Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Troy CMHr (11) c-'inuecl his march to the World Superbike title by toking the race·one win at Bmo. Chris Vermeulen (77) ond Chris worker (9) give chose. • 1D ere were two sides to the Brne story, and each of them was equally memorable, making compelling headlines. One is that Troy Corser slammed the door on any kind of inkling that we might see Regis Laconi march on and on, unlike the previous few rounds, where the Frenchman finally rattled the expected crown right off of the head of expected new World Champion Corser. Same for Vermeulen, in second place still. With a 94-point advantage over Vermeulen and I 12 over Laconi - who both had a third and a semi-disaster at Brno - you'll have to see Corser fail to finish four races, and then see a run from either a Honda or Ducati top-runner to try and catch up. So, it's like MotoGP. we suppose, with runaway Rossi being pursued by a bunch of riders robbing points from one another as the potential champion scores wins and podiums almost at will. The other reason to remember Brno is that Yamaha, finally and against all the odds, won a race, thanks to the reignition of one of the most unpredictable but most fulsome talents in the championship, Noriyuki Haga. T 22 In the early stages of the weekend, neither Corser nor Haga looked much like potential race winners. After Superpole, Corser did, and Haga definitely didn't. Corser won Superpole, his 33rd one; "Nitro Nori" Haga was a nat 18th fastest, and he was even out of Superpole. He would set two new records come Sunday, however, as his race-two pace would give him the new lap record (2:03.747), and he would become the first Yamaha rider of the year to take a race win. "I am very happy for this win," Haga said. "I had SOme problem in the first laps when Itouched Chris [Vermeulen), and this made my brake lever go up in the air: I had to hit it to put it back in place, and this cost me some time, but I was able to make some very good lap times. All season I have been asking for more engine power, and I think that we will have a new engine with more power for Brands Hatch. Iwon twice there last year, so now I am very much looking forward to going there." The warm and sunny weather at the Brno track provided relatively consistent conditions for the riders to perform on, but each race delivered very different results, with race two in particular pro- JULY 27, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS viding thrills, even if they had to have two tries at it. The races could not have been more different, in results as well as track action. After Corser had broken away to an immediate lead, he continued to stretch his advantage to the breaking point for all his competitors in race one. After a dreadful start, Ducati Xerox's James Toseland fought through from the outer reaches of the top I0 to score second, with his teammate Laconi third. A magnificent fight from PSG-I Kawasaki rider Chris Walker saw him fourth. The second race was halted and a restart declared after oil on the track surface had to be cleaned up for safety reasons. Once more, Corser was the man into the leading spot, as the aborted race started in a clean fashion for most. Within a few corners, however, Laconi was up to second, ahead of fast-starting Vermeulen and Toseland. Within a lap and a half of the start, Laconi was into the lead, shortly before the race was red-nagged. Gianluca Vizziello had his engine blow on lap two, and Slovakian rider Marek Svoboda fell on the oil, causing the red nags to be unfurled and the track to be cleaned. With an expected restart almost an hour later, the cleaning proved extensive as the day promised to extend into infinity. Initially, Corser headed the restarted race, run over the full 20 laps, but Haga summoned up the magic that we have seen so often in World Superbike to take an outstanding win. He had not even qualified in the top 16 for Superpole after practice and had finished race one only seventh. This is the first time in Superbike history that a rider has won a race and not qualified in the top 16 in practice. Corser was a clear second, ahead of disappointing first-race eighth-place finisher Winston Ten Kate Honda's Vermeulen. The end result: In the overall championship battle, the changeable results behind Corser saw him extend his championship lead to an impressive 94 points, with Vermeulen second on 205 and Laconi third on 187. So you can see that divide and rule has its uses when you're attempting to implement an absolute monarchy. The offpodium battles were tough in both races, the undulations and fast corners of Brno allowing lots of overtaking action to change the race order frequently, from

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