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WSB thrills the Silverstone crowd

2003 World Superbikes
For the first part of the Silverstone race report, click here

For race two, Hodgson had a slower start, and was then faced with a lack of room to manoeuvre. This meant that Kagayama led the field, until Laconi overtook him audaciously. Behind these two came Reynolds, Lavilla, Rutter, Toseland, Xaus, Walker, Hodgson, Emmett, Chili and Borciani. Kagayama tried to regain his position by going around the NCR Ducati at Stowe, but wasn’t able to make it stick. Meanwhile, Xaus made up a couple of places during the lap. Hodgson and Chili managed one place apiece.

It seemed like Laconi was already starting to get away a little, but one man who meant to chase him was Xaus. The Spaniard went by Lavilla on the inside at Stowe, and then set a fastest lap as he attacked Reynolds. Hodgson was also looking to progress, and threatened Toseland, but was further helped by what happened next. At Vale, Xaus went to the outside of Reynolds, only to find he was running out of tarmac. The two clashed and the Ducati speared off the track. He regained the road without too much problem, but was several places down. ‘JR’ was even worse off.

This left a three-way lead group of Laconi, Kagayama and Lavilla, with five guys running in the next group - Rutter, Hodgson, Toseland, Walker and Chili. Xaus was now ninth, and Reynolds had dropped back to twentieth. His fellow wildcard, Rutter, was then passed by both Hodgson and Toseland, while Lavilla went past Kagayama at Stowe, before improving on his earlier fastest lap. As is that wasn’t enough, Gregorio now shuffled his way past Laconi, running almost wheel-to-wheel through the Bridge-Priory complex to do it.

It then seemed to be Kagayama’s turn, as he moved inside Laconi at Copse, but ran wide on the way out and was re-passed for his trouble. With Hodgson now fourth, the series leader was closing in on the men ahead. This left Toseland on his own, and Chili now led Rutter and Walker in the tussle over sixth. Xaus was coming back at them, with Borciani, Pedercini, Iannuzzo, Martin, Bussei, Russo, Sanchini and Clementi next in line, from eighteenth man Reynolds.

Kagayama’s next attempt at Laconi was at Bridge, but once again the French rider came back at him right away. But it was now a four-way group, with Hodgson tagging onto the back of the Suzuki. Both Toseland and Chili were clearing away from Rutter in their pursuit of the leaders, but Reynolds obviously had concerns over his own prospects. As a result of the incident with Xaus, John decided to make a quick visit to the pits, before rejoining the chase.

The time had come for Hodgson to make his move, and he passed Kagayama out of Copse. A lap later he did the same to Laconi, moving into second behind Lavilla. The pace was obviously hotting up, because now Kagayama began to drop back from the first trio. Meanwhile, both Corser and Emmett retired from the race at about this time. Laconi regained his place from Hodgson at Stowe, but then Neil went inside him at Copse and followed up by taking the lead at Stowe. Régis passed Gregorio on the inside at Vale, and had the lead again at Bridge.

By now, Toseland and Chili were catching Kagayama, while Xaus had already caught up to the Rutter-Walker duo. He was soon ahead of the pair of them, and gaining on sixth man Chili. Reynolds had stormed up into P14 and was still going strong. Hodgson showed a ruthless streak when he dived inside Laconi at Stowe, forcing the 998 rider to sit up and run straight ahead off the track. When he resumed again he was down to ninth place.

So now we had Hodgson leading Lavilla; a group made up of Kagayama, Toseland, Chili and Xaus; and Laconi slotting in behind Rutter and Walker. Pedercini was tenth, but with Reynolds homing in on him. Xaus’ momentum now took him past Chili at Stowe and, while Toseland was paying close attention to Kagayama, the Spaniard nipped by the HM Plant machine. James was no pushover, but Rubén played the swapping game to come out in front at Priory. He then dealt with Kagayama at Maggots, with Toseland following his example at Bridge.

Hodgson was still not in the clear. Lavilla had stayed with him, sliding his bike out of Woodcote, and now Xaus and Toseland were speeding up to join the party. Xaus in particular was obviously pushing, and would get clear of the orange bike in the process. Laconi was trying to regain lost ground, had gone past Walker and Rutter, and was moving very rapidly as he looked to catch Chili next. Meanwhile, Reynolds took Pedercini to go tenth.

Over the last few laps, positions remained mostly stable. Hodgson began to claw his way clear of Lavilla, while the reverse was true for Toseland, as Kagayama was all over him. With two to go, Lavilla was right back with Hodgson, and a lap later Xaus was also up with the pair of them. It may have been close but they finished in this order. Next home were Toseland, Kagayama and Laconi - after passing Chili at Stowe - with the top sixteen completed by Walker, Rutter, Reynolds, Pedercini, Bussei, Borciani, Sanchini, Iannuzzo and Clementi.

It had been another good day for Neil Hodgson, who dedicated his two wins to the memory of David Jefferies. And it had also been a pretty useful meeting both for all the Suzuki runners and for the wildcards entries. Rubén Xaus made up for some recent disappointment, but the points gap has still widened. Hodgson now leads by an impressive 130...

Standings after twelve races: Hodgson 295; Toseland 165; Xaus 158; Laconi 145; Lavilla 131; Walker 110; Chili 102; Martin 78; Borciani 73; Pedercini 67.


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