Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Superbike Championship F in a l Round : Brands Hatch trying to p a s s me. He ' s a ma te of mine so maybe he let me win!" O ve r in Ben Bostrom-ville , a place where outlandish modes of dress' are commonplace, the California Kid had a subdued da y , only managing a 10th place over the two le g s, although , a ccordi ng to most opinions, his servic es are still d es ired by ma ny fo r ne xt ye ar. Gregorio Lavilla , buoyed b y th e news that he will be riding for his p re sent KRT employers again next ye a r, celebra ted with a s ixth in ra c e two , a lthough his bad mid-season injuries only j us t allowed him to snea k into the top lOin the championship table. "Unfo rtu na te ly, the lead ing group was gone a nd, without them , there wa s no way of catching them up ," said the S paniard about his best race of the day . Anthony Gobert, AMA-bound once more , had a le s s -than -s pa rking final ride for his temporary Virgin Yamaha British Superbike team , crashing out of race o ne after an im p re s sive c harge, a nd retiring from race two . In a mong a ll the other newswo rthy even ts a t Br ands , one man w a s almost o verlook e d. And sh am e on eve ry o n e who d id . Aa ron S lig h t' s Wo rld Superbike care e r m a y no t be ov er, if anyone decides to take up his experienced services, but his tenure as Castrol Honda stalwart ended in muted on -track style , with a 13th and eighth. Off track , however, S light wa s last seen how itzer-ing his boots, gloves and every other stitch of his race clothing into the crowd , to rap turous applause fro m the grand sta nds, shortly after d o in g a wo rld rec ord -s e tt ing bu rn out. As goodbyes go , it was on the d ramatic side. "I ha d a p re tty average race in the s econd on e , "b ut I just ha d to ha ve t h a t b it o f fun at t he e nd, d oi n g a bum out for th e crowd," the Kiwi said. "It' s been a great atmos phere here and they've had some pretty rough weather to contend with." It may have been cold , wet and inde scriba b ly m iserable for the most pa rt, but with 75 ,00 0 pay ing pu nters braving floo d a nd m ud , the huge ly unpopular ide a of going to Brands in Oct obe r was ultim ately someth ing of a success. The Brits a re , if noth ing else , ch e e rful sto ic s. The m iss ing pa rt of the com plete jig sa w, th e a wkwardl y shaped b u t aw esom ely quick Haga , le ft the true p ictu re unfin ished , bu t eve n hi s Yamaha employers ended th e ir bitter battle to re-instate his championsh ip pos ition with good grace. Rules are rules, after al l. With the works team s gradu ally lining up for the 2000 sea son , th e one big question mark at Br ands didn 't even concern Ha g a ' s absence from this race, but his absence from all of the rest , s hould he decide to go GP ra ci ng in 2001 . Ha vin g just lo st Fogarty, and with many a straight -laced ride r in t h e showmen comprising the 2001 lineup , ta lents on and off-track attra cti ons like Haga w ill b e hard to re pla c e. And if Yamaha re ally does pull the p in on S up e rbi ke , th e loss of a fa c t ory te a m - in a cha m p ion s h ip t hat has on ly e ve r gain ed them in the la st few years - will b e a seve re blow . Ha ving c o me so close to winning in a season when no one gave them much of a chance against the V-twin hordes , Yamaha m ust be eyeing Edwards' championship trophy with more than the usual envy. Trouble is, they have to be in it to win it. RACE ONE A British 1-2-3 into th e first Corner saw Re ynolds , Hayd on and Hodgson charge into th e le a d , wit h Hod gs o n soon th rough on Haydon at the le fthande r of Su rte es. We ll in the le a d by hal f-lap di s ta n ce , Re y no ld s too k a 1.7 -s e c ond a d va ntage in to the sec on d la p , jus t as t h e reg ular World S uperbike co nt enders started to mix it up with th e other Brits in the wetbut-drying track conditions . Bayliss , a winner at Brands in August, was quickly into third place Edwards (2) leads Hodgson (48), Corser (3). Chili (7) and Bayliss (21) earl)' In the second leg. Edwards was able to score the victory, ending the season with eight race wins and the World Championship. 18 OCTOBER 25, 2000' c u e I e neVIl'S on lap three : with Reynolds no w 2.428 seconds into the lead . S ta rting 19 th, Gobert had a g reat first coup le of laps , moving up to ninth on his Yamaha. With the to p 10 being Rey nolds , Hod g s o n , Ba y lis s , Haydon , Wa lker, Ch ili, Co rs e r, Yanagawa , Gobe rt and Borja all within 10 seconds of ea c h othe r, the ra ce wa s a n o pen co nte st. Walker, the hometow n favorite , followed Bayliss ' suit and passed Hod gson in the early laps , as Alessandro Gra m igni was ruled out in the early stages. Onl y s e ven seco n d s se p a r a te d Reynolds fro m n int h - p la c e d Gobert by lap five , with Juan Borja falling of the pace, and the rest creeping closer to the lead. Ba yliss , tailed closely by the wildly spinn ing t ires of Walker, started to eat into Reynolds lead , at the same time (la p seven ) that Gobert d isposed of Yanagawa and Corser in consecu- Chris Walker finished third in the first race and sixth In the second In his wild card ride on the Suzuld GSX-R750. tive corners, before stuffing Haydon at Su rte es on lap eight. Re yn o lds , loo king be hind to c he c k his lead , kn e w th a t th e do ub le pron ged Ba yliss /W a lker attack woul d soon be o n h im , a n d with Wa lker scooti ng up th e insi de o f Ba ylis s a t Surtees , it looke d like Wa lker would be the m ost pote nt th reat ov e r the full 2 5 -la p race dista nce . Yanagawa capitalized on the troubles be ing experienced by Cor s er a nd disposed of him on la p 10, by whic h time Borja had rallied and was sitting in the contrail le ft by the booming Aprilia. The top men encountered backmarkers for the fi rst time on lap 11 , wi th the leaders tip -toe ing around Mrkyvka , Meklau , Bussei and all , occasionally being forced A wet Superpole was a damp and miserable spectacle, with the only warmth coming from the few airhoms in the sparse crowd every time one of the local wild cards put in a good time. Which was fairly frequently, with Neil Hodgson on pole and John Reynolds second. Chris Walker, destroyed by finishing second in the British Superbike Championship for the fourth time in a row the previous weekend, fought back gamely to record the eighthfastest time, just behind another fast Brit - James Haydon. "I can't believe I won Superpole, because I'm usually terrible in the wet," Hodgson said. "The conditions were pretty tricky out there. I would have been happy to have been on the front row, but to get another World Superbike pole is as good as it gets." Accomplished rain dancers Colin Edwards and Pier-Francesco Chili went third and fourth, with the Aussie brothers Troy - Bayliss and Corser - in seventh and eighth. Massimo de Silvestri had the embarrassment of not qualifying at all, after being unable to set a time in dry conditions. "I'm happy to be on the front row, that's all I ever aim for," Edwards said. "I feel I can relax a little now, but I'll be out to enjoy the races . We may have a bit of fun though and do something different for the second races."

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