Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I:27.130, a mark that would survive through race two. "I almost won at Monza, but I was disappointed about losing out on the final lap," Laconi said. "Now I am particularly happy to win this one, because it is the first victory this year. In the last few laps, I knew Troy [Corser] was behind me, so I tried my best not to make any mistakes in any of the corners. In race two, I entered the corner same as usual, and the front tucked under. I think maybe the tire was marginally too cold." In the second running, with longtime leader Corser once more fighting with Haga, and with Laconi out after a laptwo crash, Toseland hit the lead after 17 laps, running hard at the front but unable to shake off Corser and the very slowly fading Haga. Toseland's final efforts were enough to give him the race win and bring him closer to the overall championship battle, despite being 124 points off Corser. Corser's second places nonetheless increased his championship lead to 78 points, from his teammate Yukio Kagayama, who fell in race one and was only seventh in the second 28-lap contest. "Second was going to be the best we were going to get today," Corser said. "James [Toseland] was able to make a bit of drive on me on the exit of the final chicane, although I could catch him up on the other places. You could hear a Ducati engine in the slow chicane, but I didn't know if it was James or Regis [Laconi] in race two. When he passed me on the brakes, I knew it was James." A strong second-race performance for Vermeulen gave him another fourth place, keeping him third in the championship, only three points from second place and Kagayama. Klaffi Honda's Pier-Francesco Chili fought off gear-changing leg cramps and some close attentions from other riders (notably Chris Walker) to record a pair of fifth places, while his injured teammate Max Neukirchner was an impressive seventh in race one, then a crashaffected 18th in the second - pushed off the circuit for a time by a fallen machine. PSG-I Kawasaki's Walker rode his heart out for his home crowd at Silverstone, finishing almost within touching distance of Chili in both races and swelling his points score enough to go to sixth overall in the title race. A good meeting in parts for Kawasaki riders of note put Bertocchi Kawasaki's Giovanni Bussei an aggressive eighth in the opener, after a brilliant ride through the field. Yamaha Motor Italia's Andrew Pitt was forced to take a ride-through penalty after crashing in the morning warmup, after which his machine's engine failed to cut out. He finished race one 13th, despite this handicap. A battling ride around a circuit layout he was not keen on saw him ninth in race two. Norick Abe suffered a clutch failure on his Yamaha Motor France Ipone machine in race one but recovered in race two to beat Pitt over the line for eighth - in his first Silverstone visit. Renegade Honda Koji's Ben Bostrom had the subframe on his machine break in race one, and then he finished 14th in race two, fighting a lack of front-end grip after changes in setup between races. Winston Ten Kate Honda's Karl Muggeridge was 10th in both races. Garry McCoy broke an unwelcome season-long duck to secure his first points on his Petronas triple, taking 13th place in race two. He skipped the ridethrough penalty ordered on Saturday after the FIM found out that that the Superbike Commission had not confirmed the proposal they made after Phillip Island, and thus he should never have been penalized in the first place. His teammate Steve Martin had one DNF in race one and a 20th place in the second outing. The races were exciting and tense, with the tight circuit proving not to be too much of a strain for tires, which were supposed to be designed for use on the big GP track. The first race got under way under gray and blue skies, in lower temperatures than any previous sessions of the weekend, 60 to 6S degrees. With a dramatic run and sweep across the track, second-place qualifier Haga pushed across to take the lead, but within one lap, Corser had passed him. An earlier outrageous try around the outside failed for Corser, but by the end of lap three, he had a I. 1second lead over Haga, with the dramatic riding style of Walker holding off Toseland and Laconi. Laconi was soon past, but with so many yellow flags out, following a crash between Sebastien Gimbert who broke his tibia, Lorenzo Alfonsi, Fonsi Nieto, Lorenzo Lanzi and Ivan Clementi, there were few opportunities. Pre-race sanctions by the FIM started to play their part as Pitt came in for his ride-through penalty on lap five, with McCoy not needing to, after his punishment was quashed - the FIM had not had its proposal to modify the regulations on the number and size Chris Vermeulen carded a pair af fourths at Silverstone and has a solid grasp on third in the points chase. of holes drilled into a fairing rubber stamped by the