SBK
World Superbike Championship Round 5: Oschersleben
James
Toseland on the HM Plant Ducati brings Hodgsen's winning streak
to an end in Germany
Oschersleben
(Germany), June 01, 2003: Neil Hodgson (Ducati Fila 999F
03) equalled Colin Edwards' (Honda) nine-race World Superbike winning
streak with victory in race 1 at Oschersleben after a superb battle
with Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati 998RS) but had to take the
runner-up slot in race 2 behind 22-year old youngster James Toseland
(HM Plant Ducati) who took his maiden WSBK win. Toseland's older team
mate Chris Walker sandwiched-in Hodsen with a 3rd in race two, both
aboard the GS Racing team's ex-Ducati Corse 998F 02 s.
Neil
Battles for Superpole on Saturday with Frankie Chili
Neil Hodgson (Ducati Fila) clinched his fourth pole position of the
year at the Oschersleben track in Germany after a superb battle in
the final few minutes of Superpole, which was declared ‘wet’
despite a perfectly dry track. The morning’s second and final
qualifying session was held in wet conditions after an early morning
downpour.
With five minutes
to go, James Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) was in the top slot, but then
PSG-1 Ducati’s Pierfrancesco Chili overhauled him. On his final
four-lap run Neil then overcame some psychological stop-start tactics
by Regis Laconi (NCR Ducati) and a hairy off-track moment before edging
out his Italian rival by just four-hundredths of a second.
“It wasn’t
planned really, I hoped Frankie would take it easy seeing as we were
all on the front row” declared Neil. “It forced my hand,
I was happy to watch everyone else so I had to go out and do it. I
made a mistake on my first lap, came out of the corner, hit the gear
lever and it went from third to fourth instead of second. Then I ran
off the track and into the sign, I was like a total novice really!
After all that I pulled myself together to put in a clean lap and
I was lucky to beat Frankie by less than a tenth!. Tomorrow the usual
four suspects are riding really well, I don’t think anyone will
pull away, it should be a freight train for most of the race.”
GRID:
1. Hodgson (Ducati Fila) 1’26.907; 2. Chili (PSG-1
Ducati) 1’26.942; 3. Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) 1’27.199;
4. Walker (HM Plant Ducati) 1’27.574; 5. Laconi (NCR Ducati)
1’27.741; 6. Martin (DFX Ducati) 1’27.797; 7. Lavilla
(Suzuki) 1’27.885; 8. Xaus (Ducati Fila) 1’28.087; etc.
Frankie
(7) thought he had a fluild leak and intentional turned the lead of
Race One over to Neil (100). Frankie then chased the factory Ducati
rider the rest of the race and found it impossible to get back past
Neil on the tight track as they battle in the closing laps.
Race
One: Frankie Hands Neil his 9th Straight Victory
It was a Ducati front row with Neil Hodgsen on pole lined up next
to Frank Chili, then the GS Racing HM Plant bikes of James Toesland
and Chris Walker. The light went green and the pack charged for turn
on. Gregorio LaVilla tried immediately to improve on his second row
start and held his baking too late on the Corona Suzuki GSXR1000 goiing
into turn one, lost control and went down, clipping the rear of Toseland's
bike in the malee and forcing James off into the gravel trap, James
did keep it up on 2 wheels and rejoined the race in last place, but
LaVilla was out of action until race two. The front running order
emerged with Walker in the lead ahead of Chili, Xasus, Hodgsen, Regis
Laconi and Steve Martin.
The Foggarty
Petronas bikes of both Troy Corser and James Haydon were buried back
in the pack. Their factory Superbikes based on a 3-cylinder 900cc
design that was now way down on horsepower with the new 1000cc formula.
The restrictor rules were susposed equalize all the different engine
configurations in World Superbike is notcompensating for what seems
to be just a poor engine design.
On lap 2 Franki
Chili pushes his PSG Ducati into the lead past Walker. Hodgsen begins
moving up as well, first past team mate Xaus then Walker to close
on the leader. Frankie knows he can match lap times and run with Neil
and is orepared to hold him off, but as his bike heats up it has beed
spitting out some cooling fluid. Not wanting to cause the following
Hodgsen to crash from his leaking water, Frankie pulls over and waves
Hodgsen past and into the lead.
Hodgson took
the lead from Chili on lap 9 and clinched victory despite coming under
pressure from the Italian who was never more than a bike's length
behind. "I didn't get a good start but the Hodgson luck is flying
around at the moment because if I had, then I would probably have
been taken out in the carnage at the first corner" declared Neil.
Frankie Chili
would soon discover there was nothing wrong with his Ducati 998RS
machine, possibly just an overfilled expansion tank for the radiator.
