WSBK: Toseland Takes Title!

James Toseland is World Superbike Champion, after doing just enough at the final round in Magny Cours. Noriyuki Haga did all he could to take the title by romping to a double victory on his Santander Yamaha, but finished the season just 2 points behind Toseland.

The racing was typical of Magny Cours, with most riders embarking on a course of sheer lunacy in a bid to impress team bosses hiring for next year. The last race of the season is also known as the best time to end up in hospital, as you have several months to recover.

Toseland had been on pole position, but race one was a nightmare as he was taken off at turn one. Lorenzo Lanzi, keen for a good showing after being rubbish at Xerox Ducati all year, made a good start and went round Toseland, throwing his bike into turn one and clipping the Englishman's front wheel. Lanzi spectacularly highsided out of the race and into the medical centre, while Toseland had to sit the bike up and cling on for grim life as he careered through the gravel trap at high speed. He returned to the track dead last, but managed to latch onto Max Biaggi, who had been forced well wide at turn one too. The Roman Emperor's title hopes were effectively over, but he battled back to 6th, with Toseland finishing behind him in 7th.

Haga had ridden a flawless race for the victory. Behind him, Troys Bayliss and Corser took the other podium spots ahead of an impressive Max Neukirchner.

The title battle now rested on race two, and it was between Haga and Toseland. All the Japanese rider could do was win the race and hope his rival finished 9th or worse.

This time, Toseland managed to get round turn one without visiting the crunchy brown stuff, but it was again Haga who took off into the lead, and he was too quick for the following pack. He maintained his lead for the whole race without being too troubled by anyone else.

The racing behind him was all knees and elbows, with some outrageous moves. Troy Corser isn't known as being the hardest racer out there, and he was battered and bruised by various and sundry lunatics. Max Biaggi and Kawasaki rider Fonsi Nieto each had a big chomp out of the Australian Santander Yamaha rider, and it was all Corser could do to keep hold of his machine under these brutal assaults. Nieto seemed especially keen to make up for a deeply mediocre season, and somehow managed to finish on the podium, begging the question as to why the hell he hasn't ridden this quickly all year. Biaggi was pleased with another podium, finishing 3rd in the championship in his debut season. Should the Roman Emperor find somebody to meet his enormous wage demands for next year, he would surely be a challenger for the title now that he knows the bike and the circuits.

Troy Bayliss could only finish 5th, one place ahead of Toseland. The Aussie had cheekily claimed in an interview that Toseland had probably learned a thing or two from him, helping the Englishman become a champion. With everybody expecting next year's Ducati 1098R to be a 1200cc rocketship, he will be looking to carry on this year's excellent form to another title.

Haga missed out on the title by just 2 points. It has to be said that the Yamaha at the start of the year wasn't a great bike. It showed enormous potential, but was down on power and had the same love for eating tyres as Cookie Monster has for cookies. However, Yamaha Italia have developed it into an outstanding race machine, thanks in part to Haga, and probably in large part to Troy Corser, who is well known as an excellent development rider. If the Yamaha had managed to care for its tyres in the early part of the season, Haga could have another 20 points, never mind 2. Even so, Yamaha won the constructors' championship, which goes to show how good the bike became and how good the two riders were.

Toseland is World Champion. Last time he won the championship with Ducati, he sneaked it from his team-mate Regis Laconi in the last race. This time, Toseland has been front-runner all year, and his total of 8 wins to Haga's 7 show that ultimately, this championship was richly deserved. It is easy to claim that Toseland went off the boil, but it was his title to lose, while Haga had everything to gain, so the Englishman was never going to win it or bin it. Toseland will now go to MotoGP with Tech 3 Yamaha as reigning WSBK champion as team-mate to Colin Edwards, himself a double WSBK champion with Honda.

