Michel Fabrizio

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Michel Fabrizio (born 17 September 1984) is an Italian motorcycle racer. For 2006 he races for DFXtreme on a World Superbike Honda.

[edit] Early years

Born in Rome, Fabrizio first raced in Minimoto at the age of 6, winning several titles before reaching his teens. He won the Aprilia Challenge in 2001, and raced in the 125cc World Championship for Gilera in 2002, with little success.

In 2004 he made his first appearaance in MotoGP, with the WCM team, failing to complete the season and finishing the season 22nd [1].

In 2005 he raced in World Supersport, the champiosnhip immediately below World Superbike, on a factory Honda. He was 5th overall, with 9 top 5 results in the 12 races, although without a win [2]

[edit] WSBK

For 2006 Fabrizio is teamed with the veteran Pierfrancesco Chili on privateer Honda machinery. He started his career with 5th and 8th at Qatar [3]. He stood in for Toni Elias on MotoGP Fortuna Honda at Donington Park, but crashed in practice and broke his collarbone. [4]

Just 3 weeks later at Brno in WSBK, he started 10th, but chose hard-compound tyres, which remained on the pace as other riders faded. In the first race he past a fading Andrew Pitt as well as Fonsi Nieto, Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga in the closing laps to score his first WSBK podium finish. In race 2 he went even better - after passing James Toseland for 4th towards the end, he caught the battle for 2nd between Haga and Corser. As Corser attempted a move, Fabrizio dived down the inside of both, slithering and nearly hitting Haga, before edging ahead of them both to the line, immediately improving on his career-best result with a 2nd.