We expected it to be cold at Donington in late March and the weather did not miss its cue. We did not get three days of rain but the cold and a biting wind were in evidence throughout, for what was a vastly expanded Superbike paddock this weekend. The first day of practice and qualifying was of particular significance for the Supersport class, as the Yamaha Supersport Racing Team had both their riders ruled out with broken collarbones, while Sebastien Charpentier (Hannspree Honda Ten Kate) hurt his collarbone and pelvis, making it three top championship contenders out before the start of round three. In SBK Bayliss was the Superpole winner, and at record pace, even if the conditions were not ideal. A crash on his timed lap stopped Corser from challenging for another pole win, but he was fully fit to race.
Race1:Air Humidity: 68%
Air Temperature: 9°c
Track Condition:Dry
Track Temperature: 15°
On Sunday morning the Donington track surface was registering 6°C. The warm-up proved to be particularly important, as the difficult conditions meant that the riders would have to make the perfect choice to allow them to race competitively and yet still permit them to go full race distance.
On the rear almost every single rider went for a Pirelli DIABLO SUPERBIKE SC1, a regular commercial product that Pirelli sells on the market, not simply designed for professional riders, and yet able to demonstrate an incredible potential on track. And duly a Superbike race for world championship points would be won by a commercially available product once again.
The race started in combative style, with Bayliss and Toseland making a gap back to the following riders (although Bayliss was to crash and hurt himself, missing out on race two) while Corser and Biaggi were involved in an eventual chase to take the final podium places.
Thus Toseland finished ahead of Corser and Biaggi, with the podium filled by diverse machines from three different manufacturers, all equally well underpinned by Pirelli’s high quality products.
Race Standings:1. Toseland - Honda CBR 1000RR - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 35’28.222
2. Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 35’29.590
3. Biaggi - Suzuki GSXR1000K7 - Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 35’30.670
4. Haga - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 35’37.461
5. Lanzi - Ducati 999 F06 - Ducati Xerox 35’46.250
Race2: Air Humidity: 55%
Air Temperature: 13°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 21°
With Bayliss out after his race one fall, Haga scored the holeshot from Toseland. It looked like these were the two to fight it out to the finish with Corser but Toseland was forced out on lap four, when his machine stopped at Redgate while leading.
Most of the riders decided to stick with their race one choices, but the slight increase in temperature helped the competitors to put on a show with a climatic and emotional finish.
The final corner was disputed by Biaggi and Haga, with Biaggi running wide and Haga winning, with Corser only just one second behind.
None of the riders reported any problems, and the Pirelli DIABLO SUPERBIKE and the Pirellis continued to perform well right to the final curve: and the 25 points earned by Haga proved to be very important for his championship push, after some early bad luck.
Race Standings:1. Haga - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 35'26.734
2. Biaggi - Suzuki GSXR1000K6 - Alstare Suzuki 35'26.845
3. Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 35'27.834
4. Xaus - Ducati 999 F06 - Team Sterilgarda 35'32.661
5. Lanzi - Ducati 999 F07 - Ducati Xerox 35'36.568
Championship Standings:1. Toseland - Honda CBR1000RR - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 115
2. Biaggi - Suzuki GSXR1000K7 - Alstare Suzuki 110
3. Haga - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 88
4. Corser - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 81
5. Lanzi - Ducati 999F 07 - Ducati Xerox 66
6. Bayliss - Ducati 999 F07 - Ducati Xerox 64
7. Neukirchner - Suzuki GSX R - Suzuki Germany 46
8. Xaus - Ducati 999 F07 - Ducati Sterilgarda45
9. Rolfo - Honda CBR1000RR - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 36
10. Nieto - Kawasaki ZX10 R - PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse 30
World Supersport:
Air Humidity: 61%
Air Temperature: 11°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 22°
The front line of the grid at Donington featured a few ‘strangers’ and with Parkes, Curtain and Charpentier missing, this was inevitable. At the green light Kenan Sofuoglu was the most impressive starter, and he immediately gapped the rest. Behind the next places were disputed by Harms and Fujiwara – about to be the ‘authors’ of a fantastic fight back – and their racing provided a great spectacle. As Sofuoglu hit clutch trouble all three top riders started to mix it up, and after a crash behind, involving three different riders, the red flags came out to stop the race.
An aggregate race was thus called for, with the times from race one being added to the times from the second leg.
