Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Sad ly for all , especially him self, his race and cham p ionship victor ies could be neither hailed no r challenged by h is great rival this season , Noriyuki H ag a. Ser v in g a ban as p art of h is new p un i shment fo r testin g p os iti ve for ephedrine , Hag a's absence ble w a c o ld breeze ac ross t he cele b rator y antics on th e podium, leaving eve ry one not ca ught up in Castro l, Edwards and Honda 's joy with an eerie feeling of wh at m ight hav e been . Despite th e ult imate championship first place be ing decided before either race had taken place , there wa s st ill the tantalizing prospect of Troy Corser finish ing equal second, and therefo re overall second by h is su perior win count compared to the existing runner-up Haga . T he usual tire lo tter y that c o m es w hen the track is wet but the air is dry put paid to that , with C o r se r b e in g advised agai nst his orig inal choice of cut slicks and cajoled onto rain tires, with a predictable outcome. A drying line and others with better t ire cho i c es finished h im off but , already assured of th ird pla ce in an y cas e , Corser ' s d ebut seas on on the Apr i li a is s t ill noth ing short of astounding - and fin ished off nicely w ith a th ird place in the seco nd race of th e day . "I w ent w ith fu ll we t ti re s bu t we should hav e gone with m y f ir st choic e, cut slic k s, wh ich we actually had on th e m achine as w e rolled up to th e grid ," Co rser explained . "T he wets w ere g re at in the early laps, bu t I knew as th e dry line d eveloped w e wou ld be strug gling in the last eig ht or 10 l aps . Tire c hoice wa s al ways g o in g to b e a p rob lem t od a y . I ' m hap py with the day and th e season. I nev er dreamed we'd get five wins and fini sh third in the title in o ur firs t yea r tog eth er. " Pier-F ran cesco Chili , slip -slid ing in ra ce one , took a co nfi de nc e-boost inq second i n race two , w ith Co rser claiming to have let him go w ithout too much of a fight. "I had too much spin and no drive in the first race, but the second race was much better. I wanted a win to end the season , but it was not possible," said the Italian, who is hugely popular in England, desp ite some h iqh- proflle spates with Fogarty in th e past. Ch il i 's sixth and se cond B r a n d s co m b in ati on was enough to see him t ak e f ourth overa ll in the title c hase f r o m Ak ira Ya n a ga wa an d Tro y Bayliss , with on ly 15 poin t s sepa rating the three of them at season's end . For Bayliss, h is first- rac e second p la ce was the h ighl igh t of an o the r c u r i o u s l y up -a nd -down w e e k en d . Cr ashing at Druid s, after looking likely to on a few pr evio us occasions , he r ue d his mis fortune , but co nsoled himself that he had o nly done three quarte rs of th e seaso n anyway . " T h ere wa s only on e dry li ne , so th er e was no way for m e to t ry and p u ll o ut to pa ss [.John ] Rey nold s ," Bayliss said . "T he on ly tim e anyone Ducatls and loca ls lead the way. John Reynolds (47) le ads Nell Hodgson (48) and James Haydon (45) at their home round of the series at Brands Hatch. Edwards (2). Troy Corser (3) . Pie .... Francesco Chili (7) and th e rest of the World Superbike gang give cha se. co uld pass wa s wh en the o ne in front ran a bit wide." Yanagawa , a fighting Sh into sp iri t in race one , had to settle for a lesser p erfo rmance in race t w o when h is cl utc h acted up. " I th ink t h e clutch went stra ight after th e st art of race two, although 1 d id t ry an d adjust i t a ll t he way throug h ," Yanaga wa sa id . "I think 1 had a couple of very good rac es, but with no luck." For Ch r is Wa lker, a n am a zin g l y ag gressive sec ond place in rac e o ne was th e hi ghlight of his week end • if not his amazing season . Heartbroken by finishi ng runner -up four t imes in th e British Championsh ip , Walk er ha d to b e p e rsuad ed to even race a t Brand s Hat ch , a n d thu s ended h is season on a hi gh note, not th e pr ev i ou s low o ne. " I d idn 't eve n wa nt to come her e after lo sing the Br iti sh title last week end, but I'm g lad my team persuaded m e: he said. F o r hi s g reat r ival in th e Br iti sh Series, Ne il Hodgson , th ere was to be n o fa iry t a l e t h i s week en d , as h is four th p l a c e and mechan ical DNF ru ined h is 100 % podium reco rd in the 2000 Wo rld Superb ik e Series. " I cou ldn 't be lie ve t h e move Anthony [Go bert] tried on m e," Hodgson said . "T here was no way through, but he had a go anyway . A s soon as 1 to ok av o id ing a ct ion an d hit th e gras s, I th rottled off, beca use to put any power dow n in those c ond itions wou ld have sig n aled the en d of the rac e fo r me to o. I got p ast as ma ny r id ers as I could , b ut d i dn 't h a v e enough laps left t o ca tch th e lead er s. " I really felt as if I co uld ha ve beat en C o li n Edw a r d s in ra ce two . M y bike w as going so well and it wo u ld h av e b een a gr eat way to e nd th e ye ar, because th e team has worked so ha rd , but I th ink we' ve pro ved ou r wort h th is weekend and I kn ow all of us at GS E Racing are looking forward to d icing w ith th e fa ctory bo ys on a m ore per m anent bas is next ye ar." Un lik e Wa lker, he has no need to worry anyway, with both a Br it ish title and a full -t ime 2001 World.Superb ike ride in his po ck et. Th e big British success was John Rey no ld s, but for his charging team mate James Hayd on it was a doubly d isappointing d ay , after cras hi ng out of good fi ni shing po sitio n s t w ic e at Druids ha irpin . Rumored to be going World Superbike rac ing with Hodgson next year, Reynold s was rapt . " T h a t m e an s so muc h t o m e , " Re y no lds s a i d. " I h ad so m a n y m om ents front and rear as soo n as I strayed"o nt o th e wet bits of track. I'd lik e to t ha nk T ro y [B ay lis s] for no t Reynolds (4 7) and Troy Bayliss (21) batUed for the duration of the first leg with the Brit narrowly defeating the Australian. cu e I e n e vv s O = OBER 25 . 2000 13

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