HM Plant

James Toseland and Chris Walker finished the 2003 Superbike World Championship on a high after completing the last race of the year in second and third positions respectively at Magny-Cours. The HM Plant Ducati duo had been disputing third position in the closing stages of the race when World Champion Neil Hodgson crashed out of second while closing in on his Fila Ducati team-mate – and eventual race winner – Ruben Xaus.

With Regis Laconi only finishing in 16th position after encountering some technical problems during the race, Toseland’s 20 points for second elevated him to third overall in the final standings for the series. Walker also completed his season by confirming his highest ever position in the championship in sixth.

The highlight of the race was undoubtedly the titanic battle between Toseland and Walker. With no team orders, it was every man for himself, as the HM Plant Ducati team-mates thrashed their way around the 4.411km French F1 Grand Prix circuit near Lyon. Determined to make up for his first race disappointment, Toseland just held the advantage as the orange and black machines crossed the line in tandem for the last time.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be back on the podium and take third place in the championship,” said 23-year-old Toseland. “That was a fantastic way to finish my best year in the Superbike World Championship. Chris and I had a huge battle out on the track, but it was fair and square right down to the wire.

“I’m so pleased for everyone associated with the team. It was fitting for us to pull off such a good set of results today. You couldn’t have scripted it any better with Chris and I on the podium for the team’s last race. I’d like to thank GSE Racing and HM Plant for all their help and assistance over the past three years. The team may not be continuing next year, but I hope to follow former GSE Racing riders Troy Bayliss and Neil Hodgson to more success with Ducati Corse.”

Walker was equally delighted with his second podium finish of the day. “I’ve had an awesome year with HM Plant Ducati and it was important for me to repay them for the faith that they have shown in me with a couple of strong results,” said the popular Nottingham rider. “Unfortunately, I just failed in my quest to beat Gregorio Lavilla to fifth in the championship, but at least James and I put on a good show for the fans today.”

Ducati Fila

Ducati Fila riders Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus finished off the season in fine style with a win apiece in the final round of the World Superbike championship at Magny-Cours. The 2003 champion dominated race 1 to clinch his thirteenth win of the year on the Ducati 999 ahead of Xaus, while the Spanish rider took his victory haul to seven after Neil had crashed out on lap 21 of the second race.

"We have achieved our aim of winning the title in the first year of competition for the Ducati 999" declared WSBK team director Paolo Ciabatti. "In addition Ducati made a clean sweep of all 24 races, and the 999 picked up 20 of these so it has been a really successful season. A major contribution for our success this year has come from the support given by all of our technical partners, in particular Michelin and Shell Advance and special thanks must also go to Fila, the title sponsor of the team".

"I've had the best season in my life and I've thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the factory Ducati Fila team" declared Neil. "It's a shame I won't be with them next year, even though I am pleased to be keeping my association with Ducati in another championship. It would have been fantastic to end this season on a high and win both the races here at Magny-Cours, but it wasn't meant to be so I'm not losing any sleep over it! I just lost the front end in race 2 while trying not to lose to Ruben but to be honest he was faster than me in a couple of sections and that was it".

"I think I had a nice race coming from eighth position on the first lap because it's not something you do every day!" commented Ruben. "In the first race it was difficult to pass Toseland, he made a really good start but in race 2 I knew I needed to move quicker. Again my start was bad and I just moved up through the field, my lap times were really good and my bike was perfect. The year has gone really well for me, I had a bad weekend in Monza which made me lose a bit of confidence in the next couple of races but that's racing, I am happy with second place in the championship and now I'm really getting used to winning".

Steve Martin

It was a strong finish for Martin at the final round in France. Whilst the track stayed dry at the Magny-Cours circuit the realization that season was about to come to an end was evident as the temperatures plummeted as low as 6° during some of the sessions.

Having tested the first of the new development tyres for the 2004 WSBK at the circuit ten days prior, it was evident Martin new his way around, as he never slipped out of the top ten during the whole weekend.

After being as high as 8th position during one of the two official qualifying sessions Martin finally finished Superpole in 9th position. Although disappointed at narrowly missing out on the second row, he was confident of a strong race.

“I was hoping to keep or improve on my eighth position from the first qualifying session, but we went the wrong way with the bike setting for the second session and I wasn’t able to find that 0.2 I needed for the second row.”

In race one after a strong start Martin made his way past a wild card rider and the Petronas of Corser and managed to make a gap. Due to tyre wear, by mid race distance Martin was unable to maintain the same pace and was caught again by the Petronas of Corser. The battle continued to the chequered flag where Martin managed to hang on and claim 7th position.

Race two again saw Martin passing riders and moving his way up before having a close battle for 5th position in the final stages of the race. It was Martin who again came out the victor claiming the 5th position.

“I am happy with the results, the tyre was good for the first half of the race where I was able to make some positions but deteriorated in the latter stages, and although in both races the guy’s behind were able to catch me I was able to make sure in the braking area’s that they didn’t have enough to get past me.”

Martin finishes the 2003 season in eighth position in the championship and as the highest placed Pirelli rider.

“I would like to thank my team and sponsors for their hard work and support throughout the time I have had this opportunity to race in the WSBK Championship.”

At the finish of race two Martin is no longer the official development rider for Pirelli tyres, and is currently considering his prospects for the 2004 season.

FG Sport

The World Superbike finale at the new venue of Magny Cours in France was as incident packed as anyone could have expected, and proved to be a happy hunting ground for the Ducati Fila riders, Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus – although Xaus left France the happier rider.

