Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The start of the first World Superbike race at Laguna Seca Raceway was aborted after a multi-bike crash in turn two on the first lap.

The chain-reaction crash was set off when Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates crashed on the inside of the track at the entrance of the corner. Yates’ sliding GSX-R1000 knocked down Pierfrancesco Chili and Eric Bostrom. Neil Hodgson fell over on top of the other bikes, and Troy Corser stalled his Foggy Petronas FP1 trying to avoid the incident and his bike had to be trucked back to the pits.

Yates told officials he thought he hit something on the track, but television replays of the incident show that Yates may have been squeezed up on the inside curbing, causing him to crash.

All riders made the re-start except for Eric Bostrom, who, according to a Laguna Seca spokesman, is being treated for a dislocated right shoulder and a thorax compression, which caused him to have difficulty breathing.