Sunday, October 3rd, 2004

They do say that it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. And the fat lady finally arrived on stage this afternoon for the final round of the 2004 World Superbike Championship. She'd had a shakey start, lost her way part of the way through the trip and been unable to find the dressing room. But eventually she got there - the warmup went well, the stage hands were professional and she arrived on stage dead on time.

Magny Cours is a relatively new addition to the Superbike calendar, being used in the beginning before falling out of favour and not reappearing until last year. Back in 1991, Doug Polen did the double on his factory Ducati. Last year Hodgson and Xaus took a win each on their factory Ducatis. So the likelihood of seeing a Ducati rider on the top step of the podium was pretty good this year, though young Chris Vermeulen has looked like upsetting the Italian applecart all season on his Honda.

Magny Cours is a very technical circuit - lots of elevation changes and very few real straights. There aren't many good overtaking spots and the continual curves, many taken at very high speed and at full or nearly full throttle, makes for a circuit that is hard on tyres as well as physically demanding. Not so good for the four cylinder riders, then, who would find themselves losing out on traction from slow corners as well as eating tyres. Chris Vermeulen was always going to suffer, battered and bruised as he was from last weekend's skydiving incident at Imola. And the Foggy Petronas bikes would perhaps have less of a disadvantage than usual as their good handling and softer power delivery could work well here.

On to Superpole, then, where Chris Vermeulen, running seventh after final qualifying, showed that the title fight was by no means with a blistering lap that put him way clear at the top of the table. Toseland had briefly held pole ahead of Laconi in second but Vermeulen was in a class of his own and seemingly unstoppable. Until, that is, the wily king of superpole came out and did his thing. Troy Corser took his 30th career superpole in style, almost exactly a third of a second faster than his young countryman. Then local hero and wildcard entry Sebastian Gimbert really spoiled things by running fourth fastest and pushing Laconi down to the second row. Next to Laconi and just eight thousandths of a second behind was Frankie Chili in perhaps his last Ducati ride, with Steve Martin a creditable sixth, working hard despite having been cruelly dropped by the Sterilgarda team for next season. An apparently out of form Haga was next, followed by his team-mate Leon Haslam with Chris Walker rounding out the top ten for a pretty reasonable day in the Foggy-Petronas camp.

Before we go to the race, one man deserves a special mention. Giovanni Bussei embodies the true spirit of superbike racing. Spotting the fallen Vermeulen at Imola, Bussei stopped and gave the Aussie a lift back to the pits and so gave him a chance to keep his title hopes alive. There was no need for him to do that - it was purely an act of selfless generosity - and it earned him, rightly, an award for extraordinary sportsmanship this weekend. It also, disgracefully, awarded him a ride through penalty at the Imola race last week, something we cannot understand.

Vermeulen's problem last week, by the way, was down to an oil leak that liberally coated his rear tyre and affected his grip somewhat. Vermeulen remains unique as the only person not to have fallen off through his own mistake all season.

Race One

Troy Corser made the most of his pole position off the line, taking first place before yielding to an on-a-mission Toseland in the third corner. By the exit to the fifth corner, though, the lead had changed again with Haga making a forceful but clean pass. Vermeulen was third with laconi fourth and Corser's initial promise fading in fifth place. Corser, thought we didn't know it yet, was a spent force. Engine problems would rob him of power and places until his eventual retirement from sixth place on lap fourteen. But back at the front, Haga had a huge sideways moment, allowing Toseland to slip back underneath for the lead.

On lap three Haga made a spectacular outbraking overtake on Toseland to retake the lead while behind them Laconi pulled a mirror image move on Vermeulen to take third. And so it continued, with the leading pair dicing and ducking, all the time tripping each other up and allowing Laconi to draw closer, to the delight of the large, vocal and very partisan French crowd. Lap six saw a very robust though again perfectly fair pass by Toseland to retake the lead while a few turns later Haga was relegated to third as Laconi used the superior power of the factory Ducati to blast past. And for the next couple of laps the factory pair, while threatening each other, managed to gain some clear space over the pursuing Haga and Vermeulen.

