By blue2bikes
March 1 2005

The 2005 World Superbike championship opened at the new venue of Losail, in Qatar, and it looked very much like a new beginning for the series. Gone are the Ducati dominated grids, with Yamaha’s R1 now the bike of choice, and Suzuki setting the pace.

Unseasonal rain interrupted race one, with Troy Corser in the lead and looking comfortable. When the rain poured down the red flags came out and the race was stopped. Unfortunately, Frankie Chili’s race had already finished by the end of the first lap, due to a bike failure, and young pretender Cardoso fell on lap two, after a coming together with another rider.

From the off Alstare Suzuki’s Yukio Kagayama started well from the front row, and was to be the early leader, with Troy out-braking his team-mate on lap two, taking the lead until the race was stopped. Although eleven laps had passed, the positions at the end of lap ten were to be the finishing positions. The distance covered was not enough to declare a result, so there would be a restart, making it a two-part race decided on aggregate times.

The restart grid positions were as they had ended on lap ten of the race, but without Norick Abe, his bike refusing to start. He eventually got it going and joined the race from pit lane. José Luís Cardoso, who had shown such promise in qualifying, could not get his machine to start and had to sit out the race.

In the second part of race one it was Yuki-san who again took the lead into the first corner, followed by Andrew Pitt, with Troy and Régis battling it out for third position. Régis gained the position by lap three, only to be overtaken by Troy halfway through the lap. Régis followed Troy as he overtook Andrew. On aggregate time, at this point of the race, Yuki-San’s lead meant he had secured second place, with Troy in first position and Régis in third. This was how it was to stay for the remainder of the second leg.

From the start in race two it was to be Andrew Pitt who led the field, with Haga, Yuki-san and team-mate Troy following closely behind. Troy didn’t hang around, and overtook team-mate Yuki-san on the first lap, Haga on the second lap, and was chasing Andrew for the lead by the third lap. Troy passed Andrew and, with Yuki-San in close contention, the Japanese rider soon overtook Andrew himself.

By the fifth lap, Troy started to back off, due to rear tyre problems and having to push the front more. With oil now being on the start-finish straight from a rider’s blown engine, Yuki-san overtook Troy, taking a well earned lead. Régis passed Troy on lap ten but, although Troy managed to stay with him, he wasn’t able to pass and settled for a more comfortable ride.

A fourth place battle between Andrew Pitt, Max Neukirchner, Pier-Francesco Chili, Norick Abe, James Toseland, Chris Vermeulen and Sébastien Gimbert was raging behind the leading three riders. Chris and Frankie battled through the pack by lap fourteen, trying to get the better of each other for fourth place. Chris managed to pass Frankie on the start-finish straight and take the position on lap fifteen, which he was to hold until the end of the race. Meanwhile, Karl Muggeridge collided with Chris Walker at half distance, and both were out of the running.

Yuki-san said, “I am much happy - this is my first WSBK win. With five laps to go my front tyre was much loose, and I need not to crash, so I was much more careful with my front tyre riding in the first race, getting my first podium. I was much happy and in the second race getting my first win I am twice happy.” A truly great achievement by Yuki-san, who has battled back to fitness after his terrifying 2003 crash at Cadwell Park, which nearly ended his racing career.

Troy, having won the two-part race one, said, “It’s been a long time coming, after three long frustrating years, knowing I had it in me to win on a competitive bike. Now I am on the Suzuki 1000cc machine that does everything I want it to do.” Although not getting a good start in the second race and, being caught out by oil on the track, missed a double win, went on, “I was pulling out a lead and nearly fell on oil at turn one, so I ran a bit wide and Yukio dived underneath me. I tried to catch him but he had pulled out a bit of a gap. My front was a bit chewed up and I couldn’t stay in front of Régis, so I let him pass. It’s great to have a win and a perfect start for our team, with a one-two finish. The only thing that would have been better was if I had won both races.”

Régis Laconi leaves the first round with a total of 36 points - 36 more than when he left the first round last year. He said, “It was a very hard race, as I didn’t start very well, and it was hard to pass everyone. I am happy because the team has worked very hard and, with finishing with 36 points, it’s a good way to start the championship. I almost crashed on some oil and, for a few laps, I was very careful, and once past Troy I tried very hard to get a gap on him - but I couldn’t catch Yukio.”

A good consistent ride by the champion, James Toseland, left him with two good sixth places, after riding whilst injured from his highside crash earlier in the week.

As the series now moves to the southern hemisphere in five weeks’ time, will the Suzukis be supreme, or will the Honda FireBlades make their mark? Can the Ducatis make a comeback ? And will James be fully fit and run at the front?

Race one results, aggregate times:
1 Corser, 37:10.394
2 Kagayma, 37:13.459
3 Laconi, 37:13.890
4 Pitt, 37:25.108
5 Haga, 37:30.694
6 Toseland, 37:30.956
7 Silva, 37:32.425
8 Vermeulen, 37:32.582
9 Muggeridge, 37:37.323
10 Abe, 37:37.625
11 Bussei, 37:49.389
12 Borciani, 37:52.602
13 Nieto, 37:53.888
14 Walker, 37:55.288
15 Martin, 38:00.067
16 Bostrom, 38:04.278
17 McCoy, 38:11.952
18 Sanchini, 38:14.422
19 Vizziello, 38:16.279
20 Praia, 38:38.136

Race two results:
1 Kagayama, 37:00.062
2 Laconi, 37:02.516
3 Corser, 37:06.021
4 Vermeulen, 37:07.307
5 Chili, 37:08.662
6 Toseland, 37:08.663
7 Abe, 37:09.793
8 Neukirchner, 37:11.563
9 Pitt, 37:11.852
10 Gimbert, 37:11.870
11 Haga, 37:21.426
12 Lanzi, 37:25.937
13 Nieto, 37:34.146
14 Bussei, 37:34.181
15 Sanchini, 37:47.508
16 McCoy, 37:48.709
17 Vizziello, 38:04.057
18 Praia, 38:05.284

Standings after two races: Kagayama 45; Corser 41; Laconi 36; Vermeulen 21; Pitt 20 and Toseland 20; Haga 16; Abe 15; Chili 11; Silva 9; Neukirchner 8; Muggeridge and Bussei 7.