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A look back at Silverstone

Wednesday, 28 July 2010 14:50 GMT
A look back at Silverstone


2006 - At Silverstone heavy rain was present on Saturday and pole position went to local boy Tommy Hill. The races were dry and the usual suspects were out in front: Haga took the lead followed by Bayliss, Walker, and Xaus. Ruben passed Walker on the third lap, and after three laps put his 999F05 Ducati in front of the works 999F06 of Bayliss for second place. Xaus was able to stay in second place until lap thirteen, where the absence of a sophisticated traction control unit started to tell on the tyres and Bayliss went past him. Xaus had to slow his pace, while Bayliss was free to catch up on Haga, passed him on lap nineteen and went for the win in front of the Japanese rider. A bad race for Corser, who fell on the opening laps. In race 2 it was down to Haga and Bayliss once again, with the Japanese rider all over the back of Troy's exhausts. At one point Bayliss let past Haga and studied him for an entire lap. On the following lap he went back in the lead and quickly pulled out a good gap between him and the Yamaha rider who was able to maintain a good pace, but not enough to prevent another Bayliss double.


2005 - The Ducati factory team was having a low-key season, but their resurgence came in the European round at Silverstone. Despite being only third and seventh on the grid, Laconi and Toseland managed to win respectively the first and second race. In race 1 Corser tried to pull away, chased by Haga, but once Laconi was able to dispose of Walker it was clear that he was a force to be reckoned with. He recorded the fastest lap on lap 9 and caught the leaders on lap 11. Haga didn't resist long and had to concede second place on the following lap, then it was Corser's turn. The Australian fought fiercely and Laconi was able to conquer first place for good only on lap 16. In the meantime Toseland had snatched third place while Kagayama fell and Haga was forced to slow down and eventually retire in the final laps with fuel pump failure. In race 2 the story was exactly the same, with the only change being that it was the Toseland who did what Laconi had done in race 1. The Corser-Haga duel lasted for the first eleven laps, but then Toseland stormed in, caught them by lap 12 and with a couple of passes on laps 16 and 17 took the lead, leaving Corser in second and Haga in third.