Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Su "I got a bad start and almost went off at the first corner and that dropped me down to 15th:' Toseland said. ':After that I just started to lose grip very early on, and that was it for my race. I'm going away from here with two points after working so hard this weekend. I was up there in the top five in every practice on race tires, so it wasn't a coincidence. In 5uperpole the time I did would have put me second in every other session, and I was 10th, then we had problems with the rear in race one and with Muggeridge, who cut me up in race two. What more can I say?" The only real high point on the windblasted Ducati horizon was the wetweather ride of Nieto, who took fifth overall in the second race after a crash in race one. The Yamaha Motor Italia squad was another team in turmoil, and Pitt's fifth place in race one was to become the highlight of the weekend, as he crashed out in race two - on two occasions. He fell after the red flag stopped the race, landing on his sore face, which was first injured after his own bike slapped him hard on the visor during a Saturday highside. After his latest beating, he looked like a prizefighter of old and had to get boxing-style cold compresses on his left eye on the starting line. He would fall yet again, this time in a bizarre ballet with his Aussie contemporary Petronas' Garry McCoy at what was to become an infamous turn eight - the fast right toward the Lukey heights section, just at the Hayshed corner. "I feel like I've been in a boxing ring for 15 rounds:" Pitt said. "I was very careful through turn eight, and I just touched the throttle to get ready for the corner, and I went straight over the handlebars. It was the first lap; the tire was new and cold. The same thing happened to Haga. The weather conditions, with so much wind and then the in here." Haga also had woes as the Japanese rider suffered a retirement in race one and a crash at exactly the same corner in the wet part of race two as Pitt. With Walker down there also, it was something of a boot hill for many a rider's race-two chances. "We did not have a good weekend here:' Haga said. "We chose the same [wet] tire as this morning, but the feeling was not the same as we had earlier. We just have to move on to Valencia and forget about today." The Yamaha Motor France pairing of Norick Abe and Sebastien Gimbert had different fortunes in race trim, as Abe scored a sixth in the dry and an eighth in the interrupted race two, not liking the wet setting on his RI too much. "It has been a long time since I rode or practiced in the rain," Abe said, "so I did not have the right rain settings for me. We made the suspension much softer for the race, but it was not enough. It was not bad in race one. I am sixth in the championship, and that's because I always make the most of things in the races. I think soon we can get to the podium." Gimbert had clutch troubles, which left him I Ith in race one, and an electrical problem in race two robbed him of any more points. It came after a violent shaking of his electronics package as he took to the grass to avoid the falling Lorenzo Alfonsi and his DFX Yamaha. Yamaha DFX Extreme Sterilgarda's Jose Luis Cardoso burned his clutch in rain, were as bad as any I've ridden 26 APRIL 13, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS race one, pulling in on lap one, and then failed to finish race two. PSG-I Kawasaki's Walker had the pleasure of leading the second wet leg of race two, but like three other riders, he crashed around turn eight and was unable to continue. He thus had a high point of ninth in race one. In race two, Bertocchi Kawasaki's Giovanni Bussei was the highest-placed Kawasaki rider, confirming himself in nin~h place on aggregate. Renegade Honda KOji's Ben Bostrom had to retire from race one, but after being outgunned in the dry section of race two, he had greater pace in the second wet leg, finishing I I th overall and adding his name to the points table. Running his Superstock-spec engine again, he was happy in the wet, much less so in the dry. "The bike is coming together, but I have to get to grips with the tires better:' Bostrom said. "In the dry, I wasn't particularly special; we were only special in the wet. I haven't been here for three years, so I was pretty lost on Friday as well." McCoy and Steve Martin failed to take a race finish between them, as neither Petronas FP-I (one from loss of forward motion from the gearbox, one from possible engine failure) made it through race one, and both crashed in race two. After such promise in qualifying, it was a bitter blow for them and their team. "To qualify in second at my home circuit and to set my fastest lap here is something that I will remember for a long time," Martin said. "Both Garry and I are on the pace, and that is good for Petronas and the team. When we get a bit more power, instead of just catching people, we will be able to catch them and pass them. I got a better start in race two but was getting chewed up down the straights. After the restart, I went into turn one as normal, and before I even got on the gas, the bike highsided me and landed on top of me, driving me into the ground. I had a terrible start in the first race, and Muggeridge made it hard for me to get past. The group in front had broken up by then, but once I was past him I was able to pull a bit of a gap before I had to retire. They were the windiest conditions I have ever raced in." Despite all the problems due to the weather and the high crash rate, the event itself drew a bigger claimed week- end crowd than last year (58,000 to 54,000 last year). But with reigning World Champion Toseland finishing race one over a minute away from the winner in 22 laps of action, things are not really working out for the Ducati team right now. The final points scorers in race one were, from Walker in ninth: Bussei, Gimbert, Mauro Sanchini, Ivan Clementi, Toseland, and Andrew Stroud turning up as a wild card. In race two, the likes of Alessio Corradi capitalized on the weather to finish an impressive sixth, ahead of Laconi, Abe, 8ussei and Sanchini in 10th. 80strom, Stroud, Lanzi and Miguel Praia took the points down to 14th. The next round is at Valencia in Spain, April 24. Will it rain for the third race day in a row? WORLD SUPERSPORT The theme for the day, as you may have guessed, was weather and the high winds, which affected everything at Phillip Island and were at a particular zenith just before the start of the Supersport event. Trackside advertising signs, two TV towers and pit-lane awnings blew over at the end of the Superbike race, and even Phillip Island veterans such as Kevin Curtain claimed never to have seen it quite so windy. The gray clouds rushing past overhead came to naught in terms of rain, and the 19 5upersport riders formed up for a dry 21lap fight in a contest eventually taken by the sheer relentless speed of Winston Ten Kate Honda rider Sebastien Charpentier, his first win since 1998. Having led the Qatar race convincingly but slipping to second after his front tire shredded, he had a real scrapping match with eventual second-place man Curtain in Australia, with a happy ending for the Frenchman. "I am especially happy with this win because of the disappointment from Qatar," Charpentier said. "I came here with a lot of confidence because we had a very good test at Valencia a couple of weeks ago. I had a very enjoyable race with Curtain, but the main problem was the wind. It was blowing differently at every corner, changing lap by lap, but it was the same for everyone."

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