WSBK – Ducati doubles the bet, Charpentier dominates! –

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Ducati doubles the bet, Charpentier dominates !

WSBK - Ducati doubles the bet, Charpentier dominates! -

Silverstone hosted the European World Superbike event this weekend. The layout being modified, the track was partly to be discovered … The opportunity for the competitors of Corser and Charpentier to go up to the championship ? Report.

Corser and his Suzuki stumbled at Monza, finishing only third. The Ducatis on the contrary were particularly swift, but some slanderers recalled that they were filming at home … Suddenly, they arrived in England with only one goal: to win.

But the competition is tough. Aside from the official Suzuki which lead largely despite small hiccups, Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) is a serious customer. He knows that consistency pays and his Honda allows him to be in the game very often. Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), when he does not fall is able to win, despite his Yamaha slightly behind. Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) is, with Toseland, the local of the stage and could benefit from the support of his public come in large numbers (70,000) to multiply the performance of his ZX-10. !

In Supersport, Charpentier and Fujiwara (Winston Ten Kate Honda) share the victories but Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) has also garnered valuable points since the start of the season and remains on the lookout for the slightest mistake. Dropped in the championship, Fabien Foret (TeamMegabike) and Stephane Chambon (Gil Motor Sport) have not lost their thirst for podiums, and even for victories. !

First Superbike race

The superpole was obtained by Kagayama with an explosive time of 1’27”649! The Japanese who raced in the British Superbike last year seems to be at home here.

He is three tenths ahead of his compatriot Nori Haga (1’26”985). In third position is Regis Laconi who, unlike most drivers, appreciates the new layout. Troy Corser is only fourth, half a second behind his teammate. Next come Vermeulen, Cardoso, Toseland and Walker. Abe is 14th, Sebastien Gimbert is ranked 19th.

Haga is off to the best start! Corser followed him behind as Walker grabbed third place, Laconi in his wheel. From the first laps, the pace of the race picks up, notably thanks to Corser who takes the lead and tries to escape. But that’s without counting on the persistence of Nitro Nori and Regis Laconi, who made short work of Chris Walker. Toseland takes longer to pass his compatriot and lets the top three take a little off.

Vermeulen fails to take the sixth place occupied by Kagayama "it was sliding off the rear wheel right in front of me and I had to give up the throttle"explains the young Australian. Regis, still in third position, whips and regains ground on Haga.

Chris Walker delights his audience and manages to keep Kagayama behind him. The Japanese, who thinks he can go faster than Chris, begins to get impatient and tries to brake. Unfortunately, Yukio loses the front and sets off again in search of some points. He leaves the field open to James Toseland who sticks to Chris Walker immediately and does not take long to pass him.

Halfway through the race, Troy Corser was joined by Haga and Regis, who were riding really hard. The leading trio leads a few lengths over the two Britons James and Chris. Regis brakes beautifully on Nori in the farm bend (Farm in English). The Japanese suffer without being able to react. Regis dives inside the turn and is now under Troy Corser’s pot.

From the next lap, in the same "Farm", Regis applied the same braking on Troy. This time, the French are a little too generous and fail to keep the right trajectory. Troy passes him back to the slight left following the exit of the turn. The Frenchman takes very tense lines that protect him from any attack by Nori Haga.

While braking Farm, again, Regis passed Troy outside the track! But the Australian, better placed on the trajectory, took him back to the lead in the short sequence … Toseland caught up with Nori Haga and passed him in Farm the following lap. Regis tries another attack on the Australian leader, but this time in Brooklands. The turn is almost in two parts and Regis gives gas on the angle which allows him to pass Troy just before the slow passage at the end of the circuit. Nice glide !

Haga, then fourth, was forced to retire due to a fuel supply problem. Yamaha will not get its first podium of the season this time around … Laconi shows superb consistency and goes on laps without making any mistakes. The disappointment of his second race at Monza is still strong: after leading all along, he was blown away with victory on the last lap by Vermeulen (read). French has learned the lesson and it applies: "In the last laps I knew Troy was behind so I did my best to avoid any mistakes in the corners.". For his part, James Toseland is not in a position to worry Troy Corser.

