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/128329
By GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS BY GoLD & GOOSE unny weekend in England , even in June, is something to ce le b r ate at the best of times. Add it into the mix at he first of two scheduled SBK weekends in the UK, and the warm air positively crackled with the kind of anticipation only possi ble in the most passionate SBKcountry there is. With the bankings and grandstands reassuringly busy with punte rs at the inte resting corners, and after a wonderfully close regu lar qualifying and Superpole, there were any numbers of possible winners to watch pre-raceday. The fact that each race deve loped into truly entertaining battles of wit and race craft between Ten Kate Honda's Chris Vermeulen and Renegade Ducati's Noriyuki Haga was noticeable for any number of reasons, but it will be remembered for the close racing. Part of the rea son is the uniquely fast and then draggingly slow venue, with the last dead stop chicane a complete contrast to even the complex of slow corners just beforehand - never mind the flat-out blasts around the long inclines of prairie -wide tarmac. There were several landmarks being made in front of 68,000 (weekend) fans, all of whom were blessed with day-long suns hine. Organizer FGSport ensu red that the pod iums at Silverstone meeti ng were logoed up with the fact that there have now been 400 SBKraces in total , since the first at Do ningt o n Park (the venue A Silverstone replaced on the contemporary calendar two years ago) in April, 1988. Haga and Vermeulen won a race apiece, and Vermeulen's was a special one, not just because it was a fairingclanging repeat of most of the gladiator ial race one. The Ten Kate Honda CBRIO OORR took the young Aussie to his maide n victory on ly 12 races in since stepping up to Superbike. It was also Honda's first win in the category since the introduction of the new Fireblade and the first 1000cc four-cylinder race win of all time in SBK. The last 750cc multicylinder win was for Pier -Francesco Chili, at Doningto n race one in 200 I. Vermeulen's was also the first win for the upwardly mobile Ten Kate team in this category of racing - and proof of what can be done with a fairly genu ine road bike replica 26 JUNE 23 , 2004 • CYCL E N EWS in the modem era of Superbike racing. "It's not easy taking a new bike and trying to , make it work at each new track we go to but Te n Kate have done a very good job with the bike, and it' s gone very well around here - like at Monza," Vermeulen said. "The last chicane , intro duced last year, is a litt le bit of a pain. After running so fast for so long, you come into that corner and almost have to stop and turn back on yourself. But everybody has to ride the same track." In the first race, Haga continued his excellent run of recent form to push to the win, only overcoming the virtual race -long lead of Vermeulen on the last two corners, largely thanks to a slip-up from the youngster. PSG- I Ducati's Chili went second after starti ng from the fourth row, thanks to his problems in Superpol e qualifyi ng. 40th Anniversary Ifit was all smiles for Renegade and Ten Kate, it was a near-disaster day for the factory Ducati squad, albeit one that still saw them leave Silverstone one and two in the championship. Ducati Fila's James Toseland and his teammate, Regis Laconi, both fell after running somewhat unwise front tire choices in race one , and Toseland was to run off track in the second after tangling with Chili. Riding with a ground down thumb, thanks to a big practice prang, Toseland was up against it again. With Haga not quite able to push past Ve rmeule n in the second race , no matter how hard he tried, it rea lly was history time for the 2 1-year-o ld Aussie, and an early birthday present for his forthcoming ce lebrations next Saturday. Finishing third in the race , Laconi took the championship lead by three points over his teammate,