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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128107
World Superbike Championsh ip Round S : Donington Park With th e race finall y de clared wet j u s t b efor e th e warm -up lap , t he teams were alread y c o m m itte d t o whatever tire lottery the y had opted for, with the top riders all s itt ing in various states of rubberwea r. The skies were da rk, the riders had completed th e wet practice in the morning , and th e track was rapidly dr ying in some pla c es, but we t it wa s declared. a sens ible enough move in the circum sta nces . The hol eshot went , t o n o on e 's surprise , to Edw ards , alwa ys qui c k off the b lo c ks wh en h e ha s a fro nt -row sta rt. Th e running orde r of Edwa rds, Bostrom , Hislop and Ba yliss was soon altered , only thr ee corners into the race, whe n th e plainly a ggress ive Ba y liss shot p ast Hislop , a n d se t about Bostrom. Bay lis s wa s soo n to seco n d at Goddards , with onl y o n e lap gone , while Hodgson stalked the tail of his old sparing partner , Hislop. Corser, who many tho ug ht would overcome his poor starting pos ition , was in sev enth by this sta ge, look ing to have slipped a b it from Edw ards . He was trailing Chili. Edwards ' gap was .7 of a second at the e nd o f lap two, a s Hod gson speared past Hislop , a nd th en blitzed Bostrom at Foggy's . Backing -in s ide wa ys and on a wide line at Godda rds , Hodg son im me d ia te ly tri ed to pas s Bayliss. Bayl iss wa s s lidi ng o n th e exi t of Old Hairpin, ho lding up Hodgson a nd Hislop as he recove red his composure. Corser was now right behind, in fifth. With three seconds from first to e ighth, and 10 riders with in 10 sec- onds of th e lead , th e race was hotting up nic e ly by lap four . Hodgs on went to secon d on la p five at Fog arty's , with Hislop right on the money a lso . Hodgson , no w down 1.29 seco nds on Edwards , and ah e a d o f Bay lis s , was about to s how his tru e pa ce at circuit he knew well - a nd was determin ed to win at after lots of early sea son prob lems . Behind , Ruben Xau s and O k a d a m ov ed into fourth a nd fifth on la p seven; the same lap on which Hodgso n took the lead , aft er p a s s ing Ed war d s o n what was appeari ng to be a ne w favo rite overtaking poi nt fo r m a ny; up the inside at Redgate Corner - turn one. Hislop a nd Ba yliss , scram bling for s u prem acy in th ird and fourth , were con stantly overtak ing each other a nd we re s pectac ula r on t he Melbo urne Lo op sectio n of th e track, runni ng wide a nd s lid ing in on the brakes. On e lap after go ing sec ond, Hodg son had e ked out a half-se con d ga p, runn ing st rong at the front an d loo k ing un stoppable. Edwa rds , his c ut slick rear twitch ing as it went off, wa s obviously in t roubl e and was c o mi ng under th e influen ce of th e tractor be am emitted by Hislop 's machine. Chili had s et up Ba yli ss for th e pass on lap II, and wa s wo rking on performing a simil ar fe a t o n Xaus soon thereafter. Hodg son , with a 2.4 second lead by la p 12 , was well cle a r of th e c atch ing Hisl o p , wh o c h o se that moment to run pa st Edwa rds and make some t ime on Hod gson . Near disaster struck for Hislop on lap 16 , a s he ra n o nto the grass on the ex it o f th e Old Ha ir p in , bu t reg ain ed the t rack , lo s in g several plac e s an d p ro m o t ing Ed wa rds to second o nce m ore . Edw ards, his det erm ination burning under h is vis or , was m a ki ng a great ra c e of th ing s o n his s ho t tires , and ye t was riding sm ooth ly a t the same time . It was a re m a rkable feat of a rm s , an d one that cou ld not last, as he finall y dr opp ed to fifth a t the flag. Repassed on lap 2 2, it wa s all over fo r Edwards fro m th en t o the end , on lap 25. Xaus gr ew in statu re once more in this ra c e , la ying bla c k line s a t will on th e ex it of Schw an tz Curve, alt ho ugh he was the first ride r to be re passed b y th e chasi ng Hisl op . Xa us is a Superbike rider now for sure, just a n unpredi ctable one . Ch ili, th e un sung hero so fa r, wa s suddenl y th reatening a podium fin is h , alo ng with hi s race p a rtne r O kada , enjoyi ng Don ington a nd the fa ct tha t he had c hosen slicks front and ba ck . Hodg s on, now 5 .9 1 9 sec o n d s ahe ad a n d c o m fo rta b ly holding o ff the atta ck of the othe r riders, wa s 20 n Carl F o g art y. in atte n da nce at Doninqton, wa s co nvinc ed tha t what e ve r one of the top three riders would co m e out of Don ingt on with th e best res u lts wou ld be th e o ne he fav o re d t o g o a ll the wa y in th