Two man-to-man battles from eventual double winner Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) provided huge entertainment for a 71,000-strong SBK crowd at Silverstone, and with James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) third in each race; the British crowd enjoyed its first taste of World Superbike 2006-style. Bayliss also set a new lap record, and the absolute best in SBK, with a 1’26.299, in race two.
RACE ONE A dramatic start to race one saw four riders fall at the first corner, after a highside from Fabien Foret (Alstare Engineering Suzuki). Another crash later in the same lap, which put Craig Jones (Petronas) out of the race, caused the red flag to come out, and all but Jones made the re-start. A front-running ride from Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) was overturned after 19 laps by eventual winner Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox). James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) who started from row four, rode a Superhuman race to score third place, and with one more lap may have even improved on that. Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) was fourth, his best race finish of the year so far.
RACE TWO Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) rode at the front of the second race for two determined laps, but was swamped by Bayliss, Haga, Toseland and co, finally finishing eighth. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) scored fourth, with the slow-starting Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) fifth.
BAYLISS PUSHES AWAY AFTER CORSER’S BAD LUCK In the championship fight, Bayliss extended his lead over Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) to 76 points, 225 to 149, after Corser had one DNF and a sixth. Haga is now third on 133, with Toseland fourth on 129.
PHYSICAL TRACK MAKES RACES HARD WORK Chris Walker’s sixth and eighth place finishes were the highlight of the day for the PSG-1 Kawasaki squad, with Regis Laconi seventh and 14th in race two, and Fonsi Nieto 11th and tenth. Barros had finished race one, on his replacement machine after the turn one crash, in ninth place. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France Ipone) scored tenth and 11th place finishes, having just overtaken Superpole winner Tommy Hill (Virgin Mobile Yamaha) in race two. Hill was 12th in the opener, finding the world level tough, especially in the pressurised first few laps. Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) failed to start after breaking his right radius. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) who had not qualified for Superpole, scored 13th and 16th finishes.
WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) fended off the early close attentions of his main championship rival Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) and then eventual second placed finisher Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) to score his fourth victory of the year, and extend his championship lead. Curtain would finish third, with British based Spanish wild card rider, Pere Riba (MSS Kawasaki) a fine fourth. A fantastic fight behind the leading quartet gave fifth place to Stiggy Honda rider Robbin Harms, from Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) sixth. Charpentier’s latest start to finish win puts him on 116 points, with Curtain second on 76 and Harms third on 63. Parkes’ 20 points for his Silverstone second put him fourth, on 58.
SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP Claudio Corti (Yamaha Italia) scored his first win of the season - of his Superstock 1000 career, in fact - as he eventually overhauled early leader Alessio Polita (Celani Suzuki). Involved in a few desperate battles with Polita at mid-race distance, once he had made the break he cleared off to a record safe win by 1.251 seconds, with Polita second and Ayrton Badovini (Biassono Unionbike MV Agusta) third. In the championship, Polita still leads, on 70 points, from Badovini on 48 and Corti on 39.
SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Xerox Junior) scored the win in an aggregate race at Silverstone, to go third in the standings. Winner of both previous 2006 races, Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) scored second at Silverstone, ahead of Davide Giugliano (Lightspeed Kawasaki). In the championship, Simeon is on 70 points, with Giugliano on 46 and Canepa only one point behind.
MISANO NEXT UP Misano is the venue for the next round of all SBK series, from June 23 to 25.
