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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127833
ROAD RACE
WORLD SUPERBIKE
CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
. "About the third lap, the rear tire
went," Hale said. "Five laps later, it
started blistering wroch made the bike
vibrate a lot. I slowed down, hoping to
still end in the pomts. But then the tire
came apart and I had to stop. It's too
bad, but trus was the best choice going
into the race. I think eiJ Hodgson had
the same problem."
In the meantime, the pace didn't
slow down much up front and it soon
became clear that the four-way fight
would go the distance. It all came down
to the final lap.
At that point, Edwards looked to be
the favorite as he led, though Slight and
Crafar were very close. Fogarty, meanwrole, had lost a bit of ground and barring a miracle he wouldn't win or stand
on the rostrum for a second time on the
day.
Edwards had led the last five laps
and seemed poised for his first-ever
World Superbike victory, but Shght
managed to work mto ros draft in the
last comer and edged past the Texan in
the mad dash for the finish line.
"I knew I had to be in the lead starting the last lap," Edwards said. "Earlier,
I'd noticed that I couldn't draft by Slight
on the straight. But I lacked a bit of traction 'coming out of the last comer. I'm
not upset, but I had the impression that
I could get the victory. With two laps to
go there was no one on my butt and I
thought there was enough gap, but it
wasn't to be."
Instead, Slight took the sixth victory
of his career and made it a double-win
day for Honda.
"I had it in my mind that it is easier
to catch someone up and pass them than
to lead onto that filla1 straight," Slight
explained. "But I thought Colin had the
race wrapped up with two laps to go
when he opened up a gap, but I managed to claw it back under braking at
Honda corner and then it was just a case
of holding on around the final corner to
stay with Colin down the straight."
Crafar's consistent day ended with
another third-place finish.
"It Wi;l.S easy to take the lead in the
opening stages, but it was not the best
position to be in because whoever was
in fron t towed the others along in the
slipstream," Crafar said. "Four laps
from the end, I still saw a chance for victory but then I noticed that Colin and
Aaron were getting away wrole I got
stuck beIDnd Carl. It took me a wruIe to
get past the Ducati, but the gap to Colin
and Aaron was too big by that stage.
And the front had started pushing a lot
so I settled for third."
Bayliss finished fifth again, with Russell making a strong bid late in the race
to push Kocillski back to seventh on the
final lap.
'1 knew I wouldn't go as well in the
second race as the first because of one or
two little problems we had in the dry
qualifyillg," Kocmski said. "I also had
tire problems and the rear was never
going to help me get the better of
Bayliss."
"The track felt as slippery as in qualifying and so it was hard for me to get
Slightly better
F
our-cylinders showed the way during Friday and
Saturday's practice for the first World Superbike
race of the season. On Friday morning. Yamaha's
Scott Russell and Colin Edwards 11 confirmed their
impressive performances from Daytona two weeks earlier by taking the first two places in the free practice session. Surprisingly though, things would go the wrong
way after that.
A few hours later, Kawasaki's Akira Yanagawa
offered the first big surprise of the weekend. On a bike
that had looked entirely out of shape during winter
practice sessions, the Japanese newcomer to,the series took provisional
pole position in a dominant way after Carl Fogarty had been the fastest
during the first half hour. His teammate Simon Crafar took the second
spot in the closing stages, followed by Edwards and Aaron Slight
(right).
.
With Castrol Honda's Slight on top of the rankings on Saturday
morning. the second (and decisive) qualifying session promised to be a
head..,n battle among the four-cylinder brigade. But it was Fogarty who
took his Ducati out on a fast ride right from the start, earning him the
top spot for some 20 minutes. Then, things started to heat up with
Slight, Yanagawa and Cratar taking the day's pole position, without
ever getting close to Yanagawa's performance from the day before.
With only three minutes left in the final session, Slight finally got a
clear lap and moved up to grab the pole . lapping under Yanagawa's
Friday lime by half a second. [t was the third World Superbike pole
position for an RC45.
"It's good to get pole position here," the New Zealander said. "After
Yanagawa and Crafar got past me on today's ranking. I waited to have
a clear lap and then have another go at the pole. This year I want to be
more aggressive on the track, and apparently that new approach has
already paid off. Even though there are no major changes on the bike, I
went half a second faster than last year."
Even though he was toppled from the top slot in those closing
stages, Yanagawa was quite satisfied with his result.
"I was just looking for a good race setup when I set my fastest lime,"
he said. '1 made a big mistake on my fastest lap in Honda comer. With·
out that, and with a softer-eompound tire, 1 am sure that I would have
gone even faster."
His teammate Cratar was equally as pleased.
"I hadn't expected to be on the front row when we came here," the
Ki)"i admitted. "The off-season testing hadn't been so good and we
were quite unfamiliar with the new-spec bike, which we used for the
first time a week ago. But apparently we have now partly closed the
gap in acceleration and power compared to the other four-cylinders, It's
also hopeful that I set my fastest time on race rubber. That proves the
competitiveness of the new Kawasaki."
Edwards filled the front row on the factory Yamaha.
'The crack lacks grip," the Te~an complained. "We had the same lire
(Above left) Akira Yanagawa leads the way
over Lukey Heights early in the-first race.
Yanagawa finished fourth in the first race
but crashed out of the second.
(Above) John Kocinski celebrates his
first-leg victory.
available here as last year
when it was like glue, but
now from the first lap it
was spinning like hell.
Practice cIidn't go as well
as last year, when r took
pole, but we have a good
race setup. Tonight the
mechanics will put the
front and the rear I felt
most comfortable with
under my race bike, and
then it will be up to me."
Fogarty had to be
happy with fifth position
on the second row.
"My biggest problem is having the bike hold the line," the Brit said.
"During private pract:ia! a coup1e of months ago I got down to 1:34.6,
but since then the track seems to have lost some grip. And I was held
up by (Scott) Russell on my fastest lap. We'll try to have the bike
behave better for tomoITow by setting up the front and the rear differently and by changing the ride height."
Ducati's Neil Hodgson, Castrol Honda's John Kocinski and Yamaha's Scott Russell completed row two. Even though be cIid not equaJ his
teammate's lap limes, Kocinski was quite happy with his performance.
"We had some problems trying to find front grip," he said. "But the
team has done excellent work during the whole weekend, not even taking lime to eat lunch. So 1 feel sure that tomorrow the bike will be perfect. In the last few minutes we'd already found part of the solution
when we changed the setup of the front suspension. It earned me my
best lap lime of 1:35.837."
Russell was his usual self after a disappointing eighth-