2005 World Superbike season review.

by Mark Dowling

The 2005 World Superbike season saw the return of the factory-supported Suzukis to the championship - and it was the GSXR1000 K5 that proved to be the bike that gave Australian Troy Corser his second WSBK crown.

The race for the title was an Australian-dominated affair, with Corser usually having to fight for wins and podiums against fellow countryman Chris Vermeulen, riding a Ten Kate Honda, while it was a poor year in comparison for the 2004 champion, Briton James Toseland, who finished a distant fourth in the standings on his Xerox Ducati, scoring just 254 points to Corser's 433.

The first third of the season saw little in the way of action at the front, Troy Corser taking what appeared to be his routine Superpole before blasting away at the front to lead by several seconds by the end of the race. Out of the first eight races, only Corser's team mate, Japanese rider Yukio Kagayama and Vermeulen prevented the Alstare man from taking a clean sweep, as the duo picked up a win apiece.

One early surprise in season was Ducati's sudden lack of form. Whereas 2003 and 2004 had been all about which Ducati was fastest, the factory team were struggling to make it onto the bottom step of the podium, never mind the top.

In particular, Toseland had a nightmare at Philip Island, finishing 14th in race one and colliding with the Ten Kate Honda of Karl Muggeridge to finish the second weekend of the championship with a 73-point deficit to Corser.

Elsewhere, there were strong performances from the German Max Neukirchner, who gained his first podium riding a Klaffi Honda in only his fourth World Superbike race, and former 500cc rider Norick Abe, riding a Yamaha YZF R1 in impressive style during the first part of the season.

As Suzuki's early-season domination began to fade, more competitive racing action appeared at the front of the pack, with Ducati showing a return to form at Silverstone for rounds nine and ten.

Regis Laconi and Toseland finally showed what they were really capable of when they took a win each in Britain, the latter particularly pleased as it was the first time he had taken a win in front of his home crowd in World Superbikes.

Laconi emerged as a potential title candidate when he repeated his fine 2004 form at Misano, this time taking two well-deserved wins to the delight of the Italian fans.

By now, Troy Corser had a commanding lead in the championship and several wins to his name. However, the competition would become ever stronger from this point onwards, with 'Nitro' Nori Haga getting closer to the front on his Yamaha with the Japanese driver producing one of the most impressive displays of the entire season at Brno as, despite failing to even qualify for the 16-bike Superpole session, he took victory in race two - the first time in World Superbike history that any rider had achieved the feat.

Not content with just winning once in Brno, Haga managed to win again at Brands Hatch, this time in two epic encounters with Corser, taking advantage of a rare Corser mistake on the run down to the Pilgrims corner to take an emphatic win in race two. Corser nevertheless won the first race and extended his lead to 110 points, a seemingly very safe advantage at this stage of the championship- but his Brands Hatch victory would be his last of the season, as a fellow Aussie started to mount a serious title charge...

Assen effectively saw the end of Laconi's competitive outings, as he crashed heavily in practice. His withdrawal from this event and the following rounds at Eurospeedway meant that Toseland would eventually leapfrog him in the overall standings by the end of the season. Assen was also home to the first and only Vermeulen double of 2005, and these wins came only after two races of gladiatorial-like combat between Haga, Toseland and himself. Vermeulen managed to win the second of these battles by just 0.085 of a second.

In contrast, Corser was absent from the podium for the first time all season, finishing fourth in both races, with the Australian seemingly happier to collect the points rather than risk racing the three at the front and potentially getting involved in a race-ending incident.

The inaugural Eurospeedway round saw a major surprise with the Italian Lorenzo Lanzi taking a win in the second race. Lanzi, deputising for the injured Laconi, overran at the first corner in race one, still producing an impressive ride to eighth after receiving a ride-through penalty.

Another major surprise was seeing Troy Corser crash his Suzuki, although he remounted and recovered to take three points by finishing 13th.

With four races to go, the title was still not quite settled. Corser led by 60 points from a charging Vermeulen, and there were a possible 100 up for grabs.

However, all the potential for an exciting climax to the season was literally washed way at Imola. Vermeulen won the first of what was scheduled to be two races, but with torrential rain falling throughout the day, the organisers had no choice but to call the second race off, giving Corser the title by default. The first race did at least provide the best showing of the season for the Foggy Petronas team, when Australian Steve Martin a fifth place, albeit some 50 seconds down on Vermeulen.

Magny-Cours was the setting for the final round of the season and, with Corser and Suzuki confirmed as champions, the battle was on for the minor placings as the champion tried to secure his first win in seven starts.

Two more brilliant races meant that Vermeulen and Lanzi shared the spoils, the former dispensing with Yukio Kagayama in the first race, before impressive Italian Lanzi made his claim for rookie of the year by duelling with Vermeulen in race two, until the Ten Kate man retired with a broken drive chain. Lanzi had the benefit of factory engines for this round, and made the most of them, winning from Kagayama again by seven seconds.

There are set to be a number of changes for next season, with the outgoing champion Toseland switching to the Ten Kate Honda team, and the return of 2001 champion Troy Bayliss to the Xerox Ducati team.

Chris Vermeulen has made the switch to MotoGP, and Craig Jones replaces Australian Garry McCoy on the second Foggy Petronas machine while rumours persist over the future of a number of potential WSBK entries as 2005 draws to a close.

All-in-all it looks like being another exciting season of competition in 2006...