Expectations for the Australian had as much to do with his unbroken run of podium results this year, for the Alstare Corona team, as with his form at the venue - although Ducati Xerox’s Régis Laconi had emerged supreme in the two San Marino races in round six. The only other man from the 2005 entry to have raced at Brno in WSBK was Frankie Chili, who took eighth and tenth places in ’96, but several riders with recent GP experience were more than familiar with the track.

The circuit was built in 1987, on the site of a historic and intimidating road course of eighteen miles in length. As a relatively modern track, Brno now has a series of short straights linked by a fair number of constant curving corners, but with the added challenge of significant gradient. Several of the braking zones are therefore either downhill or uphill, and it is therefore sufficiently demanding.

Qualifying led to the familiar site of Corser on pole position, his 33rd in World Superbike competition. Team-mate Yukio Kagayama was seventh, reflecting his recent slight drop in form. The opposite was true of reigning title holder James Toseland, who made his first front row appearance on the Ducati 999 F05 in second place. Laconi’s sister machine was in a season worst ninth, and it was Honda riders Max Neukirchner and Chris Vermeulen in third and fourth, with Karl Muggeridge putting a third FireBlade at the head of row two.

Muggeridge and Kagayama were split by a disappointed Chris Walker, on the PSG-1 Kawasaki - the English rider had been quickest in practice and qualifying, but couldn’t quite match that in Superpole. José Luís Cardoso had the DFX Yamaha eighth, whereas familiar front runners Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Italia, 13th), Chili (Klaffi Honda, 17th) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Italia, 18th) found themselves somewhat out of position.

Race one started well for the Suzuki pair, with Corser leading Kagayama away, but the Japanese rider quickly lost out as Vermeulen passed on the inside to go second, with Walker choosing the same moment to go outside and take third. Muggeridge held fifth, from Neukirchner, Haga, Toseland, Norick Abe, Laconi, Cardoso, Pitt, Lorenzo Lanzi, David Checa, Garry McCoy, Fonsi Nieto, Steve Martin, Mauro Sanchini, Ivan Clementi, Chili and Giovanni Bussei.

Corser’s intent was clear as he was already eking out a margin on the first lap whilst, behind Vermeulen and Walker, the pursuing bunch indulged in some more frantic activity. Toseland had seventh from Haga, soon to be followed by the advancing Laconi; and Kagayama lost another position to Muggeridge before coming under attack from Neukirchner.

One of the more dramatic moments of the season came when Toseland passed Kagayama on the inside at a right-hander, only for a four-way battle to immediately erupt. This move saw Toseland lead Kagayama, Neukirchner and Laconi into the corner, with the quartet’s order totally reversed as the various simultaneous attacks resolved themselves!

Toseland’s progress was not delayed for long, as he soon fought his way through again, along with team-mate Laconi. A spell in fourth place for Muggeridge was ended by the arrival of the Ducatis, with James the first man to come through. Meanwhile, the race for second had seen Walker pass Vermeulen on the inside at a right-hander, and ultimately Toseland emerged to challenge the Honda man.

Needless to say, Corser was away up front as the action developed in his wake. Toseland and Vermeulen engaged in a thrillingly close tussle, with slides and several back-and-forth passes, but by this time Laconi had got up to third, where he started the attack on Walker. The Frenchman made a successful pass, and Chris now found James homing in as Régis crept out of range. Before long the two red machines led the yellow one, with Vermeulen and the rest having dropped back from Walker.

The closing stages saw a concentrated battle for the minor podium places, and it was Toseland that prevailed. The 24-year-old managed to get alongside Laconi on the inside, as they negotiated a right-hander, and he effectively forced his way past. These two had made good progress through the field, but James was not significantly quicker and they finished close together in that order, albeit over six seconds behind winner Corser.

Walker held onto a strong fourth, but the order behind had seen some men fall back, even as others moved forward. Lanzi had advanced from 13th on lap one to join Haga in the race behind Vermeulen, but up from 20th had come Chili, who got the best of this group and caught up to Walker for an incredible fifth at the flag, with Lanzi close behind. Haga was next, from the fading Vermeulen, with Abe, Pitt, Kagayama, Nieto, Muggeridge, Neukirchner and Checa completing the points men.

