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 ...Silverstone.
It used to be an airfield, in common with many other UK circuits,
and as a result is a little exposed. It gets the best and
worst of the weather, frequently in the space of one day.
And so it transpired this weekend as rain squalls and high
winds alternated with blue skies and balmy conditions to produce
a mix that kept everyone on their toes.
Friday qualifying turned into a bit of a
mess as the drying track caught out several riders. Damp patches
just off the main line caused a string of crashes, particularly
at Brooklands - the left hander before the chicane. In a short
few moments, James Toseland highsided the Ten Kate Honda,
followed by Troy Bayliss who landed hard. In a show of sportsmanship
typical of the series, Toseland stayed in harms way to help
Bayliss up and flag down the other riders before a marshal
was able to get to the scene. Almost as soon as they cleared
the scene, Chris Walker crashed in the same place, happily
without injury. It seems that moisture is drawn up through
the track by the pressure of tyres going over, and because
it's not on the regular line then there isn't enough traffic
to clear it. Surprisingly, though, Bayliss remounted and managed
to turn in a provisional pole. Not bad for a man who crashed
out twice in the same session...
Saturday was worse, with heavy rain all morning.
Qualifying was, well, a wash-out. A very depleted field splashed
around the waterlogged circuit with many riders electing not
to come out at all unless they really needed to.
A few moments of semi lightening sky gave
us high hopes for Superpole, but the rain hadn't eased off
at all for the last free practice session - simply an opportunity
for those who hadn't come out earlier to get dialled in to
their wet settings. An impressive performance saw BSB wildcard
Tommy Hill top the timesheets for a while before being ousted
by Bayliss. And still the rain came down, despite the strong
hints that it may stop any moment...
 Superpole,
because of the wet conditions, wasn't the usual one lap. Instead
the riders had a 50 minute window and a maximum of twelve
laps to set their qualifying time. It had stopped raining
and started to dry out but that didn't stop Sebastien Gimbert
throwing the Yamaha down the track so fast that his crash
didn't actually finish until the next corner. And it was uphill,
too. Lap times started to come down but it was the local talent
in the form of Chris Walker and Tommy Hill who were really
making the running, none of the normally favoured riders being
able to get really close. And despite Hill coming off with
a couple of laps still to go, it was the Virgin Yamaha wildcard
rider who finished up on pole, with Bayliss managing to put
in a late spurt to take second from Walker and Haga. Toseland,
still distinctly second hand after his crashes on Friday,
was a distant and plainly uncomfortable fourteenth - a yawning
three seconds off the pace. It's not all his fault though,
as the Ten Kate Honda was clearly struggling for grip under
both Toseland and a back on form Muggeridge. So the grid consisted
of Hill, Bayliss, Walker and Haga on the front row, ahead
of Fabrizio, who had been flying all weekend, Barros, Xaus
and Muggeridge. Row three had Laconi ahead of Corser, who
really didn't get on well at all, Pitt and Gimbert. Kagayama
was the only injury of the day, though it happily transpired
that rumours of broken bones were exaggerated.
So race day dawned, as expected, clear and
bright and dry. Nothing like going racing with no practice
for the conditions, is there? The warm-up session was interesting
to say the least, the main change of note being that Toseland
was riding with at least some sign of his old form and turned
in consistent top five times. And the clouds stayed away.
 With
such fine conditions, so unlike practice, the start was always
going to be interesting. But nobody could possibly guess just
how interesting. As the pack approached the first corner,
Corser got rammed from behind and highsided, taking out Barros,
Nieto and Foret. I think. Either way, there was a huge pileup
with bikes on fire - the whole nine yards. Barros gets the
award for the luckiest man in the paddock as he actually jumped
over his burning bike which was sliding towards him - heaven
only knows what would have happened if he had got it wrong.
Inevitably the red flag came out and the race was stopped,
much to the chagrin of James Toseland who had made a blinding
start. To make things more exciting, before the red flags
came out Craig Jones crashed at high speed. The young FPR
rider's concussion meant that he was suffering from double
vision on the grid and so wasn't safe to take the restart.
 James
Toseland again made a fantastic start, making up several
places in the first lap while pole sitter Tommy Hill went
backwards, ending the lap in tenth place. So the end of the
first lap saw Haga pulling a lead out on Bayliss with Walker
and Xaus in hot pursuit. Corser made a slow start, just ahead
of Muggeridge and Toseland with Pitt and Laconi behind. Lap
two saw a completely out of character error by Corser, the
champion losing the front and crashing out at the chicane.
Though he remounted, to the delight of the crowd, the gap
was so great that he ran a couple of laps and then retired.
The two men on the move were Xaus and Toseland, the two former
works Ducati riders carving through the field with Xaus climbing
as high as second place, ahead of Bayliss, while Haga continued
to pull clear. But after half a dozen laps or so Bayliss clearly
got into his rhythm and got his head down. Lap nineteen saw
Bayliss take the lead for a while after dispensing with Xaus
a few laps before. Haga fought back to retake the lead several
times before Bayliss finally managed to make a pass stick
and pulled away to take a clear victory.
