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/128232
World Superbi ke Champion s h ip R ound 10 : Assan, H o ll a n d Gregorio LavUla crashed out of race one but was on the box in race two with a th ird -place fini sh. • proc ess. Is he ano th er Du c ati ri d er destined for the World Champion ship? He's a few co unties away fro m Lan c ashire, but being th e son of "Rock et" Ron , the gene pool is deep eno ugh. Be hind t he top six in eac h ra c e, Ivan C lement i was an i m pr ess ive e ig hth a n d seventh on hi s 750 c c Kawasak i Bertocchi mac hine, bea ting Walker into eighth p lace on the sec o nd runn ing - eve n if Walker ended th e race wi th the same tire problems that m ad e Toseland ret ire. ...... were o n for m at a momentum t rack lik e Assen , wh ile wild ca rd A lessandro Gramign i went hom e to Italy for Im o ta with a 11th and 15th from his R 1. L ucio Ped e rc in i , 12th an d 14 th , wa s ano the r lon ely rider in eac h race. Wild c ard Hans Saiger was happy t o score good po ints in the DNF festiva l th at was rac e o ne , t ak in g 13th p lace even if he had to reti re hi s R1 on lap 14 of rac e two. G ia n maria Li ver ani and Jir i Myrkyvka secured the last poi nts in loo ked tota lly in co ntro l until - and e v e n d u r i ng - h i s r ac e - on e c ras h , w hereas bot h H od g son a nd Xa us we re lik e out -of-positio n socce r play ers, all effort and pace and skill bu t to no co hes ive fu nction some times. It wa s anothe r and much happier , sl eek er -l o oking Du cati pair ing that took on rac e tw o and onc e mo re con qu ered all , look ing lik e champion and vic e cha m p ion. The ma rgin of Hodgson 's vict ory this season will be at least 40 point s, even if Xaus wins all of the rest and Hodgson fails to score. Xaus , for his tu rn , is now a gua rant eed second in the series but co uld have been more if he had adapted the vagari es of th e new 999 an y th ing like as quickly as Hodgson did . Back in Ducati's good books , back o n the shopping lists of man y team , Xaus m ay even end up in America , where h e co u l d make hims e l f a Superstar at will. F or H od gs on , it app ear s t hat Mot oGP is his next port of call, ev en if no one in Ducati is abso lut ely wi ll ing to co mmit to wh at is happening. For both Hodgy and Xa us , Imola is th e next showdow n and fa r from th e c hampi on sh ip ba ttle now h a v i n g resolved anything , it just gives more oppo rtu nities fo r o ne- upmans hip in the Fila camp . W O R L D SUPERSPORT Corser was a still- im p ressive ni nth in th e rerun desp ite a lo ss of engine power and t orque, wi th Rizla Suzuki 's J ohn Reyn olds very out of sort s to fin ish l Oth, havin g been forced to ret ire in ra ce on e wit h suspens io n co nce rns. S t e v e Ma rt i n, t h e fi r st Pi reJli eq ui p pe d rid er in th e c ham p io ns hip, was nin th an d 11th beh ind th e m ain battles on hi s Du cat i. Mauro Sa n c h ini' s 10th an d 12 t h pl a c es pro v ed t ha t t he K aw a sa k i s 20 SEPTEM BER 17,2003 ' ey e ra c e o ne , w h il e Ju an B orj a mis sed out on any points at all - ano the r low wat erma rk for his season . O nly 17 rid ers of 27 fi nished race o ne, bu t 2 1 fin ished rac e two. Lavil la's desperati on to win in th e opener put him in th e gra ve l - o r was it , as Xau s believed , oi l fro m th e previ o us cras h b et w ee n S tefa n Nebe l and Walte r T ortoro glio? T aki ng adva nt ag e of one of Hod g son 's sli p s to ta ke the