Vermeulen's Honda seemed to be slightly off the pace, with the young rider not threatening quite as much as we expected though still well in the hunt and ideally positioned to pick up the pieces in the event of something going wrong with the leading trio. It was also noticeable that Laconi was having problems with the front end of his bike. At one particular point it seemed as though he was catching a potentially disastrous front end slide every lap, and that was robbing him both of a chance to seriously challenge Toseland and of a chance to make a real break from Haga. And Haga is not a man to give up easily. Everything about his ride screamed out the effort and commitment he was putting in, and gradually, bit by bit, he was closing the gap on the frenchman. And on lap ten he returned the earlier compliment, putting in a very forceful overtake to move Laconi back into third place. Further behind a major tussle was building between the seasoned campaigners Chili and Corser. They were putting on a great race, sadly settled by Corser's bike expiring. On the very next lap, Laconi again demonstrated how quick the factory Ducati is, simply flying past Haga on the back straight after an admittedly bang on the money exit from the previous corner. Then Haga demonstrated how he was not about to let a little thing like superior speed and power obstruct him as he managed to get almost straight back past to retake second place. Again.

But a little further back and some real championship drama unfolded as Chris Vermeulen's Ten Kate Honda, after a spectacular entry to the World Superbike arena, simply expired, leaving the young Australian to park the silent bike in the gravel trap and walk back to the pits, his hopes of a debut championship win now completely dashed. That put Steve Martin up into fourth place while, up ahead, Laconi was clearly struggling and dropping off the pace having run very wide on a few corners as his front tyre was obviously screaming "enough."

By now, just over half distance, the field had opened up, with back markers starting to be lapped by the leading pack. Midfield, Leon Haslam had finally got the better of fellow Brit Chris Walker to put the second Renegade Ducati up into seventh place. And the wildcard entry Gimbert was also making progress, flames belching from the exhausts of his Yamaha France entered R1 as he fought past Steve Martin and up into fourth place. And Laconi, defying all logic, had picked up the pace again and was closing down the leading pair.

By lap nineteen, with four laps to go, the order down the field was just about set. But at the front, just six tenths of a second separated first place Toseland from third place Laconi, with all three riders pushing very hard and all three riding inch-perfect. But in the end Laconi saw that he couldn't possibly get past Haga, let alone Toseland, and allowed discretion to take over. A safe third place was far better for his championship hopes than risking disaster trying to stay with the leaders who had somehow preserved their tyres better than he.

So the first race fell to James Toseland, with Noriuki Haga hot on his heels in second and Laconi a surprisingly distant third. Gimbert came in a superb fourth ahead of Martin, Chili, Haslam and Walker.

Which made the championship rather interesting. With Toseland raking in nine points more than Laconi, the Brit was now in the lead by five points. Vermeulen was still in third but Haga was threatening his position. Neither of them were up for the title now, and of course Frankie Chili, though secure in fifth, was out of the hunt for anything higher. But at the top, if Laconi won the next race with Toseland second then the Frenchman, though equal on points, would win the title on the basis of race wins.

The podium celebrations for race one were subdued. Clearly both the factory Ducati riders were already thinking of the task ahead, though it was particularly gratifying to see Toseland paying the proper respect to the national anthem - as indeed he always does - by taking his and his nephew's hats off and standing still while it was played.

Between the two Superbike races we had the final race of World Supersports. Karl Muggeridge, you'll remember, wrapped up the title last week for Ten Kate Honda and so could be excused for simply cruising today. Yeah, right. A typically close and hard fought race saw Muggas take the win from team-mate and championship runner-up Broc Parkes with local boy Charpentier bringing the Klaffi Honda home in third to make it a CBR600RR 1-2-3. Third place in the championship went to Yamaha mounted Van der Goorberg who finished the race fifth behind Ducati mounted Lanzi, who finished the championship fifth on the only Ducati in the running. Last year's runner-up, Stephane Cmabon, finished eighth in a disappointing year for the previously dominant Alstare Suzuki team.

So on to race two of Superbikes, then, with the Fat Lady now standing in the wings and waiting to do her thing.

