Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Opposite page) Troy Corser: 1996 World Superbike Champion. (Right) The first lap of the Australian round of the World Superblke finale, with Colin Edwards II (45) leading the way over Troy Corser (2), Aaron Slight (3), Anthony Gobert (4) and Carl Fogarty (1). (Below) Edwards opened up a slight lead over Slight (3) and Gobert (4) before being caught by Gobert. moment, when the bike jumped into neutral and 1 went sailing to the outside of Siberia. "Afterwards, I slowed down a bit and kept the gap constant. That was enough for me to take the title. Besides, 1 don't know if 1 would have been able to go a lot harder anyway. I couldn't get the bike to steer on to the main straight. I tried to make up for the lost ground everywhere else, but 1 burned the rubber of my rear tire doing that." Fogarty finished fourth, ahead of Goddard, Yoshikawa and Kocinski, who was bitterly disappointed with the result. "After practice I'd already said that low 1:36s was the best I could do with this bike," Kocinski said. "And that's exactly what I did. The bike just couldn't go any faster." Texan Mike Hale finished ninth, behind Pier-Francesco Chili. "I had a bad tire and a bad start," the Texan said. "After half a dozen laps, 1 knew that I wouldn't have a good result." RACE TWO quickly as possible in order to keep his slim championship hopes alive. That plan fell apart on lap 13, however, when the Kiwi crashed his Castrol Honda at the infamous Siberia left-hander. "1 wasn't worried about (Anthony) Gobert at the time," Slight explained after having tried to get his bike out of the gravel pit to resume the battle. "All 1 wanted to do was to catch the leader. 1 knew if I could get the lead from (Colin) Edwards, there was a good chance he would hold up Gobert. But Gobert came by into Honda Comer and 1 came out of there on the wrong line. When I pitched it into Siberia, I hit a bump with the front and down 1 went. I'm just angry that I crashed out while I was still in front of Troy (Corser) in the race." With Slight out and Corser's title a certainty, the Australian crowd started to cheer on Gobert in his efforts to run down Edwards. While Corser seemed to settle into a slower pace, Gobert had stepped it up and in no time had caught the Texan. At half distance, Edwards was under incredible pressure from the Kawasaki rider, with Corser safely in third. Behind him came a group of four fighting over the fourth place: Kocinski, Fogarty, Wataru Yoshikawa and Australian Wild Card Peter Goddard in a battle that would go to the very end. All eyes were fixed on Gobert, who took over the lead from Edwards, despite a lack of top speed on the straights. In the last couple of laps, both men changed back and forth before settling into their final order with Gobert winning in front of Edwards, Corser and Fogarty. '']' d hoped to get away right from the start," said race winner Gobert. "I felt confident that 1 could win in those circumstances. It didn't go to plan and in the first few laps I burned my tire in an effort to get to the lead. Then I started to use my head and decided to try and ride as smoothly as possible in order to save my tires. Once we got on Colin, I knew that I would get in front." Edwards wasn't too disappointed, despite coming so close to winning his first World Superbike race. "The first few laps felt really good," the Texan said. "But by the time Anthony caught me, everything went away. But 1 was beaten fair and square. The only way to get around here is to slide it, but we were losing traction pretty early - especially on the left side. We'll try a new tire for the second race and I'll just ride hard again." The happiest man on the rostrum was Corser, the newly crowned World Champion. "Maybe Aaron (Slight) was riding a bit harder than he should have been," Corser said. wasn't quite sure that it was Aaron who had gone down. But then I saw him walking back along the track one lap later, so 1was sure that the title was in my pocket. Funnily enough, 1 nearly crashed myself at that same :1 Corser was determined to celebrate his world title with a victory, but the stakes were even higher for three other riders, each of whom stiU had the number-two plate in his sights. After the first heat, Corser was' at an unapproachable 369 points, with Slight still holding second place with 327 points, but now feeling Kocinski (326 points) and teammate Fogarty (321 points) breathing down his neck, For Slight, staying ahead of his. two rivals would have be enough to secure second in the standings. But the Kiwi intended to go all the way. Corser took the holeshot, bet his triumphant march would be stopped only one corner later - when a seagull crashed into his bike, destroying the fairing and breaking his clutch lever. The Australian would have to pit for repairs and he would re-enter the race, well down the field. After the first bird collision, Gobert took command followed by Slight, Edwards, Goddard, Neil Hodgson, Fogarty and the rest of the field. Edwards, though, was the next target for the feathered inhabitants of Phillip Island with the Texan smashing the second bird in two laps. This time, the bird left his (blood) mark on Edwards' leathers and visor. ~ ~ \0 0\ ~ ...0 6:l ~ I:< Q) 5 Z 7

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