lead , Lavill a I e n evus A new Worl d Supe rspo rt Cham p io n wa sn 't c row ne d at A s sen , bu t i t 's c lo se t o b ein g d on e. A ft e r ano t he r ro ugh and occasionall y tum b le event in the crazy ga ng 's 2003 rep ert o ire, the last few laps had th e Ten Kate du o Chris Verm eule n and Ka rl Mu ggerid ge o ut in fro nt , w it h th e Alstare Suzuk i pairin g beh ind - in th e sha pe of Kat sua k i F uj iwar a and St ephane Cha mbon - w ith the .Japanese rid er tant alizingly right in fro nt of th e Frenchman. Had Verm eu len t'ak en M uggeridg e at t he fin i sh li ne ins tead o f sitti ng b a c k a l i ttl e , a n d h a d C ha m bon d ep o sed F uj i w ith a last- la p lung e, th en we wou ld have seen Vermeu len too fa r ahead of anyone t o c at ch at Im ola or Magn y Cou rs. W it h J urg en v an d en Go orber gh sa d ly o ut o f t h e rec k o n in g a t t ha t st age , it was a deli gh tful prosp ect for som e (T en Ka te ) , a nightm ar e for a c ham p io nsh ip in gene ra l, w hic h f re quently goes all th e wa y . T he c onv inc ing series lead er Verm eul en didn 't win th e rac e o r th e titl e, but h e exte n de d hi s cha m p io ns h ip le ad t o 42 p o ints, afte r h e and h is teammat e Mu ggeridge ended the day in eac h ot her' s pock ets - not to m enti on eac h othe r's way . M uggeridge w on the interna l tu ssle by shee r fo rc e of wi ll, wi th Vermeulen a close seco nd, th e young Aussie giv ing w a y t o a sli ghtly l e s s yo u n g Aussi e. Mugg as wa s riding superbly b ut was si m p ly d esperate t o win at least o nce in a seas on that has been cruel to him o n occasion. V an d en Go orb ergh , wh o w as in full co nte ntion earl y o n , fell o n lap seve n of th e 16 , afte r running into turn one to o hot. He had looked like a po ssib le winner him self, a littl e down o n some pla c es bu t always with the T en Kate boys ar ound for a full lap. To th e audibl e groa ns of his loya l fa n base , van den Go or ber gh we nt into turn one t oo deep at m id race d is tan ce a nd f o un d t hat b ot h H o n d a guys had go ne in a little m or e ca ut i o u sly tha n b ef o re . T h e n et resu lt was that he was headed for a collisio n course with Verm e u len and had to brak e too hard, loc k ing up th e back end and c atapulting him self way over the ba rs to slap down painfully . He had the optio n of hitting Verm eu len a nd would h a v e d on e his c ham p io n shi p chances some g ood , but he t oo k the hon o rab le way o ut, even if it was by the express elevato r to th e medica l ce nte r. His bike did , how ever , graze the end of Ve rm eu len 's ex ha ust, some thin g the champion-elect did notice with alarm . Suzuk i's Fujiwara re c ov ered from a le ss -t h an -glitt erin g sta rt to take t hird place , a nd bo t h he and his fo u r t h - p lace d team mate C ha m bon a re no w th e o n ly r id e rs c a pa ble of w in n in g th e tit le - o t he r t h a n V er m eulen , of co urse . It w ill be a big t ask fr om 4 2 poin~s a nd 48 p o int s b eh ind Ve rmeu l en , resp ectively , but strange r things have m ayb e happen ed. Seb astien Charpenti er w as a fi ~e fifth and ran w ith th e top four co n vi n c ing ly until h e was forc ed b a c k down th e o rder. Luck ing into his Klaf fi ride at the st art of th e y ear, he ha s pr o v e d f r om d a y o n e th at h e has des e r v e d th e c ha nce , putt ing h i s teamm at e Ulm firmly in th e sha de . A toug h day fo r th e. othe r rnanu -,