By Glenn Le Santo

Ruben Xaus made history in World Superbike competition at Oschersleben today by winning race two. No Spaniard has ever won a race in the series’ 14-year history. The win was also enough to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship for Ducati; the Italian company has won the title 10 times.

Xaus rode a faultless race, overhauling holeshot man Colin Edwards to deny the reigning World Champion a double win. Xaus’ teammate Troy Bayliss finished third, ahead of yet another Ducati, ridden by American Ben Bostrom.

It was another poor race for pole-sitter Neil Hodgson, who could only manage 10th. Troy Corser also had a tough race–he was suffering from the effects of a high-speed spill in free practice prior to Superpole and finished 11th. The crash, which happened on the fastest curve of the circuit, left Corser with severe bruising to his shoulder and ankle. He struggled to even get on the bike in the morning warm-up so it’s no surprise that he also struggled in the race. Corser finished 11th.

Edwards acknowledged the help given to him by Akira Yanagawa in race one: “I’d like to thank Akira for holding everyone up in race one and letting me get away,” Edwards joked.

Xaus was obviously overjoyed to be the first-ever Spaniard to record a World Superbike victory. “This is a fantastic feeling,” said Xaus. “In Spain everyone goes to GPs, the money also goes to GPs, so for me to do World Superbike has been very hard. But I love four-strokes so I only wanted to do WSB. Now I am glad to have won and I hope it helps the profile of Superbikes in Spain.” Xaus also revealed that there was more than just the image of WSB riding on his win this weekend: “Ducati said to me to win or to go home, so I won!”

Troy Bayliss finished third, keeping the title wide open. “We didn’t have time to get the perfect set-up, so I was glad to finish third. I am satisfied with third, in the circumstances, it’s better than pushing too hard when things are not right and falling off,” Bayliss said.

Race two
1. Ruben Xaus, Spain, Ducati, 41:17.957
2. Colin Edwards, USA, Honda, 41:27.895
3. Troy Bayliss, Australia, Ducati, 41:32.864
4. Ben Bostrom, USA, Ducati, 41:35.527
5. Regis Laconi, France, Aprilia, 41:47.268
6. Pierfrancesco Chili, Italy, Suzuki, 41:47.349
7. Gregorio Lavilla, Spain, Kawasaki, 41:47.564
8. Tadayuki Okada, Japan, Honda, 41:47.698
9. Akira Yanagawa, Japan, Kawasaki, 41:48.004
10. Neil Hodgson, Great Britain, Ducati, 41:50.778

Superbike World Championship points
1. Bayliss, 319
2. Edwards, 295
3. Bostrom, 276
4. Troy Corser, Australia, Aprilia, 238
5. Hodgson, 232
6. Chili, 199
7. Yanagawa, 152
8. Xaus, 151
9. Okada, 137
10. Lavilla, 136

Manufacturers’ points:
1. Ducati 458 (World Champions 2001)
2. Honda 347
3. Aprilia 272
4. Kawasaki 252
5. Suzuki 215
6. Yamaha 28
7. Benelli 4

Next round: Assen, Holland – September 9

From a Superside press release:

The Superside pendulum swung back in the favour of Klaus Klaffenbock today in a dramatic German round at Oschersleben.

This hot action of the Superside race was seen by a record crowd at Oschersleben, with more than 70,000 fans in attendance.

The Austrian driver and his passenger Christian Parzer regained the Sidecar World Championship advantage when reigning champion Steve Webster retired when the motor tightened up with bottom end trouble with nine laps remaining.

That allowed Klaffenbock, who had suffered a traumatic weekend, to storm through to pick up the 25 points and take that lead into the final two rounds.

Klaffenbock said, “This weekend has been unbelievable. We blew up four engines and changed the last one with 20 minutes to go before the start of the race and only finished it with five minutes to go.

“We were not the fastest on the track – but we were the luckiest. Our mechanics worked all through Friday night and did a fantastic job.”