He would shadow Hodgsen the entire race pacing for a last lap repass
to win the race. But the tight track and Hodgsen's defensive riding
that block the few passing areas left Frankie have to settle for a
well deserved 2nd place just haldf a second behind the winner. The
most extrodarnary ride of the race, though, was James Toseland who
recoveredd from being forced off the track by Lavilla on the opening
lap to set the fastest times of the race as he rocketed his HM Plant
Ducati up through the field to finsh third. The stage was now set
for Toseland to challenge for the lead in race two.
Race classification
WSB Round: 5 - Germany, Circuit: Oschersleben, Circuit Length: 3667,
Race: 28 Laps
Lap Record: 1' 26.549 (Colin Edwards, 2002) , Fastest Lap Ever: 1'
26.549 (Colin Edwards, 2002)
RACE 1:
1. Hodgson (Ducati Fila); 2. Chili (PSG-1 Ducati); 3. Toseland (HM
Plant Ducati); 4. Laconi (NCR Ducati); 5. Walker (HM Plant Ducati);
6. Martin (DFX Ducati); etc. RACE 2 : 1. Toseland (HM Plant Ducati);
2. Hodgson (Ducati Fila); 3. Walker (HM Plant Ducati); 4. Laconi (NCR
Ducati); 5. Xaus (Ducati Fila); 6. Martin (DFX Ducati); 6 S. Martin
Ducati AUS +38.142; 7 M. Borciani Ducati ITA +43.496; 8 V. Iannuzzo
Suzuki ITA +45.452; 9 L. Pedercini Ducati ITA +50.154; 10 G. Bussei
Yamaha ITA +51.218 ; 11 M. Sanchini Kawasaki ITA +1' 4.353; 12 T.
Corser Petronas AUS +1' 10.643; 13 N. Russo Ducati ITA +1 lap(s);
14 S. Foti Ducati ITA +1 lap(s); 15 J. Mrkyvka Ducati CZE +1 lap(s)
Championship points leader Neil Hodgsen (100 Fila Ducati) saw his
9 race winning streak come to an end behind the very hard charging
James Toseland (52 HM Plant Ducati).
Race
Two: Toesland Proves Invincible
James Toesland
did just that in race two as he blasted into the lead ahead of Neil
Hodgsen, Walker, Xaus Laconi and Chili. Neil was looking to break
Colin Edwards' 9 race winning record as he push his way past the yound
James on lap 2, but Toesland was not to be intimidated by the more
experience works rider. In the next corner James bull dogged his Ducati
back inside of Hodgsen and sent him reeeling, leaving the Fila Ducati
with a gaping hole in the right side carbon fiber bodywork. At that
point the World Championship points leader decided caution was the
better part of valor for winning the title and he stayed back to see
if Hayden might make a mistake. James proved to be flawless and as
they lapped traffic in the later stages of the race, james would extend
his winning lead to over 7 seconds.
After the fairing-bashing
with Toseland in the early stages, Hodgson then had to take second-best
to his former GSE team-mate who led an all-British podium with Chris
Walker coming home third. "It was a tough race and it's a tough
track for overtaking" added Neil, "so that's why I made
the move on James. We made contact and I thought I had no clutch lever.
I glanced down and the lever was facing down so I banged it back.
It wasn't quite right but I could continue the race. I waited for
James to make a mistake but it didn't come. I was trying to stay behind
him, but we got the back-markers and it was all over then. I was pleased
to match Colin's record but you can't win them all! James totally
deserved his victory and the best man won on the day".
Team-mate Ruben
Xaus crashed out from third place on lap 10 at the fast right-hander
leading onto the back straight in race 1 and then finished fifth after
the break. "In the first race I had problems with the front of
my bike and unfortunately simply fell off. Then fifth place in race
2 was not so good, because I still had a few problems with the front"
declared Ruben. "I didn't have a good feeling with the bike all
weekend. I know I am a fast rider, but at the moment I don't feel
that it is my bike. Tomorrow we'll be here for a day's testing and
I'm sure we'll get some good results".
Troy Corser guided
his FP1 home in both races in another testing round of the World Superbike
championship for Foggy PETRONAS Racing at a sweltering Oschersleben
circuit, in Germany. But team-mate James Haydon was unable to compete
in race two after a heavy fall in the opening race at Triple, the
fastest corner of the circuit. James, already nursing a broken bone
in his foot and damaged leg and shoulder ligaments from a crash two
weeks ago at Monza, suffered a sprained ankle and wrist, as well as
severe bruising, when his bike jumped out of gear and he ran into
the gravel at more than 100 mph.
