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/128107
World Superbike Championsh ip Round 6 : Donington Par.K his largely underfunded Monstermob Ducat; team. Corser's p e rfo rm an c e was the b e st single Donington r ide b y an y of the " I made a schoolboy error in the top three championship contend ers , f irst race , and I ran off t he track on althou gh his aggrega te points score the exit o f t h e O ld Hai rp in , " H i s l o p o n the d ay was ide ntical to that of sa id. " It t ook me ha lf a la p t o g et my E dwards , wh o t o o k a fifth and a sixth. head back right a g ai n and when I got "T h e r ear was movin g around a nd I bac k i nto th e l ead ing bunch the re wa s ju s t do in g m y b est to s tay was noth ing I coul d do a bo u t C h ili. In up r ight i n t he s e cond race ," s a i d ra ce two the b ike just broke down - Edwards . " F o r one r ea so n or another one of those things ." it has not b een m y day . I c ou ld hav e (Abov e) What a diffe renc e a year makes. Last year at the Brands Hat ch round of the World Su pe rb ike Se ries, St eve Hislop broke h is neck. This year he broke the competition's hearts in qualifying by taking Superpole, and then went on to finish third In race one. (Left) Neil Hodgson was on fire at Donington. After winning ra ce one In co nvi nc ing fa shion, he was na rrowly beaten by Ch ili in ra ce two. 16 J UNE 6 .200 1 • e y e • e n e vv s Paolo Casoli rode to a do mi nant 8.585-second win on his Yam aha Belgard a m achin e in the World Supersport race, with the cha sing pack someti mes num beri ng sev en riders, none of whom stood a chance after only five lap s. Casoli also walked away with the new Supe rspo rt lap reco rd of 1:36.753. as well as extending his ch ampionship lead over new second- pl ac e m an Karl Mug gerid ge. That . in a nutshell. was the outcome of this week end 's Supersport event, but there was. of co urse far more to it than that. In qua li fying , pol e-posit ion m an Vitto Guareschi knew that he was fast on qualifiers, but would struggle to last race distance on the race Michelins. He needn't hav e worri ed, because his gear linkage broke and left him to retire for another reaso n. The race belonged to Casoli from the off, with his name appearing at the top of every single lap sco re, from 1-23, as he rocketed round a circuit he clearly loves . The fact that his son had asked him to win him a trophy"A big one ," on the day m ay hav e been a spur for doting dad Casoli , but a racer through and through he perf ormed the same disappearing act he did to win in Japan. On ly he has won two rac es thi s year , and - Supersport racin g being what it is • he may remai n so. The com petition behind was as cl ose as ever, with th e m agn ifi cent seven chasers being sometimes two in number, sometimes m ore, but always at eac h oth ers' throats. And elbows, as Jorg Te uch ert found out when Muggeridge left signi fica nt amounts on his left elbow as he entered Fogarty's chicane, as Muggeridge counter-attacked from third place . There were remarkably few c rashes in th is particular Supersport event, but the first was a doozey. Stefa no Cru ciani fell on the apex of the first corner, on the first lap, and his bi ke co llected a few riders on th e way out. The closest of them Wern er Daem en, was forced onto the gras s and unavoidab ly crashed into the side of the fallen m achin e, launch ing hi mse lf Evel Knievel -sty le into the stratosp here, landing heavily on his ank les. An ton io Esco bar and Chri ster Lindholm were another two rid ers affecte d, havin g to pu ll in afte r their off -track excu rsion on the Cru ci ani ex press. Christian Kelln er, ill and feeli ng dizzy fro m the outse t of the weekend, seemingly lost concentration on lap one and cras hed at the first chicane, ending his week end of misery in an almost humane fashion. James Whitham used his ci rcuit knowledge to hit the top th ree in the firs t couple of laps , although his teammate Casoli had by that time set his new lap reco rd . Muggeridge was in especially aggressive mode in his attempt to get to Casoli , and try as he migh t he was nowhere near reeling in th e Itali an, and had enough problems dealing with the unruly bunch behind him. O ne of the m , Karl Harris, was havi ng a great ride on his Wildcard Suzuki, mixing it up in the cl ass he was so underpo wered in last season. Although dropping through to finish seventh , and th ree seco nds shy of the m ain pel eton , he was impressive on home soil and enjoying his raci ng once more. By lap five, Casoli was alm ost five seconds i n fr ont, an age in Super sp ort racing , as Whitham was hanging on , Fujiwara was prov in g his true abil ities in th e leading bunch again , and Teuchert was working his way t o the front and finding it hard going. On lap six , Guareschi was in troubl e and was subsequently out, am azingly the last man to either crash or retir e and only the eighth non -fini sher in a class not noted for its ability to have the vast maj ori ty of the riders finish at all. It was cle ar by this stag e that Pirell i and Hond a were going to be this weekend 's big lo ser s, w ith the T en Ka te b o y s , Rib a and Foret, out of the hunt. Kevin Curtain proved to be the fastest finish ing Honda m an , running his BKM CBR int o eighth, 13 seconds off the winner 's pace. Bontem pi was the top Pirelli fini sher , sufferi ng not on ly ti re, but also brak e problem s as he had done through practic e. His late ch arge to sixth was m ore th an cred itable. Teuchert, movi ng thro ugh nicely once he got ahead of the group behind th e leaders, tried his am azingly success ful overt aking lin e at Redgate once more but was reb uffed by th e determined Harris and had to bide his time behind. Despite Casol i's bi g lead, the to p-10 riders were cove red by less th an 10 seconds at half dist ance. Whitham , su fferi ng fro m chattering problem s, was p layi ng something of a wai ting game, but the men who would have the most to say about his final position were Muggeridge and Te uchert. Dropped to wha t looked like im pendi ng oblivion, Muggeridge suddenly started back to the fro nt of the group , chasing the black figure of Teuchert, snugly in fourth position by lap 17 of 23 . Muggeridge's hard overtake dropped him to fifth, and only a superb ride back into co ntent io n put him on the tail of Muggeridge as he approached the denouement. The Alstare boys, Muggers and Katsuaki, were show ing little respect for each other, with Kats uaki literally leaning on his teammate on the scary drop down Craner Curves. Teuchert was also to touch Muggeridge, in a last attempt to take second, which nearly worked. Swapping the lead of the second group , Teuchert's ambitious move down the insid e on the final hairpin only left him third, although a brave one . With Whitham fourth and Fuji wara fifth, all running over the line within half a seco nd of each other, another drama-filled Supers port r a c e ~_ _ ""; had come to a fit- , t1ng climax. T he main statistic, however. is the fact th a t Casoli is now 26 p o in ts cle ar at t h e t o p o f the ta b le , w it h his pr ev iou s closest c h alle n g er Pitt dow n in fourth , Cu rtain in t h ir d and Muggeridge t he ne w m an playing catc h up .