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/128218
World Superbike Championship Round 5: Oschersleben, Germany Hodg/on Ag_Q_in_ _ Stephane Chambon. Starting from second place, Vermeulen took an almost immediate lead, pushing on throughout to head up every single lap. He had company for a time, the pugnacious Brae Parkes from BKM Honda and for a while the fleeting threat of the Alstare Suzuki duo. "I don't know what the secret is, but 1 just got my head down off the line, and no one could stay with me again today," Vermeulen said. "I was surprised, Toseland was over the moon with his first World Superbike victory. njng wave and finally beaten by his former junior teammate, and all of the other top men having come close to beating Hodgson already, the rest of the season will be hard to predict, race by race. the cool customer on top of the yellow Ten Kate missile. Chambon held on for second, with Fujiwara four-tenths adrift. Will Fujiwara miss the points come season end? Well, Chambon is so close to Fujiwara now (68 to 62), maybe it doesn't matter to the team. WORLD SUPERSPORT For Ten Kate Honda rider Chris Vermeule" the twists and turns of Osch· ersleben were as easily conquered as the fast tracks like Monza and Phillip Island. Three wins out of five, the last two despite a broken right thumb tendon, allowed the 20-year-old Aussie to tighten his grip on the championship - despite a third place for Alstare Suzuki's Katsuaki Fujiwara and a' second place for his teammate 26 JUNE 11, 2003· cue I really, because this is a difficult track, and qualifying was very close. I'll take it - no worries." Parkes opted for a too-soft front tire and then ran off the track as he started a gradual but incessant slip from second to fifth. The Suzuki fight was for the most part mostly gentlemanly, even if the GSX·R brothers could not attack any weakness in Vermeulen's Honda nor _ In fourth, Jurgen van den Goorbergh was again the fastest Yamaha rider out of the seven factory entrants, although his inability to get away right at the front has cost him in virtually every race this year. He blamed traction problems to some degree, but the real reason was the excellent race package of Vermeulen n __ s After the confusion of Monza's Superpole competition, when the rains came halfway through the nonnal proceedings, the race organizers obviated any potential problems by declaring Superpole wet. A good job really, because even if the track surface was universally dry, despite a few spots of water on the photographers' lenses at one stage, the virtual monsoon of the morning's session remained only a bizarre memory. With each rider limited to 12 laps and the threat of rains imminent, a virtual cavalry charge of riders left Pit Lane as soon as humanly possible, getting their laps in early, with a few left over if they needed them. Having fallen in the wet earlier in the day and sustaining a cut on the inside of his right elbow, Hodgson could have been excused for feeling rattled, and he looked to have been as the session closed. Sitting in a pretty pole position with only minutes remaining, Hodgson was becoming a fixture in Pit Lane, despite his three remaining laps, when PSG· 1 Ducati's Pierfrancesco Chili and his 998RS snatched the best time of the session, punching the air in delight after a magnificent final attempt at putting himself in the spotlight for the start of Sunday's two Superbike races. Pushed into action by the sight of his name on second place on the time sheets, Hodg· son ventured out once more but fluffed a gear cha"Qe during his first push for a quicker lap and ran off the track. He had inadvertently tapped the gear lever as he readled himself to downchange to second and only succeeded in finding fourth. Going through the box again to find second, he found first, and by this time he had sailed off the track and was heading toward a large Breil watches sign. He kept it upright on the damp grass, kissed the sign with his front Michelin. Having made a mistake "like a total novice really: Hodgson collected his thoughts, regained the circuit and one lap later posted the fastest time in any qualifying session of the we.ekend. His 1:26.907 was only a whisker ahead of Chili's I :26.942. Hodgson's pole win was his fourth in five attempts this season, proving his hunger is as keen as ever. His fastest lap proved that even when he gets it wrong, he still gets it right eventually. "It wasn't planned, really, to go out again: Hodgson said. "I hoped Frankie would take it easy seeing as we were all on the front