Former World
Superbike Champion Troy Corser finished 12th and 14th, in the races
respectively, having experienced problems with his rear shock in the
first race and his clutch in race two.
Team owner Carl
Fogarty said: “The results on track are certainly no reflection
on the hard work put in by my whole team. James was gaining in confidence
and I feel sorry that the bike let him down. It’s a tough time,
not just for the riders and the team, but for me as well. I am used
to coming at the front and I am not there right now. It might not
come until next year, but a win will come. It’s easy to run
a team with a proven bike but it’s the ultimate challenge with
a new bike and we clearly have a number of issues to sort out. But
I was very impressed with James Toseland – I know how it feels
to win your first race.”
Troy said: “In
race one the rear shock went off a little bit due to the high temperatures
so I lost the rebound setting on the bike, which made it a bit difficult
to ride and my lap times started to drop. I had not tested the front
tyre and it was pushing, so I changed that for race two but stayed
with the same Michelin rear. But from lap ten in race two I was experiencing
clutch problems and had virtually no engine braking. You are in the
corners for a long time here and don’t have much respite down
the straights, so they were two very long, lonely and physically demanding
races.”
James said: “It
has been another character building weekend. Right now my character
is as strong as Geoff Capes, the English shot-putter, but my body
feels like Will O’ The Wisp! I felt really comfortable until
the bike jumped out of third gear when I was peeling into the corner.
I tried to jump off but hit the gravel at over 100mph. It was a big
one!
“I have
always approached my racing in one way, aggressively, and that has
been both a strong point and a weak point. But after Monza I said
I would treat this round more like a testing session and I feel we
have improved the set-up here more than anywhere. I got a great start
and then found a rhythm. I wanted to stay with the two guys in front
and see what happened and felt really comfortable before the crash.”
Race
2: 1 J.
Toseland Ducati GBR 42' 20.103; 2 N. Hodgson Ducati GBR +7.419; 3
C. Walker Ducati GBR +15.314; 4 R. Laconi Ducati FRA +19.277; 5 R.
Xaus Ducati ESP +24.228; 6 S. Martin Ducati AUS +43.648
7 J. Borja Ducati ESP +46.868; 8 V. Iannuzzo Suzuki ITA +47.807; 9
M. Borciani Ducati ITA +48.930
10 L. Pedercini Ducati ITA +1' 2.514; 11 P. Chili Ducati ITA +1' 10.394;
12 M. Sanchini Kawasaki ITA +1' 13.019; 13 I. Clementi Kawasaki ITA
+1' 27.387; 14 T. Corser Petronas AUS +1' 44.368; 15 S. Foti Ducati
ITA +1 lap(s)
POINTS
(after 5 of 12 rounds) : Riders - 1. Hodgson
245; 2. Toseland 132; 3. Xaus 126; 4. Laconi 122; 5. Lavilla 111;
6. Walker 95; 7. Chili 84; etc.
Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 250; 2. Suzuki 127; 3. Petronas 52; 4. Kawasaki
46; 5. Yamaha 32; 6. Honda 21.
Drag Slayer, Eric
Bostom on the little 802cc Kawasaki ZX7RR trounced the big 1000cc
Superbikes at Pikes Peak, scoring his 4th National win at the track.
AMA National Superbike Championship Round 5, Pikes Peak
Eric
Bostom slays the big bikes in Colorado
June 1st, 2003: Eric Bostrom returned to Pikes Peak
International Raceway this week looking 4th AMA national win at what
has prooved to be his favorite racetrack on the AMA Chevy Trucks Superbike
National circuit. The lone Kawasaki factory rider on the smaller displacement,
bored out 802cc Kawasaki ZX7RR, proved to be the dragon slayer against
all the other factory teams on their biiger 1000cc twin and four cylinder
machines.
Early race season
points leader Matt Mladin saw his series lead handed over to team
mate Aaron Yates when Maladin's 200 horsepower Yoshimura Suzuki GSXR1000
destroyed its rear Dunlop the previous race weekend at Road Atlanta.
Yates could make his tires last and inherited the race win and the
points lead.
For Pikes Peak,
Maladin was not taking any chances and had the Yoshimura pit crew
standing by in the pits for a mid race tire change if he needed it,
which Matt seemed to think he did. On lap 38 of the 48 lap National
while running 5th Maladin dove into the pits for a quick 8 second
rear tire change, emerging back in 9th place. The stategy would proove
fruitless for 2 reasons...
The first beeing
team mates Yates was running his GSXR1000 ahead of Mladinat a quicker
pace in 4th without any tire problems, and saw no reason to pit. And
then.
