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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127844
ROAD RACE WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Above) Diversity triumphed at Hockenheim, with five manufacturers making the podium in two races. (Left) Castrol Honda teammates John Kocinski (3) and " Aaron Slight battled during the final laps ) of race one. Slight took the win, followed closely by Kocinski. By Johan Vandekerckhove Photos by Gold & Goose HOCKEN.({ElM, GERMANY, JUNE 8 orne 45,000 spectators attended two hotly disputed races at Hockenheim, and when it was all over, there was a historical record to go on top of it all. Each one of the five· manufacturers got a rider on the rostrum at this fourth round of the World Superbike Championship. The biggest winner, however, was Carl FogartY, who took a fourth place in the first leg and a win in the second to strengthen "his lead in the series point standings. S RACE ONE 14 A familiar pattern recurred on Sunday morning when, after two days of excellent weather, the racing took place in the rain.. Damp conditions at Hockenheimring have been known to cause problems, as tires can run extremely hot on the circuit's long straights. And if the track is not completely wet, the rain tires can well explode in those conditions. Fortunately, after Sunday morning's warmup, the rain stopped, and everybody prepared for a dry race at noon. Hockenheim is all about slipstrearning and launching an attack at the ideal moment: the last passage through the infamous Sachs Kurve, about half a mile from the finish line. AaronSlight was desperate to win, however, and took tile lead at the end of the first lap. The Kiwi even managed to get a small time advantage over the chasing group that included Simon Crafar, John Kocinski, Neil Hodg- . son, Akira Yanagawa, Scott Russell, Colin Edwards II, Carl Fogarty and Pier- , H Francesco Chili. The pack fought for every inch of asphalt, thus allowing Slight to keep his small lead. Crafar was the first (and only) one to grind to a halt before the checkered flag dropped. A puff of smoke emanated from his Kawasaki, forcing the New Zealander to retire, unable to transform his pole' position into championship. points. The trouble was probably due to an oil leak. Some five laps before the finish, Kocinski got out of the clutches of the chasing group and started to close in on his Castrol Honda teammate. With two laps to go, the American even got in front and looked set to record his first "dry" victory of the year. But that was not how Slight had it plalmed. "John coming by me with two laps to go was perfect for me," the New Zealander said. "1 could plan the last lap. John went into the last corner right on the line, so I moved over and chopped the brakes that little bit harder. Just before that, John rolled off the power a bit, but there was no way I was going past until we got to the stadiurn." Kocinski was not so happy about his placing second. . '1t is my fault entirely," Kocinski said. "Anybody could have won on this bike. I am very disappointed in myself." . Russell, on the other hand, had every reason to cheer after his first rostrum position for Yamaha in the World Superbike series, especially after he had had to change his bike minutes before the start oj the race. "When I went out on the warmup lap, the bike just didn't want to run," Russ~ said. "But I had compared both bikes back to back during practice, and I knew that I did not need to worry too much. The. bike actually wen.t better than [' thought it would. It did take me some time to get into the groove, but I had some good racing with the Ducatis in the second half of the race. Unfortunately, 1 didn't know it was the last lap when I made my move into the stadium, b~tJ'"