World Superbike Brands Hatch: Corser 1 & 2 and extends lead, Haga & Yamaha 2 & 1

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Troy Corser placed first and second in the two fiercely-contested 25-lap battles at Brands Hatch today, swapping positions with Yamaha’s Noriyuki Haga in the final race to take 45 points away from the weekend and further extend his championship lead to 110 points. Corser and Haga were wheel to wheel from the start to the finish of the races and served up a feast of closely-fought action in front of more than 100,000 spectators.

In race one, Corser and Haga swapped the lead several times, but Corser was in front on the last lap and held on to take his eighth win of the season. Regis Laconi (Ducati) took third ahead of Chris Vermeulen (Honda), Chris Walker (Kawasaki) and Karl Muggeridge (Honda).

The second race was almost a repeat of the first, but this time the results were reversed: Corser took the lead on the last lap but was forced to take to the grass when he outbraked himself going into Westfield. Somehow he managed to stay onboard, but by the time he had recovered, Haga had a clear run to the chequered flag. Third spot went to Vermeulen with Walker fourth, Laconi fifth and Pitt (Yamaha) sixth.

Corser’s summary of the day went as follows: “Although we had a good points lead before today, I’m a racer and if I can win, I want to win. The only time I feel I cannot win is if something is wrong with the bike and then I’ll take whatever points I can get. But my Alstare Suzuki was working superbly here at Brands today and so I went out to win both races. Nori Haga was very strong, but it was great fun to race against him and, although we were very close at times, there was nothing dangerous.

“In the first race there was no way I was going to settle for second and that’s why I charged so hard. It’s what I wanted to do in the second and I nearly managed it. I followed Nori for most of the race and made my move on the last lap. I got past him but then was in to Westfield a bit too hot and had to ease off the brakes and take to the grass. I kept it upright, gassed it again and rejoined the track, but then Nori was gone. I suppose I must have worried Francis Batta, our Team Manager, when I went off the track, but I still managed to take second without any problem. It’s my aim to win as many races as possible this year and finish on the podium in all the ones I don’t.”

For crowd favourite Noriyuki Haga, many of the early season problems with the Yamaha R1’s inability to turn appear to have been solved, and he will now become a force in the series, although a little too late to make any impact on the championship’s final outcome. “I had two fantastic races with Troy. In the second I led almost from the first lap to finish. Early on I tried to make a distance on him early but it was impossible. Later I tried some more crazy hard braking but still I could not make the gap. Unfortunately for Troy he made a mistake and when I see that I have a very big smile in my helmet! I would like to thank my team and also Ohlins and Pirelli, because today the bike was very good. Now I go back to Japan for more holidays and when I come back I hope we have some more Nitro for Assen!””

Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) once more found himself in the eye of a storm of World Superbike competitiveness, this time under sunny English skies. He was to finish his race weekend with a fourth and third place, the highest placed of the Fireblade riders on display. He maintained his second place in the championship, now trailing race one winner and runaway championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki) by 110 points.

In the first race, Vermeulen was 4.5 seconds from the win, his front running teammate Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) strongly in the podium places until he dropped back to an eventual sixth.

In the second 25-lap race, the increased pace of leading riders Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and Corser drew them eight seconds clear of Vermeulen in third. Less than perfect starts, from a second row position did not help Vermeulen in his race day efforts.

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