Corser got ahead first for race two, followed by Vermeulen, and with Laconi quickly passing Toseland for third. Kagayama and Muggeridge were next, until Abe took the Australian for sixth - and a five place gain over his grid slot. Walker, Pitt, Lanzi, Haga and Neukirchner followed on. Laconi’s charge took him into second as he went by Vermeulen on the inside at a right-hander, leaving him to the advances of Toseland, and some similar action to race one. Abe was an early loser to both Muggeridge and Walker.

Laconi went one better when he made a similar move on Corser to the one on Vermeulen, but his efforts were quickly cancelled by the red flag, due to a crash for wildcard Marek Svoboda. Such an early stoppage meant there would be a full re-run, and no confusing aggregate scoring result.

The re-start was rather less kind to Laconi, as Corser now led Abe, Muggeridge, Toseland, Pitt and Walker before the Frenchman, who had Kagayama behind him. Troy began his customary surge away from the rest, with Muggeridge emerging second, and Haga moving through the pack to pass Toseland for fourth, behind third man Abe. Walker and Laconi were next, and a gap had opened to Neukirchner, and then another to Pitt, Vermeulen, Lanzi and a somehow lacklustre Kagayama.

With Corser consolidating his position up front, Haga continued to be the man on the move. He took over third from Abe, going inside for an uphill left-hander, then proceeded to set the fastest lap. Noriyuki took second from Muggeridge inside a sweeping right-hander, and was soon right up with Corser. On the seventh lap, ‘Nori’ went past Troy on the inside for a left-hander, completing an impressive climb from P18 on the grid.

© Raceline Photography

From here the race was a two-man affair, but Corser never seemed quite able to run at the pace to make a real fight of it. The spectacular Haga gave the Yamaha YZF-R1 its best run in the series to date, and he completed his 18th WSBK victory with 3.2s in hand over Corser. This time the fortunes of Toseland and Vermeulen took the opposite course to race one. James passed Abe for fourth at turn one, but then found himself going backwards as others advanced. And Chris went from tenth to join Laconi in a battle for fourth.

Abe had held third ahead of Laconi, Vermeulen, Toseland, Lanzi, Muggeridge, Chili and Walker, but Vermeulen’s progress soon took him by the Ducati. He then joined onto the back of Norick’s R1, attacking out of the final right-hander, and completing the pass on the inside at turn one. By now Chili had come good yet again, demoting Muggeridge and Lanzi to engage with fifth man Laconi. He made the move at a left-hander to go in behind Abe.

Vermeulen ended up in a solitary third, with Abe holding off a couple of last lap attacks from Chili to the line, and Lanzi getting the best of Laconi for sixth. Toseland was back in eighth, from Muggeridge, Walker, Kagayama, Nieto, Clementi, Checa and Bussei. Pitt had cruised out with mechanical problems, while another wildcard had crashed out in the shape of Adam Badziak, and both Cardoso and Neukirchner were also non-finishers.

Noriyuki Haga moved clear of Frankie Chili as the second best race winner of current World Superbike riders, but some way behind thirty time winner Troy Corser. First and second places for the Australian made it his best outing since round three, and helped him to a handy 94-point lead overall. But the story was all about Haga’s first win of the year, and the first ever for Yamaha’s 1000cc Superbike. With no official teams having competed since, the last win for the marque dated back to Assen in 2000, when Haga was again the victor.

With Corser the exception, all the podium finishers at Brno had encountered mixed fortunes. Haga was seventh and first, James Toseland was second and eighth, Régis Laconi was third and seventh, and Chris Vermeulen was eighth and third. Meanwhile, Yukio Kagayama’s early season form appeared to have deserted him, with a best result of only seventh from his last seven races. His six podium visits seemed a way in the past. Credit also to Abe, with his best series result to date; Chili, for two fifths from a row five start; and Lanzi, for two sixths and best Ducati in race two.

Standings after fourteen races: Corser 299; Vermeulen 205; Laconi 187; Kagayama 158; Toseland 152; Haga 122; Chili 108; Walker 106; Abe 83; Pitt 76; Muggeridge 75; Neukirchner 52; Lanzi 50; Bussei 46.

To buy the photographs shown above, visit Raceline Photography

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