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Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Troy Corser consolidated his series lead with a pair of hard-fought-for third positions in the sixth round of the Superbike World Championship at Misano today.
The high temperature and very humid conditions would have been testing enough if there had only been one 25-lap race, but to compete in two was an absolute feat of endurance.
At the end of the day, Corser was happy to survive, take two podiums and leave with a 73 point advantage over his nearest rival, Chris Vermeulen. Suzuki continue to lead the Manufacturer’s Championship with their GSX-R1000’s earning 263 points so far, 63 ahead of Ducati.
Corser’s team mate Yukio Kagayama had a day that he will be happy to forget: He crashed out in the first race holding third place and, because his bike was too badly damaged, had to use his number two bike in the second race. But the number two bike had a different set-up and he struggled to keep up with the pace, ending up 12th.
Both races today were won by Frenchman Regis Laconi (Ducati), but he had to work hard for the wins: Vermeulen and Corser had challenged him throughout both 25-lappers, but Laconi was on a mission and would not be denied.
Troy Corser - Race 1: 3rd, Race 2: 3rd:
“That was without a doubt one of the hardest day’s racing of my life. One race in these conditions would have been bad enough, but two was murder. The heat was one thing, but today was much more humid then the past two days and that really sapped my energy. I had some clutch problems in both races today and I feel that prevented me from doing better. Our GSX-R had a bit of a clutch problem in the opening round, but we thought we had sorted that out. I know that the bike doesn’t like doing lots of starts, so the first race was always going to be tricky because the two-parter and a false start meant that I did three starts! So I spent most of the second part - 20 laps - without a clutch. That made it particularly difficult on the brakes when I was close to Chris and Regis. “In the end, I decided third was better then trying for second and making a mistake. I also had clutch problems in race two and could get right up to Chris, but wasn’t confident that I could get past safely and make it stick, so I settled for another third.”
Yukio Kagayama - Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 12th:
“I felt I was riding well today because I found a good feeling with my bike at this track which I did not have for the past two days. The first race was stopped after five laps and we had to start again and do a 20-lap race. I was in third place in that one and comfortable, but then I made a mistake exiting Tramonto when I got on the gas a bit too early and crashed. I was very angry - especially when I saw the damage to my bike. I could not use this bike again so I had to use my number two machine and the set-up was not as good. I had to do the 25 laps, try and stay upright and finish as high as I could. Before today, I really felt that I could get a podium or two, so I am disappointed how things turned out.”
WSB Results:
