Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

ahead again but it was the last pass he would make, and Haslam would keep Oelschlager beh ind him when it mattered. Up front where it all mattered more, with three laps to go Chili was trying to make up som e space on Toseland , attacking hard on his l04 mm bore engine, almost the same as Toseland's but with a ve ry different chassis. Closer the next lap, Chili was fully ahead on pure lap times, and but for a tire problem, would he have enough time to catch the Englishman - or was Toseland holding anyth ing in reserve? Haga was away and clear for the win, but with Chili close r still to Toseland, we were set for a grandstand finish. Toseland held his nerve and position across the line to finish second and regain his championship lead. "It's a strange championship so far, but I'm happy that I'm cons istently fast now," Toseland said later. "We had a few problems in qualifying but got them so rted, and I'm really happy w ith the way the bike's working. I just lost the lead to [No riyuki] Haga trying to get past the othe r guys, but I pushed hard , and by the time I got into a rhythm , I was struggling like everyone else . Seconds are do ing my hea d in at the mo ment - I need a win! I really want to win the champ ionship, and for the moment consistency is paying off, but I'm not winning races!" Race tw o was a more eventful race for many, as the fact that only 14 riders finished and som eone somewhere went home without an easy point, illustrated Renegade team in race two. Little Haslam, 2 1 years old the day after Oschersleben, was eighth on lap one, but he moved forward as his rivals fell by the wayside , and he became another World Superbike podium placer in the 2004 season. "I didn't expect this to be the track that I got my first podium," Haslam said. "It was a good start in race two and managed to get past Vermeulen pretty qUickly. I had a good battle with [Steve] Martin and closed down with Toseland, but when Martin crashed, I had to shut off and lost a lot of time ." Ahead were the Ducati Fila brothers, Laconi being in close proximity behind Haga before he retired, even though he had made no impact all race long. Toseland was pleased with his second place ; he could be less happy to finish 21 seconds behind Laconi. He did escape with his championship lead, even if it is a paltry two points. Chili proved that not only can he pe rform near miracles even while knocking at 40, he is also as occasionally fallible as ever. Falling in spookily similar circumstances to Monza race two - chasing a ride r in front [Laconi], then losing it while pushing it too hard into a faster right-hander - he had overcome the disadvantage of his rear tire sp inning in race one - just like Verme ulen, but seeminglyless severe. Garry McCoy, another race winner th is year, admitted he was somewhat fort unate to take the points where he did, in a fourth place, which was four seconds down on Haslam. He had the ever-m ore impressive e Ivan Clementi, scored eleventh and then a ninth place , one ahead of old World Superbike stager Andy Meklau's Schaefer Suzuk i. The last ride r unlapped was another blast from the Superbike past, and its present in the Zong Shen team th is year - Piergiorgio Bontempi. Two races held in fine track conditions, in front of an audience few believed was really quite the 69 ,500 the organizers claimed , were hardly classic. They were entertaining because of the incide nt alone, and they were appreciated by a still decent tu rnout of fans in a country which does seem to be onside for a warm World Superbike future - especially if the wild cards come back next year. Never have so many autograph hunters been seen collected around the back of the team pit garages , their enthusiasm clear as the skies above. Ten races , 10 Ducati winners, another on the podium roll of honor. THE FARCE CONTINUES The unlikely happened again, just as the paying customers left the scene of the latest piece of farce to inflict itself on World Supersport. Or be inflicted by Supersport on itself, you dec ide for yourse lf. As the crowd shuffled out of the track and along the nat plains of Germany, many were under the impression that three Hondas finished in the top three positions. How wrong they were. O r, depending on what happens in the FIM headquarters in Geneva a day or so after the race , they Briefly... Addendum: British Superbike Series Suzuki rider Yukio Kagayama willmiss the Thruxton round of the British Superbike Championship after breaking his collarbone during qualifying lor a 300km race at Suzuka in Japan. He said, "I am very disappointed not to be racing at Thruxton. This is a no-need crash lor me. I have very little luck, but this will not stop me Irom trying my best with all my heart when I come back to race Inthe UK." Andy Meklau , veteran of 140World Superbike race starts but riding as a wild card at Oschers, was fined $3000 for missing the pre-race briefingall"new" riders have to attend to familiarize themselves with the current rules and regulations. A punishmentwas justified, as some things have changed since hislast race in the series, but the penaltyseemed somewhat draconian for such an experienced rider. It does appear that the lears of there being no wild cards in 2004 has been groundless, or at least will be at certa in rounds this year. With a vibrant and growing German Superbike and Supersport Championship on the go in the home of Oschersleben, there were some notable entries to the German races. After qualifying, two stood out, Michael Shulten in Superbike and Swissrider Roman Stamm in Supersport. Shulten, at 41, is the oldie of the bunch, but we may hear more of Stamm. Stamm is a long-term Kawasaki rider who had just hopped over to Suzuki this year and won the first round of the German Supersport series recently at Hockenheim. With Josh Brookes a reallaetor in Phillip Island, the wild card listsmay be smaller than previous years, but they may stilloffer a decent quality. Pirelli was particularlyexcited about the fast German wild cards, its viewpoint beingthat ifanyone can come in and run its World Superbike tire choice and be fast after two days, then it is doing something right. There is no comparison in many people's eyes between the likes 01 star riders like Mat Mladin and John Reynolds from the AMA and British SuperbikeSeries, and Schultenand Stamm lrom Germany, but the stopwatch is the only real test of ridingability, especially as the championship is being run on single make rules with Pirellis. race one, questions we re asked about his fitness, but it was the mechanical lungsof his machine that gave out in race two, dropping Haga from the lead to a nonfinish. It was heartbreaking, but somewhat predictable after the mechanical woes 01 practice. "Wh en I started , I was third, and when I came into the pit lane, I was happy to see the situation at the front," Laconi said. " I was faste r than Chili, and I cou ld have been up there with Haga. The team did a great job in getting me to control the speed in the pits, I could only go at 80 km/h [50 mph] - no mo re, and it was perfect . Afte r that I tried my best on the tra ck, but sixth was o kay. Eight laps from the en d of the seco nd race, I thought about letting Haga go, but then I thought again and we nt alter him. I almost caught him, and then he had this problem." It was not to be all woe for the Suzuki Germany, ShaeferCars, A1stare and Corona dubbed together to get Andy Meklau on the grid on a GSX-RIOOO. It proved to be one of Vittoriolannuzzo's 2003WorldSuperbikespec machines, i.e.: not the same as that used by Gregorio lavilla. The bikewill be retumed to Alstareafter the meeting, as the spec of machine in Germanyis different from that in World Superbike - somethingbetween Superbikeand Supernock. Meklau's preparations were limited to 10 lapsaround Hockenheima week before the event, and such was the short preparation time that the Alstareteam merely put oil and water in the bike, added Continued on page 33 www.cyclenews.com CYCLE NEWS • JUNE 9,2004 31

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