World Superbike Championships Rd 6: Ducati fights back

A splendid double win for Régis Laconi thrilled a large Santamonica crowd yesterday to rejuventate the Ducati Xerox Team’s manufacturers championship ambitions but title leader Troy Corser appears safely in control of the riders championship. In a sweltering Misano (air temperature hovering around 32° and track 53°), the French rider scored two dominant wins, finishing twice on the top of the podium together with Australians Chris Vermeulen (Honda) and Corser (Suzuki) in that order. Team-mate James Toseland also rode two determined races but had to settle for two fourth places. Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Corser failed to extend his championship lead for the first time at an event this year, though he was no doubt aware in the first race that as the final laps counted down, he was losing just one point of his 78 point series lead, and similarly in the second race, he knew that second placed Chris Vermeulen was only taking four points from his 77 point lead. At the half way mark of the series, Corser appears safe as he has yet to finish off the podium and the inconsistency of those that are capable of beating him means he has a massive points lead on each of them.

The high temperature and very humid conditions would have been testing enough if there had only been one 25-lap race, but to compete in two was an absolute feat of endurance.

At the end of the day, Corser was happy to survive, take two podiums and leave with a 73-point advantage over his nearest rival, Honda-mounted Chris Vermeulen. Suzuki continue to lead the Manufacturer’s Championship with their GSX-R1000s earning 263 points so far, 63 ahead of Ducati.

Corser’s team mate Yukio Kagayama had a day that he will be happy to forget: He crashed out in the first race holding third place and, because his bike was too badly damaged, had to use his number two bike in the second race. But the number two bike had a different set-up and he struggled to keep up with the pace, ending up twelfth and dropping from second to fourth in the points table, now 106 points in arrears of Corser with his title hopes all but gone.

Both races today were won by Frenchman Regis Laconi (Ducati), but he had to work hard for the wins: Vermeulen and Corser had challenged him throughout both 25-lappers, but Laconi was on a mission and would not be denied.

Régis Laconi, Ducati Xerox, Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 1st: “This was the second double win of my career, but my first this year and I am so happy” declared Laconi. “Ducati have done a great job to help me win these races today. They were both really hard because of the conditions but the second race was even more so. In particular the last five laps were terrible and I just wanted to finish because really I couldn’t do any more, I was just sliding everywhere and I slowed down so much at the finish because I was so tired. A big thanks to Ducati and thanks to my team, we did a great job today and this double win is for them!”

Ducati Corse CEO Claudio Domenicali: “This is a great day for us because Misano is always one of our home circuits. There were a lot of people from Ducati here today and a lot of our fans around the circuit. We know that the competition in Superbike has improved a lot this year and that for sure we’re going to have to work really hard during the rest of the season, but today Laconi rode two extraordinary races and fully deserved the wins.”

Chris Vermeulen, Team Winston Ten Kate Race 1: 2nd, Race 2: 2nd: “I was a little closer to Regis (Laconi) that time but the important thing was that I finished ahead of Troy in both races. Regis was really strong today and, although I was OK through the faster parts of the circuit, where I could pick up a tenth or two, I had very little grip in the tighter sections. I nearly lost it in the last chicane on virtually every lap. It was hard work in the heat and doubly hard having to compensate for no grip and the last five laps were really tough.”

Troy Corser, Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra, Race 1: 3rd, Race 2: 3rd: “That was without a doubt one of the hardest day’s racing of my life. One race in these conditions would have been bad enough. But two was murder. The heat was one thing, but today was much more humid then the past two days and that really sapped my energy. I had some clutch problems in both races today and I feel that prevented me from doing better. Our GSX-R had a bit of a clutch problem in the opening round, but we thought we had sorted that out. I know that the bike doesn’t like doing lots of starts, so the first race was always going to be tricky because the two-parter and a false start meant that I did three starts! So I spent most of the second part - 20 laps - without a clutch. That made it particularly difficult on the brakes when I was close to Chris and Regis. In the end, I decided third was better then trying for second and making a mistake. I also had clutch problems in race two and could get right up to Chris, but wasn’t confident that I could get past safely and make it stick, so I settled for another third.”

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