Corser's corner: Tyre woes.

Reigning Superbike World Champion Troy Corser had a disappointing Brands Hatch when tyre woes kept him off the podium. Here, the Australian talks about his weekend in his Crash.net column...

Well guys what can I say? I was confident of running at the front but the tyres just weren't holding out, in race one my rear had gone after ten laps and in race two we changed to a harder rear but I struggled to maintain the pace of the front runners.

I had hoped for a front row start and I felt confident we could have had a good chance at pole position. In free practice just before Superpole I did a 1min 25.7secs lap and I pretty much tried to match it really in Superpole. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake in Superpole in turn two, went a little bit wide and it cost me one tenth, then I got myself up out of the seat coming through the third split through Sheene curve. It wasn't almost a crash but it got me out of the seat a bit and I had to roll off. I lost three or four tenths just right there. I was pretty happy with the race set up and my lap times were consistent.

I was expecting a three way battle as in all the free practice and qualifying sessions I think the most consistent was Bayliss, myself and Haga and we were able to do mid 1 min 26s for three, four, five laps and then high 1min 26s and low 1min 27s and everyone starts around 27s. At Brands a good start is really important basically if you can get in front with the first two or three you can really get away as everyone else is battling and slowing each other up in the corners. You basically lose a second straight away on a lap time if someone goes underneath you and you run a bit wide.

On Friday we had a lot of grip in the very cool conditions, it was under twenty degrees and the tyres felt the best they ever have for a long time. On Saturday we had higher temperatures and even higher again in the afternoon and we did lose a little bit of the feel from the tyre and a bit of grip but the lap times didn't seem be affected too much, it was just the bike was sliding around. I'm was hoping it would be a little bit cooler on race day because it was a little bit easier to ride the bike and a bit more comfortable. I think every body was in the same boat, I think everyone went for the same rear tyre and on the front there are a few variations there.

A few people have asked me about Michel Fabrizio's move on the final corners at Brno, it was just a little bit desperate that's all. There is not much you can do, he is a nineteen year old kid, I probably would have done the same when I was nineteen years old. I think both me and Nori are really racing to try and win this world title and Fabrizio is out there to do the best he can in every race and in a way it was probably me and Nori's fault for letting him catch us, and putting ourselves in that position. That's racing, it is going to get close it has been all year.

Tommy Hill was riding as a British wild card but I didn't actually come across Tommy on track but his lap times weren't bad and he seems to be able to sneak in a quick one now and then and it is similar times for mid group. Good luck to him.
The family has been good, Kalani is doing a bit of school now and really enjoying it. He is talking a lot now so it is a lot of fun. Kelisa is all but walking; she is walking by holding onto things all by herself. It has been great. I'm looking forward to a bit of a break now after Brands, we'll go back out home to Monaco and hang out on the boat for a few days and do a bit of swimming and stuff. Be nice to get out there and relax.

I'll catch you guys in Assen.

Troy