Last round ! Toseland’s Ducati keeps rearing up. Corser tries to delay his braking but Laconi is imperturbable: he is in his best time in the race (1’27’130: weekend record). In the very last corner, Troy tries to overtake Laconi on re-acceleration, coming out very much inside the corner. He was forced to take a lot of angle and his rear wheel gave way twice in a row. Nothing more is needed for our national Regis, which takes off for its ninth victory in SBK, its first of the year. James Toseland completes the podium, giving Ducati their best result of the season.

10 seconds from the podium, Chris Vermeulen obtained a good fourth place. He was 3.5 seconds ahead of the Italian Chile (Klaffi Honda) and Chris Walker who put on a great show for his audience. Young Max Neukirchner is 7th, followed by Giovanni Bussei (Kawasaki Bertocchi), Jose Luis Cardoso (DFXTreme Yamaha) and Karl Muggeridge. Yukio Kagayama finished 11th despite his crash. Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) unfortunately broke his leg…

Naturally, Regis is very satisfied: " During the race I had to pass three guys to take the lead, so I rode strong and aggressive"explains the Moselle. From now on, everyone is impatiently awaiting the second round.

Supersport Race

Sebastien Charpentier starts from pole position for the fifth time in a row with a best time of 1’28”750. Kevin Curtain is four hundredths behind. English wildcard rider Craig Jones (Northpoint Ekerold Honda) is in third position with a time of 1’29”580. The first Ducati, that of Gianluca Nannelli, is 1.1 seconds behind the French but still completes the first row. Fabien Foret is back in Supersport after being banned from competing in Italy and starts from an honorable fifth place. Fujiwara, General Lee Charpentier’s teammate is in a disappointing sixth place, due to his fall during the second qualifying session. Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) and Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike) are 7th and 8th. Stephane Chambon leads the third row.

It is Craig Jones who makes the best start but is passed from the second corner by General Lee who is not there to amuse the gallery … Curtain and Jones engage in a good fight. Fabrizio is ahead of Chambon and Foret. Three French are in the first six places !

Very early on, Charpentier and Curtain got rid of Jones, who made a mistake by trying to keep up … Behind, Foret passed Chambon, brushing him a few millimeters! Fabien does not stop there, he overtakes Fabrizio and goes hunting for the leading duo. Fujiwara is only a shadow of himself and is overtaken by Barry Veneman (Suzuki Nederland). The Japanese’s morning shoulder massage no longer had any effect and the pain prevented him from attacking as usual … Michel Fabrizio fell victim to his clutch and offered his fourth place to Chambon who had his best race of the season. Fujiwara is fighting for 8th place.

Charpentier won widely in front of an irreproachable Kevin Curtain but unable to threaten the French. Twenty seconds after the winner, Fabien Foret returns to the podium, Chambon is four. Next come Broc Parkes, Barry Veneman and the Ducatis of Nannelli and Corradi. Fujiwara barely manages to keep his 9th place. On the other French side: Julien Da Costa is 13th on his ZX-6R, Christophe Cogan is 16th, Julien Enjolras does not finish the race.

In the championship, Charpentier performed an excellent operation, securing his third victory of the year and taking advantage of Fujiwara’s injury. The French (115pts) is now 25 pts ahead of his teammate. But he is not the only one to benefit from the Japanese underperformance since the Australian Curtain is back seriously (80pts). Fabien scores big points, his elimination two weeks ago being just a bad memory. The other Australian Parkes is still 5th with 49pts, threatened by Stephane Chambon who seems to return to a better level (45pts). Fabrizio is 7th (42pts), the first Ducati is 8th: it is that of Nannelli who totals 40pts.