FIM commission. Farce on top of drama again. Toseland and Kagayama both went past Walker on the inside at the hairpin, but Walker barged Kagayama out of the way once more, showing his determination in his home race. Laconi passed Haga at turn one on lap six, to go third, with Toseland waiting for an opportunity. With Corser still only 1.2 seconds ahead, his runaway looked like it may be reined in, and indeed it was, as his margin of advantage was dissolved by the pursuit of Laconi on a charge and by Haga's insistent style. Corser's lead was being eaten into by Haga, with Laconi charging through to set the fastest lap of the race on the ninth lap, with a I:27.130. On lap 10, there was a three-rider fight for the podium, with Laconi finally taking second on lap 12. Just as he looked like he would be an integral part of the leading groups all race long, Kagayama crashed at the entrance to the final chicane, braking and turning too hard for the incredibly tight left flick. He kept hold of the bars and kept it running - contentiously rejoining in 15th place, finishing I I tho Martin's grim weekend carried on unabated when he crashed his Petronas on lap nine, made some running repairs in pit lane to his gearlever and then carried on as before, although he would not finish in the points as he stopped with one to go. Briefly... Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki's Yukio Kagayama hammered out an impressive third Superpole win of the season, in windy conditions at Silverstone, thanks to a weekend best lap time of I:26.679. A former British Championship regular, his prior knowledge of the International circuit was a factor, but he was not the fastest rider in regulation sessions. The majority of riders improved on their best time from previous qualifying sessions in Superpole, but nonetheless, Kagayama proved to be best yet again, this time from his revived Japanese compatriot, Yamaha Motor ltalia's Noriyuki Haga, who had himself only qualified 12th best in the regulation sessions and improved his time by 1.7 seconds in Superpole. "Noryuki made a f%·#ing good lap and a very good lap time," Kagayama said. "My lap was nearly perfect, so I got Superpole. If everybody cheers for me tomorrow, then maybe I can win. My pole today was due to British fan power!" The fastest rider on day one, Ducati Xerox's Regis Laconi was third quickest in Superpole, making it three different makes of machines in the first three grid positions. Troy Corser, the 1996 World Champion, secured the last place on the front row, a very workable location from which to defend his impressive championship lead come race day. The ongoing reams of changes within the Foggy Petronas team have resulted in the adoption of a Motec Ignition system on the FP-I. The previous Magneti Marelli system has replaced at the instigation of 2005 Team Manager Jack Valentine, and was tested by the team in a session at Mallory Park on the Tuesday before the race. Valentine was impressed with the system first time out, stating that there was a greater degree of flexibility and control of key parameters. After so many recent mechanical problems, unrelated to the switch of ignition systems, Valentine's only request to the engine development team has been for more reliability from the unique three-cylinder machine. Another change to the FP-I was greater control of the rear end of the machine during braking, by an unspecified method. A reality TV show on Italian channel Nuvolari is set to feature the lives of eight Superstock and 600 Superstock riders. The show, of half an hour on weekdays and one hour on weekends, will see the riders, including Superstock girl racer Alessia Polito, followed by a cameraman as they go about their daily lives - at the racetrack and away from it. The series was devised by the channel itself and FG5port to improve the profile of the two classes in the Italian market. The big talk at Silverstone was of the change from the previous Grand Prix-length circuit to the one used in 2005. The "Intemational" circuit is the one used by the British Championship competitors, and according to FGSport, it was introduced at the insistence of the circuit. The deal was apparently agreed near the beginning of the season, but the news was not communicated to the greater SBK community for some time certainly not before Monza. It meant that rumors were rife before the confirmations started to come true, but a surprising number of teams and riders were caught out as little as 10 days - or even less - before the event. The news was cer· tainly not passed on to the world's media at any stage, and according to one factory team, the first circular advising them of the "change" did not come until the day after Monza. Pirelli even made its latest tires for the long track, running basically Monza-spec tires for Continued on poge 27 CYCLE NEWS • JUNE 8, 2005 2S

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