World Superbikes Rd 6 Silverstone

[Kneedown]

Awesome!

What an awesome round of racing in both WSBK & WSS! (And MotoGP as well of course!!)

Great to see Vermulen take his first win on the Ten Kate Blade. The two races were absolute nailbiters! Interesting how well he had the Blade dialled into the really twisty circuit and Haga was having so much trouble with getting the bike to turn after chucking it up the inside time and time again.

The control tyre really has made the racing better in WSBK this year otherwise the factory Ducati's would have smoked the field but they are not having things their way right now! Well that's what I think anyway.

The supersport race was another cracker too.

That was a totally satisfying evening in front of the box!

[PrestigeCBR]

World Superbike Championship 2004
Round 6 Silverstone, Great Britain 11 – 13 June 2004
Superpole Qualifying

Laconi In 4/6 Time: Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila 999F04) rode his factory machine to an assured Superpole win, after his two main competitors encountered troubles of different kinds. Laconi set the best time of the weekend, 1:54.331, to take his pole position start, in a competition held in glorious English sunshine. It was his fourth win in six attempts. For fastest man in regular qualifying, Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati), his last pre-warm-up lap was a stillborn affair, as the repairs his pit crew had made to his machine after qualifying came undone and he had to drop out of contention. He will start the races from 16th place, the back of the fourth row.

Honda Progress: The Ten Kate Honda of Chris Vermeulen could well have been on pole, but for a couple of periods of lost traction at key points of the track. Aussie Vermeulen has otherwise found the Honda Fireblade the ideal tool to unlock the secrets of Silverstone, and hopes for much from his return to his old stomping grounds in the UK.

Fast Haga: Noriyuki Haga (Renegade Ducati 999RS) sparked up his weekend with a competitive Superpole lap, running third on the front row in third place. Despite a fraught qualifying Leon Haslam (Renegade Ducati) was running at full pace, ending an impressive day's work in fifth place. James Toseland (Ducati Fila) one of the favourites for the race eked out a workmanlike fourth spot, an important start from row one.

Foggy Weather: The unique and technologically advanced Petronas FP-1 triple powered previously injured rider Troy Corser to sixth, having recovered from an Oschersleben spine injury sufficiently to compete at Silverstone. His team-mate Chris Walker was last man to qualify for Superpole and thus be the first man away, finishing 13th overall, despite his fractured rib.

Ellis Island: A superb performance from Yamaha privateer James Ellison put him seventh in Superpole, and seventh out of all 23 entrants. The former double European Superstock winning rider is running a necessarily low budget team, and has only one bike to work with. His speed and sheer determination to impress has propelled him into sharp focus this weekend, especially as his machine has a very stock engine set-up.

Other Private's Progress: The DFX Sterilgarda pairing of Steve Martin and Marco Borciani took eighth and ninth places on the grid, while long-term SBK competitor Lucio Pedercini rounded out the top ten on the first of the 998 spec Ducatis.

Supersport: Karl Muggeridge gave his Ten Kate squad their fifth pole position of the year, despite suffering a high-speed crash in the opening minutes of the final qualifying session. Muggeridge now ties with WSS legend Paolo Casoli for the most number of career pole positions, on a total of 12. Muggeridge saw a whole raft of riders come close to his best-time, with Fabien Foret (Yamaha) only six thousandths of a second off the pole time of 1:56.715.

Wild card rider, and former WSS race winner, Pere Riba (MSS Kawasaki) was the top Kawasaki qualifier, making it three different bikes in the first three. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) took his R6 to fourth place on the grid, with Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Honda) still unable to improve his time and thus dropping to fifth and the second row.

Top Ten,
1, Lanconi
2, Vermeulen
3, Haga
4, Toseland
5, Haslem
6, Corser
7, Elison
8, Martin
9, Borciani
10, Pedercini

Fingers crossed for Vermeulen, but it will be hard work to beat the Factory Ducati's of Laconi and Toseland, Haga will also be strong!

[PrestigeCBR]

From SBK
World Superbike Championship 2004
Round 6 Silverstone, Great Britain 11 – 13 June 2004
FRIDAY QUALIFYING

Chili Early Champ: Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati 998) yet again proved his speed in an early SBK session, running his big V-twin to the best time of day one, 1:55.043 – all despite the high winds which hustled over the flat midland's countryside. The 23-time SBK race winner, currently third in the championship hunt, is looking to make up the 40+ points differential to the leading Fila Ducati riders, who experienced some difficult moments in the first day of qualifying.

Vermeulen Velocity: The Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR of Chris Vermeulen has made quite an impression in the championship since its inclusion this year, especially in the capable hands of 21- year-old SBK class rookie Chris Vermeulen. Silverstone is a track Vermeulen knows well, but this is his first visit on a Superbike during the first year of the development of the all-new Honda Fireblade.

Ducati Files: Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila 999F04) is one of only two riders in possession of a full works Ducati 999 this season and on his first visit to Silverstone since his promotion to the factory team he had to give best to two other riders on day one.

His team-mate James Toseland (Ducati Fila 999F04) was only seventh, continuing what is a sometimes-difficult relationship with his factory machine this season.

Haga and his Homies: Winner of two races so far Noriyuki Haga (Renegade Ducati 999RS) was once more impressively quick in the 22-rider field. Fourth fastest, enough to claim a space on the provisional second row (before the final qualifying competition of Superpole at least) Haga is another potential winner to add into the mix this weekend.

Privato: The impressive bulk of SBK privateers squabbled in tense fashion in the first timed qualifying session, the best behind Chili and Haga proving to be Italian Gianluca Nannelli (Pedercini Ducati 998RS), in a fulsome fifth place. His fellow Italian privateer Marco Borciani (DFX Ducati 999RS) was sixth, in what was another unpredictable and pleasingly diverse series of top qualifying times.

McCoy Row Two: Last man on the second row proved to be Garry McCoy (Xerox Ducati 999RS) on his first run around Silverstone. He was also the last rider inside one second of Chili's pole time. If Chili's excellent lap is discounted, McCoy made it seven riders within 0.6 seconds, proving once more that fast circuits like Silverstone lead to generally close racing.

Petronas Progress: With Chris Walker's Foggy Petronas FP-1 bursting into flames during the morning session, and Troy Corser still recovering from his crash at Oschersleben, it was a busy and often fruitless first day on British soil for the Foggy Petronas Team. Top qualifier at this fast circuit was Troy Corser, 10th overall, but Chris Walker was only 14th, one place ahead of another top British rider, Leon Haslam (Renegade Ducati).

Supersport: A familiar looking quartet of riders filled the first four places on the Supersport qualifying order, with Karl Muggeridge heading up the timesheets yet again on his Ten Kate Honda. In second place 2002 World Champion Fabien Foret ripped to second, 0.131 seconds slower than Muggeridge, but faster by 0.2 seconds than Broc Parkes, the second Ten Kate Honda rider. In fourth place Sebastien Charpentier (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) edged out another Honda rider, Alessio Corradi, a big fan of Silverstone's fast layout.

2nd QUALIFYING SESSION (Superpoll to come)

1, Chili
2, Vermeulem
3, Laconi
4, Haga
5, Nanneli
6, Borciani
7, Toseland
8, McCoy
9, Pedercini
10, Corser

Money on Laconi, Haga then Chili or Toseland. 8)