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/128238
at th e first right- ha nd er on la p o ne . Each rest art ed but eventua lly ret ired . J ames Haydon wa s also out after on ly lap o ne, being scythed down by a se emin g ly e r ra nt Iv a n C lem en t i. Lac oni' s freef all to an eve ntua l six th he blamed tires, and Dunlo p blamed hi s cho ic e - put the fan s in a bi gger freezer compartment than the grand stan ds alrea dy we re (57" was not a wa r m w e lc om e for t he c la imed 55 ,000 weeke nd fa ns) . Xau s and Tose land had a fig ht fo r seco nd as Hodgson tried to esca pe , and by lap nin e Hodgson had a ] .6 sec ond lead, happy to ha ve th e warring parti es behind him. W a l k e r was holding station o n fo urth, a littl e bit behi nd the battl e for seco nd, Lav illa snapping at his heels in another good but not q uite good eno ug h weekend for the Dun lo p- shod fo u r -c y linder] 0 0 0 Suz uki. D a mn th ose restrictors said some, alth ough at Magny-Cours th e twins ' better performance out of th e many slower co rners had little to do with th e pow er sapp ing restrictor s. Xa us slott ed past Toseland on lap ] 0 as sev enth place Lac on i repassed Pier-F ranc es c o Chil i f or si xt h, bu t Laco ni was way too fa r behind Lav ill a for any thing m uch to happen beyond that. Th e fa ct th at Ch il i was ab out to su ff er the fi rst of two DN Fs, brin gin g his person al total up to nin e from 24 sta rts, just ma de it a wasted erra nd for both ri de rs. With C h ris Walker un d er attack fr om La v illa at m id d ist anc e , Wa lker p assed T o sel an d o n la p 19 , Lav illa fo llowi ng su it sho rt ly afte r wa rd a s Toselan d 's tire, harder than Walker's - pec uli arly - we nt off towar d the end. " T h at was a bri ll i ant race , a nd I enjo yed ev ery minute," Wa lker said later. "I didn 't get th e start I wanted, and Neil [Hodg son ] was on it straight a w a y and was g on e . I t h o u g h t I'd pi ck ed the wrong tire because it was sl i d in g a fa ir b i t at the start , b ut it stayed co nsi ste nt for the w hole race. I'm we ll happy ." Xaus in sec on d, smelli ng th e blood of an Englishman , set th e quickest lap of the rac e on la p 20 only for Hod gson to outdo him an d k eep clear t o the flag , but o nly by .348 of a seco nd. Walker, taking third , was ] 3 seconds down o n H od g son a n d a smidgeon ahead of th e batt lin g Lavilla. " It was a go od rid e but no t enough - I wa nted to be on the podium ," Lavilia sa id . '" w as fighting w ith Chris [Wa lker ], and I wa s fast er d own th e back straight. , co uld pass him on th e b rak es , but becau se w e run a lo ng first gea r, he wa s ab le to o ut accelerat e m e eve ry tim e." T o se land was fift h, La c o n i si xth and S t ev e Martin a s oon -t o -be improv ed o n seventh . T roy Co r ser , having a good st art , was we ll up for his eighth-pla c e finish o n t h e Petronas . Juan Borj a, in possibly his l ast meeting, was n inth , w ith Ma uro San chin i ] Oth. Rac e tw o , h e l d in a o ne -d eg ree w arm er 59 ', g av e Xa us hi s seve nth ra c e wi n o f th e 2003 se aso n, rid ing from a terrible start down in eighth to the vic to ry by ] 0 seco nds. "I'm very hap py to co me back from eighth on the first lap to win the race," Xaus said . "M y lap times were g ood , and I was spinning th e rear lik e I d o when I tra in on m y Supermoto. I am the only Spanish rider winning in Wo r ld Sup erbike, and w hen I am th ere, th e races are exciting - not like in MotoGP ." en him overall , desp it e h is no score, and Lac on i is going to be T oseland 