It is an incredible achievement for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda. They have been World Supersport champions for several years, and now they have added the World Superbike championship to their trophy cabinet back in Holland. They lose Toseland, but they will have an all-new 3-rider dream team for 2008 with current WSS champion Kenan Sofuoglu, probable BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari and MotoGP veteran Carlos Checa to help develop the 2008 Fireblade.

A great year for World Superbikes. Fantastic racing throughout the season and a championship that went right down to the wire were in stark contrast to MotoGP, which is all at sea. WSBK is going from strength to strength. The arrival of the controversial new 1200cc Ducati next year will be exciting, and the long term looks secure with the arrival of BMW in 2009. A new sponsorship deal has been inked to replace Corona Extra. Championship-winning sponsors Hannspree will now be title sponsors of the World Superbike Championship, safeguarding the series until 2010. Long live WSBK!

WSBK: Toseland Does Double At Brands

James Toseland took his first ever double victory in World Superbike at Brands Hatch, a track where he had only won once before in a Supersport race 10 years ago. (As an over-excited 16 year old, he celebrated with an enormous wheelie, flipped the bike over backwards, fell off and was fined by the stewards when the upside down bike spewed oil onto the track.)

In Race One, polesitter Troy Bayliss looked to have jumped the start. The early laps were extremely aggressive, with first Toseland then Haga slamming into Bayliss as they passed him. Bayliss was riding erratically, and finally fell off under braking. He later admitted that he was flustered because he was just waiting to be shown the black flag for the jump start.
After that, the race settled down somewhat, with Toseland at the front looking utterly determined to win in front of his home crowd, which some claimed to be 126,000, though one journalist says this is blatantly ludicrous and put the figure closer to 50,000.
The Englishman's Ten Kate Honda was being closely followed by Nori Haga and Troy Corser's Yamaha Italia bikes.
Max Biaggi had never seen Brands Hatch before, and declared it to be the hardest racetrack he had ever ridden on with its hills and blind corners. Nobody expected much from the Roman Emperor as Brands is a notoriously difficult track to learn, however Max completed an incredible 61 laps in practise - more than 2 race distances, and he grew quicker and quicker as the weekend went on. The Roman was stuck behind two of WSBK's great psychopaths: Yukio Kagayama on his sister Corona Suzuki and Ruben Xaus on the Sterilgada Ducati. Both of them were as magnificently dangerous-looking as ever, sliding around everywhere, but Max put a forceful move on his team mate and passed Xaus when the Spaniard seemingly missed a gear.
Up front, Toseland was gradually pulling away and Haga had no answer, eventually pushing too hard and running off the track to lose 2nd place to Corser, promoting Biaggi to 3rd. The top 3 were too widely spaced to worry about each other too much, and they finished in that order. Kagayama pushed too hard trying to keep up with Max and had a massive crash that left him battered and bruised but basically OK.
Toseland, Corser and Biaggi were all delighted with their races as they climbed onto the podium.

Race Two saw Max Biaggi, one of the best starters in WSBK, get too eager and jump the start, for which he served the mandatory ride-through penalty. The Roman would carve back through the field, lapping at around the same pace as the leaders. He slammed Neukirchner out of the way then blazed past Laconi on a straight to snatch 8th place, just a fraction behind Troy Bayliss.
With Biaggi out of the way, the battle at the front was again between Toseland, Haga and Corser. This time, Toseland was even more determined, and had a prolonged fight with the Japanese rider until a few laps from the end when he passed the Yamaha. Haga simply couldn't keep up, and started to suffer tyre problems. Corser was clearly quicker than his team mate and could have passed him for another 2nd place, but sensibly decided to stay out of the championship battle and settle for 3rd.
Behind them, Michel Fabrizio continued his unpredictable form by taking 4th place, to go with the 5th he took in race one. With his excellent performance at Brno, the young Italian is in danger of becoming consistent, but that will probably change next time out.
Toseland was overjoyed at taking his first double victory at Brands, and celebrated by stripping off and throwing his gloves, boots, helmet and leathers into the crowd in the manner of WSBK legend Frankie Chili.
Toseland then ran back to the podium half-naked (prompting guest TV commentator Neil Hodgson to claim that Toseland's pectoral muscles are really breast implants) but appeared on the podium in a spare set of leathers.