On lap 41 the
race was red flagged and called a complete race, as it was past 2/3rds
distance, when privateer Mike Ciccotto fell in a corner and was trapped
under his bike in the middle of the track. The finishing order would
be Eric Bostrom, Kurtis Roberts, Aaron Yates, Ben Bostrom, Anthony
Gobert, Jason Pridmore, Miguel Duhamel, Jordon Szoke on the FastDates.com
Corona Suzuki, and Maladin in 9th.
The race itself
was pretty much a Eric Bostrom benefit party as Eric quickly reeled
in first lap leader Anthony Gobert and motored by to take over the
lead on lap 2. Gobert would work his way back to 5th as Kurtis Roberts
on the Erion Racing Honda RC51 moved up into 2nd ahead of Mladin,
brother Ben Bostrom (Honda factory RC510 and Aaron Yates. Kurtis Roberts
rode really well and was pushing Eric the entire race just a second
or two behind to keep him honest. The only change in the race order
as Eric maintained his secure lead to the finish was Mladin dropping
back to 5th as his tires went off, while team mate Yates moved up
to 3rd.
"This track
is such that you have to put in consistant lap times," explained
Eric after his first race win of the season. "It feels good to
finally pull one out. We started slow in practice at the first of
the week and it was really ggod to have it all come together today."
Formula
Extreame almost to FastDates.com's
Adam Fergusson
The Lockhart-Phillips Formula Extreme Race was essentially three races
with one start and two restarts because of red flags, our own Adam
Fergusson on the FastDates.com sponsored Corona Extra Suzuki GSXR1000
was the class of the field, winning the first two races, and set to
reel in eventual race winner Damon Buckmaster on the Graves Yamaha
R1 before the race ran out of time. In a race "1" starting
from the front row having qualified in fourth position, Fergusson
showed tremendous riding ability to get to the front by lap three
and start to pull away until the race was stopped on lap 8.
In race "2"
Fergusson started on pole by virtue of his leading position but an
"OK" start lost him three positions. Two laps later though
he was up in front again pulling away until 10 laps later another
red flag brought them in! In Race "3", again starting from
pole position, Fergusson did not have any hot tires ready for a third
restart so had to take the first few laps easy circulating in fourth.
Once his tires came up to temperature though, Adam went after the
leaders quickly getting up to second but ran out of laps by the finish,
netting second less than a half a bike behind the winner at the line.
After the race
Fergusson said; "We did not have a third set of tires on the
warmers so I started on cold tires and had to take it easy for a few
laps. The GSXR 1000 was handling great and we had motor on everyone
- I just needed another lap - still two out of three isn't bad!"
Jimmy Moore rode a great race in the second pack finishing a strong
7th. Fergusson is now 4th with Moore 8th in the Formula Extreme Championship.
1 6 DAMON S BUCKMASTER
CYPRESS, CA YAM 29 37**
2 68 ADAM FERGUSSON BIRMINGHAM, AL SUZ 29 32 CORONA EXTRA SUZUKI /
EBSCO MEDIA / FastDates
3 98 JAKE P ZEMKE PASO ROBLES, CA HON 29 29 AMERICAN HONDA
4 11 BEN SPIES LONGVIEW, TX SUZ 29 28* AMERICAN SUZUKI / YOSHIMURA
/
5 4 JOSHUA KURT HAYES GULFPORT, MS SUZ 29 26 ATTACK SUZUKI
6 1 JASON R PRIDMORE VENTURA, CA SUZ 29 25 SUZUKI / ATTACK
7 86 JIMMY MOORE EUGENE, OR SUZ 29 24 CORONA SUZUKI / FastDates.com/
8 5 STEVE RAPP CORONA, CA SUZ 29 23 VALVOLINE EMGO SUZUKI
9 2 JAMIE A HACKING GREER, SC YAM 29 22 YAMAHA MOTOR CORP
10 95 ROGER LEE HAYDEN OWENSBORO, KY HON 29 21 AMERICAN HONDA/ ERION
/
The Suzuki Genuine Accessories
Superstock event was another race marred by the red flag, which came
out in the first lap. Fergusson started from the front row in fourth,
Szoke and Moore from the second row in fifth and seventh respectively.
At the restart, Fergusson settled quickly done to chase the leaders,
getting the lead with five laps to go. Those last five laps saw Adam
and Tony Meiring swapping the lead back and forth until Meiring got
a break for the line with Fergusson less than a bike length behind.
After the race Fergusson said; "It seems that second by a hair
is my fortune for this weekend! Still I'm happy to put the Corona
Extra Suzuki GSXR's onto the box twice". Jimmy Moore finished
6th and Szoke 11th. Fergusson is third, only three points behind first.
Moore is 7th and Szoke 13th in the Superstock Championship.