With only 11 laps to race in leg two, the riders could choose softer rear tyres, but the front tyre was already confirmed to be the DIABLO SUPERCORSA, in SC2 compound. Like the SBK riders, the WSS riders use tyres that can be bought in any shop, and like in SBK racing, the tyres provided a fantastic base for close competition. Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu once more took risks in the early parts of the second running and got a gap right away. And after managing the race masterfully after his early problems, he won from Harms and Fujiwara. Kenan’s team mate is World Champion Sebastien Charpentier and like the Yamaha Supersport runners, he was out through injury even before raceday. The 25 points Sofuoglu scored were highly important as he now has a clear world championship lead.
Race Standings:1. Sofuoglu - Honda CBR600 RR - Hannspree Ten Kate 34'56.601
2. Harms - Honda CBR600 RR - Stiggy Motorsport 34'57.365
3. Fujiwara - Honda CBR600 RR - Honda Althea Megabike 34'57.944
4. Jones - Yamaha YZF R6 - Revè Ekerold Honda Racing 35'06.816
5. Sanna - Yamaha YZF R6 - Racing Team Parkalgar 35'08.736
Championship Standings:1. Sofuoglu - Honda CBR600 RR - Hannspree Ten Kate 70
2. Fujiwara - Yamaha YZF R6 - Team Althea Megabike 43
3. Harms - Honda CBR600 RR - Winston Ten Kate 39
4. Foret - Kawasaki ZX 6R - Gil Motorsport 38
5. Curtain - Honda CBR600 RR - Yamaha Motor Germany 25
6. Riba - Kawasaki ZX 6R - Gil Moto Sport 22
7. Jones - Honda CBR600 RR - Revè Ekerold Honda Racing 19
8. Roccoli - Yamaha YZF R6 - Yamaha Team Italia 17
9. Veneman - Suzuki GSX R 600 - Team Hoegee 17
10. Parkes - Yamaha YZF R6 - Yamaha Motor Germany 16
FIM Superstock 1000:Air Humidity: 79%
Air Temperature: 7°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 11°
Donington was the first Superstock 1000 appointment of the season, with only an official test for the form guide, some two weeks ago in Spain.
This year the tyres used in Superstock are the Pirelli DIABLO SUPERCORSA SC2, in sizes 120/70 – 190/55; the sizes most often used by the modern generation of 1000cc sports machinery as original equipment.
A crash spoiled things for Pirro and Badovini, who disputed the lead on the final lap, leaving the victory to Niccolò Canepa, on his new Ducati 1098 which this year offers the Superstock 1000 FIM CUP another interesting dimension.
Fighting for the win with the twin from Borgo Panigale were the Yamaha 4-cylinder machines from Claudio Corti and Didier Van Keymeulen.
Race Standings:1. Canepa - Ducati 1098 - Ducati Xerox Jr Team 12'46.272
2. Corti - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Team Italia 12'46.419
3. Van Keymeulen - MV Agusta - TTSL-MGM Racing 12'47.255
4. Aitchison - Suzuki GSXR 1000 - Celani Suzuki Italia 12'48.627
5. Baiocco - Yamaha YZF R1 - Umbria Bike 12'50.471
Championship Standings:1. Canepa - Ducati 1098 - Ducati Xerox Jr Team 25
2. Corti - Yamaha YZF R1 - Yamaha Team Italia 20
3. Van Keymeulen - MV Agusta - TTSL-MGM Racing 16
4. Aitchison - Suzuki GSXR 1000 - Celani Suzuki Italia 13
5. Baiocco - Yamaha YZF R1 - Umbria Bike 11
European Superstock 600: Air Humidity: 53%
Air Temperature: 13°c
Track Condition: Dry
Track Temperature: 22°
It was a very difficult first weekend for the riders in 600cc Superstock, faced with a new untested circuit and such cold temperatures all weekend. One good tip for the top was early leader Antonelli, but after the first lap it was clear that it would be a hotly contested race, on a new tyre for this year’s machines, the DIABLO SUPERCORSA SC2, always capable of a high level of performance. Colucci, on his Ducati 749, set a new lap record on the ninth lap and it was less than three seconds slower than the new record in Supersport!
The race provided a fine battle with the top three riders all within one second of each other. The Ducati rider finally finished third, behind the Yamaha of Magnoni, and the Honda of Antonelli.
Race Standings:1. Magnoni - Yamaha YZF R6 - Bevilacqua Corse 16’16.888
2. Antonelli - Honda CBR600RR - Team Italia Megabike AX +0.528
3. Colucci 0 Ducati 749R - Ducati Xerox Junior Team +0.858
Championship Standings:1. Magnoni - Yamaha YZF R6 - Bevilacqua Corse 25
2. Antonelli - Honda CBR600RR - Team Italia Megabike AX 20
3. Colucci - Ducati 749R - Ducati Xerox Junior Team 16
4. Barrier - Coutelle Jr Team 13
5. Berger - R6 - Team Trasimeno 11
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