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/128626
o r: rr) . 0-. n drace W orld S u p e r b ik e Cha m p io n s h ip R o u n d 1 0 : Bra n d s H a t c h s id e, and t h e rac e was im media tely red -fl ag g ed . K n o c k ed un consci ou s b y t h e cras h , Hislo p awoke wi t h sus pecte d left wrist a nd right ank le injuries, plus a late r mi s - diag n o sed c o m p r e sse d f ift h vertebrae - t h erefo re esca p i n g m i r a cu l ou sly f r o m a n acci de n t t h at lo o k ed to have terrible si mi lari ti es to O n lap seve n, W a lk er was pas t Hag a like it wa s the sort of t hi ng he did eve ry day, wi th Hod g son ou tbraking h im self o n lap n ine, n early ta k ing o u t th e rapi dly -c l o sin g C hili i n th e pro c ess. D o wn to fifth aga in , Hodg so n was lu ck y t o ge t away w it ho ut ru nning off th at which e n ded W a yn e Ra ine y 's t he t ra c k co m p letely . By lap 10 , B ayliss h ad a 1.5 -sec - career. A ha lf-h our del ay a nd the rac e, at th e full 25- lap di stance , wa s re -st a rt - and Hodg son , w ith Edw ards inex p lic ably (a t that sta ge ) behind hi s team - ed, wi th Ed w ards g etting th e holeshot as W a lk er ca m e w ith h im for an earl y on d ga p bac k to W al k er , Ch ili , Hag a mate S light , and o u t o f the im m ed iate ch arge. H ag a was th e se ns atio n , though , com ing from row four to the lead by t he t im e the p ack h ad ex ite d G rah a m hu nting d own hi s g r eat o ld Br iti sh Su perbike riva l W a lker as th e hal fw ay Hill be nd - th e third co rn er . (Above) Noriyuki Haga (41) and John Reynolds (47) fig ht for fourth pos ition. British Superblke regular Reynolds ended up holdi ng off Haga in t he end to fi ni sh Just off the rostrum. (Left) Former Wo rld Superbike regula r a nd Bayliss' replace m e nt on th e INS Ducati team, Nell Hodgson bettered his race-one fini sh by winning the second race in f ront of his home cro w d. reckon in g . H o d g son , out fo r a ba tt le , to ok Haga at Paddo ck and m ade it stick , m ark ap p roached . B ac k m a rk ers asi de, it w as a b attle Bay liss , det erm ined to impress at a w ell -kn o wn c ir cuit for h im, took t h e lea d at the next bend and held it fo r all th e ea rly lap s, M akin g a small lea d by th e fo urth tou r , Bay li ss was try in g what f o r seco n d b etw e en Wa l k e r t h e defe nd er an d Ho d g so n th e attacker. Ba y li ss , 2 .12 seconds in th e le ad by t his stage , was look i ng g o od until Hod g so n passed Wa lker a nd used hi s few felt possibl e, breaking aw ay at th e f ront , w hi le a mome n t fo r E d w a rd s good dropp ed h i m t o seve n t h in o ne fe ll sw oop , once th e do dg y clutch o n hi s B ayl iss' lead . W ith te n to go t ha t le ad w as 2 .4 4 spare machine start ed to p lay up . second s , wi t h Edwards m o v in g up Chil i, c omi ng t hro u g h strong ly aft er a le ss -th an -p erfect sta rt , almost t o o k Hag a on the ent ra n c e to Pa d - m achine setu p to a tt a c k s lowl y fro m b a c k i n six t h pl ace , seven seconds fro m th e lead . An a uda c io us o v ertak in g m o ve at hav ing u n settled results . O ther than D ucati's o nly two sa v io rs all season, Bayliss and Hodgson, wh o had a p air of career -e nhanc ing rippers. With the rid er's title out o f p ro ba bl y eve n B a yl i ss ' r e a ch at p r ese n t though, Du c at i seems intent on t a k in g th e m an ufa ct u rer 's crown. Anoth er 50 points ha v e extended their lead in that particularly eso te ric com peti - R A C E ONE t io n , 333-294 , ove r t h e migh ty S ch e d ul e d f o r 25 laps , th e fir st ra ce at Bra n d s w as e x p ec t e d , e v e n Honda . That is a far cry from the first f ew races of th e yea r when D u c a t i n ize rs li k ed it so mu c h th at (as was m o re tha n u sua l, to be all ab out t ires , set up an d co ns is tent lap times . W ith Ja m es H ayd o n o ut d ue to his p rol apsed d isc in hi s sp ine, the w ho le fie ld had moved u p o ne o n t he grid, j u st to c o nfuse eve ryone . A h u g e cras h at th e fi rs t corn er b ro ug ht o ut t h e red fl ags, a s Hi sl op a n d Ed wards app eared t o c o ll i de , brin g ing H ag a d own w it h t h e m into the gra ve l at Paddoc k Hill bend . Hislo p , t umbling th roug h the g rav el in a wo rryi ng fas hion , collidi ng wi th his m a chin e on t he w a y , re ceived se m i -officially anno unced at Brands ) , urg ent m edical attention at th e track - l o o k e d to h a v e b e en v y i n g fo r the wooden sp oon w it h B irn o ta. The real c h a m p io n s o n t he da y were, as a lways at Brands Hat ch , the crowd , wh o b lasted airho rns a n d vocal c h o rd s with eq u a l fervor, a nd were spo rt ing to all those glad iators wh o pro ved th emselv es w orth y of th eir salutes in Worl d Superbike 'r ac ing ' s very own natural a m p h it heat re regard les s o f th eir nationality . In fact, th e b el eaguered WSB org a- 8 AUGUST 1 6 . 