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/128622
World Sup e r b ik e C h a m p io n s h ip Roun d S : Laguna S eca R a c e way By G O RDO N R IT CHIE P HOTO S BY H EN NY R A Y A BRAMS MONTEREY, CA, JULY 9 f the a rithm etic can be trusted , then t his was th e mo st su c c e ssful ra ce m eet in g ever a t Laguna Sec a , with 82,500 souls passing int o the circuit over a ll fo ur d a ys of t h e comb in e d AMA/World Superbike Ch ampion s hip ev ent. Wha t it d idn 't m a ke for , ju st for a change, wa s a scintillating multi-rider fight for the 25 po ints in each race, wi th Ya maha 's Noriy uki Ha g a a nd Aprilia's Troy Corser going about the bu sine ss of win ning in th e ir own inim ita ble fash ion. In a ll hon esty, whe n Haga a nd Cors e r hit the fro nt , it was all over eve n be fore the fat lady sa ng . And with Lyle Lovett belting out the Nationa l Anth em before the start of races, there was a lot of singing going on. In race one , Haga was a tire -slid ing a nimal as a lways, burning rubbe r I 6 JULY 19, 2000 ' cue I e on his Yamaha a nd turning it into corners in a fashion which none of his rivals co uld match . Am a zing ly , hi s Dunlop tires put up with th is sort of treatment for all 28 laps . Corse r, on the other hand , starting from row two , ha d to take a different pla n in race two , using his consistent speed and smooth r id in g styl e to gradually but de ce pt ivel y-ra p id ly pull away from his peer grou p a nd win by a massive 7 .7 seconds . It was do m ina tio n basically, a lbeit from different masters. "I made a better start and I kn ew that if I conserved m y tires in the early laps they would be good for th e sec ond half of the ra ce ," said a delighted Corser. "Whe n I s ta rted to mo ve u p t he o rder I kne w n o o n e e lse was go ing to run th e sa m e pa ce as me . We sti ll ha ve a problem in losi ng a little on acceleration out of th e corne rs , s o I ha ve to ride the wh e els o ff th e thing to keep up with the other bikes." neVIl's As se e ms to b e t he nature of c o m p lic a t e d and tech nically ch al leng ing circuits like Lagu na , the battles du ring the ra c e were fierc e , if short-lived, with those who had sorted their m a c h ines and t ire s o ut pro p e rly closing in o n the ir quarry with speed , win ni ng a sho rt sc uff le for places , and t h e n moving forw a rd w ith inexora ble s peed as they exploited thei r be tt e r p a c k a g e s to th e full. Mr. Consistency at th is race was , to a lesser d egre e o f s ur pr ise with e ac h week t h at passes , Haga , wh o took a swee p ing win. Not to mention a b attl ing seco nd, p la yi ng a smart game o f t ire conservati on and th en o u t r ig h t a b use t o p re s su r iz e Ben Bos trom into m a k in g a small b ut costly e rro r on the final corne r of race two . The Japanese rider, sti ll m inu s his points from S outh Africa , finds hi mse lf now only 33 po ints off the lead , Troy Bayliss (2 1) leads the way at the start of the second World Superbike leg at Laguna Seca Raceway. Colin Edwards (2) , Pier-Francesco Chill (7), Noriyuki Haga (41) and the rest of pack give chase in front of a larg e crowd of American road racing fans. a nd if he h a d h is m is s ing nuggets from the South African goldfields, he would h a ve t he champi onship le a d handsomely in h is possession . An d this mad e Hag a a ma zing ly bull ish , even after race two. "I ma de a mista ke before Kya lam i where eve ryon e knows that I took ephedrine, but I hav en 't ta ken it s ince then, " Ha ga sa id. "Som e people thi nk I s ho uld not be her e ra c ing , but that's t heir p ro b le m . I am h e re and I' m go ing to race to win ." His o ld S uzuka 8 -hour buddy and c hief riva l Colin Edwa rds had an ot he r up -and -d own weekend. A sp inning tire dropped Edwards off the po d ium in race two , a special dis-