The fifth round of the World Superbike Championship took place at Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire. LB attended the weekends practice sessions and racing to provide in depth coverage. The Championship was readying itself for the first of the British rounds after the cancellation of the final round in South Africa. Silverstone now becomes the 5th of 12, not the original 13. Also included in this visit to Silverstone was an up close and personal interview with former World Superbike Champion and Winston Ten Kate rider James Toseland.
LB made a flying visit to the circuit on Thursday to catch up with James before the free practice sessions started on Friday. The sun was shining, all of the teams were setting their garages in the pits and the crews were rallying around getting leather suits, helmets, boots and gloves ready for the racers. There was a real air of calm about the place as the mechanics were preparing all of the bikes, ready for inspection by race control. This was a fantastic opportunity to get an insight into how the teams get ready and set-up.
Most of riders were hiding away in their huge air-conditioned trucks, although, there were a couple wandering around, like Troy Corser, James Toseland and Karl Muggeridge, who were signing autographs for the die-hard fans that had made the journey especially to see them.
Also on site, were all of the big companies like Pirelli, Ohlins and Arrow, all ready on hand for the race teams incase they needed help or new components. Pirelli was there fully supporting its riders and bringing some interesting new solutions. The Superbike riders had three different ‘potions’ for the front and three for the rear, plus the usual qualifying tyre. With the paddock increase from 118 in the early rounds to 178 riders in total at Silverstone, Pirelli moved a staggering 6300 tyres to meet all the teams’ needs.
LB’s Foxy and Jay were treated to a few laps of the International Circuit at Silverstone in the Audi RS4 safety car by BSB’s organizer Stuart before setting of home to prepare for the weekend.
SaturdaySaturday morning saw the start of free practice sessions and qualifying for most of the classes of racing. The weather started out dry and cloudy, but quickly turned to constant drizzle and then heavy rain. There were quite a few incidents on track during the sessions while the teams were trying hard to get the right wet weather set-ups. Most people preferred to stay under cover and hoped for the rain to pass, which it didn’t. With the weather not easing up, Bayliss, Fabrizio and Hill led the SBK free practice session.
LB’s Jay, spent the day in the pits capturing the action in the garages, whilst Andrew&7 and Silver were out around the track in the rain and mud bring you all of the practice and qualifying action shots.
Saturday AfternoonSaturday afternoon saw the continuation of free practice and qualifying for most classes of racing, including Superpole for SBK. The SBK boys had a very hard time in qualifying, with changing weather conditions from full wet to damp. There were a few accidents in the afternoon too, with a notable one by Corona Suzuki's Yukio Kagayama who crashed at turn one and sustained injuries to his already damaged hand. Remarkably, British wild-card Tommy Hill who rides for Virgin Mobile Yamaha, secured pole position after sliding and bucking around the track to take Superpole.
In and around the pit-lane showed all the teams having more of a sense of seriousness about them, with riders flying in and out of the pits, requiring the mechanics to do F1-style pit-stops and replace the tyres, clean the screens, visors and a general safety checks before hurrying the rider back out again to do their best for qualifying.
Sunday SBK First RaceWith the qualifying completed the day before, Sunday is reserved just for racing. The Superstock 1000cc and 600cc races went before the main event, the SBK races.
Race one saw a huge set of crashes, and that was just in the first lap. Alex Barros had a major incident in which his bike went up in flames and Alex had to scramble to his feet and jump the flaming Honda that was heading his way. With all of this commotion, the race was red-flagged. This meant the many teams had to bring their riders in, including Ducati who changed clutches to ensure a strong re-start.
Twenty minutes later all of the teams headed back out onto the grid, where the race was re-started. Troy Corser lost control of his Suzuki and dropped it coming into the complex part of the circuit, which for him and his team must have been a big embarrassment. A full-on race was had, with Troy Bayliss, Nori Haga and Rueben Xaus battling with each other for the whole race. Troy Bayliss was the victor, with Haga coming in a very close second and home-boy James Toseland getting in third to get on the podium after dispensing with a fast Rueben Xaus.
Sunday SBK Second RaceThe afternoon saw race two of the SBK class, which started off far neater than race one in the morning, race two also had everyone holding onto each other, or themselves whilst Haga, Xaus, Toseland and Bayliss all scrapped it out to the bitter end. Bayliss took first place after another fierce fight with Haga to the bitter end; with Haga coming second again and seeing James take third. This was the seventh consecutive win for Xerox Ducati’s Troy Bayliss.
