Race Results
James Toseland appears to be on an unstoppable
tear, looking a class above the rest of the grid in
the 2007 World Superbike Championship.
Toseland took the double win on
Sunday, while Troy Corser took second in the first
race and Noriyuki Haga took second in the next race.
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra
rider Max Biaggi took third place in his first ever
race at Brands Hatch in front of a huge sun-baked
crowd of over 100,000 at today's World Superbike
Championship round.
The Roman was confident of following
that up in the second race but was judged to have
moved before the start and was given a drive-though
penalty. He had been well-placed in fourth
position at the time but dropped to 16th because of
the penalty. After he rejoined the race, he
managed to claw his way up to eighth place before
the 25-lap race was over.
Team mate Yukio Kagayama dueled
aggressively with Biaggi suffered a heavy crash with
only four laps left of the opening race and was
taken off the circuit. He was taken to the
Clinica Mobile where he was found to have severe
bruising of both knees, but no other injuries.
Despite pain and ligament damage, he rode
determinedly and finished a superb fifth in second
race.
Series leader James Toseland won
both races much to the delight of the huge partisan
crowd. It was Toseland's first ever World
Superbike win at Brands Hatch and his first ever
double and he was so happy that he took off his
leathers and threw them into the crowd at the end of
the second race!
Troy Corser's second in race one was
helped a little by both Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) crashing out. Biaggi
took third spot with Ruben Xaus (Ducati) a long way
back in fourth.
Race two was a real dogfight between
Toseland and Haga for over three-quarters of the
25-lapper. But when Toseland pulled out a
small advantage, Haga could not respond. At
the flag, Toseland's margin of victory over Haga was
over one-and-a-half seconds, with Corser close by in
third.
Max Biaggi - Race 1: 3rd,
Race 2: 8th: "Considering this was the first
time I've raced here, I'm very happy to get a podium
in the first race. This track is very
different to any track I've ever seen and it is
probably the most difficult track I've ever raced
at. It's a real fun track to ride when you
know where you are going and what makes it even more
special is that the fans are so close and you can
hear them!
"I want to apologize to my team for
what happened in race two. I must have moved a
little on the line and because of that I was given a
ride-through penalty. So I went from fourth to
16th and then had to fight hard to get back into the
points. But I rode as hard as I could and
managed to get up to eighth. If the race had
been one lap longer, I'm sure that I would've passed
Bayliss and taken seventh. I'm sorry for the
team because I think I could have given them another
podium. So I'm disappointed for this but happy
overall because I think I showed everybody my
ability."
Yukio Kagayama - Race 1: DNF,
Race 2: 5th: "I am very disappointed today
because I think I could've taken two podiums.
In race one, I was shadowing Max and waiting to make
my move but crashed just four laps from the end.
I had worked out how and where I was going to pass
him, but I had a little brake problem going into
Clearways and down I went. It is a fast place
to crash!"
"I hurt both my knees in the crash
and damaged a ligament in my right knee and that
made it hard for me to get comfortable on the bike.
It was hard just to get my right foot down on the
ground at the start of the second race and then move
it around on the foot pegs. I also had some
problems with nearly high-siding a few times, so in
the end I decided that I didn't want to crash again
and rode steadily for a finish. I will have a
little holiday now and be back to full fitness for
the next race, where I shall be chasing podiums
again."
2007 World Superbike Round 10 -
Brands Hatch Results
Race 1: 1 Toseland (GB-Honda), 2 Corser
(Aus-Yamaha), 3 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra), 4 Xaus (E-Ducati), 5 Fabrizio (I-Honda), 6
Rolfo (I-Honda), 7 Haga (J-Yamaha), 8 Laconi
(F-Kawasaki), 9 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 10 Neukirchner
(D-Suzuki). Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra) DNF.
Race 2: 1 Toseland, 2
Haga, 3 Corser, 4 Fabrizio, 5 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra), 6 Xaus, 7 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati),
8 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 9
Laconi, 10 Neukirchner,
Championship Points: 1
Toseland 355, 2 Haga 289, 3 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra) 286, 4 Bayliss 258, 5 Corser
227, 6 Xaus 163, 7 Lanzi 161, 8 Rolfo 146, 9
Neukirchner 123, 10 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra) 116.
Qualifying
August 4, 2007 - Troy Bayliss, James Toseland
and Noriyuki Haga took the first three spots on the
grid for the tenth round of the 2007 World Superbike
Championship at Brands Hatch today.
The Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team
battled to take third and fifth qualifying positions
for tomorrow's race at Brands Hatch.
Haga, using his usual wild riding
style, put in a flying lap in Superpole to top the
leader board. He was only beaten by Bayliss
and Toseland, who went first and second
respectively. He'd made steady progress
throughout the day on his set-up and the improvement
showed when he went second fastest in free practice
just prior to Superpole.
Corser was on good form today,
finishing this morning's qualifying session in
second place overall. He then topped the board in
the afternoon's practice, having completed a long
run during the hour-long session.
The Team Yamaha YZF squad also had
some success today with both their riders qualifying
for Superpole. Steve Martin, who is due to
ride in the next British Superbike round for the
Virgin Media Optima Loans Yamaha team next weekend,
has joined the team for this weekend to provide them
with some comparison testing between the UK and
French-run teams' R1s.
Steve has a wealth of experience and
this showed as he moved up through the leader board
during the day. He went into Superpole in 11th
and maintained this grid position to start ahead of
Laconi. Shinichi Nakatomi put yesterday's
crash behind him and took half a second off his time
to qualify 16th.
