Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

know at the moment [about) my 2006 program, but I hope to remain in this atmosphere that gave me so much." The 2005 World Champion, Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki's Corser, who started from the fourth row in each race, finished fifth and fourth after superb pushes to the front in the early laps in both races. The 23-lap opener was the sole territory of Vermeulen, running clear in the early laps, with Yukio Kagayama a chasing ghost in his wake. Vermeulen twice broke the lap record, scoring a new best of I:40.985, until Lanzi had his final say. "In race one, it may have looked like it was a bit of a cruise, but Yukio kept me honest," Vermeulen said. "He was riding at I00 percent all the way to the flag. I'm not happy about race two, that's for sure. We've only had two DNFs this season, and neither of them has been my fault. It's better if that sort of thing happens on the first lap, because after you've put in all that hard work, it hurts a bit. Our season started badly, and it's just ended badly, too; but there have been a lot of high points in between, and we've certainly shown lately that we've got the bike working a lot better." The race action behind was combative throughout, with the eventual third-place man, Ducati Xerox's james Toseland, having to repass Winston Ten Kate Honda's Karl Muggeridge on the final third of the last lap to earn the final podium position. A dramatic start and finish to the second race saw a five-rider collision at the first corner put a stop to the contest with the red flags flying. Muggeridge and Kawasaki Bertocchi's Giovanni Bussei were taken to the medical center and failed to make the restart. Muggeridge received stitches for a head wound, and Bussei was kept in for more tests. The race was won in a peculiar fashion by SC Caracchi Ducati rider Lanzi, using full factory engines again for this race. Long-term leader Vermeulen retired when his rear sprocket got damaged and dislodged his drive chain on lap 19, leaving the track free for the unchallenged Lanzi. A magnificent race-long battle for third between Kagayama and Yamaha Motor Italia's Noriyuki Haga became a battle for second after Vermeulen's exit, with Kagayama taking the runnerup spot. "I had a good start to the season and a bad middle section, which means that I am very happy to finish the season with two pOdiums," Kagayama said. "I enjoyed the second race very much, dicing with Nori Haga. I am a crazy japanese rider, but I learned my craziness from Haga-san. I want to thank my team for all the good work this season and hope next year will be even better." Andrew Pitt had a strong ride in race one, taking sixth, and in the second race he overcome the effects of his big first-corner crash to take seventh, despite having lost skin from his hands. Chris Walker had a good last day in his first season on the PSG-I Kawasaki, his slip to seventh in race one being overturned by a magnificent fight to fifth in race two, overhauling Toseland on the final circuit. With Haga plaCing third in race two (and despite a race-one fall), he scored third overall in the series; Toseland went fourth and Kagayama was fifth. Nonstarter Ducati Xerox's Regis Laconi dropped to fifth overall in the standings. Klaffi Honda's Max Neukirchner scored a pair of eighth-place finishes, despite a reduced level of traction from race one to race two. He beat Lanzi in race one, the Italian rider finishing only ninth. Norick Abe took a 10th and then a ninth place, on his first visit to Magny-Cours. Vermeulen's late exit gave Pier-Francesco Chili a top10 finish to add to his race-one technical DNF. Ben Bostrom scored a 12th place and an I Ith place in his last 2005 race for the Renegade Honda squad. "I'm beat up again," Bostrom said. "I need a few months off, I think. The bike was quite good, but the clutch wouldn't take two starts, so we couldn't make a second good start in race two. I just let the clutch out, and nothing. It was making so much noise, I thought the fairing was dragging at one stage. I backed off and was almost coming in; then the noise stopped. In the last five laps, I lost a lot of grip from the front as well." Petronas' Steve Martin was one of the riders involved in the first-lap crash in race two, as was julien Da Costa. Martin failed to make the restart of race two, on top of retiring from race one. Andy Notman, on the other Petronas, also failed to make the end of either race. Brief'Y··· The weather was the talking point again at Magny-Cours, but for very different reasons from Imola's wash-out. Friday dawned misty and brightened up, while Superpole Saturday was held in unseasonably warm conditions. Series runner-up Chris Vermeulen ripped the previous best record lap of the 40411 km circuit to shreds as he scored his third pole position of the season. His lap of I:39.836 was not just the first one recorded under the I:40 barrier, but it was also more than six-tenths of a second faster than the previous track best, a I:400450, set by Lorenzo Lanzi (SC Caracchi Ducati) in that moming's final qualifying session. Vermeulen's new best time was almost a second faster than the previous 2003 record of Ducati-mounted Neil Hodgson, set in the days before Pirelli control tires became the norm in SBK. It appears that the possibility of there being a 13th race in 2006 has increased, with a race at Kyalami in South Africa now looking 95-percent certain to happen. It is expected to be two weekends after the MagnyCours race, at the end of October. Regis Laconi was a late withdrawal from the Magny-Cours race, his right arm not up to a full 23-lap stint in front of his own crowd. All teams in 2006 will have three, not two, designated test venues in 2006. If a team chooses to take part in a National Championship race, then they must take that circuit to be one of their test venues. For the top teams that help with Pirelli tire-development tests, they have to choose Brno and Lausitz (venues for the midseason tests) plus one other venue of their choice. The never-ending story of who goes where within Honda's Superbike and Supersport tearns came somewhat closer to a conclusion at Magny-Cours on Saturday afternoon, but not much closer. The final destination of Vermeulen was still uncer- tain, with the young Aussie jetting off to Australia to ride for the Camel Honda Pons team immediately after the race - so quick- ly, in fact, that he was asking for dispensation to miss the official FIM prize ceremony on Sunday evening. He is getting the silver medal for second place, his points score secure enough to make sure of the runner- up position. When asked about the prospects of keeping Vermeulen for 2006, the team manager of the Ten Kate squad, Ronald Ten Kate, said: "ObViously we would like to keep Chris with us, but on the other hand it has always been our intention to promote the riders we work with to MotoGP. But we do not have the time to wait for Chris to do maybe the last three GPs before a decision is made. We have tests in the middle of November, and we want to be ready there, with our 2006 lineup in place. And I don't think it will be fair to Chris to have just one race to prove what he can do in MotoGP. He leaves RAce ONe Race one was a brawl, with a huge war for the last podium place raging for most of the race. directly from here, will arrive in Australia with no testing, so it would not be fair to Continued on page 27 CYCLE NEWS • OaOBER 19,2005 25

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