In the championship, Toseland now has a commanding lead of 66 points over Haga, who has Biaggi just 3 points behind him. Bayliss is 28 points further back, with his title challenge seemingly over due to bad performances in the last 4 races. Barring accidents or alien abduction, Toseland looks certain to be World Superbike champion when he moves to MotoGP next year.

WSBK: Toseland and Max Share Spoils at Brno

Qualifying for the World Superbike meeting at Brno in the Czech Republic saw Max Biaggi break the lap record, only for Nori Haga to destroy even Biaggi's time with the first ever sub-2 minute lap of Brno on a superbike.
This track is very much Biaggi territory, as he came to the meeting with 7 wins under his belt in 250GP, 500GP and MotoGP, by far the best record of any WSBK runner. If he wanted to add to this tally, he would have to do battle with polesitter Nori Haga, 2006 racewinner Yukio Kagayama and championship leader James Toseland.

Race One saw Biaggi make his usual excellent start on his Corona Suzuki, but he managed to keep up the pace through the opening laps rather than dropping back as he has tended to do this season. A group of four quickly formed at the front, with Toseland's Ten Kate Honda starting to break away at the front, followed by a dogfight between Yamaha rider Haga and Biaggi, with his Suzuki team-mate Kagayama managing to cling on in 4th.
There is no love lost between Nori Haga and Max Biaggi. Last time out at Misano, Max made an optimistic move on Nori that left them both in the gravel trap. The Roman Emperor then enraged his Japanese opponent by refusing to apologize, claiming that he was only 65% responsible for the crash (about 35% less than most observers would say). To a Japanese racer like Nori, crashes are disappointing but the refusal to offer even an unconvincing apology causes grave personal offence. If Haga was Texan, he would surely challenge Max to a duel.
At first, Toseland stretched out a convincing lead, but Max got the better of Haga and set off in pursuit. Biaggi managed to take the lead, and Toseland seemed to be in trouble as he dropped to 4th, then proved he was in no trouble at all as he fought right back to the front when Max ran wide.
Kagayama wasn't giving up on his hopes yet, and made a banzai manoeuvre to slam his bike in front of a clearly unimpressed Haga, who tried to fight back but was suffering tyre problems and dropping off the pace.
On the last lap, Kagayama was in a safe 3rd while Biaggi and Toseland were battling for the win. The Englishman was trying very hard and looking a little ragged, and when he ran off the edge of the track he kicked up a shower of dust and gravel into the Roman's bike. Max visibly flinched as a stone shattered his screen and slammed into his left hand. It was nothing too serious (after the race, Max showed us a bleeding finger), but it might just have distracted him enough to stop a last-ditch pass, and he followed Toseland across the line.
It was a valuable win for Toseland, who increased his championship lead. His rival Troy Bayliss had an awful race, with the Ducati unsuited to this track. He was well down the field when he was hit by Karl Muggeridge's bike. "Muggas" had fallen off was already sliding several yards behind his machine by the time it hit the Ducati. Bayliss didn't seem at all bothered, and later revealed that he had thanked Karl for ending such a miserable race!
Max took his 11th Brno podium with an excellent performance, while his team-mate Kagayama was back on form after spending most of the year falling off and hurting himself.