row. It forced my hand. I was happy to watch everyone else so I had to go out and do it. I made a mistake on my first lap, came out of the comer, hit the gear lever, and it went from third to fourth instead of second. Then I ran off the track and almost into the sign. I was like a total novice, really! After all that I pulled myself together to put in a clean lap, and I was lucky to beat Frankie by less than a tenth! Tomorrow the usual four suspects are riding really well. I don't think anyone will pull away; it should be a freight train for most of the race." For Chili, he spent his time in the pits being congratulated by his team before realizing Hodgson was going for a proper go at his time, and he took himself to the pitwall, to gesticulate to Hodgson to slow down. The reason? So that Chili would get the chance to give his wife the Superpole winner's Breil watch he has been promising for some time now. Behind every good man there really is a good woman, and in Chili's case it's the lovely Romina imploring him to get her a watch. Only Frankie can tum defeat into a fonn of moral victory, and when it was suggested to Frankie that Hodgson was such a nice guy he would just give the Breil to Chili, the Italian smiled and said, "No, I must eam it by myselft" Behind Hodgson and Chili, HM Plant Ducati's James Toseland won the Cain and Able battle of the GSE Racing 998 F02 brotherhood, with his teammate Chris Walker just behind in fourth place, the last man on the front row of the grid. Both riders crashed on the final day, but both also found themselves ahead of a few of their main podium rivals, at a track notoriously difficult to pass on. Walker injured his calf muscle in the fall. "That has to be the closest I've ever got to pole: Toseland said. "Without actually going pole. I felt really confident, but I made a few mistakes on my final attempt at a fast lap. I had another tire left but no more laps." NCR Ducati's Regis Laconi, the only other man to win Superpole this year, qualified filth; Steve Martin, in sixth on the first of the DFX Ducati PireUi machines, made a good impression. Gregorio Lavilla, a force to be reckoned with in each qualifying session on his fourcylinder Aistare Suzuki, was seventh, having less of a good time at the tortuous seven iefts and seven rights of Oschersleben than at any other track so far. Out of sorts with his machinery, Hodgson's teammate Ruben Xaus put in visible effort - big handfuls of throttle and expansive body movements but secured only eighth best time, taking the last place on the second row. Happier with his race setup than with qualifying, Xaus was nonetheless not a happy man early on in Gennany. SBK rookie and Lavilla's teammate Vittorio lannuzzo impressed many in ninth, with Juan Borja rounding out the top ten, despite suffering from a broken coccyx. Foggy Petronas' Troy Corser rode his triple into 12th place, improving from 16th after regulation qualifying. His teammate James Haydon failed to qualify the other FP-l but is going to be allowed to race, after a jury decision accepted the fact that his top-16 time in the wet was good enough and that his problems in free practice were not down to his abilities. Blushes saved or blushes covered, the Petronas team riders were getting their butts cooked, by the machine and by their relative results. In the World Supersport Championship class Ten Kate Honda rider Karl Muggeridge held onto pole position for Sunday's race, thanks to his 1:30.250 lap time from Friday. Violent thunderstorms, which included falls of hail and a nonstop 45-minute cascade from the blackened skies, soaked the track for the second untimed qualifying session, although the circuit dried sufficiently in the aftemoon to have the final timed period declared a dry session. Despite the cooler air temperatures of Friday, few riders managed to improve on their Friday times due to the corresponding drop in track temperatures, but Chris Vermeulen was one rider who pulled it off, settling in behind his teammate Muggeridge on the grid in second place, for the second race in succession. Alstare Suzuki's Stephane Chambon starts third due to his Friday time; Klaffi Honda's Sebastien Charpentier maintains his spot on the front row, albeit fourth, not third. Alstare Suzuki's Katsuak; Fujiwara ran out fifth, one ahead of Kawasaki's Pere Riba, who was one of the fallers early in the afternoon session, albeit suffering no injury. Jurgen. van den Goorbergh starts from row two, seventh overall on his Belgarda Yamaha, while lain Macpherson jumped to eighth.