2000 ' cue • e nevus Sti rling 's be nd fail ed for Hag a , b ut h e Japan ese was hav in g n on e of it , even w e will g et a c ha nc e to d o it a ll over aga in t h is season. Imo la h as b een defi nitely c a nce l le d (a l t ho u g h n o t offic i a lly y et) and th e date for the 13th and fin al r ound IS O ct ob e r - h a s now be en provi s i on a l l y r e a l locat ed to Br a nd s Ha t ch . An unp opul ar move with vi r tu all y every team though , so w at ch thi s s pa ce , as the e n d of th e year desce nds into a sha m b o li c my stery play , w ith a ca st of th ousand s, wa iting o n the f in al act. Winter sw eater s an d th erm a l boots for a ll if we d o go to B ran d s, b eca use th e la te au tu m n , ev en in th e South o f Eng la nd , c a n b e m isery its elf. do ck o n lap five , b ut th e determined did r e -p a ss C h il i a t t he aw es ome if he was on y et anot he r spare bike. Wa lke r o ve rto o k th e fa ctory Suzuki Cl earw ay s, th e very sig ht o f h is ea rli er crash in Superpole. O nl y Haga . o f Ch ili ag ain o n lap fo ur , m a k ing t he o r de r B a y li ss , H aga , W a lk er , Chili , H o d g s o n , S l i g h t , Co rs e r a nd Ed w ard s. Hodg son , loo k i ng s moot h er a n d sw ifte r t ha n Bayliss, set about cutt ing hi s lead to .7 8 of a second by lap 20, and was right with Bay liss o ne lap later. In dazzllnq Superpole form, the cool and aggressive Neil Hodgson wrot e his name large at the to p of the times heets after beating th e Wor ld Championship leader (and double Brands winner last season) Colin Edwards. "I'm happy enough with a front -row start," Edwards said. "Alter watching some scary mom ents in Superpole, I was pleased j ust to get a clean lap in. I wanted pole, but something told m e it might not be possible. The British round always has a lot of wild card riders and they are quick." His tim e of I :26 3 8 1 was narrowly better than Edwards' but in terms of the championship battl e there were two main losers after the Superpole battl e - Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser. Corser's seventh was a right-off -the-rails effort, after losing the rear and almost crashing at the botto m of Paddock Hill. With his chances of pole blown, Corser kept him self together well , but lined up l Oth. "The rear end came round on me at the bottom of the hill , and that lost me all the drive up towards Druids Hairpin and therefore about a second of time - which is pretty mu ch the amo unt we were down at the end," Corser explained. "It was a real shame because the rest of the lap was not so bad." Haga was in even worse straig hts, falling on his warm -up lap at the final corner onto the straight. Desperate to get a good slingshot over the start / finish, Haga had a huge highside that smashed the right -hand side of his m achine to pieces before the bik e bit back and struck the provisional pole-sitter with its front wheel. The scene of many a serio us accide nt before then, the ultra-fast Clearways comer was luckily lined with airfence for the Superbike weekend, and other than a heavily bruised ank le, he got away with a severe tarmac m auling. Troy Bayliss was behind Edwards, with Pier-Francesco Chili zoomin g on up to fourth , Jam es Haydon took an impressive fifth ahead of Yamaha's Steve Hislop, who, like all the Brits (and Bayli ss, the reignin g British Superbike Champ ion), has an intimate kn owledge of Brands' strange and very technical topography. "We strugg led a little yesterday - probably because I hadn't been on a bike for some time - and I wasn't so happy ," Chili said. "But things went much better today and I felt more comfortabl e with the bike . Basically , we found some good settings and I was able to push harder. The tires felt pretty good and the bike was okay. It' s good to be on the front row here and now I have a chance of a couple of good results." With Haydon missing the races, all the competitors behind him move up one, which is very good news for Akira Yanagawa who goes to the second row, while Corser just mi sses his chance to move up another few yards. A number of factory riders lost out on S uperpole, notably Katsuak i FUjiwara, Alessandro Antonello, Vitt o Guareschi and Haruchik a Aoki , who only set a tim e during the Friday sess ion.