Alstare Suzuki rider Michel Fabrizio took fourth place in both WSBK races in Brno, but had to defy the pain barrier to do so as he was suffering from a cyst in between two of his toes in his right foot and was in agony every time he pushed down on his right footpeg. He had a pain-killing injection in between the two races, but was still in some discomfort and could not be as aggressive as he wanted to in the right turns.

"I am happy to get two fourth places today considering all things. I have raced here before with a broken collarbone, but that pain was nothing like my right foot today. Every time I pushed down hard on the right footpeg I was in agony and, as this circuit is a clockwise one, there are a lot of right turns. I couldn't push as hard as normal in the right-handers and that prevented me from going any quicker."

Despite these problems, Fabrizio's points haul was a good one and helps to boost his morale in a season where he is producing some excellent results for the singleton Alstare Suzuki operation. The ‘Gladiator' now seems to have established an excellent feeling with the Japanese four-cylinder machine and a convincing base set-up that allows him to gain a better starting position, one of his weak points, and thus a better all-round race performance.

"I was happy with my bike set-up and enjoyed the races - apart from the pain of course. I think that my bike is down on power compared to most of my rivals and I'm sure I could get on the podium regularly if it had a bit more power. I used the same bike and tyres for both races and the only thing we did was a small adjustment to improve the grip. The grip was better in the second race, but once the front three had pulled out a gap, I found it difficult to catch them. All in all, I'm pretty happy with my results."