five men to win their first Superbike World Championship race, and the only rider ever to win his first Superbike race and his first race in 500cc Grand Prix. He then finished 3rd and 4th at Phillip Island, Australia.

After a hard championship Max Biaggi finished third, behind World Champion James Toseland and Yamaha top rider Noriyuki Haga.

At the end of the season, Francis Batta, Alstare Suzuki Racing Team director, was forced to release Biaggi, due to the loss of the main sponsor Corona Extra, as they could not reach financial agreement. Furthermore, Suzuki decided to stop official Superbike development for 2008, instead focusing on the MotoGP championship. For 2008 Biaggi rode a privateer Ducati 1098RS for the Sterilgarda/GoEleven team,^[4] teamed with Ruben Xaus. He finished seventh overall with seven podiums, three places ahead of Xaus and one ahead of factory Ducati rider Michel Fabrizio.

For 2009 he joined the returning factory Aprilia team. He took a double podium in round 2 at Qatar, and scored solid points before taking their first win since the return at Brno, after race leaders Fabrizio and Ben Spies collided. He finished a close second behind Spies in race two there, and finished the season 4th overall.

Biaggi continued with Aprilia for 2010, taking a double victory at the team's home race at Monza to move up to second in the standings. Another double in the USA gave him first place in the championship, after previous leader Leon Haslam failed to finish in race 2.^[5]

Max Biaggi ride the RSV4

In August 2010, Biaggi signed a renewed, two year contract with Aprilia to remain with the team in World Superbikes until 2012.^[6]

In 2010, Biaggi became Aprilia's and Italy's first Riders' World Championship in World Superbike Championship.^[3]

Personal life

Biaggi is known as the Roman Emperor and Mad Max and is notorious for his difficult relationships with the press, team personnel and other riders.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Throughout his career, Biaggi is best known for his heated rivalry with compatriot Valentino Rossi and other riders. The rivalry was featured in the 2003 documentary film about motorcycle racing, Faster, in which both Biaggi and Rossi appear. In 1997, he was rumored to be dating supermodel Naomi Campbell as they were seen boarding the same aircraft separately. This led to insults by Rossi while during some after race celebrations he rode with a blonde blow up doll that was dressed in a football jersey with the name Claudia Schiffer on the back to poke fun at the relationship. At the 2001 Spanish GP, the two riders came to blows following the race. There was an attempt to cover up the fight from the press but it was soon revealed. In 2006 he tested for the Midland F1 team at the Silverstone circuit for which he was touted he might land a race seat, but this never happened. He has completed the equivalent of a full race distance without issues, while Valentino, testing a Ferrari F1 car during the same year, spun twice. Biaggi was said to have commented, "Finally there's something I can do better than him (Rossi)."

He is currently engaged to Miss Italia 2002 winner and TV personality Eleonora Pedron; together they have a daughter Inés Angelica Biaggi and one son Leon Alexandre Biaggi.^[11]

Grand Prix career statistics

All stats according to MotoGP.com^[12]

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
1991	250cc	Aprilia RS250		4	0	0	0	0	7	27th
1992	250cc	Aprilia RS250		12	1	5	4	1	78	5th
1993	250cc	Honda NSR250		14	1	5	2	1	142	4th
1994	250cc	Aprilia RS250		14	5	10	7	8	234	1st
1995	250cc	Aprilia RS250		13	8	12	9	7	283	1st
1996	250cc	Aprilia RS250		15	9	11	8	9	274	1st
1997	250cc	Honda NSR250		15	5	10	3	2	250	1st
1998	500cc	Honda NSR500	Team Kanemoto	14	2	8	2	2	208	2nd
1999	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	Yamaha-YMR	16	1	7	1	1	194	4th
2000	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	Yamaha-YMR	16	2	4	5	3	170	3rd
2001	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	Yamaha-YMR	16	3	9	7	2	219	2nd
2002	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	Yamaha-YMR	16	2	8	4	1	215	2nd
2003	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	Sito Pons	16	2	9	3	1	228	3rd
2004	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	Sito Pons	16	1	9	1	3	217	3rd
2005	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	Honda-HRC	17	0	4	0	1	173	5th
Total				214	42	111	56	42	2892

Year	Series		Poles	Races	Podiums	Wins	2nd place	3rd place	Fast Laps	Titles
All Time	World Superbike (SBK)		2	109	49	14	18	17	11	1

