Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

crash in the first race and so I decided to make the most of the situation and not give in to Nori [Haga] today. lreally fought hard for the wins and that makes a good difference in the points for me against Corser. After the first race we tried a softer tire and changed the sus- pension a bit, my main man, Ernesto Marinelli, did a great lob, and I could ride the bike half-a-second faster in the race. I feel sure that if we had gone with the same tire it would have been much hard- er - so a big thanks to him and all the guys in the team. Now we go on to Plisano, where my 999s gone pretty well in test- ing, so I'm confident for that race a5 well." At least the races are still fun, and two man-to-man batlles from eventual double winner Bayliss and Haga provided huge entertainment for a claimed 71,000- stronS weekend World Superbike crowd at Silverstone. The Bris in general had a good weekend - eventually - as Winston Ten Kate Honda's .lames Toseland dug out another tvvo of his miraculous podium llnishes from his founh- row-qualifring pockets. After he chucked his leathers and riding Sear into the crowd, he had no pockes left, of course. The British crowd truly enloyed its first taste of World Superbike 2005-style, thank to another two Brits, one who led and one who led them all in Superpole. Eventually, none could touch Bayliss over either of the 28-lap races, and iust for good measure, the Aussie also set a new lap record, and the absolute best in World Superbike, with ^ l:26.299. in race two. Almost every bit as fast on Pirelli mass- produced control race tires as the regular British Superbike regulars can go on fac- tory Michelin and Dunlop qualifying tires, and with full-factory HRC CBR|000RRs and 999F06s equipment as well. For the record. the British Superbike record in qualifying is l:26.1 I I (Ryuichi Kiyonari on a HRC Honda) and the race lap record is I :26.681 (Gregorio Lavilla on a works Ducati). A dramatic staft to a dry race day in race one saw four riders fall at the first cor- ner, after a highside from Alstare Engineering Suzuki's Fabien Foret set offa chain reaction that took out Corser, Alex Barros and Fonsi Nieto, and pushed Brooker and Lorenzo Lanzi wide. Another crash later in the same lap, which put Peffonas' Craig Jones out of the race, and lannuzzo temporarily down, caused the red flag to come or,rt, and all but.lones made the restart. What followed was an impressive front-running ride from Haga, but it was one that was overturned after 19 laps by eventual winner Bayliss, Still, the fiSht was worrh the attention of the spectators. Toseland, who started from row four, rode a superhuman race to finish third, and with one more lap, he might have even improved on that. Sterilgarda Bank Ducati's Ruben Xaus was fourth. his best race finish ofthe year so far, and had he not changed his bike seftings betlveen races, he might have Sotten at least another one. "l wa5 really disappointed with myself yesterday, and I knew I had made it difficult for myself today,' Toseland said. "lt was just a shame that Troy and Haga got into their rb,'thm so quickly, because it took me a bit of time to get throuSh the field, and other ride6 were riding veD/ well, which made it even harder. When Corser and [Chris] Whlker were battling, it was the hardest part. From l4th to two podium places - I have to be happy. I wasn't aware of the crowd on race one, but in mce two I knew I had earned a good podium place and good points, so thank to everyone for the support. lt was iust a 5hame about the weather this weekend," PSG- l Kawasaki Corse's Chris Walker rode at the front of the second race for two determined laps, but was swamped by Bayliss, Haga, Toseland and company, finally finishing eighth, Yamaha Motor Italia's Andrew Pitt scored fourth, with the slow-starting Barros and his Klaffi Honda fifth. Walker's sixth- and eiShth- place finishes were the hi8h- li8ht of the day for the PSG- I Kawasaki squad. with Regis Laconi seventh and l4th in ra.e two, and Fonsi Nieto llth and l0th. Barros had finished race one, on his replacement machine after the turn-one crash, in ninth place. Yamaha Motor France's Norick Abe scored lfth- and I lth-place linishes, having iust overtaken Superpole winner Tommy Hill and his Vrgin f'lobile Yamaha in race two. Hill was l2th in the openeq finding the worid level tough, especially in the pressur- ized flrst few laps. Yamaha l'4otor France's Shinichi Nakatomifailed to start after break- ing his right radius in warmup, when sever- al riders went down. Sebastien Gimbert's rhree cEshes pre'race caused his wirinS loom to malfunction and he retired - twice. Lanzi, who had not qualilied for