Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

vvor-io Sup e r-b ik e C h a m p io n ship Rou n d 1 0 : Br-ands H a t c h Break ing the la p record three time s in ra c e o ne . Hod g s o n was to b re a k it agai n in th e seco nd ra c e , d ip p ing int o the 1:29 s as he s oa red away from h is m any pursuers . In fact, if the fabled Fogarty does decide to call it a ca reer (ra ther tha n a day ) over th e winter (and apparently Ducati must co nfirm th e ir ride r line up d uri ng S ept emb e r .. . ) then t hey could do a lot worse tha n opt for the pairing of Ba ylis s and Hodgson , who were, afte r all. teamma te s in the GS E INS Ducati s qua d la st yea r. "The bike wa s working perfectly and tha t let me get awa y in the earl y la ps," sa id Ba yliss. "I was riding smooth and I set m y be s t time on my la st la p , so that sh ows you how good the bike was and how bad I wanted to win." And mor e im po rta ntly for the SBK or ga n iza t io n , wh ic h ha s Br itish fa n inte res t at its heart, the hug e Brands c ro wds wi ll h ave a nother pote ntial winne r (o r three or four ) to c heer on . Ch r is Wa lk er m a y find a Wor ld Superbike berth ne xt year. In fa ct, if th e y g av e aw ay rid es fo r o n - b ike effort a lone , Walk er would be a Wor ld Cha mpion a lre ady . "I was riding really ha rd from the o uts et a nd I did as we ll a s I could, " wa s his s u b du ed summati o n o f a By G O RDON R IT CHIE PH OTO S BY G O LD £, G OOS E KENT,ENGLAND,AOG.6 s far as t he crowd was co ncerned , there rea lly wa s on ly one Car l F o g a rt y a nd th e re igni ng Worl d Su p erb ik e Ch ampi o n t o o k a bow for his fan s , a bow tha t ma y well turn into a curta in ca ll if his ba d a rm d o e s no t h e a l u p p ro pe rly . Doing d e m o laps o n h is Worl d S upe rb ike ma ch ine after race o ne , the loudest 'c he e rs of th e day were reserve d for King Carl a nd his 9 96. Runnin g a close se c o n d in th e adulation stakes wa s o ne Ne il Hodg s on , co nq ue ro r at Don ington a nd now s la ye r at Brands Hatch . On ly th e la st -lap efforts o f lon g t im e le a d e r Tro y Bay liss pre vented th e En glishman from taking two wins. His form in both ra c es wa s stunn ing , firing th rough th e field in the first like he wa s a blaze a fter a s low a nd d isturbed first few la ps . " I ca n b ar el y take a ll thi s in , " Hodgso n said . "Hopefully , th is will get u s th e s po n sors hi p we n e ed to g o World Superb ike ne xt yea r. A fantas tic win to day, and I'm reall y plea s ed . Troy [Bayliss] and I are friends - not only on th e tra ck ." A 6 AUGUST 16, 2000' cue I e n e VIl' s stro ng th ird-p lace finis h to a dd to his Doningto n World Superbi ke seco nd place. In some ways it was a wonder tha t we ha d a ny ra cin g at all at Brands , or at lea st a full card , suc h was the firstlap c a rnage that e nveloped proceed ings in both le g s . F irst th ere was a s ickeni ng crash invol ving Ste ve His lop , who on photog ra phic e vide nce at least. ca me o ff wo rst whe n Hodg son a nd Col in E dwards cla s h e d o n t he infa mo us ly tricky Pa dd oc k Hill Bend. Th e re sult was Edwa rd s a nd Hislop hitt ing hard , and the n taking Nor iyuki Hag a in t o th e grav e l with them . Boun cin g down th e sand tra ps , on his neck a nd ba ck. in a ddi tio n to be ing s t ruc k by h is spi ra ling R7 Yam a ha , the c rash lo ok ed to be fa r worse than t he s us pe c ted br oke n wr is t , foot , com p ressed verte b rae a nd c on cu ssion he was first diagnosed with . In fact, His lo p had no s erious inju rie s othe r th a n fe elin g like he had been left in a b lender full of bowl ing ball s for a week. A mir acle of t itani c proportion s . Re -started over full ra ce distance , the second go had Bay liss attempting his fav ored disap pea ring act at the fro nt. Ab le to break the fie ld, if not co m p le t e ly , Bay liss was a wo rt hy Troy Bayliss (2 1) le a ds Pier-Francesco Chili (7 ) and Neil Hodgson (48) at the start of race one. Seconds lat e r a huge first -tum crash w ou ld bring out th e red fl ag whil e t he medical staff atte nd ed to Steve Hislop (49), who was knoc ked unconscious in the c ra sh. The crash was a result of Edwards (2) and Hislop coming together in the first turn, and it a lso took out No riyuki Haga (4 1). win ner a n d , d espite be ing no s pr ing ch ick en, if he is not offe red terms to ride for th e fa ctor y ne xt year it will be an affront to racing justice . O r so said anyone you asked in p it la ne . T hen aga in , Hodgson wou ld be a g o od c ho ice fo r any on e , o r m a yb e th e p u re and un adu lte ra ted a ggressio n o f Walk e r m ay c a t c h the e ye , e s pe cially as it s ee m ed pla in tha t his Brit ish S up e rbike Seri es Suzuki GSX-R was m issing a fe w Du c a t i-pon ie s a ro und Bra nds Hatch . Th e World Supe rbi ke regulars we re h aving an oth er t or rid d a y , w it h Edwa rd s s u fferi ng m e ch an ic al woes in both ra c e s (c lutc h a nd front-s us pension chatter) . " I th in k th e c lu t ch mus t h a v e b urn ed out , but I felt it go from the firs t lap , " E d wa rd s s aid . "It di d n 't m a tt e r whe t he r I u s e d th e c lutc h or not , the bik e was n 't do wn s hifting . I

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