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/128336
oriyuki Haga (41) got the,ftiu.m _ _ ~ on pole sitter Steve Mortin~( , Regis Laconi (55) and the rest of the field in race one. t wasn't quite a home race for eventual do uble -race winner No riyuki Haga, or even all his Anglo Japanese Renegad e Ducat i Koji team me mbers , but it was a happy homecoming to the biggest SBK event of the year for a championship that has had its share of fair and unfair criticism in the last year o r so . There were worries about th e entire Brands Hatch weekend this year, with the previous weekend's Donington MotoGP round, some 150 miles up the road a me re we e k be fore . Cou ld SBK offer a tasty lure to its traditionally enth usiastic crowd after last weekend 's gate bursting Donington GP?Surely the crowd would be down even to the point of nonappearance after laying out so much to go to Donington, as well-attended this year as any of its previous glory years? Well, we were wrong . way wrong . The wonderful weather and traditional place of affection the Brands SBKweekend holds in people 's hearts proved too much of an att raction. Those who did throng to Brands wo uld not have bee n disappointed with their particular weekend lif style choice. The unofficial claimed e crowd of 100,000 means litt le, but the I fact is that on Sunday the race did not see m any less wellattended than last year, even if Brands Hatch attendance figures are notoriously cont ro versial. The new track owners, Motor Sports Ventures, we re delighted by the turnout, and despite a few fi rst-day fall-outs with FGSport and others, it all ended harmoniously and healthy. "We are delighted with the way th is year's World Superbike meeting has run," said MSV boss Jonathan Palmer. "Everything has gone very smoothly, both on and off track. The event attracted the largest crowd of the year." For championship organizers FGSport, this meeting was maybe the end of any lingering concerns they had that they do not really have bedrock to rebuild on. A bad Brands would kick away one main bridge suppo rt of their confidence and prowess at least. In fact, it was three -up and counting, as no less than four riders are now within a 20 AUGUST 11,2004 • CYCLE NEWS mere eight points of one another, with six races and three rounds to go. Spec tires? The theory is proving to be correct: It does even things out , even if the races were pred ictably slower than in the days of Michelin vs. Dunlop vs. Pirelli. After a pair of outstanding races, real 40th Anniversary gems of unpred ictability and close-quarters com bat , Renegade Ducat i's Noriyuki Haga took two wins, o ne a start-to -finish punch-up w ith Ducat i Fila's Regis Laconi and eventual crasher PSG-I Ducati's Pier-Francesco Chili, and the second a race long fight w ith