's team m ate in th e Fila team in 2004 . Wa lker cou ld no t make h is attack on the last c orn er payoff, so he took his se cond th ird-place fi n i sh of the da y in the sec on d leg , from La vil la and privateer rid er St eve Mart in . "It was reall y cl ose between m e and Xaus' constant la te -race co m pan i on Hod g son cras hed , sh ortly afte r setting his new lap record in his p ursui t of a fl eein g Xaus. He wen t to th e new best of 1:4 1.2 19 on lap 17 and fell o n lap 2 ] . He restart ed to no ava il and ende d a glorious sea son in an ignomin io us fashio n. With all the ha rd work done, and even Xau s crushed over th e sea son as a who le, he co uld c are less. T oseland 's second-place finis h in race two gave him th ird overa ll in the tit le r a c e , after l o c a l r i der L a c o ni scored six th and a no sco re for ] 6th. Lac oni pitted in rac e two and en ded up ba ck out w ith th e lead er s, albeit on e lap down . Toseland 's race tw o buddy w as h is te am mate Ch ris W alk er, an d the two r i d e r s d id eve ry t h i n g but c r as h in th eir mutually desperate attempts t o st ay wi th Hodgson. A m essy last few l aps p ro v ed t o be class ic rider- to r ide r agg ressio n m ad e fl e sh an d m et al. For Toseland it was a high -r isk strategy , as any fa ll wo uld lo se h im his va lu ed th ird pl ac e in t he bi g ger fig ht ag ain st Laco ni. It was e sp e c i all y i m por tant because Lacon i co uld still have beat- Ch ris [W a lk er ] , but o nce I g ot by , I di dn 't see him at all . He nev er showed m e a w heel. I kn ew som eb o d y was there because I kept getting plus zero on m y pit board . Th e th ing th at con fus ed me th e m o st wa s wh en I sa w [Reg is] Laconi in front of me . I started trying to work out the poi qts in my head , but th at meant I ran w id e! Neil [Hodgson] fell off, wh i ch ga ve me some m ore po ints , so I'll have to thank him f o r tha t. T o finish t hi r d in the championship is brill ian t no t j ust for c ue I e n m e but fo r GSE and all ou r sponsors." Martin' s fifth m atch ed his best of the seaso n at V alen c ia - and was tak en using a new type o f Pirelli rea r tire. Good news for 2004? Well there was so me in Mag ny- Cours, eve n if there sim p ly has to be a ch ange in the idea of having a race in France in Oct obe r. Leon Has lam 's race o ne bad luck w as ov erturned in rac e two , and son of Ron sec u re d a six th - p lac e finish. Bo rja was lu cky sev en, and w ild card SERT Suzuki rider Seb astie n Gimbert w en t ei ght h, C l eme nti n i n t h an d Mauro Sanc hini , also o n a Kaw asak i, sl ipped in to th e top ] 0 - one min ute and three seconds ad rift of Xa us' big red Du ke. In th e Wo rld Champio ns hip , Hod gson 's ]3 wins ha ve co ntri bute d ma ssive ly to his fin al tota l of 489 points , wi th Xa us overall second on 386 , ha vin g t ake n seven w in s. Toseland - with one glorio us Os ch ersleben w in to his c redit - has 27 ] , and Laconi dropped from thir d to fo urth in the fina l ana ly sis wi th 267 poi nt s and no wi ns. Wa lker rod e h i s heart out for h is podiu m fin ishes, securing sixth in th e c hamp io n shi p , w hi le Chili su f fe red the a g on y o f a d oub le DNF and rem ained on th e ] 97 points he came t o Fra nc e with . He fin ished seventh overall - although he has the personal satisfaction of a race win nestling in his list of 2003 results . Ma rti n' s season in World S up e r b i k e delivered him eighth overall p lac ing, fro m Ped er cini Ducati rider Lu c i o Peder cin i a n d Marti n 's own e vv S • O C TOB ER 2 9 , 2 003 17