Race Two started in bizarre fashion as light rain caused the race to be delayed and declared a wet race, only for the clouds to pass and the conditions to remain perfectly dry.
Lorenzo Lanzi made a great start and briefly led before the Ducati inevitably dropped back after a few corners. The two Yamahas of Haga and Corser were leading from Toseland when Corser suffered yet another mechanical failure and dropped out. Biaggi in 3rd place was staying in touch.
Haga looked like he might be able to stay in front this time, but his arch-enemy Max Biaggi was ominously moving forward, first past Toseland then past the Japanese rider into the lead, where he was relatively safe from flying rocks (unless there were any Valentino Rossi fans in the crowd...)
Haga then lost out to the battling Toseland, and then lost his podium place to Michel Fabrizio's DFX Honda. Fabrizio is one of the more infuriating riders in World Superbike, who is highly rated by many, seemingly for his ability to race well at Brno despite being embarrassingly rubbish everywhere else. He kept up this record to grab 3rd.
Up front, Biaggi crossed the line to take his 8th Brno win in all classes, and his second World Superbike victory of the season.
Toseland had to settle for 2nd place, giving him a championship lead of 43 points ahead of Biaggi, who sits just 2 points in front of his pal Haga.
Next time out, Brands Hatch.

WSBK Assen: Young Buck and Old Fox Share Spoils

James Toseland and Troy Bayliss took a win each in the World Superbike meeting at Assen yesterday.
Toseland had put his Ten Kate Honda on pole position with a scintillating superpole lap. He won race 1 after an epic battle with Nori Haga and Ruben Xaus. Haga had nearly fallen off on his superpole lap, his fairing audibly scraping along the ground, and had started from 15th on the grid. The little Japanese had scythed through the field, taking no prisoners, leading the race after just a few laps.
The resurgent Ruben Xaus was on a roll after his victory at Valencia. His bike looked to have similar horsepower to the factory Ducatis, leading to speculation that his team had managed to get hold of a few trick engine parts. The chaotic Catalan was on typically spectacular form, with brilliant overtaking manoeuvres aplenty. It was fantastic to see Xaus back at the pointy end of the race where he belongs.
Troy Bayliss spent much of the race battling with his team-mate Lanzi, who is improving but still doesn't look in any danger of winning a race. Troy Corser was also on great form, especially towards the end of the race. Corser was heading for a podium when his bike sprung a water leak, lubricated its own rear tyre and ejected the unfortunate Aussie over the high side at 120mph. This gifted 3rd to Xaus.
Toseland managed to sneak a few tenths ahead of Haga to take a home win for Ten Kate Honda.
Race two will be remembered for a long time, after producing an epic battle between Toseland and Bayliss.
Biaggi had taken the lead from 4th on the grid, but then charged backwards down the field, although not as badly as he had in race 1. The usual suspects were fighting at the front, with Toseland, Haga and Bayliss beating each other up as we expect three of the world's hardest racers to do.
Haga pulled off the track with some kind of technical failure, simply going straight off the track in a braking zone and parking the Yamaha.
The last two laps gave us some sensational racing between Toseland and Bayliss, with both pulling off audacious overtakes. Toseland was determined to take his first double victory, and Bayliss equally determined to grab his second win of the year.
The lead changed between the pair several times over the last two laps. Toseland seemed to have the advantage on the way into the final chicane, but he went very defensive, clearly expecting Bayliss to lunge up the inside. This badly compromised the young Englishman's path through the chicane, as he had to turn so tightly into the first part. However, Bayliss had taken a fast, uncompromised racing line through the chicane, blasting out onto the straight and sneaking past Toseland on the finish line. The Aussie took the victory by an incredible 0.009 of a second, just centimetres in front of Toseland.
Toseland was devastated, and looked like somebody had just burned his house down. Bayliss was a picture of delight. Having divested himself of his crash helmet, he rode back to parc ferme with an enormous grin that will surely be printed straight onto some Ducati publicity material.
Max Biaggi trailed in 3rd. It had been a terrible weekend for the Roman Emperor, who didn't look to have any speed whatsoever until an excellent superpole lap, and who had a terrible time in race 1. However, Max somehow salvaged the situation with a well deserved 3rd place, maintaining 2nd place in the championship.
Ruben Xaus showed he is back to his old self after hopping off the bike in race 2. Being Xaus, he gamely held onto the clutch, his lanky frame being dragged along behind the bike as it slid along the track on its side at 40mph. He remounted, only to hop off again trying to charge back through the field.
Toseland might not have taken the double, but he is opening up a gap at the top of the championship standings, and is favourite to take his second world title this year.
Bayliss showed that he still has it, as he has done so many times before. Still recovering from his finger amputation and cringeworthy crotch injury, the man is simply unstoppable, a true legend.

