BSB Donington: GSE Yams Tops on Chaotic Day

The GSE Yamaha riders shared the victories at Donington Park in the British Superbike Championship, but it was a day of controversy.

On the way to the grid for race one, HM Plant Honda's number 2 Aussie Josh Brookes crashed into Worx Suzuki star Sylvain Guintoli at the Melbourne Loop.  Guintoli, who has starred in BSB this year and was one of the title favourites, was carted off with a badly broken leg, both tibia and fibula being fractured. Brookes protested his innocence, claiming brake failure. However, analysis of the data showed that the brakes had not failed. While Guintoli had been trundling round to the grid, Brookes had been at virtually full race pace. He grabbed the brakes, then started to pump them, then hit the hapless Frenchman.

Clearly, Brookes made an honest mistake. He would not have pumped the brakes if he thought they were working properly. I'd imagine that the major speed difference between himself and Guinters tricked his senses into thinking he wasn't slowing down at all, along with the cold brakes giving poor feedback through the lever, so he tried to pump the brakes up and meanwhile torpedoed the Suzuki.

The stewards seem to have taken the view that it was Brookesy's fault, but an honest error, as they have given him a one race ban, suspended for three races. Interviewed on TV before the stewards' decision, the Aussie was gutted, revealing that a similar thing had happened to him while racing Down Under. It's just a shame that a relatively small error has led to Guintoli being out for a couple of months.

Race 1 saw Leon Camier on the GSE Airwaves Yamaha make a poor start, but fight through to a fairly straightforward victory. It was a great race, with loads of passing for position. In the end, Camier's team-mate James Ellison secured 2nd place, with young Scotsman Stuart Easton grabbing 3rd.

Race 2 wasn't so great for Camier. The lanky Englishman's bike conked out at the Melbourne Loop. He managed to restart pretty much dead last, and massacred the slower riders to finish 12th. His team-mate, ex-MotoGP rider James Ellison took his first BSB win, and it was a pretty dominant one, albeit with Camier and Guintoli out of the picture. This time, Easton took 2nd on the Hydrex Honda, with Chris Walker 3rd on the Rob Mac Yamaha.

Leon Camier now holds a big lead in the championship, with 117 points to Ellison's 89. The human giraffe looks a stick-on for the title, so long as he stays in one piece. The only question is whether he'll stay in BSB next year or bag a decent WSBK ride!

All in all it was a great day's racing, but overshadowed by Guintoli's injury. Get well soon, Sylvain.

BSB Brands Indy: Wins for Guintoli and Camier

The British Superbike Championship season kicked off at the short Brands Hatch Indy circuit, with the wins shared between Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli and Englishman Leon Camier.

Guintoli is the sole rider for Worx Crescent Suzuki this year, and as an ex-MotoGP rider all eyes were on him to deliver a good performance. He got the race meeting off to a perfect start by taking pole position on his first visit to the track. HM Plant Honda's new Aussie rider Josh Brookes was unluckiest of all, denied entry to the UK by a pencil pusher who was heroically defending our borders from world-class motorcycle racers who have travelled the world for years without claiming asylum anywhere. Brookes was replaced at Brands by veteran Steve Plater, who would have to race in both the Superbike and Supersport classes.

Race One
Scotsman Stuart Easton took the lead on his Hydrex Honda as the field streamed into Paddock Hill bend for the first time. Behind him, his team mate Karl Harris was battling with Steve Plater, with HM Plant's legal Aussie Glen Richards 4th ahead of Guintoli and Airwaves Yamaha's Leon Camier.

The safety car soon appeared after a high speed crash at Clearways left Matt Bond lying in the track. He was badly battered but basically OK.

When the race restarted, Easton kept his lead, but Glen Richards passed his team mate Plater. A lap later, Richards pounced to take the lead, and Sylvain Guintoli was closing rapidly on Plater. Karl Harris was the first of the leaders to make a big mistake, sliding off the track and out of the race. Steve Plater was relishing the unexpected opportunity to race a superbike, and he overtook Easton on lap 11 to make it an HM Plant Honda one-two at the front. However, Guintoli and Camier were now breathing down Stuart Easton's neck as he tried to hold third place.

Steve Plater took the lead from Richards, totally ignoring the concept of a team pecking order in true wildcard style. With the laps clicking down at a crazy rate due to the very short 47 second lap time, the front group was turning into a five bike squabble. Guintoli was soon up to second, with Camier taking third. Then on lap 16 chaos suddenly reigned at Druids hairpin. Steve Plater fell off all on his own, and almost simultaneously just a few bike lengths behind him, Leon Camier ran off the track while battling with Richards.

There was now a lead group of three, with Guintoli leading from Richards and Easton, then a long gap back to Airwaves Yamaha's James Ellison in 4th. Ellison, another ex-MotoGP rider, lost out to his team-mate Camier with just over a lap to go.

Sylvain Guintoli's Suzuki squirmed around as he led the field round Clearways for the last time to take the chequered flag. It was a brilliant performance from the popular Frenchman as he won his first ever BSB race. Glen Richards took a decent second place, while Stuart Easton took an impressive podium finish, having raced on his spare bike and suffered tyre problems. Leon Camier was 4th, ahead of Ellison and Gary Mason, who was the first Cup class rider home on the Quay Garage Honda.

To read about race two, read my full report of the British Superbike Championship's Brands Hatch Indy meeting at Motorbikesport.com

WSBK Silliness: Shakey and Spies, But No Sylvain

The latest update on the World Superbike Silly Season is that the series will have Shakey Byrne and Ben Spies, but will sadly be sans Sylvain Guintoli.

This year's British Superbike champion Shane "Shakey" Byrne has officially signed for Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati in WSBK next year. That should satisfy his desire to remain on a Ducati 1098R but move to the World championship, and I'll be expecting him to go very very quickly. Of course, he doesn't know all the tracks, but he knows a few of them from his MotoGP days.

Ben Spies has signed to partner Tom "Grinner" Sykes at the Yamaha Italia squad in WSBK. It's a bit strange for Yamaha to have two young rookies who don't know most of the tracks. Sykes knows Brands Hatch and Donington well, while Spies will know Miller Motorsports Park in the USA, and he's been round Donington too. Of course, Spies would have known a bit about Assen but he controversially refused to replace the injured Loris Capirossi in the MotoGP round there, an incident that may have helped seal his snub from Suzuki. Anyway, both these kids are extremely quick. The funniest thing about it may well be the first time that Sykesy beats Spies. We'll see how the Texan's ego copes with that.

Finally, according to a scoop in BikeSportNews, MotoGP reject Sylvain Guintoli will not move to WSBK on a Yamaha, but will actually move to British Superbikes to replace Tom Sykes on a Crescent Suzuki (currently Rizla Suzuki, but it's not known who will sponsor them next year). Sylvain is a really nice bloke, but there's no two ways around the fact that he's been outperformed on the Alice Ducati since Toni Elias got his groove back. Since the Frenchman lives in England, the BSB rounds will be much less of a commute than he's used to. He'll be looking to impress on a Superbike and score a switch to World Supers.