Summary
Australian Troy Bayliss’ stranglehold on the 2008 world Superbike title has tightened despite mixed fortunes at Donington on September 7.
In race one, the veteran powered his factory Ducati to a 1.266sec win over wildcard Tom Sykes (Suzuki), finally tasting ultimate success at a circuit which had given him plenty of heartache since 1996.
However, in a wet race two, the bogey status returned when Bayliss highsided out of a clear second place on lap 12, allowing in-form Japanese ace Ryuichi Kiyonari to claim a lights to flag victory despite a late burst from another wildcard, Cal Cutchlow (Honda).
Despite failing to trouble the scorer in race two, Bayliss still managed to increase his lead to 101pts at Donington, largely thanks to the mass attrition in the shortened 20-lap race one.
Bayliss’ four main championship foes – countryman Troy Corser (Yamaha), German Max Neukirchner (Suzuki), Spain’s Carlos Checa (Honda) and Japan’s Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) – were among 19 riders to watch the finish from the pits, and Corser was the only one to score big points in a wet race two when he finished third.
“I’m really happy to have finally taken a win at Donington today after all the years that I’ve been coming here,” said Bayliss. Then in race two I was feeling equally good at the start, even though the rain was so heavy I almost thought they might cancel it a couple of laps in.
“But conditions improved and I felt comfortable so at a certain point, when it looked like Kiyo might have been starting to have a bit of trouble, I thought I could push bit harder and try to catch him. Unfortunately though I lost the back at a certain point and came off at a pretty fast speed, though luckily I haven’t hurt myself.
“We’ve improved on our points lead overall and we leave here with an advantage of 101 points over Corser and 105 over Neukirchner which was our aim for this round so we’re all very happy with that.”
Bayliss now really only has to score solid points in the remaining three rounds to clinch a third and final world title. One scenario is that if second-placed Corser wins the final six races, starting in Italy on September 21, Bayliss only has to finish seventh or better in all of them and still claim the spoils.
For a rider whose career has been built on the back of consistency, that will be a straightforward exercise – although Bayliss’ competitive instincts won’t see him circulate that far back in the pack.
History will be created if Bayliss and Corser quinella this year’s championship for Australia, although Neukirchner, Checa, Haga and Kiyonari will be doing their best to throw a fly in the ointment.
Kiyonari in particular is in peak form after winning three of the last four races, and he also crashed out of the race one lead at Donington.
Meanwhile, Gold Coast’s Karl Muggeridge (Honda) was 10th in race one, before crashing with two laps to run in race two.
In world Supersport, New South Welshman Josh Brookes slithered his way to victory after a tight battle with compatriot and fellow Honda rider Andrew Pitt.
After four previous podium finishes in 2008, this time the three-time Australian road racing champion wouldn’t be denied, and Brookes scored a popular 0.872sec victory despite only leading over the finish line for two of the 22 laps – the first and last.
Brookes’ previous world Supersport win was at Phillip Island in 2004, when he stunned the championship regulars with victory as a wildcard.
“Today was great, I had a great bike to race with and I rode my best to finish on the top,” said Brookes. “I’m really happy, especially since we didn’t have any dry practice this weekend. I was really thankful that we found such a good dry race set-up.
“I want to thank the team for hard work and for giving me the right tools to win today. I also would like to dedicate this win to the memory of Craig Jones.”
Brit Jonathan Rea (Honda) was third after losing touch with Brookes and Pitt in the last few laps, while three other Australians completed the distance: Broc Parkes (Yamaha) in 10th, Mark Aitchison (Triumph) in 13th and Bryan Staring (Honda) in 22nd. Russell Holland (Honda) was a DNF and Jeremy Crowe (Yamaha) didn’t qualify.
Pitt is now on 169pts, from Brookes (137pts), Rea (133pts) and Parkes (119pts).
