Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Toseland did hang on to the very end. "In race one, when Troy and Noriyuki were battling hard in there, I was able to catch them," Toseland said. "But near the end, Troy put a good three or four laps in which were very strong, and it pulled a gap out, which was frustrating. I'm happy to be up on the podium at Brands Hatch for a change. In race two, I just didn't have the same grip as in race one, and from about 10 laps in I was struggling to keep the pace. I am really disappointed because I knew I could have got the best possible result, but it was great to take at least one podium in front of all these fans at Brands Hatch." The leading group was really spread out down to fourth, with Yamaha's Andrew Pitt taking the first off-the-podi- um position, only 2.8 seconds behind the winner. In the second race, a singularly enter- taining contest between Haga and Bayliss, it was fought out right to the last corner, with Haga taking his first win of the sea- son, after Bayliss did not counterattack soon enough, and Haga made himself wide and fast enough to win. "In the first race, I could not push as hard as I wanted to in the last five laps, and for the second race I used my other bike, which had other settings," Haga said. "I had a big fight with Troy [Bayliss], and I was determined not to see his exhaust pipes again. It feels so good to win today. We have been close so many times, especially at the first race - where I crashed on the last lap - but for some rea- sons I have not been able to take the win. Today the feeling with the bike was very good, and the tires worked perfectly all the way to the end." C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 16, 2006 31 Noriyuki Haga (41) leads of the start of race one. Andrew Pitt (88) and Troy Corser (1) battled right to the wire in the first race. A glory day for Haga's team was com- pleted by Pitt, who finished third, ahead of a superb charge from PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse rider Regis Laconi. "I made a terrible start in both races, which is surprising, as our R1 is normally one of the quickest bikes off the line," Pitt said. "I think that I was a bit anxious and just gave it too many revs, but each time I lost a lot of places. I just had to get my head down and get through as quickly as possible. My rhythm was good, and I was pleased with my fourth place in race one, so to top it off with a podium is a fantas- tic end to the day. I'm especially pleased, as I have some friends over from Australia for this race; they've come a long way, so it is great to give them something to cheer." Alstare Corona Extra's Yukio Kagayama finished fifth in the first race and took seventh in race two. His team- mate Troy Corser could not get into per- manent podium contention, scoring a sixth place in each race, dropping him fur- ther from the championship fight, to fourth, on 193 points. He complained that his bike was just not up to it, and he left an unhappy camper. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse's Chris Walker Corser (1) and his teammate Yukio Kagayama (71) go at it in race two. to follow him for a while, but I was pret- ty much on the limit myself. Then Nori started to get a little bit slower, so I passed him. I could see that James was coming and thought that this was the time to go, because once James got there, there was no way he was going to let go. I put three or four laps in really good, and that was it."

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