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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128631
World Superbik e Champ ionship Round 12: O sche r s leben , G erman y wha t may we ll turn out to be a sk idoo c ha m p io n shi p ra c e i n th e middl e of O ct ober , th e seaso n is argua bly over already . But with th e last ra ce so far from this penultimate round , and w ith the wo rl d only k nowing wh at will hap pen to Haga th e very day before the first A gen erall y good day for Kawasaki o n the team ' s hom e ground in Ger m any, gave Yanagawa fifth and a pod ium, with him prov ing th at you don 't have to be chasi ng a co ntract to put in good end-of-season rides. C rue l luc k for A aron Sli ght robbed him of a top -five finish in rac e tw o , after he was judged to jump the start. " I didn 't think I jumped th e start , but yo u h ave to sub m it a p rotes t before th ey ca n show us th e videot ape," th e Castrol Honda rid er said. A sin g le fifth -pla c e fin ish was h is entire rewa rd for thi s day 's effo rts. A v er y p issed off Chil i was clea r about where the blam e lay for his good starts and fading finishes. "I am in som e pain from m y inj uries, but the bi ggest problem was th at m y tire in race one was perfect for half the rac e, the n I sent straight backwards ," he said. " I changed m y tire in the seco nd and it went o ff eve n ear lier. I nee d to ha ve t ir es wh ich I ca n ri de the way I like!" day of practice, the expiry of the 200 0 seaso n will not be a qu ick or painl ess m att er. RACE ONE A crash on the fir st lap of race one held a bizarre tw ist for th ree of th e top c o n t en d er s. Cra shing on th e ex it o f Hot el corne r, Borj a (w ho looked at fir st sig h t t o b e pus hed o f f h i s m achin e afte r a co lli sio n) fell off, inj urin g his head and feet - but his m achine con tin ued aro und th e co rner, fin all y falling over in th e m id dle of th e p ack . W ith m any near m isses for some to p World Su pe rb ike rs , Do rian o Rombon i was fin all y k nocke d off in what co uld have bee n an eve n m ore seri ou s incide nt. The net result was to allow Edwards and Chili to make a break , at a seco nd pe r lap , with Bay li ss and Lavilla lead ing a hu ge pack of rid er s h eaded by p r iv ateer Gi ovanni Bu ssei for t h ree l ap s . Godd ard was gi v en a stop-go pe na lty for j umping th e st art , endi ng hi s interest in th e top poi nt s scoring p osit ion s when he f ina ll y went ba ck into t he pits. Haga, starting from 16th place, bat tle d his way th ou gh to sev enth by lap five of the 28 , with another lo wly works sta rte r, Co rser, up to fifth after dispos ing of th e warr ing Kawasak i m en . T he reason fo r Cors er 's bad start eve ntua lly came to light and was th at his A prilia was hit by th e riderl ess Du cati of Borj a, w hic h unkn own to him at t he t im e , pun ched a hol e in his radi at or. Nine seco nds down , Haga was up to six th by lap six , attack ing the c irc uit in In th e low er o rde rs o f th e to p 10 , Al essandro Anton ello was on spark ling form, com ing fr om 21 st to ninth in th e op ener befor e ta ng ling wit h K awasak i stand -in Peter Godd a rd in race two . Eac h blam ed th e other for break in g up wha t was a grea t four-way scrap, also featuring Ben Bostrom and vaca t ioning J ap anese rider Wataru Yoshi kawa. A j ump start for Godd ard killed his race-on e prospect s. "I' m disappo int ed th at I go t a jump start in race one," God dard said. 'I did roll a bit then pull ed th e cl utc h in so I thou ght I' d get away with it. It was a shame because I was rid ing well." It was anothe r hard day for Bostrom , running into probl em s of his and others making . " I had not th e best shock setup in race on e and I got a terribl e start, " th e Californ ian said. " I had a much better su spe n sio n set u p in race two , but I ch ose th e wrong tire. I had to ride it lik e it was in the dirt ; it was k ind a fun but th e best I could do was seventh. " In the end , we had , not quite the end . Or at least the fat lady has yet to sing from an offici al h ymn shee t. With the Wo rld Superbik e paddock abo ut to be dragged k icking and scr eaming to the inglorious environs of Brands Hatch for h is d esire to sto p Edw ards runnin g away with the ch am pionsh ip win o ne round early . An t on ell o , from 21 st position, was throu gh to 1 1th , d icing with th e ve ry im p r es si ve Bu s sei , a littl e b eh ind Slight. B a y li ss , rid ing rag ge d a n d loo se, lost two places aft er making a mistake, but a hard re-pass on Co rser made it only one plac e lost almost right away. Colin Edwards became Mr. 50 percent at Oschersleben, after he took his sixth pole position of the 12 rounds so far. His best time of 1:27.799 was his best of the weekend, allowing