Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127741
~ , '. .ROAD 'RACE." '.':" . Round 8: Brands Hatch ..World Charnpionship Su~~ Road Race'Series By Johan Vandekerckhove Photos by Gold & Goose BRANDS HATCH, ENGLAND, AUG. 6 he season may be far from over with four rounds and eight races to go - but in the World Superbike paddock everybody seems to have resigned themselves to the fact that they will serve another year under King Carl I in 1996. Ducati's Carl Fogarty took his third double victory of the season in Brands Hatch, a circuit which was definitely not on his list of favorites - at least coming into the British round. The young Aussies were once again impressive, with Muzzy Kawasaki's Anthony Gobert moving up a few more places in the point standings. But, once again, Fogarty's main rivals lost ground, and his lead is now a whopping 136 points over Troy Corser. It will take a brave man to try and reduce that yawning points gap.. T RACE ONE An impressive crowd of 45,000 saw Fogarty take the lead as soon as the Union Jack was dropped, and for a few moments two Englishmen were leading the pack. Kawasaki-mounted John Reynolds wouldn't stay on Fogarty's tail for long, however. It didn't take long for Gobert to swoop past the Brit as Yamaha's Yasutomo Nagai, Ducati-mounted Fabrizio Pirovano, Corser, Yamaha's Colin Edwards II, Castrol Honda's Aaron Slight, Ducati-mounted Steve Hislop and the Honda of Simon Crafar hooked up behind him. In the third corner, Gobert actually got ahead of Fogarty - his brief moment of.glory. carl Fogarty (1) Iellds John Reynolda (33), Anthony Gobert (17) and the rest of the World Superblke field Into the first comer lit Bl'lInd Hlltch. Fogarty won both legs. On the second lap, Fogarty took possession of the lead again - and he wouldn't surrender it again. After having set a new lap record' (he'd already set one in qualifying), Fogarty stretched his lead to some eight seconds before slowing to cruising speed. Behind him, Nagai, Reynolds, Gobert, Edwards, Corser, Slight and Pirovano continued to battle over second place. Nagai, a victim of transmission problems, was the first to lose ground. After dropping from the front to the back of the group in one dean sweep when he couldn't get his Yamaha to shift, the Japanese rider was forced out of the race a lap later. Five laps from the end, Gobert looked set for second place while Corser seemed to have settled for fourth, followed closely by Reynolds and Edwards. With three laps to go, however, the AMA Superbike Champion had one last go at Gobert. And it worked. After a short battle, Corser took second, ahead of Gobert, Reynolds and Edwards. For Fogarty, it was his eighth victory of the season. "I just wanted to get past Anthony (Gobert) as quickly as possible," the World Champion said. "Because this is a track where you don't want to get stuck behind somebody." Corser felt he had lost most of his chances on the starting grid. "Before the start, Davide (Tardozzi - Corser's team manager) had gone to see the race direc- I