Toseland: I'm just relieved.
The tenth round of the Corona Extra Superbike World Championship at Brands Hatch turned into a fairy tale weekend for Britain's James Toseland as he secured his first ever double win, at home and before leaving the championship.
The tenth round of the Corona Extra Superbike World Championship at Brands Hatch turned into a fairy tale weekend for Britain's James Toseland as he secured his first ever double win, at home and before leaving the championship.
"I'm just relieved more than anything," he told Crash.net after his double victory, "To go from the disappointing weekend at Suzuka, to crash there and I was very disappointed for my team-mate to put his race out as well, I was very disappointed in myself and Honda were too obviously." He put that behind him and dug deep, "I picked myself up and this is the biggest weekend for me and to get the double win, my first in my World Superbike career, it was just amazing. To get it just before I move on is very important, first and foremost it is important to do it before the season finishes and for the championship," he said.
His success wasn't handed to him on a plate and he had to fight hard for his double success. "The second race was tougher than the first one. I mean I got a bit fortunate with Troy Bayliss making that mistake. I think actually Haga was in second at that point and I think he made a mistake also. So there were a few mistakes being made behind, I put in consistent lap times as I worked hard on that on Friday and Saturday," he explained.
"I got a bit of a lead and I was difficult to catch. You have to push even harder and that forced him into a mistake so it was good for the first race," he continued, "The second race I knew it was going to be to the end really, but I got behind Haga and I could see that I had got an advantage in the faster section, he was losing a bit of traction where I was gaining. It was just a dream come true to get a double win here at Brands."
The whole occasion was very emotional for Toseland as he admitted, "It was emotional. I don't think it has sunk in yet. I'm just trying to take it in my stride and not get too carried away. I'm just so pleased for the Championship points that is the main thing, the crowd and the support is just overwhelming."