Superpole. scored l3th and lSth finishes, as unhappy as he's ever been, and payinS for a pooi single- dry session in qualifying. ln race one, with rhe weather holding and Hill on a popular pole, the scene was set for an epic race for the local crowd. Until "the crash." ln a bizarre end to the carnage, Barros had to leap over his own machine, as it headed toward him - on fire - but the bike passed under him, but only after some nifty footwork from the Brazilian. Nieto fared less well, bashing his head hard on the tarmac runoff, and feeling woozy all the rest of the day. The Barros blaze extinguished itself, but the machine was not able to restart, forcing him onto his number-two bike. A crash shonly after the flrst-comer incident, involving lones and lannuzzo, was enough for Race Direction, and they stopped the race. The first ci'ash happened when one of the Corona riders, Foret, hiShsided on the entry to the flrst cornei saying he backed it in too much and maybe hit or got hit by another rider. All the riders involved seemed ready to start again, half an hour after the first attempt, but Jones was prevented from sraning by his team, after banging his head in his crash- Haga took the holeshot from Bayliss, with Walker third and Xaus up there, with Corser iust behind. Andrew Pitt was sixth, with pole man Hill iust behind. Sabastien Charpentier once more showed why he is th€ undisputed Mid- dleweiSht Champion of the World, as he controlled things from the front and scored his fourth World Supersport win on theWn- ston Ten Kate Honda. What sty'e and graae, from the man who really looks likely to real- ize his dream - something never done in World Superport before - take back-to-back titles. Charyentier delivered a riposte to the early close attentions of his main champi- onship ri!"j Kevin Curtain and then eventual second-place finisher Broc hrkes, to ertend hi5 championship le# to 40 points over Cur- tain, who would finish third. British-based Spanish wild-card rider Pere Riba rode his Kawasaki to a line fourth. A fantastic fitht behind the leadinS quartet gave fifth place to Stiggy Honda rider Robbin Harms, from Massimo Roccoli. who ended up sixth. 'lt wes not an eesy rac€ for sure. even if it looked that way," Charpentier said. "lt was hard because this is a very bumpy, shon track, and very plrysical. So I am happy, becaus€ yesterday it was difficult to practice, because there was so much r:in. lt turned out that the bike was not bad at all, and for the championship, I got more Sood points, so thanks to Teh Kate and Honda." Plans to allow Ducati, and any other poten- tial tlvin-cylinder manufactuners, to run l20occ machines in world Superbike rac- ing, seem closer than ever. An MSIYA meet- ing at the forthcomi% Mutello MotocP race, scheduled for Thursday. June I (apparently the meeting room has been booked for six solid hoursl) should deter- mine much, but there should b€ some sur- prises in store. Thejapanese may propote lhat all machines run restrictors, and it seems now that the only problem is who now determines how big each of the restrictors would be - a tricky job with a differential capacity for the ovins and fours. Another possible cost cutting move would be an almost Sup€rstock-spec of Slobal Superbike racinS, but few would want to a8ree to anything that r.dical. Buell has become the later! in a list of possi- ble World Superbike manufa.turers, should the proposed l200cc rules go rhrouth. This also maybe helps explain the sudden Ai4A interest in world Superbike rules. The Alstare Suzuki team had a new piece of trick kit at Silverstone - a tire-roundness- checking rig. The idea is that allthe tires the team uses will be put on the nt, in their ready-to-to condition, mounted on the wheels. The rig has lasers fitted around the tire diameter, and it can detect small out of true bumps or imperfec! fifting, before the riders find out the hard wa),. lt's a belt-and- braces solution, mayb€, but one already used in MotoGP A post-Mutello meeting in Rome is expec!- ed to be a big move toward a unification ofall Superbile regulations around the world, something of a Holy Grail for the FGSpon bosses for some lime. This meet- ing is set to involve every maior lnterested part,,. As well as the usuai lvlsl4A, FGSport and FIM personnel, there will be AMA and British Superbike representatives involved in the meeting. Accordin8 to Paolo FlammF ni. CEO of FGSport, "lt is a meetinS ofdis- cussion mainly, to take a step closer to hav- Continued on pose 23 LE NEWS . tuNE 7,2006 2l Briefly... \- a:--; i '!- I \ ? LI - I oj (') -/l ./ f/ C i I , - -t -u'4* Two Aktore Suzuki Corono bikec go sliding owoy or Fobign for€t ond Trcy Gorser croah our of rhe firrr ;o

• Cover