 Behind
the lead pair, though, Toseland had really got the bit between
his teeth. A neat overtake on his team-mate was followed by
some fabulously fast laps and some really classy though rather
aggressive passes to bring him through the field and up to
third place. A few more laps would have seen him right up
with Haga, but it wasn't to be and the fourteenth place starter
had to content himself with third place - a magnificent achievement
in itself after the trials of qualifying. Andrew Pitt rode
an excellent race to take and hold fifth place from Walker
whose challenge started to fade as the big Kawasaki sapped
his energy. Laconi held off a race long challenge from a determined
and on form Karl Muggeridge to take seventh while Alex Barros
climbed back into the top ten to take ninth ahead of Norick
Abe. Tommy Hill finished just outside the top ten in twelfth
- a brilliant performance from a semi-privateer rider who
only came into Superbikes a year ago.
Race two saw the sun keep
shining, the track stay warm and Chris Walker make one of
his celebrated Stalker starts from Bayliss and Haga. Toseland
replicated his excellent off the line performance to complete
the first lap in seventh place while Tommy Hill did well to
settle in fourth ahead of Corser. Muggeridge ended the first
lap ahead of Toseland, but a gentlemanly yet firm pass saw
the young Englishman move up the table by lap two. Xaus, Pitt
and Fabrizio formed an unruly bundle rounding out the top
ten. Walker's briliant start and phenomenal pace through the
back of the circuit saw him hold the lead for a couple of
laps before being passed by Haga, who had taken Bayliss earlier
the same lap. Some extremely robust riding by Walker kept
Bayliss behind him for a while, as indeed it had made  it
very hard indeed for Haga to pass in the first place, but
eventually the Ducati rider was able to get through on the
brakes and set off after Haga. And it only took one lap for
Bayliss to hunt down, catch and pass Haga for the lead, and
despite a brief upset on lap sixteen, that's where he stayed
until the chequered flag in a masterly display of exactly
why Ducati don't need another 200cc to remain competitive.
Tommy Hill managed to stay ahead of Corser for two laps before
the world champion came past, hotly pursued by Toseland and
Muggeridge, while Pitt and Xaus came past a lap later. Barros
relegated the British wildcard a further place, whil Laconi
did the same a few laps later. Hill settled into a steady
pace, coming off distinctly the better in a long term dice
with Norick Abe, and was starting to close back up on Nieto
for a while before, I suspect, running out of tyres and dropping
off the pace to finish a still highly respectable twelfth
again.
Up towards the front of the field again,
Toseland finally managed to break away from his team-mate
passing Pitt, Corser and Walker to get back into third place.
Pitt looked threatening for a while, but never managed to
get close enough to make a challenge and faded towards the
end, finally finishing two and a half seconds back. Bayliss
and Haga were in a class of their own, opening a massive ten
second lead over Toseland who was riding incredibly smoothly
and was showing all the signs of being right back on the form
which won him a title. I am certain that, had he qualified
better, he would have led, and possibly won, both races from
the off. But it wasn't to be.
Chris Walker, who had started so well, gradually
slipped down the field despite his best efforts, and though
his riding was extremely spirited he was unable to prevent
first Toseland, then Pitt and Barros coming past. A heated
tussle with Xaus which saw positions swap more than once,
was decided in favour of the Ducati rider and Corser eventually
managed to muscle through as well to salvage the best he could
from the weekend. Muggeridge faded a little towards the end
too, dropping to ninth but closing on Walker while remaining
comfortably ahead of tenth placed Fonsi Nieto.
 The
end of race celebrations were fantastic, as Hill and Walker
pulled over to the side of the track to treat their loyal
and noisy fans to a synchronised burnout. Toseland went one
better, leaving his bike with a marshal and jumping the fence
into the crowd and reappearing a few moments later without
any clothes on.
So an appalling weekend for Foggy Petronas
saw them gain no points whatsoever as Steve Martin retired
from both races ans Craig Jones didn't start. An almost as
bad outing for Suzuki saw World Champion Troy Corser pick
up just ten points while Kagayama took nothing but a lot of
bruising away with him. As far as the championship goes, though,
it's a mixed story. Bayliss has extended his lead at the top
while Corser has slipped back towards the chasing pack. Haga
has overhauled Toseland to take third place by a narrow margin,
while the Englishman has done his title hopes no harm at all
with a good solid performance.
Misano is next, and it
should be interesting. All the top runners have had varied
experiences there so I'm not making any bets. Except that
it will be great, that is...
SB
Race One
1 Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
2 Noriuki Haga (Yamaha)
3 James Toseland (Honda)
4 Ruben Xaus (Ducati)
5 Andrew Pitt (Yamaha)
6 Chris Walker (Kawasaki)
7 Regis Laconi (Kawasaki)
8 Karl Muggeridge (Honda)
9 Alex Barros (Honda)
10 Norick Abe (Yamaha)
Race Two
1 Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
2 Noriuki Haga (Yamaha)
3 James Toseland (Honda)
4 Andrew Pitt(Yamaha)
5 Alex Barros (Honda)
6 Troy Corser (Suzuki)
7 Ruben Xaus (Ducati)
8 Chris Walker (Kawasaki)
9 Karl Muggeridge (Honda)
10 Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki)
Championship Standing
after five rounds:
1 Troy
Bayliss 225
2 Troy Corser 149
3 Nori Haga 133
4 James Toseland 129
5 Alex Barros 113
6 Andrew Pitt 103
7 Lorenzo Lanzi 62
8 Ruben Xaus 56
9 Norick Abe 51
10 Chris Walker 51
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