With race two over, the riders made their way back into Parc Firmé, Bayliss first and then Haga. Winston Ten Kate rider James Toseland took longer arriving... not because he was celebrating, but because he had stripped off of his leathers, boots, gloves and helmet and threw his kit away into the grand-stand crowd, as a mark of respect for all the support the locals had given the British racer. James finally returned wearing only his back-protector, boxer short and socks.
Well done to Tommy Hill who, as the British wildcard rider, had stuck his Yamaha on Pole Position. In his first ever World Superbike races he did extremely well to bag two 12th places and some invaluable experience. The other British rider at the sharp end was Chris Walker, who transformed his front row start into very respectable 6th and 8th places for PSG-1 Kawasaki.
Results Race One:1, Bayliss T. Ducati Xerox. 40'49.894282
2, Haga N. Yamaha Motor Italia WSB. 40'50.784283
3, Toseland J. Winston Ten Kate Honda. 40'51.599284
4, Xaus R. Sterilgarda - Berik. 40'58.179285
5, Pitt A. Yamaha Motor Italia WSB. 41'02.197286
6, Walker C. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse. 41'13.610287
7, Laconi R. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse. 41'15.377288
8, Muggeridge K. Winston Ten Kate Honda. 41'15.943289
9, Barros A. Klaffi Honda. 41'19.5442810
10, Abe N.Yamaha Motor France-Ipone. 41'22.1022811
11, Nieto F. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse 2. 41'29.5012812
12, Hill T. Virgin Mobile Yamaha. 41 '31.4442813
13, Lanzi L.Ducati Xerox. Ducati 999 F06 41'31.8292814
14, Kagayama Y. Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra. 41'40.2792815
15, Nannelli G. D.F.X. Treme. Honda 41'42.6202816
16, Neukirchner M. Team Pedercini. 41'42.6542817
17, Rolfo R. Ducati SC - Caracchi. 41'43.1082818
18, Iannuzzo V. Celani Team Suzuki Italia. 41'44.0312819
19, Clementi I. Team Pedercini. 29'58.0922020
20, Gimbert S. Yamaha Motor France-Ipone. 28'17.4351921
21, Martin S. Foggy Petronas Racing. 28'35.0451922
22, Brookes J. Kawasaki Bertocchi. 32'48.3671923
23, Fabrizio M. D.F.X. Treme. 23'53.1501624
24, Foret F.Alstare Eng. Corona Extra. 13'44.677925
25, Corser T.Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra. 11'56.529626
26, Jones C. Foggy Petronas Racing.
Race Two:1, Bayliss T. Ducati Xerox. 40'42.003282
2, Haga N. Yamaha Motor Italia WSB. 40'43.588283
3, Toseland J. Winston Ten Kate Honda. 40'54.061284
4, Pitt A. Yamaha Motor Italia WSB. 40'56.564285
5, Barros A.Klaffi Honda. 40'58.829286
6, Corser T.Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra. 41'03.233287
7, Xaus R. Sterilgarda - Berik. 41'04.059288
8, Walker C. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse. 41'04.552289
9, Muggeridge K. Winston Ten Kate Honda. 41'04.7112810
10, Nieto F. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse 2. 41'16.0282811
11, Abe N. Yamaha Motor France-Ipone. 41'16.7422812
12, Hill T. Virgin Mobile Yamaha. 41'17.1152813
13, Kagayama Y. Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra. 41'17.5212814
14, Laconi R. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse. 41'18.3252815
15, Fabrizio M. D.F.X. Treme. 41'29.8532816
16, Lanzi L. Ducati Xerox. 41'32.1042817
17, Nannelli G. D.F.X. Treme. 41'33.0922818
18, Brookes J. Kawasaki Bertocchi. 41'34.1942819
19, Rolfo R. Ducati SC - Caracchi. 41'34.2582820
20, Clementi I. TeamPedercini. 38'45.3262621
21, Gimbert S. Yamaha Motor France-Ipone. 25'27.8911722
22, Foret F. Alstare Eng. Corona Extra. 22'36.3321523
23, Neukirchner M.Team Pedercini. 20'55.6721424
24, Martin S.Foggy Petronas Racing. 15'11.6911025
25, Iannuzzo V.Celani Team Suzuki Italia. 8'57.653626
26, Jones C.Foggy Petronas Racing.
With the excitement of the weekend now over, we look forward to the other British leg of SBK which will take place at Brands Hatch Circuit on the 6th, 7th and 8th of August.
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