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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128385
FIM World Superbike Championship Series
races and to have got some points in the
bag," Martin said. "The bike felt as good as it
has done for me, and I have now found a
setup, through adding more weight to the
back, I think, will work well at every circuit. I
had one good start today, and two brilliant
starts. In the first race, I could sit in seventh
without any problem. It was a shame about
having to restart, but that's racing. My start
for that second heat was also good, but I got
chewed up on the first lap, and it was difficult
to gain places after that. In the second race, I
stayed with the front guys for a couple of laps
but, as the tire went off, Istarted to lose corner speed. The reliability has been faultless all
weekend, and the team have worked really
hard for these results."
On the last lap, the top three stayed as
they were, but a slip from Haga, running into
tum one too hot, allowed Chili to get past.
A weekend of surprises, all conducted in
sunshine that sapped energy from everyone,
had the net result of reducing Corser's
championship lead (total points 254) by a
whole fIVe points, and putting Vermeulen
(181) in second, Laconi (162) in third,
Kagayama (148) in fourth, and Toseland (124)
in fifth. Haga is a whopping 36 points behind
on 88, just one ahead of Walker and two
ahead of Chili.
Next stop is Bmo, a circuit at which many
have tested, few have ridden at, but that
almost everyone should enjoy.
WORLD SUPERSPORT
An all-French battle between eventual
winner Team ltalia Megabike's Fabien Foret
and Winston Ten Kate Honda's Sebastien
Charpentier was a game of two halves, with
Foret leading for the first 10 laps before
Charpentier overhauled him and kept his
lead for the remaining 13. Winston Ten Kate
Honda's Katsuaki Fujiwara was an eventually
lonely third, more than four seconds down
on the leaders.
Kevin Curtain could not keep the leading
pace and finished a spirited fourth, ahead of
his teammate Broc Parkes and wild-card
rider Simone Sanna. Gianluca Nannelli
crashed out of contention on lap two, and
Michel Fabrizio stuttered to a halt on the second lap.
In a race started half an hour later than
planned, due to ructions with the schedule of
the Superbike race one, Fabrizio contested
the lead with pole man and teammate Foret,
but it would last for only a lap before he was
forced to retire with machine problems. One
lap later, Nannelli crashed his Ducati exiting
the Variante Arena, and he, too, was out. He
experienced a big difference in feel from
moming warmup to aftemoon sauna-by-thesea, as the aftemoon tumed out to be once
again.
Twice a Misano race winner, Foret
charged away to the lead, running to a 1.5second advantage after three laps. With a
chasing pack on his tail, Foret was clearly trying to escape from the usual Supersport big
guns of Charpentier, Fujiwara and a revital-
28
ized Curtain.
The lead dropped slowly from lap fIVe to
seven, with Charpentier and FUjiwara dropping Curtain off the tail of the leading trio.
Only a second separated the first and second Frenchmen by lap eight, as Charpentier
and Fuji drew closer. The job of
chaser did indeed prove easier than that of leader, as
Charpentier had a target
to aim for, passing into
Misano on lap 10, with the
trio completed by the waiting threat from the Orient,
Fujiwara.
Behind them, Parkes and an old
Supersport rider, Sanna, were having a private R6 battle, while further
behind, Javier Fores was a second up
over Alessandro Antonello, on the
Bertocchi Kawasaki 600. It was a four-rider
fight from then on, among Antonello,
Cristiano Migliorati, Tatu Lauslehto and
Robbin Harms.
On the 20th lap, Foret overcooked braking entering Tramonto, the end of the straight,
and looked over his shoulder to see if
Fujiwara was going to pass, as Charpentier
had just done. Almost surprised to see he was
not, Foret got back on the gas and the racing
line, keeping second, but falling 1.3 seconds
behind Charpentier with only three laps to go.
Charpentier continued to keep the hammer down, running onto the dust at the
entry to the start/finish straight, as Foret
slowly ate into his lead, reducing it to ninetenths of a second.
With FUjiwara not an issue, in a safe third
until the flag, it was an all-tricoleur battle.
Foret made a mista1ke after working his way
back into contention with Charpentier, sliding on the entry to both parts of the Curvone
Veloce. He made it all back up again in what
was an eventful last lap, as he drew right back
to the rear tire of Charpentier on the final
braking for Tramonto. Trying a little too
much, catching a false neutral and running
wide into Quercia sealed his fate, as he was
then not close enough to get into a possible
JULY 6,2005 • CYCLE NEWS
race-winning position.
Fujiwara, having bumed out his tires a little early and with not quite such a precise
Misano cauldron setup as Charpentier. was
not in contention when it mattered. The
Yamahaguys both had to use softer tires than
the Honda leaders, which explained
Curtain's early pace and then midrace fade.
In Simple terms, Charpentier put himself into a starkly enviable position with
half the season completed, as he won his
fourth race of the year and put 140 points
on the board. He leads Fujiwara by 140
points to 106, with Curtain on 93, Foret
on 74 and Parkes on 60.
eN
SANTA MONICA CIRCUIT
MISANO, ITALY
RESULTS: JUNE 26, 2005
SUPERBIKE QUAUFYING, I. Tcoy C""", (I :35.330):
2. Chri> Venneulen (1:35.685); 3. Reg;,
(1:35.798); 4. Karl
Muggeridge (1:35.866); 5. YOOo ~ (1:35.868); 6. 1';..-!'r.on<:e;co Chi; (1:35.961); 7.l""'" ---.... (1:35.963); B._
_
(1:36.147); 9. Max Neukrdr:er (1:36.167); 10. Lorenzo
LanD (1:36.301); II. Gioo