Webster’s fate also pushed Jorg Steinhausen into second place. But he was unable to hang on to that result as, after running wide, passenger Trevor Hopkinson was thrown out of the sidecar.

Despite a recently broken ankle, he tried to run after his driver, who was unaware of what had happened.

That allowed Steve Abbott and Jamie Biggs to come through into second place and they closed the gap on Klaffenbock to just 0.360 seconds in an exciting finish.

Abbott said, “For somebody to lose their rider is unfortunate but that’s how racing goes. Early on the engine was getting warm so I decided to have a breather and have a go at the end.”

Third place – and their first podium finish – went to Tom Hanks and Jamie Biggs’ brother, Phil.

Phil Biggs said, “I have always dreamed about being on the podium with our Jamie and now it has happened.”

Tom Hanks added, “I have been waiting for them to drop out one by one. I wanted our first podium at Brands but I’ll take it here. I’m over the moon.”

Ian Guy and Andy Peach had a lonely race for fourth with the rear tyre going off in the early stages of the race. The machine was sliding around dramatically, causing Andy to pull a muscle in his right arm.

The Van Gils duo came fifth after a clash with Muldoon and Crone, which saw the Scottish pairing crash out of the race at the Hasseroder hairpin.

Eight-time Isle of Man TT winner, Rob Fisher and Rick Long were going well until the breather hose fell off, causing oil to leak onto his braking foot. He will be back as a wild card at the final round at Imola.

Results:

1. Klaffenbock/Parzer 44:14.005
2. Abbot/Biggs +0.360
3. Hanks/Biggs +44.823
4. Guy/Peach 1 Webster/Woodhead +1.25.738
5. Van Gils/Van Gils + one lap
6. Founds/Founds + one lap
7. Gottlich/Helbig + one lap
8. Roscher/Neubert + one lap
9. Steenbergen/Buyze + one lap
10. Eilers/Kolloch + two laps

Championship standings after seven rounds:

1. Parzer/Klaffenbock 120pts
2. Woodhead/Webster 95
3. Hopkinson/Steinhausen 75
4. Biggs/Abbott 73
5. Biggs/Hanks 61
6. Peach/Guy 53
7. Crone/Muldoon 52
8. Locher/Liechti 52
9. Hanni/Hauzenberger 44
10. Wafler/Schroder 42

By Glenn Le Santo

Defending Superbike World Champion Colin Edwards took his Honda VTR/RC51 to a perfect win in the first race at Oschersleben, putting himself back into the battle for the Championship while points leader Troy Bayliss DNF with a mechanical problem.

Edwards took the lead at the first corner, piled on record lap after record lap to build a two-second cushion, then didn’t look back for the rest of the race. He was helped by Akira Yanagawa, who held up the pack of V-Twins chasing Edwards long enough for the Texan to make a clean break.

By the time Ruben Xaus got past Yanagawa on lap four, Edwards already had a two-second cushion. Xaus piled on the pressure, but Edwards remained ice-cool, controlled the race and took a valuable win.

Edwards’ win was made even sweeter when Bayliss, who had been charging down the leading duo, succumbed to clutch problems. Bayliss tried to nurse his machine to the finish for points, but was forced to pull into the pits on lap 18 of the 28-lap race.

Pole-sitter Neil Hodgson got a poor start on his Ducati, was way back in 10th by the first corner, didn’t seem able to recover and was eaten up by Pierfrancesco Chili. But around middle distance Hodgson got a second wind and managed to pull a few places back, passing a struggling Troy Corser to finish seventh. Chili stayed in front of Hodgson for a well-deserved sixth place as Corser dropped back to ninth. Ben Bostrom, who also had a poor start, carved his way up through the field to take a podium finish in third.

