Race
1
Could 22 year-old Chris Vermeulen
pull off a championship win one year earlier than he
was aiming for? The boy has remarkable talent, storming
a 4 second lead win in race one.
The absolute highlight of the race was the last few
laps battle between team "mates" James Toseland
and Regis Laconi. Both want the championship desperately
so it was the type of scrap usually reserved for British
Superbike battles. They very nearly had eachother off
in corner 2 of the penultimate lap. Toseland won the
battle by inches. Will they be speaking to eachother
from now on? And will team boss Davide Tardozzi be knocking
their heads together?
Frankie Chili came in second, Steve Martin third and
Toseland got his fourth over Laconi.
Haga has had a nightmare 2
days. His superpole was ruined by being sent out on
a tyre on about 300psi! So he was back in 16th place.
To make matters worse he stalled the bike on the start
for the warmup lap and ended up having to start from
pit lane. Amazingly he scraped his way up the field
to gain 6th place - and incredible feat at a circuit
which is so hard for overtaking manoevres.
Race 2
Vermeulen did it again, though not such a gap this time
as Toseland and the Ozzie shook all other contenders
off and Toseland was snapping at the leader's heels
for the latter part of the race. A double win for Ten
Kate Honda after having their first ever win only in
the last race. Chris is only the 3rd double race winner
at Laguna Seca in 10 years of World Superbikes.
Again the most nail biting battle was behind - this
time for 3rd place between Haga and Laconi. Excellent
sparring ending with Laconi the victor and getting onto
the podium.
Results:
Race 1 -
1. Vermeulen
2 . Chili
3 .Martin
4. Toseland
5. Laconi
6. Haga
7. McCoy
8. Sanchini
9. Haslam
10. Corser
Race 2 -
1. Vermeulen
2. Toseland
3. Laconi
4. Haga
5. Chili
6 . Martin
7. McCoy
8. Borciani
9. Sanchini
10. Clementi
Championship Standings:
1. Toseland 201
2. Laconi 198
3 .Vermeulen 187
4. Haga 162
5. Chili 160
6 . McCoy 146
7. Haslam 120
8. Martin 119
9. Corser 101
10. Borciani 94
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