An astonishing display of determination off the line saw Toseland and Vermeulen banging elbows and trading paint on the way to the first corner to take second and third slots behind pole sitter and initial pace setter Troy Corser. Two corners in and Toseland took the lead while Corser dropped back, presumably to avoid getting in the way of the title fight as we saw similarly sporting behaviour last week when he let Vermeulen past on his epic run from the back of the grid. So we settled in for a repeat performance of race one, only this time with the Honda in touch as well. Lap five saw Haga take the lead and hold it, while further back scraps between Chili and Haslam and Chili and Corser were both decided in the Italian's favour. A few laps later, though, Chili would fall victim to a double assault of Martin and Gimbert, Martin briefly holding fifth place before his Ducati called it a day. Young Leon Haslam, meantime, had bullied his way past Troy Corser. It was easy to see just how outgunned the Foggy-Petronas is, even on circuits like this where we had hoped for so much more.

Back up at the front and Haga and Toseland were doing the famous rubber band trick, opening and closing the gap between them as if joined by elastic. Toseland was riding like a man possessed - incredibly controlled but provoking big lairy slides out of several corners - while Haga was the epitome of neatness and control. And Laconi was still there, having finally managed to get past Vermeulen under braking.

Lap 15 saw Toseland take the lead again in an aggressive overtake, the culmination of a lap that saw him circulate over a third of a second quicker than anyone else on the track. But still he couldn't break away and three laps later Haga was able to pass him again. Chris Vermeulen, though, was having a truly crappy day, dropping back to ninth before coasting off again with the second dead engine in as many races. A disappointing end to a fantastic rookie season. Gimbert was therefore promoted to fourth place - deservedly so for he was riding a great race.

So everything steadied down and it looked as though things were likely to finish much as they were. But back markers are always an issue, especially when they aren't necessarily concentrating. And even more especially when they get caught at the wrong part of the circuit. Haga and Toseland were still very close and the race could go either way when they came upon a Yamaha piloted, I think, by Slovenian wildcard Camlek and the Xerox Ducati of Miguel Praia. Camlek moved right out of the way and caused no problem but Praia managed to go through the corner faster than he has ever done before and get between the two leaders, giving haga an essential bit of breathing room. I have to say that, having timed Praia at Brands Hatch I can only assume that he brings an immense amount of money to the team - either personally or through sponsorship - because I certainly can't see that he brings anything else.

Anyway, back to the race and it was now very clear that Haga was going to win. But Laconi was closing Toseland down. Would the Englishman be able to respond?

Across the line for the last time and Haga pulled the biggest, longest wheelie of the season while the two factory Ducatis hammered over just two seconds apart.

And the Fat Lady sang to mark the end of the 2004 World Superbike championship. And she sang clearly and beautifully.

And she sang "Rule Britannia."

James Toseland took second place ahead of his team-mate Regis Laconi to become the youngest ever World Superbike Champion by nine points. Nori Haga overtook the unlucky Chris Vermeulen to take third with Frankie Chili in fifth.

James Toseland started as equal favourite, though following Laconi's appalling first round where he failed to score a single point, and indeed fell off on the first ever corner, Toseland was the bookie's favourite by a long way. But through the season he seemed to lose his way a little, with many people actually doubting that he had what it takes to be a champion. Consistency seemed to be the problem, along with, perhaps, a slight lack of focus. No doubting that the talent was there, it's just that it needed pulling into shape. A disappointing British round, where the pressure to perform in front of his home crowd just seemed to be too much was followed by the summer break. Clearly refreshed on his return, James rode a fantastic round at Laguna Seca, stamping his authority back on the team and showing Laconi, who at this stage was leading the series, that he wasn't about to quit. Then came Brands Hatch, where bad luck in the shape of an outbraked Troy Corser gave Toseland the challenge of doing it all again, having gone from first to fourth in the series behind Haga and Vermeulen as well as Laconi. But the lad is made of sterner stuff, and the next three rounds saw him on devastating form. Assen gave him another win and a second place to put him back on top, while the next round at Imola saw Laconi retake the lead by the slimmest margin, Haga crashing out and Vermeulen having that infamous warmup crash to put both of them effectively out of contention. Which brought us to Magny Cours where, on the day, the best man won.

Race One Result