World SuperSport 2002 - Round 6 - Silverstone

James Whitham and Paolo Casoli gave the Yamaha Belgarda team a fabulous, if heart-stopping, 1-2 finish after the inaugural running of the World Supersport Championship at the classic F1 venue in Northamptonshire, UK. A drama-laden race was conducted in damp conditions to start, but with heavy intermittent rain showers plaguing the early laps, and then redoubling in ferocity on lap 12, the track became extra slick on the more remote sections.

First Casoli and then Whitham fell from their positions of dominance at the head of the race order and shortly afterwards the danger of aquaplaning was such that the race itself, having gone the required distance towards the scheduled 19-lap duration, was immediately stopped. The results were called from the preceding lap, the 13th, giving the win to Whitham, second to Casoli by 0.269 seconds and third to Karl Muggeridge (Honda).

Yamaha Motor Germany riders Jörg Teuchert and Christian Kellner also crashed; Teuchert in similar circumstances to the Belgarda riders, and was thus credited with fourth overall. Kellner remounted after his mid-race off and finished a fighting 11th. Stephane Chambon (Suzuki) maintains his championship lead with 96 points, from Foret in second (93) and no-scoring Andrew Pitt (Kawasaki) third on 83. Casoli's 20 points take him to fourth with 60.

James Whitham - Yamaha Belgarda - 1st
"You can't call a race in conditions like that. I thought at the start it was my best chance of a good result, with it being wet, but in my heart I wanted a dry race. With three laps to go the track was not fit to race in the conditions. On the straight there was so much surface water around and some of it was deep. When a 600 is spinning-up the rear down the straights something is not right - and we're not talking about a 180bhp Superbike - we're talking a 130bhp 600."

Paolo Casoli - Yamaha Belgarda - 2nd
"It was impossible to see properly when I was following Jamie so I thought maybe if I passed him it would be OK. But the rain started and I crashed, I got up and then crashed again. When I got back to the pits my team told me I was second, which is unbelievable! I am very happy about our great results."

Jörg Teuchert - Yamaha Motor Germany - 4th
"I got a good start and made up some places but I got stuck behind Ian MacPherson for a while because of all the spray that was being kicked up. We chose a tyre that should not have been the best in some of the conditions we experienced, but it proved to be a good choice. I agree with the race being stopped, because it was too dangerous to continue. I hardly opened the throttle on the back section of the track after the rain started again, and the rear just came around right away. I saw the red flags coming out as I was sliding across the track, so it was very fortunate timing!"

Christian Kellner - Yamaha Motor Germany - 11th
"At the start of the race I was following Foret, but as I got close to him I could not see anything. I backed-off immediately - but still I crashed. I was able to restart the bike and it was all OK apart from my right handlebar, which was bent, making it very difficult to ride. The conditions were acceptable at the start but I think it should have been stopped before it was."