The win puts Edwards right back into contention for the title. “I’ve had really bad chattering problems all weekend,” admitted Edwards. “But we tried a new tire and it helped. Last night I lay in bed wondering how I could do two races, I have two severe cases of tennis elbow from the chatter! The chatter is still there but greatly reduced. I made a clean start to the race and managed to repeat what I did here last year. I kept a watch on my pit signals and could see Ruben was catching me so I had to dig a bit deeper. Troy retiring is unfortunate for him but it’s certainly put some life back into the Championship. But it does equal up the 25 points I lost in South Africa with a DNF.”

Ruben Xaus wasn’t sure he’d have the strength to finish the race, explaining “I was still awake at 3:30 a.m. this morning trying to get some sleep. But there were so many parties going on in the paddock, with very loud music playing that I just couldn’t sleep. But I am very glad to be here on the podium and I hope I can do it again in race two.”

Xaus has been in a race winning position in World Superbikes before, and then thrown it away by crashing. “I didn’t want to do the same as I did in Monza, so I pushed Edwards, but not too hard, because I could see he had a big enough gap to defend the race,” Xaus said.

Bostrom, having won five races on the trot, didn’t look at all happy with his podium place. “I didn’t get off the line well,” said Bostrom. “By the time I got into third there was nothing I could do, the other guys had gone. I was hoping for another win, but all the guys were riding incredible today. Tires were a problem, the track is really grippy and you can’t ride to conserve them, it’s all-out for lap-after-lap. There’s a real tire war going on out there and you just have to let the rear slide as the tires go off and load the front. But that makes it good for the spectators!”


First race result:
1. Colin Edwards, USA (Honda) 41:23.687
2. Ruben Xaus, Spain (Ducati) 41:27.042
3. Ben Bostrom, USA (Ducati) 41:38.999
4. Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 41:41.402
5. Tady Okada, Japan (Honda) 41:45.105
6. Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 41:45.380
7. Neil Hodgson, GB (Ducati) 41:46.758
8. Regis Laconi, France (Aprilia) 41:48.421
9. Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 41:52.305
10. James Toseland, GB (Ducati) 41:53.751

Championship points:
Bayliss, 303
Edwards, 275
Bostrom, 263
Corser, 233
Hodgson, 266

Fabien Foret rode his Team Ten Kate Honda CBR600F4i to victory in the World Supersport race at Oschersleben, beating teammate Pere Riba by 0.442-second.

Jorg Teuchert, the points leader coming into this race, collided with another rider and crashed out, and is now third in points behind Paolo Casoli and Andrew Pitt.

Results follow:

1. Fabien Foret, France, Honda
2. Pere Riba, Spain, Honda, -0.442 second
3. Andrew Pitt, Australia, Kawasaki, -0.539
4. Paolo Casoli, Italy, Yamaha, -0.982
5. Jamie Whitham, Great Britain, Yamaha, -1.288
6. Christian Kellner, Germany, Yamaha, -2.218
7. Fabrizio Pirovano, Italy, Suzuki, -2.353
8. Karl Muggeridge, Australia, Suzuki, -2.723
9. Christophe Cogan, France, Yamaha, -8.103
10. Adam Fergusson, Australia, Honda, -12.086

Championship points:
1. Casoli, 122 points
2. Pitt, 116
3. Teuchert, 113
4. Kevin Curtain, 90
5. Riba, 83

Officials cancelled the WERA National Challenge Series event at Memphis Motorsports Park this morning after new showers moved in and halted practice.

The first practice session of the day was red-flagged when Scott Brown crashed his GSX-R1000 entering turn one, the crashed bike laying down a stripe of oil.

Riders had to deal with seeping water in turn one and puddles on the rubber-coated drag strip immediately after exiting the final turn of the road course. Mark Junge reported problems with spinning up the rear tire of his GSX-R600 on the dragstrip and Chris Ulrich said his GSX-R1000 was spinning the tire through two gears coming onto the front straightaway.

But the restarted first practice session–for machines 600cc and over–and the subsequent session for machines under 600cc plus SV650 Twins–went off without further incident.

