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/128344
beh ind the lead and I w ant ed to leave here a lot closer to t he top th an that. We just have to go out to take a w inning double in France." The reason for his crash was unkno wn but following riders professed to having seen oil on the back tire, though even Vermeulen, who went to the medical center right after his crash, was not sure. His tea m denied that there was any oil on th e bike w hen it ca me in. An exhausting day for Ten Kate , but it co uld have been a lot , lot w o rse , as Haga's plight testified. After be ing a drop off of form of late, DFX Ducati's Steve Mart in kept his speed and chin up to leave Imola w ith a sixthplace finish and then a welcome third , as t he top ride rs up ahea d dropped out of contention and Mart in kept it pinned . Still unsure of his plans for next yea r, he may w e ll be back w ith DFX , de spite what has happened before. "I took too long to get past Borc iani," Martin said. " By t he t ime I had , t he gap was too big in front . Race two was good nice to be on the podium again." After a sparkling pre-race showing, Xerox Ducati's Garry McCoy was supposedly the Aussie privateer most likely to impress in any potential pod ium tussle. Clutch and drive concerns hampered his progress but none the less he maintained a res pectable sixth in the current series with two fifth -place finishes . High fives for the former MotoGP w inner, who must dream of a four-cylinde r machine for 'OS. Pier-Francesco Chili had one of his occasio nal de pressing and dowdy days in fron t of the Italian crowd, taking only a seventh ALL LACONI Fila Ducati's Regis Laconi landed his fifth Superpole success of the 2004 season, last away after finishing the regulation qualifying sessions quicker than the other 16. Laconi swept around one of his favorite tracks to record a time of 1:49.818. "I like this track and I often have good results here," Laconisaid. "I felt good in qualifyingand I was doing very similartimes to qualifying when I was on race tires. I put a qualifier on for the final part but mostly just to get it into my head that I was in qualifying mode . I think the races will be eventful, and not just for me alone." Ten Kate Honda's Chris Vermeulen felt that he was about to take his first-ever Superpole win of his short 10-round Superbike career, but Laconi's late challenge deposed him from his position of loftyadvantage. The Australian was the only rider to join Laconiinside the 1:49 second mark, finding his four-cylinder Honda a willing partner in hisattacks on the sweeps and hills of Imola. "I really thought I had that but then Regis just came along and beat me," Vermeulen said. "I haven't had a pole yet, so I want to win one before the season is out . I'm happy because the bike is working well and we've made some changes since the first day, which have taken us even closer to a perlect race setup. Sometimes we can go to tracks and it works well from the start , and at others, probably because I haven't ridden a big bike there before , it has been more difficult. But it's been good so far here ." Havingstruggled in some of the more recent Superbike events, Garry McCoyslid his bigV-twin to third place. His uniquelydramatic riding style appears to suit the 3.05-mile circu it down to the ground . The aggression and control shown by Noriyuki Haga was enough to put him fourth in Superpole, after finishing second quickest in regular qualifying. The Japanese rider is one of the famous four championship challengers and one of the most experienced Superbike riders on the grid. Haga 's teammate, Leon Haslam, experienced several technical problems in regulation qualifying, which conspired to make him miss Superpole, finishing 19th fastest for a fifth row start . Working his factory Ducati Fila999F04 hard around the undulations and bumps of Imola,James Toseland,the current championship leader, missed out on the front row, but only by one place as he went fifth in Superpole , a two place improvement on his regulation qualifying best. Giovanni Busseisimplyset the Superpole competition alightwith a beautifully conducted I:50.895, by far his personal best of the weekend. Until Toselandtook his place at the head of the table, albeit temporarily, Busseiwas the boss, finishing his Superpole session in sixth place. He was the best 998 Ducati rider on show, finishing his Superpole competition just in front of Lucio Pedercini. Havingleft the Pedercini team to join the Scuderia Caracchi Xerox Ducati squad shortly before lmola, Gianluca Nannelli took his 999RS machine to eighth place, ousting regular DFX Extreme 5terilgarda 999RS Ducati rider