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos	Pts
1991	250cc	Aprilia	JPN	AUS	USA	SPA	ITA	GER	AUT	EUR Ret	NED	FRA 13	GBR Ret	RSM 12	CZE	VDM	MAL			27th	7
1992	250cc	Aprilia	JPN Ret	AUS 8	MAL Ret	SPA 10	ITA 3	EUR 3	GER 2	NED Ret	HUN Ret	FRA DNS	GBR Ret	BRA 2	RSA 1					5th	78
1993	250cc	Honda	AUS 3	MAL 17	JPN Ret	SPA 2	AUT 5	GER 4	NED Ret	EUR 1	RSM 5	GBR 6	CZE 2	ITA Ret	USA Ret	FIM 3				4th	142
1994	250cc	Aprilia	AUS 1	MAL 1	JPN 4	SPA Ret	AUT 2	GER 2	NED 1	ITA Ret	FRA 3	GBR Ret	CZE 1	USA 2	ARG 2	EUR 1				1st	234
1995	250cc	Aprilia	AUS 3	MAL 1	JPN 9	SPA 2	GER 1	ITA 1	NED 1	FRA 2	GBR 1	CZE 1	BRA 2	ARG 1	EUR 1					1st	283
1996	250cc	Aprilia	MAL 1	INA 2	JPN 1	SPA 1	ITA 1	FRA 1	NED 3	GER 4	GBR 1	AUT Ret	CZE 1	IMO Ret	CAT 1	BRA Ret	AUS 1			1st	274
1997	250cc	Honda	MAL 1	JPN 7	SPA 3	ITA 1	AUT 3	FRA 2	NED DSQ	IMO 1	GER 4	BRA 5	GBR Ret	CZE 1	CAT 2	INA 1	AUS 2			1st	250
1998	500cc	Honda	JPN 1	MAL 3	SPA 3	ITA 2	FRA 5	MAD 6	NED 2	GBR 6	GER 2	CZE 1	IMO 3	CAT DSQ	AUS 8	ARG 5				2nd	208
1999	500cc	Yamaha	MAL Ret	JPN 9	SPA 2	FRA Ret	ITA 2	CAT Ret	NED 5	GBR 4	GER Ret	CZE 4	IMO 3	VAL 7	AUS 2	RSA 1	BRA 2	ARG 2		4th	194
2000	500cc	Yamaha	RSA Ret	MAL 4	JPN Ret	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 9	CAT 5	NED 4	GBR 9	GER 4	CZE 1	POR 4	VAL 3	BRA 5	PAC 3	AUS 1		3rd	170
2001	500cc	Yamaha	JPN 3	RSA 8	SPA 11	FRA 1	ITA 3	CAT 2	NED 1	GBR 2	GER 1	CZE 10	POR 5	VAL 10	PAC Ret	AUS 2	MAL Ret	BRA 3		2nd	219
2002	MotoGP	Yamaha	JPN Ret	RSA 9	SPA DSQ	FRA 3	ITA 2	CAT 4	NED 4	GBR 2	GER 2	CZE 1	POR 6	BRA 2	PAC Ret	MAL 1	AUS 6	VAL 3		2nd	215
2003	MotoGP	Honda	JPN 2	RSA 3	SPA 2	FRA 5	ITA 3	CAT 14	NED 2	GBR 1	GER Ret	CZE 5	POR 2	BRA 4	PAC 1	MAL 3	AUS 17	VAL 4		3rd	228
2004	MotoGP	Honda	RSA 2	SPA 2	FRA 3	ITA 3	CAT 8	NED 4	BRA 2	GER 1	GBR 12	CZE 3	POR Ret	JPN Ret	QAT 6	MAL 2	AUS 7	VAL 2		3rd	217
2005	MotoGP	Honda	SPA 7	POR 3	CHN 5	FRA 5	ITA 2	CAT 6	NED 6	USA 4	GBR Ret	GER 4	CZE 3	JPN 2	MAL 6	QAT Ret	AUS Ret	TUR 12	VAL 6	5th	173