Hodgson made a brisk start in race one, coming off the line from a front row grid position, before tangling with his old HM Plant Ducati team-mate James Toseland. The latter had won his first career Superpole the day before the races, and was in determined form. He was to slip down the order to fifth after his tyre choice proved fallible. Xaus had shaken of a less than perfect start to run out second, shadowing but not quite able to reach Hodgson. Hodgson had the bizarre experience of his boot fastenings coming loose mid race, although the distraction proved unimportant to the final result.

Each factory Ducati rider set a new lap record in the final stages of the first race, with Hodgson taking the best at this new Magny Cours track layout, with a 1:41.227 on lap 22 of 23. He would later improve that in race two to the new race best of 1:41.219.

A dust-up between Chris Walker (Ducati) and Gregorio Lavilla (Suzuki) went the way of Walker in the opener with Lavilla fourth. Lavilla was once more easily the best four-cylinder rider in the field.

Race two gave Xaus his seventh race win of the 2003 season, riding from a terrible start to the win by ten seconds. His constant late race companion Hodgson crashed, shortly after setting his new lap record in his pursuit of a fleeing Xaus.

James Toseland’s second place finish in race two gave him third overall in the title race, after local rider Regis Laconi (NCR Ducati) scored sixth and a no score for 16th. Laconi pitted in race two and ended up back out with the leaders, albeit one lap down.

Toseland’s team-mate Chris Walker took his second third place finish of the day in the second leg, from Lavilla and privateer rider Steve Martin (DFX Ducati 998RS). Martin’s finish matched his best of the season at Valencia, using a new type of Pirelli tyre.

In the World Championship Hodgson’s 13 wins have contributed massively to his final total of 489 points, with Xaus second on 386, having taken seven wins. Toseland – with one glorious Oschersleben win to his credit - has 271, and Laconi dropped from third to fourth overall with 267 points and no wins.

Walker rode his heart out for his podium finishes, securing sixth in the championship, while Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati) suffered the agony of a double DNF and remained on the 197 points he came to France with. He finished seventh overall – although he has the personal satisfaction of a race win nestling in his list of 2003 results.

Steve Martin’s season in SBK delivered him eighth overall placing, from Pedercini Ducati rider Lucio Pedercini and Martin’s own team-mate Marco Borciani.

The bizarre happenings at Magny Cours included a crash on the second race warm-up lap for Troy Corser (Foggy Petronas FP-1). His eight place in race one was encouraging for his team but James Haydon, in his last races for the Anglo-Malaysian race team, crashed after Ivan Clementi clashed with him in race one, and then fell in a single rider incident later in race two.

Corser finished the championship in overall 12th, losing out to Borciani and Mauro Sanchini on the final day of action in the 2003 season

Troy Corser

After a long, hard season for Troy and the Foggy Petronas team, the final race ended in disappointment when Troy DNF'd before even completing a race lap. He crashed on the warm-up lap - the first time he has done so - and the DNF dropped him out of what would've been a top ten place in the final standings. Troy had finished a solid eighth in the first race and was looking forward to another top eight finish, but it was not to be. So, the season that started so promisingly, ended not according to plan. Champion Neil Hodgson won the race, with team mate Ruben Xaus second and Chris Walker third - all Ducati mounted. The second race saw another terrific battle between Hodgson and Xaus, which ended when Hodgson crashed out on lap twenty-one. Xaus cruised home to take the chequered flag, with James Toseland second and Walker again third - another Ducati 1-2-3.

Troy - "I'm not sure if that sums up our season or not. I had to work hard in the first race, fighting with Martin and I almost beat him to the line. But I didn't manage to block him in the last corner and he just sneaked ahead. I'm really not sure quite what happened in race two. The bike just came round so fast; I didn't have a chance at all. I was lucky that he bike landed behind me, but then it started pushing me into the fence, so I had to scramble to get it out of the way before it hit the wall! I've never crashed on a warm-up lap in my life and we still don't know what it was, though it felt a bit similar to my incident on my Superpole lap yesterday. But, it's done and dusted and now I have to look forward to next season. This year has been a development year really and we have all made a lot of progress - probably more then many people expected. We're all confident that 2004 is going to be a good year for us."

Suzuki

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Gregorio Lavilla ended this year's Superbike World Championship with a pair of fourth places at Magny-Cours today. He made good, but cautious starts to both races and then had to fight for places throughout the 23-lap races, almost ending on the podium in the first race. Neil Hodgson won the race, with his team mate Ruben Xaus second. Lavilla managed to get past Toseland, but could not find a way past Walker and so had to settle for fourth. Lavilla He was also involved in a battle for third in the second race, but lost out to Toseland and Walker once again. Xaus and Hodgson again controlled the race from the front, but Xaus took the chequered flag when Hodgson lost his front end trying to catch him in the closing laps.

GREGORIO LAVILLA Race 1: 4th, Race 2: 4th - "That was a long hard day and two long, hard races. If I had made much better starts, maybe I wouldn't spent so much time trying to catch the guys up front and maybe the races would've been a bit easier. I really wanted at least one podium today and I really tried my hardest, but although I could catch Toseland and Walker's Ducatis, it wasn't so easy passing them. I could catch them on the brakes, but if they exited the corners first, my Suzuki just couldn't match their drive and so I lost out. It's problem, I think we've had most of the season and one that we've been working on all year. At some tracks (the faster ones) the problems have been less, but at twisty tracks, I think we've suffered. Now it's time for a bit of a break, before working on whatever is next."