Edwards to be pugnacious in the run up to the races proper. "I'd seen [Noriyuki] Haga crash. but I ignored it and ju st went and did my own thing," Edwards said. "I was only interested in getting the fastest lap. We made a lot of progress with the VTR this weekend, not j ust to suit Oschersleben, but in the general setup of the machine. I'm happy to take Superpole, but it's wins I want." Second quick est was Troy Corser, who had a nasty moment when his rear tire ran a bit wide on the exit of the rumple strip on the final corner and had it step out on the dirt. losing his first split time advantages. Fastest man in regular qualifying was Troy Bayliss. operating on level playing field for the first time in a while. at a circuit that virtua lly none of his peers had been to before. The big loser in Superpole was Noriyuki Haqa, who managed to crash out of his Superpole lap for the second time this season. his first being at Brands Hatch. His 16thplace start on the grid promised littl e for his title aspirations. Best privateer was Robert Ulm , taking his Gerin Ducati to eighth and a second-row start at what w~1I be the closest the Austri an gets to a home round this season. 8 SEPTEMBER 20 , 2000' cue I e n e uv s Haga's pace was dropped in th e mid die of the race, and he was out -Haga'd by Slig ht who went past him like a m issile at Hot el corner. Bu ssei' s good race ended on lap 13 when his eng ine blew, sett ing his sump on fire as he ran off th e circui t, wr eck ing his chances of impressing still further. Another run o nto th e di rt wi t h th e r e a r wh e el o n h i s Du c a t i dropp ed Bayli ss to fifth , with Laville, Corser and him self battling it out in cl ose com p any . Edward s, shadowed by Ch ili , had a IO -second lead by lap 15 , this time ove r Corser, who had been sett ing up Lavilla for th e pass for a coupl e of laps. Th e i nte r ven tio n o f ba ckm ark er s almost had Lav ill a off as Corser, him self and Bayliss h ad to barge past Geraldo Muteau . Cl osin g th e gap between the three, B a y liss c ap it ali zed by p ass ing Lavilla, only for a big tail slide to punt him o ut of th e sadd le. letting La villa back through to fourth, lining up Corser for th e pass. Th e rapid ly ti ring Chili had begun his big slide to th e back by lap 20 , on ly four seconds ahead of the chasing Corser as his Assen injures took their toll and his rear tir e started going from off to right off. W ith fiv e to go . Cors er dr opped off the pace as first Lavilla and Bayliss shot past th em , with Lavilla instant ly passing Chili to go second on the last co rner of lap 25 . Chili , batt ling away to kee p a pod ium fin is h , held Bayliss b eh i nd un t i l th e Aussie block -passed Chili, and Corser was overhauled by first Yanagawa and then Slight. On th e penultimat e lap, Sl igh t was through on C hili, wi th the race o rder Edwards. seven seco nds ahead of Lavil la and Bayliss who to ok the last pod ium pos ition. Th e dram a wasn' t over, with Corser running o ff the circui t on t he las t lap, rejoining to fin ish seventh, only for his Troy Bayliss (21) visited the podium twice in Germany, with a third in race one and a second in race two - a big im pro vem e nt over last weekends double DNF's at As se n . Here he leads Ak ira Yanagawa a nd Aa ron Slight Slight finished fifth in race one, b ut retired in race two after he was brought in for jumping the start. ma chine to expire j ust as it c rossed the line , sitting smoldering on th e pit wa ll, as th e m arshals c hased arou nd to find a fire extinguisher. F in ally killed by th e la ck o f coolant , th e A pril ia 's eng ine nonetheless was enoug h to let Corser finish seventh, alth ou gh almost certainly out of th e Worl d Cha m pionship race. Ed wards win put his points to 342 to 3 0 4 from Ha g a, wi t h t he ne w c rown b eing poli shed in th e C astrol Honda hospitality tent. RACE TWO Corser was an ear ly bath er in rac e two , with his eng ine failing on the first lap , ma ki,ng him a m obile chic an e for the riders behind in the first few comers. With Ed wards and Bayli ss away into the lead , it was left to Lavilla, in pugnacio u s m o od , to ca rry out a smoo th ov ertake on Chil i on lap seven , and put in a small gap of .3 of a second between them with short-lived ease. Edwards, determined to win the dou ble, con tinued his fast pa ce in the ear ly laps, surg ing into a two -second lead over Bayli ss, with the th ree-rider squabble for th ird four seco nds be hind th e Aus sie by lap eight. Bostrom, on th e wrong rubber, was still riding aggress iv ely all th e sam e, and got involved in a fo ur-rider fig ht with A ntonell o , G oddard a nd Yosh ikawa . W ith Edwa rds rubb ing everyo ne 's no ses in it at the front, his teammate finally pulled into the pits , after a stop-go penalty , and retired on lap 11.