World Superbike Championship

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts	Ref
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2007	Suzuki	QAT 1	QAT 2	AUS 3	AUS 4	EUR 3	EUR 2	SPA 8	SPA 2	NED 6	NED 3	ITA 3	ITA 5	GBR 6	GBR C	SMR Ret	SMR 3	CZE 2	CZE 1	GBR 3	GBR 8	GER 2	GER 3	ITA 1	ITA 2	FRA 6	FRA 2			3rd	397
2008	Ducati	QAT 2	QAT 3	AUS Ret	AUS Ret	SPA 16	SPA 8	NED 10	NED 12	ITA 5	ITA Ret	USA 9	USA 4	GER 13	GER 7	SMR Ret	SMR 2	CZE 4	CZE 3	GBR 3	GBR 12	EUR 3	EUR 6	ITA 2	ITA Ret	FRA 4	FRA 6	POR Ret	POR 13	7th	238	[13]
2009	Aprilia	AUS 11	AUS 15	QAT 3	QAT 3	SPA 8	SPA 8	NED 5	NED Ret	ITA 11	ITA 5	RSA 5	RSA 5	USA 6	USA 4	SMR 13	SMR 10	GBR 2	GBR 21	CZE 1	CZE 2	GER 5	GER 4	ITA 2	ITA 4	FRA 3	FRA 2	POR 3	POR 6	4th	319	[14]
2010	Aprilia	AUS 5	AUS 8	POR 1	POR 1	SPA 2	SPA 3	NED 6	NED 4	ITA 1	ITA 1	RSA 4	RSA 3	USA 1	USA 1	SMR 1	SMR 1	CZE 2	CZE 1	GBR 5	GBR 6	GER 4	GER 5	ITA 11	ITA 5	FRA 4	FRA 1			1st	451	[15]
2011	Aprilia	AUS 2	AUS 2	EUR 7	EUR DSQ	NED 2	NED 2	ITA 2	ITA 8	USA Ret	USA 3	SMR 2	SMR 2	SPA 2	SPA 1	CZE 2	CZE 1	GBR 11	GBR 4	GER DNS	GER DNS	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA	POR 4	POR 7			3rd	303

• * Season in progress.

References

1. ^ Max Biaggi at the Internet Movie Database
2. ^ "Max Biaggi Biography", Motorbike Sport, 5 January 2009, http://www.motorbikesport.co.uk/riderbiography.aspx?id=5, retrieved 2010-06-25 
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/latest-news/4444-max-the-first-italian-wsbk-champ.html
4. ^ "Biaggi Signs With Sterilgarda Ducai WSBK!". SuperbikePlanet.com. http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2007/Oct/071030a.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-30. 
5. ^ Biaggi savours ‘perfect result’ on home soil
6. ^ "Biaggi signs with Aprilia until 2012". Insidebikes. http://www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/bike-sport/biaggi-signs-with-aprilia-until-2012.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-03. 
7. ^ "Max Biaggi Bio", MotorcycleUSA, January 21, 2008, http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/465/1054/Motorcycle-Article/Max-Biaggi-Bio.aspx, retrieved 2010-06-25 
8. ^ Macauley, Ted (26 June 2001), "Motorcycling: Italian pair take rivalry to the Max", Daily Mirror (London): 3, http://0-proquest.umi.com.catalog.kcls.org/pqdweb?did=86997821&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=13518&RQT=309&VName=PQD, retrieved 2010-06-25 
9. ^ Alonso, Ivan (31 October 20012004-10-31), "Rossi takes ninth victory of the season in Valencia", Motorsport.com, http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=172682&FS=Other%20series, retrieved 2010-06-25 
10. ^ Every, Rob (25 February 2007), "WSBK: Roman Emperor Max Biaggi has landed!", Motorcycle Racing Online, http://www.f1network.net/main/s180/st112424.htm, retrieved 2010-06-25 
11. ^ http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/latest-news/4836-congratulations-to-max-biaggi.html
12. ^ "Max Biaggi". MotoGP.com. http://www.motogp.com/en/riders/profiles/Max+Biaggi. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
13. ^ "Portimao; 31 October, 1–2 November 2008: Superbike – Championship Standings". Superbike World Championship. Infront Motor Sports. 2008-11-02. http://sbk.perugiatiming.com/pdf_frame.asp?p_Round=POR&p_Anno=2008&p_Manifestazione=14&p_Gara=01&p_Sessione=002&p_Stampa=STD. Retrieved 2010-07-07. 
14. ^ "2009 Standings Riders – FIM Superbike World Championship". Superbike World Championship. Infront Motor Sports. http://www.worldsbk.com/season/standings?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2009&p_PilotiCostruttori=P. Retrieved 2010-07-07. 
15. ^ "2010 Standings Riders – FIM Superbike World Championship". Superbike World Championship. Infront Motor Sports. http://www.worldsbk.com/season/standings?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2010&p_PilotiCostruttori=P. Retrieved 2010-07-07. 

External links

• Max-Biaggi.com – Official site

Sporting positions
Preceded by Leon van der Heijen	250 cc motorcycle European Champion 1991	Succeeded by Luis Carlos Maurel
Preceded by Tetsuya Harada	250cc Motorcycle World Champion 1994–1997	Succeeded by Loris Capirossi
Preceded by Ben Spies	World Superbike Champion 2010	Succeeded by Carlos Checa

Persondata
Name	Biaggi, Max
Alternative names
Short description	Motorcycle racer
Date of birth	1971-06-26
Place of birth	Rome
Date of death
Place of death