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World Superbike headed to the
Lausitzring in Germany after a tumultuous previous weekend in
the neighbouring Netherlands.
After over 130 starts in the Superbike series Briton Chris
Walker took his first victory in the rain soaked opening race at
Assen while all of the front row qualifiers crashed out: Troy
Bayliss, Noriyuki Haga, Troy Corser and James Toseland all went
down. Toseland was the only one that managed to remount and
salvage some points with his tenth place finish. Noriyuki Haga
enjoyed an incredible 20 second lead by the halfway point of the
race before throwing his Yamaha and a sure win down the road.
Walker then inherited the lead and pulled away from Andrew Pitt
to take the win with Michel Fabrizio rounding out the podium.
Race two saw championship leader
Troy Bayliss ride to an unchallenged win while again Toseland,
Haga and Corser visited the gravel traps. Pitt rode to another
strong second place finish to take the overall win for the
round.
Pitt’s 40 point haul promoted him past Alex Barros and Troy
Corser into fourth overall in the series standings. The fact
that Yamaha team-mate Haga took no points away from Assen and
Toseland scored poorly had given Pitt is now a realistic chance
of challenging for second overall in the series standings. There
would be no challenging the man at the top of the charts however
as Bayliss enjoys an incredible 100 point lead over second
placed Toseland.
Reigning World Champion Troy Corser had the displeasure of
watching any chance of defending his title disappear while
watching proceedings from Assen’s gravel traps and while the #1
plate is out of his reach this year the Suzuki man was hopeful
of gaining two good results at Lausitz.
Championship leader Troy Bayliss
set a new track record during qualifying and went on to back
that up in Superpole to earn the first place on the grid ahead
of Noriyuki Haga, James Toseland and Andrew Pitt.
Noriyuki Haga scored the holeshot
ahead of Troy Bayliss, Troy Corser and Andrew Pitt and that
order remained for half of the first lap but then it was Bayliss
into the lead and Corser then also got the better of Haga to
move up to second place. Back in the pack Ivan Clementi was
launched into orbit after a savage highside out of one of the
first right handers. Haga went under Corser on lap two to move
back up to second place while Bayliss was already starting to
pull away. Steve Martin was in tenth place on the underpowered
Foggy Petronas triple-cylinder machine.
Then on lap five Bayliss went down in the grass from a clear
lead, it was unclear exactly what happened but Bayliss quickly
remounted and was eager to get going but his chance of a strong
results was gone. Inheriting the lead was Noriyuki Haga and he
still had his hands full with Troy Corser while Andrew Pitt
watched their battle from close astern. Pitt perhaps happy to
sit in that spot and preserve his tyres for a late charge. A
hectic battle for fourth had been unfolding between Toseland,
Kagayama, Barros and Muggeridge but on lap six Kagayama got the
better of the Honda men and started closing on Pitt. Bayliss was
back up and running in 21st place just behind Josh Brookes.
Corser sneaked in front on lap seven but then ran wide and
nearly ended up in the kitty litter but just managed to remain
upright and got the hammer down again quick enough to not lose
his position to Pitt. Meanwhile Kagayama was starting to pile
the pressure on Pitt and in one of the tight left handers Pitty
lost the front and again pulled off one of his fantastic front
end slides off his knee, it looked gone for all money but
somehow he got it back.
By lap nine the leading group were virtually nose to tail with
Haga maintaining a slim advantage over Corser who in turn had
Pitt and Kagayama on his tail. A few seconds further behind it
was the battle of the Honda men with Toseland, Muggeridge and
Barros battling over fifth position.
Yukio Kagayama sneaked ahead of Pitt in a forceful inside move
on lap 11 after sitting on his tail for a couple of laps. The
Suzuki man had worked hard to close on the leaders and his tyres
could have suffered as a result which could become a drama in
the closing laps.
From lap 13 Andrew Pitt started to lose touch with the leading
trio. Haga had managed to pull away from Corser to the tune of a
few bike lengths while Corser had his hands full with his
Alstare Suzuki teammate Yukio Kagayama. Bayliss had been
steadily scything his way through the field and was up to 13th
place by lap 15.
Barros managed to get away from the Ten Kate men and had his
head down in an effort to chase down Andrew Pitt for fourth
place. With five laps to run things still weren't settled up
front either as Corser and Kagayama continued to shadow Haga.
Muggeridge had been holding off his team-mate for a few laps and
Toseland's impatience got the better of him on lap 20 and he ran
in too deep and took an excursion into the gravel which cost him
any chance at that sixth position.
Corser went up the inside of Haga on lap 21 but had to pull out
of the move at the last minute before they both went down but
they all remained upright and they didn't even take a breath
before putting the hammer down once again. Half a lap later
Kagayama slipped past Corser to take second place. Toseland's
off track excursion had allowed Troy Bayliss to get ahead of the
Briton to take eighth place but then Bayliss took another
excursion across the grass while trying to overtake his teammate
Lorenzo Lanzi but he managed to rejoin the track and continue
on.
Meanwhile up front Corser had got back past Corser but a few
corner later the Suzuki men swapped position once again and then
immediately started to threaten Haga for the lead. Andrew Pitt
had fallen into the clutches of Alex Barros and the two were
battling over fourth position.
Kagayama went up the inside of Haga for the lead on the
penultimate lap and made the pass stick and led across the line
for the last lap board. Kagayama then managed to actually pull
away from Haga and Corser in the final lap to take a hard fought
win while Corser and Haga tussled furiously over second place.
Haga kept his nose in front to the line to take second place but
it was Kagayama who took the 25 points for the win. Pitt managed
to hold off Barros to take fourth position. Muggeridge came home
sixth ahead of Troy Bayliss while Toseland managed to salvage
eighth place.
Haga's second place promoted him back past Toseland in the
championship but way out in front it was still Troy Bayliss on
341 points, 91 points ahead of second placed Haga.
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