With three really competitive Frenchmen, the Supersport championship is becoming more and more attractive !

Second Superbike race

Nori Haga takes the lead again, determined to ward off the bad luck of the first race. This time, Corser is assisted by his teammate Kagayama who was able to recover during the break. Laconi is fourth, ahead of Walker and Toseland.

On the first lap, Toseland and Vermeulen got the better of Walker’s Kawa. Laconi is no longer in the leading peloton. He’s not even on the track anymore! In the last chicane, Regis lost control of his rear wheel and fell. He walks back to the pits … But during this time, his comrades continue to have fun: Toseland takes the place of Regis, just behind Haga, whom Corser has just passed..

The Australian, as in the first round, tries everything for everything and goes with a knife between his teeth, in search of a victory a la Doohan, alone, as he had done twice in Valencia ( read). But his opponents are not ready to let him go. Haga struggles like "a Rossi on an M1" to stay in touch with the official Suzuki. The resemblance is all the more striking as the decoration and the colors of their motorcycles and leathers are very close. The Japanese are testing several trajectories, we suspect they are looking for Corser’s flaw, but does he have the capacity (his R1 rather …).

Toseland took advantage of a slight gap from Kagayama to take third place and Vermeulen, discreetly, climbed back on the two fellows. Haga managed to slip into the Woodcote chicane in front of Corser, but the Suzuki regained control from the straight line. Toseland continues his comeback on the two leaders as Kagayama is caught by Vermeulen.

At three quarters of the race, Vermeulen came back to Kagayama and even almost hit him in the very slow chicane at Woodcote! In the following lap, the Australian passes the Suzuki and sets off again. Meanwhile, Toseland continues to erode the lead of the leading men. Haga closes the battle but fails to attack Corser, "I lost the front several times in the last laps"Nitro Nori confided on his arrival..

A few laps from the end, the reigning world champion Toseland gets back on Nori Haga and the double. The Suzuki is in sight: could it be that Ducati achieves the double, that Corser "fails" once again on the second step of the podium? The answer is yes. Toseland, to the delight of his audience, takes the lead. Nori found himself behind the Suzuki again and ran into the obstacle.

On arrival, the positions are unchanged: James is first, Troy just behind him. Nori could not do anything and finished a few lengths behind the first two. Chris Vermeulen collects his second 4th place of the weekend. Chile follows, who tops Walker on the finish line (13 hundredths), while Yukio Kagayama saves the furniture. Norick Abe, who we haven’t seen much, still finished second at Yamaha ahead of Pitt (official Yamaha Motor Italia WSB). Toseland’s joy is complete: "I had never won at Silverstone before and it was one of the goals of my life !"

In the championship, Troy Corser consolidates his first place: he now has 222 pts! In second position is his teammate Kagayama, who expected better from these English heats, and is threatened by Vermeulen (144 against 141 pts). Regis Laconi is still fourth with 112 pts, followed by Toseland with 98 pts on the clock. Chris Walker (74 pts) passes sixth ahead of Pitt (70 pts) and Haga (68 pts). Chile is 9th with 66 pts, Abe 10th (62 pts).

On the constructor side, Suzuki prances ahead with 231 pts (out of 250!), Ahead of Honda (154 pts). Ducati goes back in leaps and bounds (150 pts) when Yamaha struggled to offer a machine that was easy to ride. Kawasaki is fifth with 86 pts while Petronas, even after its number of points quadrupled this weekend, remains dead last with 4 points…

The championships are dominated by two men: Corser and Charpentier. However, they are far from uninteresting. On the one hand, Ducati confirms its good performance from Monza and is preparing to race again on its land at Misano, now aiming for the first two steps of the podium for each race. And above all, rarely the French have offered us such good services, from Regis in SBK and Sebastien, Fabien and Stephane in SSP.

Then meet on June 26 in Misano, for the sixth round of the World Superbike !

Matthieu BRETILLE – Photos DR and Site

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