Title goes to last rounds as Kagayama and Toseland triumph

Noriyuki Haga sits second on 270 points after scoring two seconds places at both races. © Yamaha Racing. After setting pole position and running into an early lead in race one at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, series leader Troy Bayliss looked like he was well on the way to scoring the championship win itself with two entire rounds of the series to go. But after he fell from race one, restarting to finish seventh, the chase was on again. After the second dramatic Sunday afternoon of SBK racing in succession, this time in glorious sunshine in Eastern Germany, Yukio Kagayama and James Toseland secured the race wins. The upshot is that Bayliss will now have to wait at least until round 1 at Imola, on October 1, to wrap up his second world title. He sits on 357 points, with double second place finisher Noriyuki Haga on 270 and Toseland on 264.

In race one, a brilliant three way fight for the race win in the latter stages saw Kagayama take a win by 1.2 seconds from Haga, and team-mate Troy Corser. Bayliss had led the 24-lap race before falling out of contention, remounting, and then running off track once more, finally finishing seventh.
Kagayama paced his attack perfectly, making clear track on the final lap as soon as he saw the opportunity to get clear. Hagas 20 points brought him closer to Bayliss, with James Toseland a disappointed ninth, after he too ran off track and lost places, having chosen the wrong rear tyre.

In race two holeshot man Haga was reeled in by Toseland, who led every one of the 24 laps, with Haga his perpetual shadow. Bayliss had a push to try and win but had to drop pace at the end of the contest, finishing three seconds back on an overjoyed Toseland, who took his second win of the season.

Lausitz could not be described as one of Corser's best afternoons in World Superbike but it was enough to put him back into fourth place in the championship fight, as Andrew Pitt went from fourth in race one to a faller in race two. Only one point separates this all-Aussie battle, with Corser some 53 points behind Toseland. Corser was penalised with a ride through for a jump start in race two, but still worked his way up to 14th, scoring two points.
Alex Barros was very close to a fourth place finish in race one, but fell from a top five in race two, being left behind somewhat by the Corser/Pitt duel in the championship table.

Karl Muggeridge overcame the disappointment of a relatively poor Superpole to post a fine sixth and season-best fifth at Lausitz, making the German weekend his most successful to date. A lot of hard work from Lorenzo Lanzi gave him an eighth and a sixth, a far cry from his 2005 race win at Lausitz, but earning useful points for his championship placings. Kagayama's brilliance in race one translated to fourth in the second running, as his forward motion in the early part of the race were curtailed by slides and lack of push later on. He remains seventh overall, some 43 points ahead of Assen race winner Chris Walker. The English rider was 11th in race one and, despite a rear tyre that spun on the rim in race two, he finished tenth.

All three top Kawasaki runners found Lausitz a less than hospitable circuit for their motorcycles, but Fonsi Nieto's tenth and seventh place finishes were strong enough to keep him in the top ten overall. Regis Laconi, like Corser, jump-started race two and finished 19th, after a first race 12th.
Steve Martin and Craig Jones each scored points in race two (for 12th and 13th respectively) adding to Martin's 14th in the opener. It was Jones' first point's scoring weekend in SBK racing. Max Neukirchner went 13th in race one but was forced to retire from race two on his home circuit. Ruben Xaus scored the last point in race one, but was much more competitive in ninth in race two, one place behind the incredible surge through the pack of Assen podium finisher, Michel Fabrizio. Pierfrancesco Chili started the races, but failed to finish either, having suffered a painful crash in qualifying. Kurtis Roberts was 19th in race one, a non-finisher in race two after changing the gearing between races. Norick Abe went 11th in race two.
(FGSport)

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