t has been a sometimes tough run
for Troy Corser in World Superbikes
in 2005, but in the last few races,
the early-season legend has been
slacking off, usually through no fault
of his own. His Lausitz crash was his own
fault, but otherwise it's been the odd
item out of his control, or simply a better
rider on the day, that has stopped him
from racking up wins in the double figures. He didn't add to his pre-race total
of eight wins, five seconds and five thirds
in France, but a pitbox mix-up was to
I
blame for that. That fact that he didn't
figure into either race means that others
did, and it is difficult to see how Corser
could have done much better than the
Magny-Cours race winners anyway.
Winston Ten Kate Honda's Chris
Vermeulen and SC Caracchi Ducati's
Lorenzo Lanzi took a win apiece after
two 23-lap races filled with great contrasts, with the lap record falling to each
rider in turn. Lanzi finally reduced the
best lap to a I:40.60 I as he chased
Vermeulen in race two, giving the
24 OCTOBER 19, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS
Caracchi team its best result of the year.
"I'm on the seventh heaven," Lanzi
said. "This win makes up for the Imola
disappointment. During race one, I suffered a lot [because of) the front tire,
which vibrated heavily and didn't allow
me to ride. I had the tears under my helmet because I could see the others close
to me and I wasn't able to fight them.
During race two, I had a good start, both
in the first start and in the restart after the
red-flag interruption. When I caught
Vermeulen, we started studying each
other, looking at the final laps. Then he
suddenly slowed on the 18th lap and Iwas
lonely leading the race. Of course, looking
at that from a sporting point of view,
that's a pity, but also I was confident to
win - to see a rival like Vermeulen [gal
out makes everything easier. I wish to
dedicate this victory to everybody close
to me; to my sponsors, which are, above
all, good friends; to the Scuderia SC
Caracchi; to my crew engineer; to Ducati
Corse. that gave me a splendid factory
bike and a factory rider service. I don't
