Corser extends lead, Kagayama disappoints fans.

Team Alstare Suzuki rider Troy Corser took a pair of hard-fought for seconds at Silverstone, and in doing so extended his lead in the Corona Extra World Superbike championship to seventy-eight points.

The first of the two 28-lappers featured a tremendous three-way dice between Troy Corser, Noriyuki Haga and Regis Laconi until the 25th lap when Haga's R1 suffered an engine problem. That left Corser chasing Laconi for the last three laps but, try as he could, he could not get past the Frenchman and so he settled for second place.

Third place went to current world champion James Toseland - much to the delight of the home fans.

Race two was equally thrilling and started with a five-rider battle, involving fast-starting, Haga, Corser, Kagayama, Laconi and Toseland.

But Laconi's dreams of taking a double vanished when he crashed out on lap two, leaving four to carry on the fight.

Corser took the lead on lap four, but after Kagayama started dropping back, it was Haga and Toseland who took up the challenge. Corser led at the halfway point, but three laps later Toseland stormed to the front and, despite a fierce fightback from Corser, he held on to take the chequered flag for his first ever World Superbike win on his home soil. Corser was a comfortable second, with Haga third. Though Kagayama had problems, he kept going and finished seventh.

"Both races were hard ones - but I knew they were going to be that way before we started because I didn't believe anybody would be able to make a big breakaway," commented Corser. "I got a good start in race one and led for half the distance but, although I opened up a bit of a gap on Haga and Laconi, I just couldn't shake them.

"When Laconi came past, I thought I would keep close and see if I could pass at the end. But, my bike was spinning up a bit and I couldn't get good drive exiting the final chicane. So although, I could catch Laconi, I couldn't get past him.

"In race two it was a bit of the same, except this time it was Haga and Toseland who I was fighting with. Toseland was on a mission and I tried my best, but in the end I decided that second would be good for championship points. Possibly I could've pushed harder, but probably I would've crashed. At the end, I didn't even know that Laconi hadn't finished. So although I didn't win, I extended my lead - and that's what it's all about."

His nearest championship rival, team-mate Yukio Kagayama crashed in the first race, but re-mounted to take tenth. In the second race, he struggled with set-up problems, but plugged away to take seventh.

"I am disappointed, because I thought I could get maybe two podiums, but a crash in the first race ruined my plans. I got back on the bike as soon as I could, but I had dropped from sixth to sixteen position in the process. I fought as hard as I could and managed to get 11th position.

"In between the two races we changed the set-up of the bike because I didn't have a good feeling in the first race. But the set-up we had for the second race did not give me a good feeling either and it was not possible for me to push as hard as I wanted. I tried my best, but I didn't want to crash again, so I made sure I brought the bike home. I am particularly disappointed because I have many British fans here and I wanted to do well in front of them."