Steve Martin in the process . Troy Corser took his somewhat outgunned three-cylinder, 900cc triple to a top-10 finish, an impressive result on such a power-sapping track. His teammate, Chris Walker. took 18th fastest time, putting him on an unhappy fifth row starting position. Best of the local riders makinga wildcard appearance was former GP and 5uperbike star Doriano Romboni, taking 12th place in Superpole, one behind regular rider Marco Borciani. Pier-Francesco Chili experienced two separate major technical problems in the final untimed qualifying session at Imola, missingout on Superpole and starting 16th on the grid. Havingqualified eighth in regulation, he was expecting a far different end to his Saturday of toil on home ground . 14 OCTOBER 6, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS 40th place , then a mec hanical DNF, and suffering fro m having to start fro m 16th on the grid. Walking back to the pits he received a he ro's welcome, and he re mained fifth in the championship fight with 222 points. An unhappy weekend for Chili saw his fuel tank bracket ru ptu re in race two, breaking a fuel-feed line in the process, It was a possibly bigger ta le of woe once mo re at Foggy Petronas. Troy Corser secured two po ints sco ring finishes on his three-cyli nde r machin e , but 12th and 10th were no t the re su lts he was lo oking for. Chr is Walker had no such luck , though , with a dou ble no -sco re in poin ts, 16th in race two and not even finishing race o ne . Both he and Corse r appear to have had enough of the recalcitrant triple already. Nannelli took ninth in race on e, behi nd Borciani, wit h Renegade Ducat i's Leon Haslam in l Oth, T he to p lO in race two, behind Verm eulen , were: race on e faller Pede rcini, Borcian i, C lemen t i on th e Be rtocchi Kawasak i and Corse r. The best of the local wild card s was Luca Pini, 14th in race one and 13th in race two . T he gorgeous MV Agusta of Alessio Malani finished both races, the first in 16th and just o ne place from a point, and t he second in 17th, be hind Walker, The cham pionship battle is still ve ry mu ch alive for t he top three riders. W ith Laco ni on 295 , Tose land on 29 1 and Vermeulen o n 282 , it's too close to call for all of them, but Laco ni is the one e nteri ng his home race w ith a handful of po ints to his nam e . Few can w rite off Toseland , w ho finds new de grees of de terminatio n with every week. If he can ge t the same grip that Lacon i has foun d for his machine of late , he will be there swinging. Assum ing Ve r m e ule n 's injuries are only as painful as yo u might ex pect, but no t rea lly t hat bad , he w ill also fee l that he might have exorcised his bad luck in two goes at Imola. Any of them would be a worthy w inne r based o n their Imo la pe rformances . An ep ic battle beckons o n October 3, with Haga also still in w ith a mathematical chance of the overall title win, although he really is clutching at st raws. Imola w as once more a sorter, a sifter of tale nt, a te st of bikes at high sp eed and under severe stress. It's the same test for t he riders, it has to be said. Magny Cours is a d ifferent type of place, and w hat it will offer will no do ubt be as unpr ed ictable as every other trac k so far this year. WORLD SUPERSPORT Ifyou're going to win them, may as well win them as a cham pion . Such is a great racing adage , which has scuppered as many would-be champ ions as it has cano nized. Ten Kate Honda's Karl Mugge ridge obviously believes in it. Eight po les in 2004 ob viously e ngender a fee ling t hat you 're the fastest guy o ut there and thus Muggeridge once mo re showed his Supersport preemine nce by ta king win numbe r six of the year, and th e World title itself, with what pr oved to be the kind of ease that o nly comes fro m o ut rageous talen t and sheer hard w o rk . "When I heard that van de n Goorbe rgh had cras hed, I op e ned t he gas some more: ' Muggeridge said. "Broc [Parkes] kept the pressur e on th e whole time and I needed to stay on my game. I was a little bit co nce rned about the t ire d urab ility at the pace we were going, but in the end the tire was sliding anyway but got us ho me to finish it. My family came over here for this race so it was great that I could win it a weeken d early. I've wanted to be Wo rld C hamp ion for a long time , and today we achieved t hat." His championship crown was the third straight win for the Ten Kate Team , wh o' s ot her rider, Broc Parkes, was in contention to beat Muggeridge for almost all 21laps. His desire to pass had his team covering their eyes at some points. but when van den Goorbe fell out rgh of contention, the title was