WSBK: Toseland and Haga Share Spoils At Donington

James Toseland leads the championship by 5 points from Max Biaggi after two eventful races of the World Superbike Championship at Donington.
Race One
Starting from pole, Troy Bayliss pulled away to lead from Toseland. However, Bayliss suffered a high-speed crash in the fast right-handers leading onto the back straight. Highsiding, then almost regaining control, the Aussie crashed back down onto his bike, landing on his family jewels, before falling off altogether at around 100mph. Apart from bruising his meat and two veg, Bayliss had badly damaged a finger on his right hand. He was taken to hospital for surgery to save the mangled digit, and did not start race 2.
Toseland rode a dominant race to the chequered flag, holding off Nori Haga. A late-charging Max Biaggi rounded out the podium places.
Race Two
With Bayliss absent, this looked like Toseland's race for the taking, but after a few laps his bike died on the exit of turn one. Haga narrowly avoided the coasting Englishman, who battered the tank of his Honda in frustration at the technical failure.
Now the two Yamahas of Haga and Corser were leading, with Biaggi on his Suzuki recovering well from his trademark sleepy opening laps to make it a three-way battle for the win.
These three had a decent race, swapping positions mainly in the heavy braking zones. Biaggi took the lead, but ran wide at the Melbourne Loop hairpin, letting Haga regain the lead. All three of the leaders were lapping at almost identical times, and none of them could pull out any kind of advantage when they led.
Biaggi took the lead again, but couldn't break away from the Yamahas. Again, he ran wide at the hairpin, but somehow managed to square off the corner and get the power down to retain his lead. The rejuvenated Troy Corser, who had made up most of the positions from his 2nd row starting spot in just one lap, dropped back a couple of bike lengths from his rivals on the last lap.
This was enough to turn it into a two-way battle. Biaggi looked quick, but he was concerned about the last hairpin onto the start/finish straight. The Roman Emperor had almost been passed by the Japanese on a previous lap, and this time he went in too hot, running a few feet wide.
This was enough for Haga to sneak past, pushing Max wide and taking the victory by a tenth of a second. Corser could only watch the fight in front of him as he finished 3rd.
Behind them, the certifiable Catalan Ruben Xaus put in a great race to finish 4th, despite a terrifying moment when he clipped Regis Laconi's rear Pirelli at around 90mph, recovering to run wide instead of visiting the gravel trap.
Max Biaggi was furious with himself as he crossed the line, slamming his fist into the tank, but he quickly calmed down, congratulating Nori Haga warmly on the slowdown lap and laughing with his crew on the way to the podium. The Roman has adapted brilliantly to WSBK, and without Valentino Rossi's mindgames to worry about, he has become a much more settled and smiling character.
Interestingly, Max's finishing positions in the first 6 races of the championship have been 1-2-3-4-3-2. Who'd bet against a win in the next race?
Overall
Toseland will be bitterly disappointed at losing a probable 25 points, but he still leads the championship with 115 points. However, Max Biaggi looks like he was born to race a Superbike, and he has closed to just 5 points behind the Buzz Lightyear impersonator, on 110. Next up in the championship standings are Haga and Corser on 88 and 81 points respectively.
Bayliss will be utterly miserable as what looked like a possible double-win from pole position has turned into a big, fat zero, and he has a nasty hand injury to recover from. He is in 6th place with 64 points. Already it looks like he can only retain the championship if his rivals have some terrible luck.