Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Haga was enioying a 1.s-second lead just as Toseland went into founh place again, albeit some 4.5 seconds down on Bayliss. Walker's pace was dramatically reduced, setting mid- l:28-second laps, after l0 had been completed. On lap l3 Bayliss had taken second again, with the gap to Haga down to .9 of a second. With Xaus slowing slightly and Toseland put- ting in his best lap of the race, third was clearly not out of the question for Toseland. As soon as Bayliss got clear of Xaus, he slashed .3 of a second from Haga's lead, and then one lap later he was ri8ht in the slip- stream of the Japanese ace, pushing hard and probing for a place to pass. With half-race distance completed, Barros, who was lapping at roughly the same pace as the leaders, passed Hill on lap 16 for lOth, with the top l0 being Haga, Bayliss, Xaus, Toseland, Pitt, Walker, Laconi, Muggeridge, Abe and Elarros. Bayliss ahd Haga leaned on each all the way through Abbey and followed it up in the linal complex on lap 18, with each rider lead- ing and then holding ofl the leader Bayliss made it stick in the next lap, but the threat was coming from behind as Toseland pushed past Xaus with ease. Setting laps of l:27 flat, Toseland started to catch the leaders. and with a 1,26.997 - on lap 22 - he had six laps left to take something better than bronze. The leaders had to up their pace to match the threat and as the laps ran out, Haga drew himself right under the shadow of Bayliss' machine. Haga took the lead at Becken's, diving inside on a tighter line as he passed through ballistically, but Bayliss got by again at the complex, with loseland only l-7 seconds behind the leader. with one lap left, Toseland was lust too far back to make a play, and Bayliss clinched the race with a superb l:27.454, leaving Haga .8 of a second down. with Toseland I .705 in his wake. l4ax Neukirchner crashed on the flnal lap, making it another unhappy day for the prom- ising German. The top l0 was completed by Xaus, Pitt, Walker, Laconi, lYuggeridge, Barros and Abe. Fonsi Nieto ended up llth, with Superpole winner Hill l2th. ''l was very nervous on the grid, until remembered that I was on pole because I won Superpole, which calmed me down a bit," Hill said. "We finished pretty much where we expected to finish, but I couldn't believe the speed of the world Superbike guys from the very first lap. Normally in a British Championship race, people build up to speed but here everyone races at I l0 per- cent from the very first lap." Walker took a popular holeshot in the second race with the initial order provinS ro be Walker, Bayliss. Haga. Hill. Corser. Muggeridge, Toseland (making up seven immediate places again) Xaus, Pitt and Fabrizio. The race was headed after two laps by the leading trio of Walker, Bayliss and Haga, all of whom ignited the third lap when Haga went to the lead, then Walker and Bayliss put in three successive passes each - with Walker riding around the outside of Bayliss, and eventually claiming the second place again on lap four Jornes Tosehnd (52) rode hqrd b finirh rhind in bolh rocer qfler slqlling 14lh on thc grid. ing the same rules for Superbike in ev€ry maior championship. I don't expect there to be any decisions made at this stage." Would-be British Superspon wild cards Cal Crutchlow and L€on Camier failed to get starts at Silverstone, es they missed the cut for inclusion in an already oversubscribed Superspon field. Their Nokia Ekerold team had, however, irwited over 100 guess, and therefore another Eritish Honda riding wib- card, Steve Neate, was in Nokia colors for the weekend, riding one oI Camier's bikes. Once more weather was a maior factor in World Superbike, as a fantastically sunny Thursday build-up gave way to rain on Fri- day mornrnt. As the track dned, the Super- bike Suys could wick it up to near lap- record speeds in the Friday afternoon session, but at the slow left of Brooklands there w:s a peculiar phenomenon under- foot. lt appeared that seepint water was being pushed up from under the track, and it caused a double qualitinS crash for Troy Bayliss, a big highside ror larnes Toseland, and falls from Chris walker, Steve Manin and.lones, plus otheB. Toseland had a bad impact on his knee, which did not help in any other session from then on in, and Mar- tin hit so hard he opted to mrss all ofSatur- day's action, as he had not qualilied for Superpole in the dry session an/way. Troy Bay'iss fellagain in the finalwet quali- fying session, and he grazed and cut his left wrist and palm. A fast crash from Yukio Kagayama, in the wet Superpole session, put him in ieopardy for the races. as he needed three stitches on his throatle-hand index finter, and suffered a serious impaat to his back. His hit was so hard even the rock-hard J+anese rider had to be taken off track on a stretcher. The Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki team will run, from Misano on, with a new sponsor logo. French-based children's charity "Les Enfants De La Lune (Children of the Moon)" is desiEned to help sufferers of a mre and life-threatening skin condition .alled Xero- derma Pigmentosum (XP), who Gnnot suf- fer even small amounts of UV light to reach their skin. High doses of t V can even cause death, and so the kids can only go outside in the night hours, or have to be covered entirely in special clothes durinS the day. The mover b€hind the "adoption" ofthis charity js Patricia Batra, wire of AJstare team boss Francis. The symbol of the charit), is the moon, because of the noctumai lack of UV and thus, there will be an Astare Star matched to tie moon from Misano onward, with T-shin sales - the first in a string of ini- tiatives - to help raise money for the worthy cause. A new website has b€en set up to help sufferers from over the world commu- nicate, and coordinate activities. For mofe information, visit www.orpha,nev nest sso/AxP/debut.htm. lamca ToscLnd ensured that England will win at least one Wodd Cup trophy this Conrinued on page 24 The PSG-I Kowosqki3 oI Fon:i Niero (10) ond Regis Loconi fly in rlose Iormotion qt Silyerslone. I- tl I Briefly... CYCLE NEWS JUNE Z, 2006 23 "$, L Ruben Xous (I I ) hod his besi outing of the seoson when he finished fourlh ln fi. first ro(e. Here he l6ods Correr (l ) ond (orl Myggeridge (hidden). L u &- L :a Steve Martin and his girlfriend, Sandra, are expecting their first child in October Sandra found out th€ happy news after Monza, with most ofthe paddock llnding out in Sifuerstone- A-. Correr leqds Xrt s. lt wos o tough os he

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