August 2006, Brands Hatch (Great Britain) Over half the World Superbike season has been completed but with five rounds to go the Championship is still ablaze with possibilities. The Brands Hatch race weekend always offers great expectations and many top riders start with only a win on their minds, no matter what the championship positions are overall. Haga loves this track and, in conjunction with his team-mate Pitt, the great potential of the R1 has now been clearly demonstrated. Troy Corser won a Brands Hatch race last year and is still in there fighting for the highest step of the podium at every race, now successfully joined in his quest for victories by team-mate Kagayama. Fighting with them all along, and now racing at home this weekend, is James Toseland. The 2004 champion approaches Brands in wonderful shape and now very consistent on the Honda – just like the new star of the previous round, Michel Fabrizio. All of them will try to win, to take the chequered flags before Championship leader Troy Bayliss – unable to win even a single race in the last round and now increasingly determined to inflate the number of victories he can achieve this season. The Brands Hatch round also has many other main matters of interest: first of all the British public, always numerous, enthusiastic and ready to party. Then there is the very layout of Brands Hatch itself. The track is a highly technical and particularly fast venue, very demanding both for riders and bikes, with the fast main straight going into a breathless drop at Paddock Hill Bend, each lap being completed by a quite impressive downhill run through the trees at Clearways, ended in a fast approach to the final right at Clark Curve. For the WSBK riders Pirelli will, as usual, bring the Pirelli Diablo SBK slick tyre, in different solutions. For the front there will be two solutions which are well known on the market, called the SC1 and SC2 (solution A and B), together with two more options – with harder compounds. Four different solutions including a qualifier will also be available for rear fitment. SSP riders will have at their disposal the new Diablo Supercorsa, in two solutions for the front and three for the rear. In SSP, of course, qualifying tyres are not allowed. Brands Hatch is a difficult racetrack for tyres: in order to have the right grip you need to use soft tyres, but the high temperatures normally experienced in August play a primary role in wearing out the tyres. Nevertheless the riders and teams need to find a good setup for the bike to make the tyres work at their best, and then maintain that performance for the full length of the race. The regular teams will have a difficult job at Brands, and it’s not just the track itself. It’s also because at Silverstone in May wild card rider Tommy Hill – who runs Pirelli in the British Superbike Championship on his Yamaha – stole Superpole from under their very noses!