Two SBK Wins at a Sweltering Brands for Haga
01 August 2004
The ever popular Noriyuki Haga took both
wins in the hot crucible of Brands Hatch, winning a straight fight
in race one and
an aggregate event in race two. The net result of an incredible weekend
of close, crowd-pleasing action was to bring the main protagonists
for championship glory impossible close to each other, with the top
four riders all within eight points of each other.
Race One: In an outstanding contest Noriyuki Haga (Renegade Ducati
999RS) had to fight through every single lap of the 25 to take his
win, eventually holding off the last lap attentions of his constant
race companion Regis Laconi (Ducati). The two-rider fight for the eventual
win could have been three, had race leader Pierfrancesco Chili (Ducati)
not have fallen at Surtees, leaving Superpole winner Steve Martin to
take third. Fourth was the chasing Chris Vermeulen, Troy Corser fifth
on the Petronas, only eight seconds down.
Race Two: A two leg affair gave the second win of the day to Haga,
after his race long rival Regis Laconi crashed out on lap 16 of the
restart. Pierfrancesco Chili, credited with second overall, was nonetheless
the first rider across the line in the second leg, convinced he had
won overall. In third place Chris Vermeulen took his lone podium of
the weekend on his ten Kate Honda
After an outstanding pair of
races at Brands the World Championship lead changed hands, with Regis
Laconi securing 218 points
overall so far this season, despite his race two fall. Just behind,
Chris Vermeulen's Honda is second on 216. Haga's double
pushes him to third overall on 212, with the day's main points
casualty James Toseland - seventh and a non-finisher after a crash
with Troy Corser. He sits fourth overall now, on 210 points.
With Corser fifth in race one Chris Walker managed
to go one better in the second race, his fourth place sending the
crowd into raptures of joy, as he was the best Briton in show.
Ignition mapping
changes were the sole changes to the bike since the previous Laguna
round, but Walker rode out of his skin to narrowly overcome local
wild card rider James Ellison, who was a superb fifth, having been
sixth
in race one.
In the privateer Ducati scene, Giovanni Bussei
(De Cecco 998RS) was an impressive sixth on race two, after a 12th
place
in race one. Only 15 riders finished race two, Garry McCoy (Ducati)
scoring points in the second outing for seventh. Martin could not
repeat his race one success and failed to finish due to a blown
engine. Top
Kawasaki rider of the day was Mauro Sanchini, who took his Bertocchi
ZX-10 to tenth in race two. Craig Coxhell (Honda) had a good outing
away from his regular BSB duties, the Aussie scoring a brace of eight
places.
Supersport: In the Supersport World Championship the race was stopped
and restarted after an injurious crash suffered by Fabien Foret (Yamaha).
The aggregate event was taken by serial winner Karl Muggeridge (Honda),
his fourth race win in an amazing season so far. He leads the championship
by a clear 24 points from third place Brands man Jurgen van den Goorbergh
(Yamaha). Long time race leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) had to
settle for second place after a strong last lap charge by Muggeridge
made up the deficit he carried into the second part of the race.
Superstock: In the European Superstock championship the fourth win
of the season for Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha) gave him an extended
lead in the series, 140 points to his team-mate Lorenzo Alfonsi’s
119. A tough fight for second place in the 15-lap Brands race put Alfonsi
narrowly ahead of German based Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu (Yamaha).
Ilario Dionisi’s Suzuki was the first non-Yamaha R1 across the
line.
See series calendar for SBK
World Superbike Championship 2004
Related Story 10.06.2004 - Students
Burning to Learn at Silverstone
