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/128345
still a little bit slow on top speed up th e back strai gh t and , although I w as trying to hang on after two good starts, it was a bit frustrating be cause the bike was much better th is weeken d ." Martin w e nt by Chili o n lap nine, ru nning at 175 mph on the long Magny Cours straight, shortly before his bike broke down yet again. Laconi went to thir d on lap 12, at Adelaide, a nd this is where he would stay, earning se cond in the championship. At half race d istance , t he re was a .3second gap to Tose land, and a 1.3 -second gap to Laconi. Vermeulen had drop ped right off the pace, 3.8 seconds back from lead , as his bike slowly lost pow e r, his machine's crank sensor slow ly but su rely malfunctioning. Gimbert and C hili were having a real fight fo r supremacy in th e m iddle re aches of the top. On lap IS, Toseland fought back at Adelaide, losing traction o n the ne xt le ft , and then went into a lead . A little less than a second separated them. Haga got past at Ade laide, with Tose land a nd him almost touching on the way. Vermeulen finally pitted on lap 19 to retire and finish fourth in the championship, though in the morning he could have co nqu ered it. He was plainly displeased w ith the last thre e races and t he ir mechanical may hem, but if it was any co nsolation to him , his team was even less satisfied w ith the problems, which have su ddenly reared the ir ug ly and multiple 30 oaOBER 13 , 2004 • he a d s . "ln the first rac e it was just a freak electrica l problem ," Verme ule n said. "We haven't had that problem all year. Th e se co nd race, the bike finished the race the same way as it did at Imola , so I d idn't have any choice but to retire . The last three races have given us some problems, so we have some se rious work to do. I had an injection fo r my injured hand be fore the race and I fe lt no pain from it at all. I felt comfortable and the bike w as good until it started missing a bit of power. It w o uld cut in and ou t , but before that I felt every bit as quick as any of them. I wanted to go out with a podium, if not a w in, so it' s really disap pointing." The finishing orde r panned out as Haga, Toseland and Laco ni, w ith the gap from second to th ird really opening up as Laconi found the sam e tire problems as race one, despite fitting a harder Pirelli. It has been tha t wa y th is year: When one of the Duca ti riders is immaculate, the other is in a bit of trouble. Compared to each other, eve n t hat is regard less of empi rica l results. When Laconi can find a setup fo r the race, Tose land can't. "Maybe we didn't find the right fe e ling, but I have to say thank you to my team. They have worked very hard," Lacon i said. " Maybe we were short o f the tire ; maybe it was good, may be not good. My second tire was better than my first . I gave the best that I can do , but it was not enough. But I th ink I have many mo re years when I ca n fight to be World Ch am pio n. "D ucat i has never be e n in a situation like t his, w ith both riders go ing for the champio nship in the same garage, so it has increased the te nsio n. T hat is qu ite no rmal. There is no easy solutio n. Those guys are very happy because they wanted to be World Champions, just like us this year, but w e always w ork w e ll in Duc at i. Second is not w hat I want, but th is is st ill my best result in the World Championship. T hat is still important for me. There was a big crowd , and a lo t of people wanted me to win. I gave my best fo r both races, and it was not enough - but I t ried ." T he cruci al e lement in all th is season's CYCLE NEWS It'§ I:or§er W~h a serious speed and power disadvantage, Corser was an unlikelySuperpole victor. A small error on his behalf led to a peculiarline on the approach to the last right before the final chicane at Magny Cou rs. This small error proved an eventual stroke of good fortune, allowingCorser to swing through the final section at a highe r pace than normal, takinghis 30th career pole in Superbike with a I:4 1.547. It was hissecond pole of the seaso n, the first coming at Oschersleben. Even Corser admitted there was a small element of good fortune involved,contrastingwith a high degree of skill and commitment on a bike that is still too slow. "I realizedthat I was going ina b~ fast, but Ithought to myself 'Well, I'm tum ing ~ inanyway!' I , drifted out but it worked out well. It wasn't luck as such, but ~ was fast in that last section." Such is the competitive nature of the 2004 championship and the diversity of homologated machinery in Superbike in genera l that no fewer than four different manufacturers were represented on the post-Superpole front row. For the firsttime since 2001 , there was only one Ducati in the first four places. Chris Vermeulen looked to have won Superpole but for Corser's outstanding lap time. Nonetheless the Aussierider on the Ten Kate Honda is in good starting position as he goes for the championship win. His hand, ankle and hip injuries are painful offthe bike but soaked in adrenaline on the bike, and thus he felt confident for the races. Fourtee n points behind leading rider Regis Laconi. Vermeulen was in trouble in the early practice sessions and could onlyfinish seventh fastest in regulation, though he took second in Superpole. His lmola injuriesare not hampering his performance too much, and the Superbike rookie enters the final round with a fighting chance at the overall title. In the intennal battle between series leader Laconi and his team mate James Toseland, round one at MagnyCours went to Toseland, who secured third place and a front-row start . Laconi 's ragged Superpole lap put him fifthfastest, on the second row, a fact that willmake both his races tougher than desired in front of hisvociferous home crowd . The front-row was blessed by the prese nce of a Yamaha privateer, current World Endurance Champion Sebastien Gimbert , on a YamahaFrance RI. Fastest in both regulation-qualifying sessions, Gimbert is no stranger to the Pirellis used in World Superbike, running the Italian rubber in domestic and World Endurance competitions. His pace e lectrifiedthe localcrow d on what was a dry but overcast day. Behind the front row hierarchy, Lacon; heads the charge of three private Ducati runners on the second row after Superpole. Pier-Francesco Chili slotted himself into the sixthgrid spot, ahead of Steve Martinand Noriyuki Haga. The latter still has a mathematical chance of overall victory, but realisticallyhe is racingto add to his 2004 win total of fIVe. Leon Haslam and Chris Walker ended their last Superpole competitions of the season in ninth and 10th places, respectively . battles between the Ducati Fila camp members is that in the last few races, even when Laconi blitze d t hem all at Magny Cours, Toseland has be e n strong. Today, his se lf-belief took him to t he title , no easy fe at in a team that has more natural empathy toward his teammate (hol der of an Italian passport and a Fre nch one) and in fron t of a 6 l ,OOO-stro ng weekend crowd 99 -pe rce nt Fre nch. The w hole team was no netheless delighted for its youngest-ever champ, all mem bers acknowledging that he deserved it, soaking him w ith water and throwing food at him with as much gusto as they did at Laco ni earlier in the eveni ng. The heartbreak for Laconi was evident in his e mo tio nal postrace public press confe rence, but he had recove red sufficiently to be his effusive and warm self in the team hospitality area, even afte r losing his shirt to the team pranksters and being cov e red 40th Anniversary in b its o f pasta, all while To se la nd was do ing his champion's interview with a sma ll band o f jo urn a lists a bove his head . N o ne t hel e ss, t he English - specifica lly no rthern Eng lish - s upremacy of World Superbike in the last 10 years continues, with the lat e st to follow in the fou r footsteps of Carl Fogarty and the single file o f Neil Ho dgso n being James Tosel and. To sel a nd is an unlikely w inner for t hose who do no t kn ow th e man pe rsonally, his piano-p laying escapism a nd shy reserve conspiring to make him a strange mix - low on charisma and lo ve o f the limelight but b ig on int e nsity and detachment. The latte r were the facets of his c har act e r that anchored his late-season attac k, so w ha t sh ou ld he care? An d so the close championship really d id go down to the last race o f t he year,