A podium from either Haga or Corser
tomorrow will give Yamaha its 150th World Superbike
podium, an achievement narrowly missed out on at
Brno two weeks ago.
Noriyuki Haga (3rd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB
Team): "I'm disappointed to have missed out on
pole today. I've struggled with finding some good
rear feeling but we are getting there. I'm
confident I can go faster with that resolved.
Tomorrow is going to be a tough race; Toseland has a
fast pace. But that doesn't mean I won't be up there
on the podium!"
Troy Corser (5th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB
Team): "Today's result is okay, obviously I'd
like to be higher up the grid but I'm happier with
fifth than fourth because it puts me on the outside
and in a better position for the first corner.
I didn't make any mistakes on my Superpole lap. We
ran a slightly different torque setting to what we'd
had in practice and maybe we could've done with less
effect than we had but I'm comfortable with all the
set-up progress we made today. My race times
are pretty close to Toseland's and, if I can manage
that again tomorrow I'll be looking good for a high
finishing position."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator,
Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team): "We've solved
most of the setting issues we had and we've made
good progress today; better than yesterday.
Corser did a good long run this afternoon and has
chosen a tire. Tonight, as we always do, we'll
check everything and then we'll be ready for the
race. I'm quite confident for tomorrow."
|
2007 World Superbike Brands Hatch
- August 4, 2007 |
|
Circuit Length: 4197. Temp: 24. Weather: Dry |
|
Superpole |
|
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total
Time |
|
1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS
1'25.607 |
|
2 James Toseland Honda GBR
1'25.635 |
|
3 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN
1'25.878 |
|
4 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN
1'25.961 |
|
5 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS
1'26.127 |
|
6 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA
1'26.200 |
|
7 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP
1'26.476 |
|
8 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA
1'26.488 |
|
9 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA
1'26.717 |
|
10 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA
1'26.946 |
|
11 Steve Martin Yamaha AUS
1'26.946 |
|
12 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA
1'27.260 |
|
13 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS
1'27.343 |
|
14 Max Neukirchner Suzuki
GER 1'27.449 |
|
15 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP
1'27.564 |
|
16 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha
JPN 1'27.817 |
Race Preview
This weekend sees one of the biggest races in the
World Superbike Championship as the circus goes to
Brands Hatch in the UK for the tenth of thirteen
rounds this year.
After this weekend's round the
championship will have a five week break prior to
the final three rounds.
Brands Hatch is a favorite stop on
the championship calendar for both riders and
British fans alike, attracting up to 120,000
spectators. Its natural amphitheatre-style
layout makes for good viewing and the challenging
mix of fast, blind corners and elevations means the
circuit is highly rated by virtually all riders.
The circuit was originally used as a military
training ground but was taken over by motorcycles
for grass track racing in 1926. It ran
anti-clockwise until 1954 but has run clockwise ever
since.
Brno's race weekend two weeks ago
promised a lot but the reality didn't live up to the
team's expectations. Noriyuki Haga took the
Superpole for the second year running there but grip
issues prevented him from converting it into race
wins.
He managed two good fourth place
finishes and took away 26 valuable points at this
key stage in the championship. Troy Corser
also struggled with grip problems in race one but
held on to take seventh. In race two he was forced
to retire when an engine bolt broke leaking oil over
the tire.
Looking forward, Brands could be
considered Haga's lucky charm as he has been on the
podium in every race there during the past three
years. He did the double in 2004 and then in
2005 took a race win and a second, getting the
fastest lap of both races in the process.
Last year he came third in the first
race and won race two. For 2007, Haga is looking to
equal or better last year's result and further his
championship fight as we move into the final few
races of the season.
|
 |
|
Brands Hatch Race Circuit |
|
|
Brands Hatch Track Data
Track length: 3703m
Track opened: 1926
2006 WSB winners: Bayliss (Ducati), Haga
(Yamaha)
2006 WSB fastest lap: 1'26.351 (Toseland,
Honda)
WSB lap record: 1'25.449 (Bayliss, Ducati,
2006)
Circuit tel: +44 (0)1474 872331
Circuit website: www.motorsportvision.co.uk/brands-hatch/
|
Noriyuki Haga: "Brands
is a good circuit to race; you can hear the crowd as
you are racing which helps a lot. I'm pleased to go
there after Brno; I need a good result after the
disappointment of Brno and I've always had good
finishes at Brands," Haga says.
"My focus is now very much on the
championship title. I've trained very hard
this year, mentally and physically, and we've worked
hard on the bike and set-up. I'm confident and
I'll be pushing hard this weekend. I know
there has been a lot of rain in England recently and
I'll be as happy if it rains on race day as I will
be if it's dry. Rain will mean survival of the
fittest and I'm ready for that."
Corser's last race win at Brands was
in 2005, when he also took a second place finish as
well as pole position. The "Superpole King"
has actually taken pole three times at this circuit,
though his best result last year was a pair of sixth
positions.
Troy Corser: "I'm
looking forward to Brands; it can only get better
after Brno! I like the layout at Brands and the
atmosphere's great there but I must admit it's not
been my favorite track over the years, more because
of the close proximity of the walls than anything
else" says Corser.
"After missing out in the second
race at Brno I'm determined to win this weekend. I'm
confident I would've been on the podium if the bolt
hadn't broken. So rest assured I'll be pushing this
weekend!"
