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SS: Aussie wildcard Brookes beats all supersport riders (28/3/04) :
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 After another dramatic and unpredictable measure of Supersport racing a raw rookie, 20-year-old Aussie wild card rider Josh Brookes (Castrol Honda) stole the limelight from the WSS establishment, winning his first ever World Supersport race. An Aussie championship regular, Brookes, diced for the lead throughout, finishing off WSS regular Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) on the last sector of the last lap. It was a close run thing, with the gap at the end only 0.025 as Curtain attempted to slipstream on Phillip Island’s long front straight.
Jurgen van den Goorbergh, the Valencia race winner, extended his championship advantage by mounting a steady charge to third, as the challenge of the Ten Kate Honda riders, Broc Parkes and Karl Muggeridge faded. Parkes was an eventual fourth, but engine problems for Muggeridge put him down in 12th, losing a seemingly certain podium finish. Sebastien Charpentier (Klaffi Honda) roared to a fifth place finish, with van den Goorbergh’s team-mate Fabien Foret in sixth. Lorenzo Lanzi, the only Ducati finisher, rode through problems with the front to finish ninth. The top Suzuki was that of Stephane Chambon (Alstare Suzuki) with Katsuaki Fujiwara, in 11th. Van den Goorbergh now leads the table on 41 points, with Foret second on 30 and Curtain third, on 27. |
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