Bayliss makes it Seven on the Trot

Australian Troy Bayliss (Ducati 999F06) already has a stranglehold on the 2006 Superbike World Championship – after just five of 12 rounds.

That’s after the 37-year-old made it seven successive wins at Silverstone on May 28, while his great Australian rival Troy Corser (Suzuki GSX-R1000) could only manage a crash (DNF) and a sixth place in the two 28-lappers.

The Taree Titan now has a 76pt – the equivalent of three wins - lead over Corser, as the SBK juggernaut next heads to Misano on June 25 – a venue where Bayliss dominated pre-season testing.

"In 2002 I was lucky enough to win six in a row and I was thinking about that before this weekend but on Friday and Saturday I was throwing myself down the road getting sorer and sorer and I thought it was maybe a good time just to get some points, but racing changes your view of things," said Bayliss, who now has 30 World Superbike wins to his credit.

"I saw Corser crash in the first race and so I decided to make the most of the situation and not give in to Nori today. I really fought hard for the wins and that makes a good difference in the points for me against Corser.

“After the first race we tried a softer tyre and changed the suspension a bit… and I could ride the bike half-a-second faster in the race. I feel sure that if we had gone with the same tyre it would have been much harder so a big thanks to him and all the guys in the team. Now we go on to Misano, where my 999's gone pretty well in testing, so I'm confident for that race as well."

If Bayliss makes it a fourth successive clean sweep at Misano, he will join Colin Edwards (2002) and Neil Hodgson (2003) on the all-time record of nine successive World Superbike victories.

After a wet ‘Superpole’ session at Silverstone saw British wildcard Tommy Hill (Yamaha YZF-R1) start from the top rung, the regular names soon made their presence felt in race one, with Noriyuki Haga (YZF-R1) slotting straight into the lead ahead of Bayliss and Spaniard Ruben Xaus (Ducati 999F05).

Meanwhile, Corser crashed at the final chicane on lap two on his spare bike – his second bingle in 30 minutes. Earlier, the first attempt at race one was red-flagged when the reigning world champion got innocently caught up in a Turn One melee, which also involved Brazilian Alex Barros (Honda CBR1000RR), whose bike caught on fire.

After his second oopsie, Corser remounted and tried to carry on, but he was forced to retire a few laps later after a series of lurid slides.

On-track, the race eventually crystallized into a pulsating two-way battle between Corser and Haga, with the Aussie moving past the “Samurai of Slide” on lap 19 for the first time, before eventually prevailing by less than a second.

Briton James Toseland (CBR1000RR), a winner at Silverstone in 2005, made a superb charge from the fourth row of the grid to finish on the tail of the leaders, ahead of Xaus and Australian Andrew Pitt (YZF-R1).

Race two produced the same trifecta, although this time the prolific Bayliss moved into the lead on lap six, while Toseland had his hands full with Pitt for most of the second half.

Bayliss, now using a softer rear tyre, really upped the ante in this one, setting a new lap record (1:26.299), as well as completing the 100km journey seven seconds faster than race one.

Barros, whose season continues to be blighted by poor starts, was fifth ahead of Corser, who struggled with throttle response problems.

With Corser having an off day, Pitt was the second best Aussie on parade at Silverstone, while Karl Muggeridge (CBR1000RR) finished eighth and ninth.

“I’m fairly happy with that,” said Pitt. “I felt I was in with a good shot at the podium but I just couldn’t keep the lap times going at the end.

“I was using the softest front tyre, which I think the other guys had too, but my style pushes the front quite hard and I had to ride very aggressively in the opening laps. At the end the front was moving around a fair bit and it was getting hard to hang on to Toseland.

“What I’ve got to do now is make sure that I get the Saturdays right so that I don’t give myself as much to do on the race day because I have proved that the bike is working well and I am capable of getting up on the podium.”

Pitt remains sixth in the standings on 103pts, behind Bayliss (225), Corser (149), Haga (133), Toseland (129) and Barros (113).

Of the remaining Aussies, Steve Martin (Foggy Petronas FP1), already battered after two heavy crashed throughout the weekend, failed to finish either contest, while World Superbike rookie Josh Brookes (Kawasaki Bertocchi ZX-10R) was 18th in race two after an early exit from the opener with an electrical gremlin.

In World Supersport, Yamaha YZF-R6-riding Aussies Broc Parkes and Kevin Curtin were second and third behind flying Frenchman Sebastien Charpentier (Honda CBR600RR), who now has the most wins in the championship’s eight-year history – 12.

Meanwhile, Parkes’ best finish of the season saw him move into fourth place on 58pts, where he now sits behind world champion Charpentier (116), Curtain (76) and Robbin Harms (CBR600RR, 63), who was fifth at Silverstone.