World Superbike Championships - Corser and Suzuki take the title

After a tense two-rider battle for the lead in race one Vermeulen scored his fifth win of the year but only after a nerve-jangling decision on tyres from all riders. With a serious fall of rain mid-morning most of the front runners opted for slicks on a rapidly drying track, with the exception of Vermeulen and one or two others, who opted for an intermediate front, slick rear. He used his front to the full in the final laps, holding off Corser by 0.32 seconds. Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) had to retire from race one with a clutch problem, while Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) scored seventh, also on an intermediate front.

Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda CBR1000RR) finished an agonised 13th, fighting back pain from a previous crash, and Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) crashed out of the race on the second lap.

Vermeulen was philosophical about the finality of losing the title in such a fashion, but was praised by all for his stance in declaring that the track was too risky to race on without an improvement in the weather.

“To be honest, I’m not too disappointed about the championship. It was always a long shot and, even if we’d managed to get some more points off Troy in race two, he would still go to Magny-Cours with a big lead,” said Vermeulen. “All I could do was win races and that’s been happening recently – I think that shows just how much we’ve developed the bike during the course of the season. I didn’t really want to stop the race but safety always has to be the most important thing. “

“Some parts of the track were especially dangerous, like coming out of the Variante Alta chicane where the track slopes away and it was underwater. Behind that - is a concrete wall, so it was the right decision. We’ll just go to Magny-Cours next weekend and try for two more wins. In race one, it was pretty tough and perhaps the intermediate front was not the wisest choice. But it helped me get past a few guys at the start and I was able to push relatively hard early on. But by mid race distance the track was dry and I really started to struggle. The last few laps got a bit hairy in places.”

Noriyuki Haga extended his run of podium finishes to eight in the day’s only race, and goes to the final venue of the season with a 27 point lead over last year’s champion James Toseland for third place in the title.

What proved to be the day’s only superbike race was an exciting affair as the field raced under wet weather rules but with an almost completely dry line around the track. Haga was involved in a thrilling battle for third place with team-mate Andrew Pitt, James Toseland (Ducati), Chris Walker (Kawasaki) and Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki), with Norick Abe just behind in seventh.

With all riders running on slick tyres, conditions proved tricky with Kagayama, Pitt and lastly Abe crashing after running off the dry line. British riders Toseland and Walker both lost time, allowing Haga to take a well earned third position, eight seconds behind winner Chris Vermeulen (Honda), who narrowly held off Troy Corser (Suzuki).

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