The decision to cancel the race day completely came just before 10:00 a.m. Central Daytlight Time when showers caused the second big-bike practice to be red-flagged.

By Glenn Le Santo

A short rain shower at Oschersleben ruined the exciting spectacle of World Superbike Superpole this afternoon. After only four riders had completed their flying Superpole laps when the skies opened and a short, but heavy rain shower brought the red flag out. Superpole was then declared wet, meaning that the Superpole qualifiers all had a further 50 minutes to complete a maximum of 12 laps after the restart.

Despite the session being declared wet, by the time the riders got back out on the track the rain had stopped and the track was completely dry. A cat-and-mouse battle ensued with several riders enjoying provisional pole, including Ruben Xaus, Neil Hodgson and Troy Corser. In the end, with only a few minutes left on the clock, British rider Hodgson clinched the pole, deposing Corser from top spot.

It will be the fourth time this season that Hodgson lines up on pole on his GSE Ducati. Ruben Xaus now lines up third behind Hodgson and Corser. Reigning Superbike World Champion Colin Edwards finished the session in fourth, with on-form Ben Bostrom fifth in front of Championship points leader Troy Bayliss. Regis Laconi and Akira Yanagawa complete the second row.

Corser suffered bad bruising to his ankle in a crash in free practice prior to Superpole and was forced to ride Superpole in considerable discomfort.

Superpole best times:

1. Neil Hodgson, Great Britain, Ducati, 1:27.325
2. Troy Corser, Australia, Aprilia, 1:27.442
3. Ruben Xaus, Spain, Ducati, 1:27.480
4. Colin Edwards, USA, Honda, 1:27.738
5. Ben Bostrom, USA, Ducati, 1:27.808
6. Troy Bayliss, Australia, Ducati, 1:27.844
7. Regis Laconi, France, Aprilia, 1:28.074
8. Akira Yanagawa, Japan, Kawasaki, 1:28.266
9. James Toseland, Great Britain, Ducati, 1:28.512
10. Tadayuki Okada, Japan, Honda, 1:28.517

By Glenn Le Santo

Italian youngster Walter Tortoroglio heads the grid on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 for Sunday’s European Superstock race at Oschersleben after qualifying just 0.032-second ahead of surprise second-place man Andi Notman from England.

Notman, the Redwood Racing-sponsored youngster who swapped mid-season from Aprilia to Suzuki, has had some help from the Wilbers suspension people in Oschersleben. It seems to have paid dividends with Notman qualifying for his first-ever front-row grid position in the series.

Marty Nutt lines up third on the grid on his Suzuki with the Aprilia of Spaniard Danny Oliver alongside him in fourth. Oliver’s form has been impressive this season, he was the first non-Suzuki rider to win in the series this season, with a brilliant victory in Misano.

Title leader James Ellison, also Suzuki, missed the front row and qualified fifth. Brands Hatch winner Mark Heckles just made it onto the second row on his Honda Fireblade.

European Superstock
Final qualifying
September 1

1. Walter Tortoroglio, Italy, Suzuki, 1:32.414
2. Andi Notman, Great Britain, Suzuki, 1:32.446
3. Marty Nutt, Great Britain, Suzuki, 1:32.640
4. Daniel Oliver, Spain, Aprilia, 1:32.686
5. James Ellison, Great Britain, Suzuki, 1:32.756
6. M. Wegscheider, Italy, Suzuki, 1:32.813
7. O. Four, France, Suzuki, 1:32.854
8. Mark Heckles, Great Britain, Honda, 1:32.918
9. B. Jerzenbeck, Germany, Suzuki, 1:32.921
10. G. Vizziello, Italy, Yamaha, 1:33.264

By Glenn Le Santo

Ben Bostrom, winner of the last five World Superbike races on the trot, ‘woke up’ to snatch the provisional pole position in the final qualifying session at Oschersleben today. The Californian, who has admitted that he isn’t a ‘morning’ person, said, “I wake up around mid-day and get going.” Bostrom put in the fastest lap moments before the end of the session. Fellow Ducati rider Ruben Xaus also hauled himself up the ranking into third on the same lap. Troy Corser, who had led qualifying from the start of the first session, slipped back to second.

