Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I;52.646, Fabrizio took the lead at the end of lap five, only to be almost immediately deposed by Parkes. All this warring allowed the chasing duo of Harms and Curtain into the top plateau, and Harms took Fabrizio on lap seven, as Parkes took his leave of the scene. Curtain and Nannelli, plus the stalking Foret, made a fIVe-rider string behind the leading Parkes. In Harms, Honda and Stiggy Motorsports have found a rider with the speed of the best, if not always the coolest head. On lap eight, the reduced adhesion due to a rain flag (white with a red cross upon it) came out, but the pace didn't slacken, as the top Supersport riders battled away. Foret passed Nannelli at the very end of lap 10, just as his teammate Fabrizio had made a small break on the pack following Parkes and won the right to challenge the leader. The astonishing forward progress of Foret saw him pass Curtain on lap 10, and a short while later, at Variante Alta, Fabrizio scored the lead from Parkes. Chambon crashed on lap I I, but on lap I3, Harms, part of what was an unruly mob of old-fashioned Supersport nutcases, flew high and long at the exit of Tosa. The lap times were now down a couple of seconds per lap, the invisible rains taking their toll, presumably. Curtain dropped right off the pace on his Yamalha, a wise move as new leader Foret crashed and the race was redflagged by race direction with 14 of the 21 laps completed. With not enough laps counted out to call the race - by a single lap - the countback made for a 13-lap race, and a final eight-lap race. Aggregate rules applied. In the restart, Nannelli overhauled Parkes, with Corradi's Ducati third and Fabrizio fourth. Javi Forres had crashed at the first chicane with his bike wildly careering on, and he was lucky not to take another rider off as it ran across the exit of the chicane. Curtain, the usual rain wizard, had left his wand in the pit lane for a while, running fifth as the waters steadily continued to fall. Up front, Nannelli was increasing his lead on the road and on aggregate, some nine seconds up on Corradi, who had maintained second over a - by now - forward-moving Curtain. Nannelli was soon three seconds per lap faster than his opponents, and local knowledge of lmola in all possible conditions was obviously telling. Not only were Nannelli and Corradi one-two on the road, but the Bertocchi Kawasaki of Alessandro Antonello was fourth. He almost crashed on the exit of the last chicane on lap 18, as did Fabrizio, directly in his Briefly..• Continued f,om page 35 Fujiwara was sporting a broken ring finger and a shoulder-to-wrist lightweight cast on his left arm to support his severely beaten limb. He also had a severely bruised inner lip, as his helmet made contact with the deck. James Toseland's Friday qualifying was interrupted by a crash at the final chicane. Fastest in the opening unoffICial session, Toseland was under the best lap time in the afternoon session but bit a little too much at the final chicane. "I almost posted a lap time," a rueful but smiling Toseland said. "I think the bike almost made it over the line as it slid to a halt, but I went up in the air and slapped my hand down hard. It's pretty sore, but it'll be all right." It hampered him somewhat on Saturday in qualifying and Superpole. wheel tracks, experiencing exactly the same moment in the same place. Jano Janssen crashed on lap 19. Nannelli, aware of the conditions, slowed as much as he dared on the final laps, but with Corradi just three seconds behind at the start of the final lap, he still had work to do. In real terms, Curtain was only 2.449 seconds adrift. Nannelli, a wild man in most circumstances, kept his cool under the tense pressure at home and duly took the win on aggregate from Curtain by 2.452 seconds. The local crowd got its wish of an Italian Ducati winner, along with a third-place overall for another one - Corradi and his Selmat Ducati. In the championship itself, Charpentier remained untouchable up front, but Curtain made sure of second place with his 20 points from Imola, scoring 140 points, with Fujiwara on a static 167. Foret is fourth, on 131, a very small nine from the injured CN Japanese star. ENZO DlNO FERRARI CIRCUIT IMOIA, ITALY REsuLTS: OcTOIlfR 2, 2005 (ROUND 11 OF 12) SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING: I. Chris Vermeulen (1:-48.075); 2. Regis Laconl (1:48.506): J. Troy Corser (1:48.6019); 4. james beIand (1:48.867); 5. Lorenzo Umzl (1:48.923); (1:49.271); (1:49.601); (1:49.977); 6. NoriyulQ Haga (1:49.094); 7. YulQo K.gayama 8. Ben Bostrom (1:49.300); 9. Andrew Pitt 10. Karl Muggerldge (1:49.845); II. 5,,,,,,, M"'ln 12. Max N....IQ,,:h"",. (1:49.994); 13. Norick Abe Neil Hodgson, in town to undergo the usual once a year Ducati fitness tests, was at Imola, looking every inch the American rider, with his California clothes and "Boogie Nights" golden Oakley shades. (1:50.247); 14. Pier-Francesco Chili (1:50.588); 15. Sebastien Glmbert (I :50.6019); 16. Chrls Walker (I :50.749); 17. Giovanni 8ussel (1:50.554): 18. Gianlua V.mello (1:50.636): 19. Fonsi Nieto (I :50.666): 20. M..-co 80rdani (I :51.097): 21. Ivan Silva (1:51.348): 22. Moo", Sanchlnl (1:51.395): 23. G"'l' McCoy (1:51.417): H.1van Clementi (1:51.599): 25. Mau", LucA

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