e c ha mp ionsh ip. Doning ton . he re c koned . is always pivotal, and a go od litmu s test for merely good ra ce rs who fa ncy themselves as champions . Quite whic h on e of th e t op m en c a me out on top of th is test is ope n to qu estion , de spite Co rser's podium . T he ch ampion sh ip sta nd ings, lar g ely sta tic a fte r t his ra c e , still show the big t hr e e as the on ly m e n really ca pa ble of taki ng the crown, but if their rates of prog re ss carryon m uch like this , then we cou ld be on for a ch am pionship which goes dow n to the wire a nd is wo n by a rec or d low po ints sc or e - es pec ia lly as no on e sco re d a ny points a t all in Ph illip Isla nd ra c e two. If th e ra cin g is as goo d a s this ev e ry weekend unti l lm ola , ho we ver , then on ly th ree peopl e will comp lain ab out it. Can you g uess th e ir names? RAC E ONE JUNE 6 , 2 001 • cue I EO e vv s s u re of the win now a nd ea s e d h is pa ce a little . His lop , s t ill with d es igns o n th e rac e win , we n t p as t Edwards at Redg at e once more on a n im po ss ibly tight ins ide line , pow ering awa y from t h e c ha m p as s o on as he had th e c ha nce. Making tim e o n Hodgson , His lop seemed assured of second, or at least he wou ld have be en had he not been t a ile d b y Chil i throughout h is final c harge to the fro nt. With his rear tire now s ho t, Hislop had to surrender to Ch ili on the fina l lap, with his counter a ttack comi ng to nothing . With th e podium positions s e t, Okada he aded up Edwards by .5 of a second , with Bostrom finish ing well ah e ad of Xaus , a nd James Toseland a n exce lle nt eighth o n the second GSE m a chine. Even with his victory Un io n J a c k ups ide down , Hod gson savo re d th e m om en t , with a m ini crowd inva s io n goi n g off a ll around him on th e s low-down la p. ~ AC E TWO To seland made h eadlines of the wro ng kin d in ra ce two , when he ra n o ff a t t he fi rs t co rn e r, ev e n t u a lly pulling in to reti re on lap 10 with bike trouble . Ed wa rds , a lwa ys Edw ards , was in th e lea d a g ai n, but had the orange Duc ati of Hodgson right with him th is t im e a ro und , a nd a whole s wa rm of de smos behind th a t. Bostrom co aste d the first -lap tim ing beam in thi rd , with Ba yliss and Hislop tailing , and Cors e r, in much better sh a pe than he was in ra ce one, a close fifth. T he d ry t rack c o nd it ions help ed, but they were on ly so much good to Ed wa rds , who had to succumb to th e c harg ing Hodg son on lap four , a nd los t th e le ad he would never get ba ck. Corser wa s making a pass-e -lap to end up in third pla ce on la p four, and found Ed wa rds a tough nut to crack a s he s n ug g le d into Edwards ' c o n tra il. A clo se c a rav a n of riders made up th e top few positions , with Hodg- Jorg Steinhausen and his monkey Andy Hetherington lead the sidecars into tum one. Klaus Klaffenbock and Christian Paner took the win and the points lead with six rounds remaining. so n u na b le t o m a k e a s ign ific ant break th is time a ro und . Finall y, Corser had t he ri g h t stuff t o g o b y Edwa rds on la p seve n, with the run n ing orde r th en Hodgson , Cors er , Chil i a nd Edwards , rapidly shooting to the back on a not he r s liding tire . One lap later, John Reynolds was almost right up with them, having st arted the race in seventh. He passed Edwards on lap eigh t and started to close in on the le ading bun ch , wh ich ha d now been whittled down to three - Hodgson, Corser a nd Chili. With a ll the top runners on Dun lops , and a ll the Michelin riders in var ious degrees o f trouble , it was another one of th ose races where one make of tire demonstrated a better set of c ha ra cte ris t ics than another no surprise: Michelin have no official presence in the British Championsh ips anymore , and therefore not that mu ch data c om pa re d to Dunlop. Poor Hislop was robb ed of the chance to improve on his third from race one when his bike expired at the end of the pit-lane straight on lap eight. Chili was m aking good use of his rubber, setting the fast est lap of the ra c e on th e 10th ci rcu it, as he mov ed clo ser to Corser. Hodgson , bor ed of leading it see med, allowed Corser to p a ss , w it h the Aussie tak ing the cha nc e a nd trying to pull out a lead, a lbeit un successfully. Hodgson , through on the inside of Corser a t Redgate a g a in, on lap 14, upped the pace considerably to try and ma ke anothe r brea k like he did in rac e on e , but shadowed by Chili a ft e r lap 17 , h e was unab le to get aw ay. A m istake , when he ran too hard and too s ideways into the Melbourne