Toseland and Haga Share Wins at Donington Park

James Toseland managed to keep his overall lead in the World Superbike Championship after winning Race 1 of the Donington Park event. Unfortunately for the British rider, a mechanical problem with his bike kept him from finishing the second race in points, therefore allowing title rival Max Biaggi to close the gap in the Point Standings.

Only one lap into Race 1, one thing was for sure: Troy Corser was going to perform wonderfully in England. Despite a disappointing performance in Saturday's Superpole (ranked 8th on the grid and was 14th after the first corner), the Australian was already in 7th after Lap 1. A few more stunning maneuvers got him all the way into 4th by the beginning of Lap 5, after overtaking Lanzi and Laconi in the Foggys and Melbourne hairpins respectively.

Troy Bayliss produced the first serious crash-out of the race, as the WSBK champion lost control of his bike and went down in the Coppice corner. The accident was to keep him from starting Race 2 also, since Bayliss had to be taken to the hospital (Royal Derbyshire infirmary in Derby) the following half hour. The yellow flags came out and the race had a new leader: James Toseland. The Ten Kate rider was not to lose that position by the end of the race, while Corser managed to hang on to his 2nd place in front of Italian Max Biaggi.

The Alstare rider went on to recover 5 positions in the race (from 8th place in Lap 2) and the Toseland – Corser – Biaggi trio was not to be troubled by the finish line. Noriyuki Haga came into 4th, while Ducati's Lorenzo Lanzi was gifted 5th place in the penultimate lap, when Ruben Xaus wrongly approached the old hairpin and crashed out of the race.

Since Troy Bayliss was unable to perform in Race 2, Haga was now the pole-sitter. Still, the Japanese didn't hang on to it and lost the lead immediately after the start, as James Toseland overtook him in the old hairpin. Unfortunately for Toseland, Lap 4 saw him abandoning the race due to mechanical problems with his bike. The lead was now turning into a three riders affair. Haga, Corser and Biaggi were to battle for the win. Halfway through the race, Corser failed to hang on to the two riders in front of him and was clearly pleased with a 3rd place.

Biaggi managed to get past Haga on Lap 16 and controlled that lead until the last lap. It was only in the last corner that Biaggi made a terrible mistake and allowed Haga to mug him of a well-deserved victory. The Italian lost a great chance to level Toseland at the top of the table and had to settle for 2nd in the race.

“I could not get the tyre to work in race one for the first few laps so could not push. If the tire had worked in race one like it had in race two then I would have had a podium finish for certain. I am very happy with my win and the race overall, my father is also very happy. With my number being 41, and after getting fourth place in the first race, I had to get 1st place! And with it being my father’s birthday today on 1st April I had to get the win for him too” said an enthusiastic Haga at the end of the race.

Biaggi, on the other hand, was clearly disappointed at the press conference: “At the last turn I made a little mistake and it cost me the race. It's frustrating but it happens. I accept it and I now look for the next races and hope to have a better one. We could have been level with James, but we are five points behind, so we are still very close”.