What a weekend! World Superbikes at Silverstone, 2010
For a British motorcycle racing fan, this was the weekend to beat all weekends. With Max Biaggi carrying the momentum of a series of wins with him coming into the race, it looked like the Roman would spoil the party for the local lads. Unfortunately for him, Johnny Rea and Cal Crutchlow had other ideas.
Cal Crutchlow was dominant all weekend
Let’s face it, it was Cal’s weekend. He was significantly the fastest rider in every session. Anything less than a double would have been a travesty, yet it wasn’t easy; he had to fight Rea both races, almost flag to flag. Rea thrust his Honda into second place both races, right behind Cal’s Yamaha. In the first race, they were joined by Leon Haslam on his Suzuki and the lanky Leon Camier took the last step in the second race on his Aprilia.
Rea was the only man capable of challenging Crutchlow
For the 65,000 visitors, most of them British, two all-Brit podiums were like a fairy tale, but what was extraordinary was that the top five in the second race were all British.
Fastest in practice, qualifying, warm-up, Superpole and both races
Silverstone gave us some great racing and, while the weather threatened to drench us with rain, we were blessed with a dry weekend. Yes, it rained when the day was over on Saturday, but the clouds did nothing but good for Crutchlow. His crew put down a lot of his tyre’s performance to the cool weather, while critics placed the praise on a certain Valentino Rossi, who used a Yamaha R1 from Crutchlow and Toseland’s team to test his fitness after his leg-breaking crash. With Leon Haslam taking his Suzuki round Silverstone faster than Bautista’s MotoGP factory Suzuki in both races, that team has a lot of soul-seeking to do; even if you take into account the weather and the fact the F1 boys kindly laid down some rubber to help the grip, it’s still a scary statistic for the boys in blue.
Haslam has six races left to catch Max Biaggi
As for the championship, with six races to go, Leon Haslam has closed up to within 60 points of Aprilia’s Max Biaggi. As much as the crowd wanted Haslam to close the gap more, it still looks like it is Biaggi’s championship to lose. Rea, with his two second places, has eased away from Althea Ducati’s Carlos Checa to strengthen his third place in the championship. Crutchlow’s double win has put him within 16 points of fourth place; a very likely proposition if he can keep up this weekend’s quality of riding.
Laverty, Sofuoglu and young Brit Gino Rea
As if all this wasn’t enough, in the World Supersport race, Ireland’s Eugene Laverty, a popular rider, and Turkey’s Kenan Sofuoglu gave the fans a crowd-pleasing scrap with paint-swapping action and last lap fisticuffs. Laverty got the better of Sofuoglu, but not without having to earn it. With Britain’s young Gino Rea getting his first podium finish, with a third at his home race, the fans certainly got their money’s worth.
