Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128611
(Left) Jamie Whitham was a surprise winner of the wet World Supersport race . (Below) The race was led early on by local he ro Andrew Pitt (12) on the opening lap. (Below leftl The pack takes evasive action as Guareschi crashes out of the second Wo rld Superblke race. With a lig ht dr izzle still floating around and a strong possibility of rain any second, it was a nervo us and hurried bunch of Supersport riders who tried for th e holeshot into the awesome fi rst co mer at Phillip Island . O ne rider, an unnamed local, almost took an inadvertent shortcut to Sib eria corne r when he was forced wid e at turn one, only j ust managing to stop as the pack thundered towards his inadvertent trajectory. Fabrizio Pirovano, Andrew Pitt, Paolo Casoli and Ruben Xau s formed the leading ph alan x for th e first co uple of ci rcuits, afte r whi ch a slight dr izzle beg an to coat the visor s of the top co ntenders. Th e race wou ld event ually be sto p ped , on lap II, but on ly after the usual Sup ersport high j inks. James Whith am , starting from the six th row of the gr id , worked hi s way up to th e tails of the leading riders with ridi cu lous speed , whil e Pitt was hav ing to exercise every segment of his loc al kno wle dge to ove rco m e th e fast Ducatis whic h would blast past him every time a straight appea red. After fou r laps the ast on ish ing ride put in by Whi th am had dr agged him up to fourth pl ace, as fast starting Christer Undholm dropped back down the order. A lap later and wh at looked like it could be a race winnin g performanc e fro m ei ther Pitt or Xaus ende d up with a di sastrous co ll isio n between th e two . Pitt, lining himself up astern of Xaus to attack on the strai ght ran right into the bac k of the Span iard when Xaus took his tea r-off from his visor and app eared to let go hi s gr ip on the throttle at the sam e time. Pitt smacked into the back of Xaus 's Duke, bu ckling and scraping a wheel on th e 748, although his ZX-6R was in worse co nditi on. The im pac t had dislo dged and bro ken whol e sections of the fro nt of his ma chin e and he was for ced to pit, and eventually retire. As was Xaus, from the first part of the race at least, although many wondered how th e Spaniard was able to continue at such pace when his whee l was so bad ly damaged. Almost crashing when leaned to the right, Xaus was forced to come in fo r a new ti re and lost any chance of po ints as he got lapped in th e atte m pt. In a day of fra nt ic cras hes and a week end of destroyed moto rbik es, Karl Mu g geridge was very fortunate to walk away from a huge crash at Sibe ria . There was to be only one true star of the show today and that was to be Wh itham . Up to third wh en th e heav ens opened properly, Whitham we nt ballistic from th e flag on the reo start, having a dice with his fell ow Brit lain Ma cpherso n. As bo th loped away from the field on th e 1 l -Iap restart , a war of ove rtak ing ensued. with each rider going at it like it was th e last lap of th e race, not the first. MacPhers on was to suffer for thi s level of abandonment in his rid ing style. He crashe d, restarting and fini shed 15th for on e point. Whitham's only problem from then on ca me fro m Xaus, desperate to put in a good per fo rmance after h is bad luck in race one . Desp it e seei ng the Sp an iard shoot past him, Whi tha m em erge d vi ct ori ous, m ak ing his World Supersport track record a 100% affa ir. He's had two starts (Doning ton Park last yea r and here to day) and two wins . Paol o Casoli and St ephan e Chambon , th e old hands at th is Sup ersport lark, ca me home seco nd and thir d, avoiding the melee of m adn ess go ing on all around them. T he t op lo cal rider was th e co nsi ste ntly impressi ve Adam F ergusson , wh o took hi s CB R6 00 to top Honda spot, ahead of Castrol Works m an Pere Riba . Cr istophe Cogan was the second Yamaha rider hom e, but the most relieved man of the day had to be Wilco Zeelenb erg, ba ck from the horror of a pelvic inju ry wit h a fine seventh. "I stuck my neck out on the early laps to try and fight my way up the field: Wh itham said . "I kn ew I had to or I wo uld get stuck behi nd a lot of slower riders and that wo uld have been th at . I have to qua lify better for races but the way things turned out today couldn't hav e been more perfect. For the last few laps I just made sure I cruised ro und and got to the flag in the lead . A perfect start to the season ." c ue I e n e vw 50 MAY 3 ,2000 9