Neil Hodgson briefly held provisional pole after catapulting himself up the table, but the fast laps by Bostrom and Xaus pushed him back into fourth. Troy Bayliss was fifth-fastest ahead of Colin Edwards.

Final grid positions will be determined by Superpole this afternoon.

Fastest Qualifiers And Superpole Participants:

1. Ben Bostrom, USA, Ducati, 1:27.610
2. Troy Corser, Australia, Aprilia, 1:27.656
3. Ruben Xaus, Spain, Ducati, 1:27.690
4. Neil Hodgson, Great Britain, Ducati, 1:27.827
5. Troy Bayliss, Australia, Ducati, 1:28.146
6. Colin Edwards, USA, Honda, 1:28.151
7. Tadayuki Okada, Japan, Honda, 1:28.493
8. James Toseland, Great Britain, Ducati, 1:28.519
9. Regis Laconi, France, Aprilia, 1:28.521
10. Steve Martin, Australia, Ducati, 1:28.627
11. Pierfrancesco Chili, Italy, Suzuki, 1:28.824
12. Stephan Chambon, France, Suzuki, 1:28.900
13. Gregorio Lavilla, Spain, Kawasaki, 1:28.923
14. Akira Yanagawa, Japan, Kawasaki, 1:28.923
15. Robert Ulm, Austria, Ducati, 1:28.942
16. G. Bussei, Italy, Ducati, 1:29.212

By Glenn Le Santo

Fabien Foret carved his way through the traffic in the dying moments of the final qualifying session to grab the pole position in tomorrow’s World Superpole race at Oschersleben, Germany. Foret’s Ten Kate Honda teammate Pere Riba got caught in traffic and finished the session in third.

“My first two splits on my fast lap were quicker than Foret’s, but I got held up in the last section and it ruined my time,” explained Riba. “But I am happy with the front-row start and my bike is working very well so I am confident for the race.”

Adam Fergusson’s time of 1:30.894, set on Friday, was enough to keep him up in second on the grid. He crashed heavily, without injury, early in Saturday’s final qualifying session and was
forced to finish qualifying on his number two bike.

“I am very happy with pole,” said Foret. “I didn’t know I had made pole after the lap, I had my laptimer switched off and I got caught behind another rider in the chicane so I didn’t think I had made such a fast lap.”

Foret’s time was indeed fast, at 1:30.620.

Kawasaki’s Andrew Pitt completes up the front row. Championship leader Jorge Teuchert qualified seventh on his Yamaha.

The session had been interrupted by a five-bike crash. Chris Vermeulen was first to go down, apparently on oil, although later the officials said they had been unable to find any traces of oil. But as four more bikes followed Vermeulen’s Honda into the gravel immediately after his crash, all at the same spot, it seems there must have been some substance on the circuit causing the riders to go down! No one was injured in the incident.

Final World Supersport qualifying times:

1. Fabien Foret, France, Honda, 1:30.620
2. Adam Fergusson, Australia, Honda, 1:30.894
3. Pere Riba, Spain, Honda, 1:30.907
4. Andrew Pitt, Australia, Kawasaki, 1:30.947
5. Christian Kellner, Germany, Yamaha, 1:30.995
6. Michael Shulten, Germany, Yamaha, 1:31.018
7. Jorg Teuchert, Germany, Yamaha, 1:31.038
8. Christophe Cogan, France, Yamaha, 1:31.094
9. Karl Muggeridge, Australia, Suzuki, 1:31.099
10. Paolo Casoli, Italy, Yamaha, 1:31.130