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/128152
World Superbike Championship Round 4: Sugo, .Japan that, with a few changes, I can get closer to the front. The second race was much better after we put a softer rear tire on. I was still disappointed to finish behind Colin in the second race, but that was the best we could do today." Haga, behind Bayliss in race two, gambled on a British-made Dunlop tire in each race, rather than a local product, and was to pay the price after changing sU!ipension setup from race one. He was the only top rider to do so and thus swapped a podium for a fifth - a bad trade. Haga was disappointed in himself and his setup once more, explaining his situation thus: "I wanted to win, and after the pole position, I had a combination that could do it. The podium finish was a magnificent result, but I would like to make more. The RSV Aprilia has a strong engine, but we have to make many improvements in the setup to allow us to win." In the lower positions, Ben Bostrom's expected challenge fizzled Hodgson (1001 tries to hold oft polesltter Noriyuki Haga (411. out in each race with the L&M factory Noriyuki Haga's time of 1:28.806, albeit just outside the existing Superpole best lap time, was enough to take Superpole, the returning Samurai taking only his se<:ond-ever career Superpole, following up his success from 1998 at Albacete. "I'd already made pole in Spain, in '98, but the session was a bit mixed up by the rain," he said. "I rode on the dry, and all the others in the wet. So I really consider this as my flrst time. Making pole at Sugo. my home track, is just fantastic. I'd like to dedicate this pole position to Aprilia, to my team and to my family who've come out in force." After the first two splits, it appeared that Neil Hodgson, the provisional pole sitter and thus last away, would take the Superpole win, but a slower fmal split than Haga's dropped him to a still-impressive se<:ond. Hodgson had babied the throttle on the exit of the chicane, forgetting that his qualifler would have far more grip than the race tires he had been testing in the free Saturday afternoon session. "This may sound like an excuse, but in warm up, 1did 22 laps of race simulation, but I had to be careful be<:ause it was always spinning corning out of the last chicane," Hodgson said. "In the Superpole lap, I forgot that the qualifler would grip more so I didn't open the throttle enough. I realized immediately what I had done, but I hoped that my earlier aggression would be enough to make me fastest." Makoto Tamada, the 2001 Superpole winner, scored a third place on the front row for Sunday's brace of superbike races, after again losing his advantage on the flnal split. "I tried my best as usual, had a few changes in set up until today," said a former master of Sugo. "In the aftemoon free practice, the problem had been solved and I could do some long rides, simulating race conditions. Not taking pole is no problem be<:ause I can start from the front row tomorrow. If it rains, I don't mind, be<:ause I don't dislike wet races. I will try to repeat last year's success by winning both races." Ben Bostrom's L&M Ducati powered its way to the final front-row grid position. with the American rider in superbly aggressive form, visibly dramatic through the comers as his machine sqUirmed undemeath him. Colin Edwards' mistake early in his Superpole lap, running wide on the entry to one comer, dropped him to the second row, rnu<:h to the Texan's disgust. "I made a complete mess of the lap,' he said. "A couple of mistakes at the start of the lap cost me the tiny bit of time I needed to get on the front row. We've got a good race set-up and that's more important than quaJifying on pole position - although it would have been nice to get three in a row. Yesterday and today have been good for us and I was confident of getting pole position on the back of that. Starting from fifth is not what I wanted, but it's the first few laps of the race that will count. If one of the front row make a break, J need to be with them." Akira Yanagawa set an excellent Superpole time to go sixth fastest, making his return to the superbike fold a successful one before even one race hes been run. Troy Bayliss made one place on his pre-Superpole qualifying perfonnance, running to seventh on his Infostrada Ducati. The biggest improvement from any rider came for Eric Bostrom. Only in Superpole in the fltSt place be<:ause of the injury suffered to his fellow Kawasaki rider Hitoyasu Izutsu on Friday, Bostrom was first away and his time of 1:29.914 was the fastest until Akira Yanagawa came out for his first lap. "The first couple of comers felt real special, but then I blew a few later in my Superpole lap," said Eric Bostrom. "J know there's a lot more to come and, if I'd been a bit more courageous with the qua,Jifier in some of the tums, and Jess gun-shy with the throttle, you'd have seen that tod~y. We've got the smallest problems to sort out on the bikes one of them turns real well and the other has good grip, and we need to find a compromise on both - but the team did a real good job of sorting things out for Superpole: Bostrom leap-frogged two whole rows after his extreme lap. Takeshi Tsujimura was another rider who improved greatly, going from 15th to ninth, one place ahead of Wataru Yoshikawa, his Yamaha YSP teammate. James Toseland's HM Plant Ducati took him to 11th overall, edging out Ruben Xaus from the Infostrada Ducati team, who was somewhat detuned after his practice crash. Yuichl Takeda, riding the same machine that Makoto Tamada used to win the races last year, was 13th overall, with Chris Walker, Gregorio Lavilla and Lucio Pedercini finishing olf the fourth row. 20 MAY 1, 2002' cue • e n • _ s Ducati rider managing only a pair of seventh places. He changed a rim size before race two, and despite an early flurry of competitiveness, the result was just the same - another dull shine on the star-spangled leathers. "It's been a disappointing weekend," he admitted. "In race one, I almost took out Troy [Bayliss] and Neil [Hodgson] as we went into the chicane, and I lost a lot of time from the leading group. After that, I was stuck behind Akira [Yanagawa], and it was almost impossible to get past him. "I was so excited about the start of race two after changing to a different rim size, but found I was struggling with a lack of grip almost the whole Another repeat customer from race one to race two, like Bostrom, was Yamaha wild-card rider Wataru Yoshikawa (YSP Racing). He was twice eighth, the top Yamaha finisher in each leg, and but for the experienced World Superbike rider, Yanagawa would have been top wild-card as well. (The ranks of the Japanese would have been swelled by the like of Akira Ryo, except that he is running a MotoGP Suzuki V-four in the Japanese Championship, and was not called on for th~ Sugo race.) Ducati Infostrada rider Ruben Xaus crashed out of race one and lost skin and nails from his left hand in the process. His grit took him to ninth way. Every lap, I would come onto the back straight or the front straight and I'd lose three or four tenths at every exit." Chris Walker (91 has his head down In his battle with James Toseland (hlddenl and Takeshl Tsujlmura (451.