Double double for Fila Ducati

The second race at Valencia quickly fell in to the pattern set by the first with factory Ducati 999 riders Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus leading HM Plant Ducati 998 riders James Toseland and Chris Walker in the top four places.

Hodgson took first place again, with a fastest lap of 36:46.191, with a team-mate Xaus following him in just 2.619 seconds behind.

Toseland swapped places with Walker to take the third podium position that he just missed out on in the first race, but still finished 12 seconds down on Hodgson.

Ducati looked to have considerably improved handling for the new 999 with both bikes appearing far more stable than the 2002 factory 998 bikes riden by the HM Plant riders.

Troy Corser on the FP1 drop down to eighth position from his fourth place start on the grid but could not get past the battle between Steve Martin on the Ducati 998 and Gregorio Lavilla on the Suzuki GSX-R1000, finishing the race in 7th.

Foggy team-mate James Haydon retired half way through the race with engine trouble and Regis Laconi followed not long after.

Frankie Chili was given a Stop Go penalty by officials after jumping the gun at the start. He rejoined the race in 19th position but was taken in again a few laps later after not stopping properly on his first attempt. He later retired on lap 18

After retiring in the first race Giovanni Bussei pushed his Yamaha R1 up to 11th place with a time of 37:46.701, six seconds behind 10th place DFX Ducati rider Marco Borciani

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Suzuki GSX 600R rider Katsuaki Fujiwara fought a long battle with Chris Vermeulen on the Honda CBR 600RR to come in first with a time of 38’10.992.

Fujiwara started the race on pole position but was quickly overtaken by Vermeulen, he only managed to move back up when the Honda rider made a small mistake on lap 19. The fight between the two riders lead them away from the field with Fujiwara eventually finishing 13 seconds ahead of third place Alessio Corradi on the R6.

Christophe Cogan, Honda CBR600RR, and Jörg Teuchert, YZF R1, both came in less than a second behind Corradi to take 4th and 5th, with Karl Muggeridge and Broc Parkes following in 3 seconds later.

Don’t forget to check out this week’s MCN, out March 5, for a full report on the weekend’s racing from our man in Valencia, Andy Downes.

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