2007 SBK Corona Extra World SuperBike Championship Round Three , Donington Park, 2nd April Race Report

  TOSELAND AND HAGA TAKE A RACE WIN EACH

A day of two halves at Donington as James Toseland ( Hannspree Ten Kate Honda ) scored the first race win after after race leader and superpole winner Troy Bayliss ( Ducati Xerox ) crashednout at Coppice, injuring his right little finger bad enough to require immediate surgery. Bayliss still took a new lap record of 1 min'31.575 seconds on lap four of race one, and it survived race two. In the second race of the day an incident strewn day, Nori Haga ( Yamaha Motor Italia ) won a thrilling last corner battle with Max Biaggi ( Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra ) after early leader James Toseland machine stopped on lap four. Toseland still leads the series, however 115 points to Biaggi's 110 points and Haga in third with 88 points.

Race One. James Toseland's chase of eventual faller Troy Bayliss left him on his own when Bayliss crashed out, and Toseland rode with a clear head to finish race one by 1.3 seconds up on Troy Corser ( Yamaha Motor Italia ), with Biaggi finishing third from a slow start. Nori Haga fought his way uptoo fourth while Ruben Xaus ( Sterligarda Ducati ) crashed out on the last lap while in fifth position. 51,000 spectators witnessed the action at Donington Park this weekend

Race Two. With Troy Bayliss out of race two due to his crash in race one James Toseland got a lightning start of the grid and led Yamaha's Nori Haga and Troy Corser for four laps until mechanical failure of the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda forced him to retire. This left the race wide open for Haga, Biaggi and Corser. as the three way battle went on Max Biaggi took the lead from Nori Haga, but Haga played it cool until the final corner at Goddards where Haga passed Baggi in a brave move by diving under neath him, where Nori Haga was able to keep Biaggi at bay till take the win. While this was going on Troy Corser was able to catch the front two but unable to pass and had to settle for third. Ruben Xaus made up for his race one crash by finishing fourth to his teams delight.

WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP. Kenan Sofuoglu won the supersport race in a two part race which was won on aggregate. Leading over the line in each of the two halves of the race. A clutch problem in the opening leg could have made the outcome very different for Sofuoglu, in a race with many problems for some riders. Second place went to aggressive Dane Robbin Harms ( Stiggy Motorsports Honda ) with Katsuaka Fujiwara ( Althea Honda ) third and local man Craig Jones ( Reve Ekerold Honda Racing ) a fine fourth. Gil Kawasaki riders Pere Riba and Fabien Foret had bad luck on race day, with Riba punished for a jump start and finishing 15th overall instead of a possible podium, while Foret retired in leg one with engine problems. In the championship, Sofuoglu is well clear on 70 points, with Fujiwara second on 43 points and Robbin Harms third on 39 points.

ROUND FOUR THE CORONA EXTRA WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP GOES TO VALENCIA IN SPAIN FROM 13TH-15TH APRIL.