Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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had he not had this early handicap. In front of his home fans, his every move was lauded to the heavens. Haga realized he had to overcome the leading threat of Corser in race two and then push hard to change Corser's winning game plan, and he duly managed it but only after Corser made a mistake by diving too fast into the drop down Pilgrims, running off-track. Corser nonetheless showed great skill to recover his composure and retain second place, after some high-speed motocross. Vermeulen, who earned the podium he missed out on in race one, made it three different bikes on the podium once more, this time adding a Honda, substituting a Ducati. As in race one, there were five different manufacturers in the top five places. Walker took a hometown fourth, but Ducati Xerox's James Toseland dropped from a pOSSible podium place behind Haga and Corser to seventh, his only race finish of the day after an electrical problem in race one. He used a 200mm rear tire, the only rider in the top echelon to use it, and rued the decision afterward. The warring factions of World Superbike were not just limited to the podium places or top five, as Winston Ten Kate Honda's Karl Muggeridge finished sixth in race one before crashing out in race two, suffering a slight fracture of his right hand. Andrew Pitt was in the hunt all day at Brands, finishing with a seventh and sixth place. laconi was fifth in race two. The continuing good form of Italian privateer SC Caracchi Ducati's Lorenzo lanzi was eighth in each race, ahead of the injured Corona Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama in both occasions. A return to personal form and better power outputs from his Renegade Honda engine put Ben Bostrom 12th and then 10th on his CBRIOOORR. "The engine was the big change," Bostrom said. ':And the rider's computer is working better. We need two of the motors we had here for the next one and we'll keep going. We need to keep our momentum." For some other star Honda competitors it was a harsher day in front of SBK's biggest crowd. Klaffi Honda's Pier-Francesco Chili retired from a nonpoints scoring position in race one and recovered only to 13th in race two. Klaffi Honda's Max Neukirchner was 10th in race one, I Ith in the second, but compared to his earlier season form he was disappointed with the results. Norick Abe fought hard from his lowly grid position for I Ith in race one, but a clash and crash with Steve Martin saw both down and out of race two. The unique Malaysian Petronas FP-I machines of Martin and Garry McCoy mustered a Single point at Brands, for Martin in race one. McCoy retired with a broken water-hose clip in race one and then took 18th in the second, as Martin crashed after the collision with Abe. The races themselves were superb contests at the front. Corser took the holeshot in race one, with Muggeridge behind, Haga in third, then Toseland and Walker (who clashed on the entry to Paddock Hill bend). On lap two at the first corner, he passed Muggeridge up the inside, with a small gap back to laconi, Walker and Toseland. Haga barged past Corser at Druids on lap three, and he obviously tried to make a break from Corser, as he had in race two at Brno. laconi, catching up to the leaders, was only .60 behind after three laps. Corser, fired up to win, went inside Haga on the entrance to turn one on lap four, and after he had made the leading position his own, his countryman Muggeridge attempted a pass on the outside of Haga at Surtees, an unconventional place to try and get by any rider. Walker, having eased away from Toseland, looked up for it, even if his bike was moving around a lot. Haga went inside Corser on Stirlings bend, yet after running wide, Corser maintained his lead. With all the moves and motivations going on, though, they merely allowed laconi and even Walker to close up. Vermeulen was coming into the force field of Toseland's tailpipes, with the sixth lap proving eventful all around. Haga passed Corser again. laconi barged past Muggeridge on the entry to the c1earway (apologizing for it with a wave) as Corser retook the lead. All the squabbling allowed Toseland to run back into the influence of their slipstream, using his 200mm tire best out of the slower corners. Haga took every chance to pass Corser throughout the next laps. Such was the closeness of the contest that the leading seven were covered by 2.5 seconds after nine laps. Toseland went out on lap 10, but at the front, the battle for the lead was immense, with every mistake punished by a change of lead (albeit temporary for Corser most of the time) and every corner bringing out defensive riding tactics. On lap 13, Walker had passed Muggeridge, with Vermeulen now closer and Pitt only 3.5 seconds from the lead. The running order on lap 13 of 25, with the top three breaking the rest, was Corser, Haga, laconi, with Walker fourth, Muggeridge fifth and Vermeulen sixth. The top 10 was rounded out by Pitt, lanzi, Kagayama and Neukirchner. On the 17th lap, Haga was running inside at Paddock Hill again, taking Corser's lead from him by Simple expedient of putting his Yamaha between Corser and the corner apex. Corser returned the compliment the next lap, in an even harder fashion, with laconi the only benefactor of the pushing and shoving and kinetic arm-wrestling. Behind, Walker was losing degrees of ground to Vermeulen, letting him pass, but the two were welded together down Paddock Hill and Walker pushed Vermeulen out to the ribbon to keep him behind. Vermeulen almost hit the rear of Walker (at Dingle Del) one of the corners out the back that you do not want to crash at. They continued their pass and run-wide ballet for a while, with Walker clearly not wanting to give even an inch. Up at the very front, with two laps to go, Haga was in the lead until the penultimate lap, when Corser went inside at Clearways, with laconi too far behind to be a factor. Corser, obviously with some grip and power up his sleeve, used his last lap Wisely to hold off the pushing Haga by only. I86 seconds. ''Although we had a good points lead before today, I'm a racer, and if I can win, I want to win," Corser said. "The only time I feel I cannot win is if something is wrong with the bike, and then I'll take whatever points I can get. But, my Alstare Suzuki was working superbly here at Brands today, and so I went out to win both races. Nori [Haga] was very strong today, but it was great fun to race against him, and, although we were very close at times, there was nothing dangerous. "In the first race, there was no way I was going to settle for second," he added, "and that's why I charged so hard." laconi was two seconds back and safe in third. "I needed more grip to try and follow these guys from the beginning to the finish of race one, but they were too fast, and so I settled for third," laconi said. "We changed a few things on the bike for the second race, but it didn't make much improvement, and so I just tried to do my best. I didn't make a good start again and it was difficult to pass, everyone was just fighting like it was the last lap! I tried to pass James [Toseland] for third but put the wrong gear in, and there was no engine braking, and I went wide. After, I tried one more time to gain some places, but there was not much I could do. All weekend we used a different 190 tire to everyone, the hardest one, and it was a surprise that we were unable to push harder. We had to try something to improve in race two but it just wasn't enough." Walker's bravery was beaten by Vermeulen's guile on the last lap, as Muggeridge finished sixth, just ahead of the otherwise lonesome Pitt. Lanzi went eighth on his Ducati, with Kagayama ninth and Neukirchner 10th. Abe had to fend off an improving Bostrom to take I I th, with wildcard rider Dennis Hobbs fighting well among star names to take 13th. Kawasaki stand-in Pere Riba was 14th. RACE TWO In race two, the action was even more tactile. Corser again took the holeshot, with Muggeridge behind and Haga tailing. A hard pass down the inside at Graham Hill bend saw Haga push Muggeridge off his line, and as he accelerated, he highsided and was spat off the top as the field CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 17,2005 17