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/127949
ROAD RACE WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES By Johan Vandekerc khove Photos by Gold & Goose 22 MISANO, ITAI.Y, JUNE 21 n a track tha t has always proved to be one of the biggest challenges for the RC45, Castrol Honda's Aaron Slight no t only hit Du cati where it hurts most the Italian ma rqu e' s hom e circuit - but also put to rest any lingering questions about the mach ine's capabili ties with a stu nning double victory - the first in his lon g World Superbike career. Misan o ha s, in fac t, always been a di fficult track for anyo ne not ridi ng one of the factory Ducatis. No t only does the Brigada Rossa use the tight and twisty circuit very regu larly for testi ng purposes, bu t on top of that, this is sti ll one of the few tracks where thei r huge amo unt of to rqu e can still make up for the red bike's com parative lack of top speed . But as proof that Du ca ti is far from ou t of the fight for victory, factory 996mou nted Troy Corser finished second in bot h races to keep his title hopes alive, though he is s till wai ting for his first wi n of the season. Slight's tea m ma te Colin Edwards II foun d himself battling with - and yielding to - Corser in both races, the Texan coming away wit h third- and fourth-place finishes . In race one, Edwards fou ght hard to retain the runner-u p spo t, but Corser pu lled a surp rise move on Edwards in the chicane to steal the spot. In the second race, Corser was past early, with Ducati's Carl Fogarty going by as well and finishing well ahead of Edwards. Fogarty' s rac e-two th ird backed up his fou rth the fir s t tim e out, a muchneeded boost considering h is pa ir of 13th-place fin ishes a t the prior roun d in Germa ny. Kawasaki's Akira Yana gawa wa s a steady fifth in both races , while Yam aha 's Scott Russe ll worked his wa y up to eighth in race one after nea rly running off the track on th e firs t lap; then he came ou t in race two to equal his season-best finish of sixth. Round 6: Misano Corser still leads ·the champio ns hip, but by only six points over Slig ht, 200194 . Be h in d th e to p pa ir, th e poin t standings we re mixed u p considerably. Italian Pi er-Fra n cesco Chili d rops to fifth after scoring no points on the weeken d, givin g third in the championship to the stro ng-finishing Edwards, who now has 167 points. Fogarty jumps to fourth wi th 163, 19 points ahead of Chili . Haga, who also scored no point s after crashin g in bot h races, is next wit h 144. RACE ONE When the lights flashed gree n on the fi rs t ra ce, Corser led the w ay, with Edwards, Slig ht , Haga and the rest of the pack in tow . On jus t the seco nd lap , Pier-Francesco Chili had al read y pa rted compa ny when he crashed for the third time in three days. Corse r held station at the head of the field for the first five laps, holding th e hop es of th e pa r ti san cr ow d hi g h a t what amoun ts to Du ca ti' s home track. But on the sixth circuit of the tight an d cha llenging Misa no track , Slight shot his fa s ter H onda pas t th e Du ca ti on the ba ck s tra ig h t to lead the b re a ka w a y group of four, Co rse r now second just ahead of Edward s and Haga. Deeper in the field, Fogarty was running in se ve n th with Yanagawa a nd Whitham cha sin g hi m, while Gregorio · Lavilla, Nei l Hodgson an d Russell were strung out behin d to fill the top 10. For Ru ss e ll , 10 th wasn ' t a b ad reco very after nearly ru nning off the track on the first lap. Peter Godda rd, w ho had battl ed wi th teammate Whitham for a few laps, was no t so lu cky and cras he d in the early stages of the race . "The front end of the bike didn't feel quite righ t from the s tar t and th e tire slid away on the long left-h ander at the end of the straight :' said Goddard of his fifth-lap fall. • By the halfway mark , the fight for first appeared to be over as leader Slight had pulled ou t a sma ll margin on his p u rsue rs . Behin d him, however, the battle for second was ragi ng on. Both Edwards and Haga had gotten past Corse r bu t the Aust ra lian was bv no means out of the run ning. With abO"ut 10 laps to go, Corser u pped his tem po and started a cha rge : He mad e quick wo rk of Haga and soon moved to within striking d istance of secon d-place man Edwards. Corser tried on the inside of the Honda, on the outside, but never looked able to make up for the speed advantage of the RC45 on the long back straig ht, and Edwa rds wou ld cling' to the ru nner-up spot. But two laps from the checkered flag, the Ducati rider final· ly go t in front of the numbe r-45 Honda of Edwa rds and held the spot to the finish, Haga , meanwhile, look ed se t for a fou rth-place finish bu t cras hed out of the race , giving the spo t to Fogarty, who had had a lonely race after the halfway po int after having shaken off Yanagawa and Whitham. (Above) Troy Corser (11) leads the field ~ t the start of the first race. (Below) Corser led an early breakaway by the top fou r, with Colin Edwa rds II, Aaron Slight (111) and Nor iy ukl Haga (41) in tow.