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We’re at, approaching, or beyond halfway in the main championships I cover on these pages, so it seems like a good time to step back and assess how the year is going. My general opinion is: rather well. There’s only one championship which is looking like a done deal, and that’s British Superbikes. After Sylvain Guintolli’s nasty crash, Leon Camier is being left largely unchallenged. With 10 wins from 12 races, and a significant lead over the second placed rider – his team-mate – it’s probably going to take an accident to keep him from the title. Cadwell Park, the scene of his horrendous crash in 2007, is still to come, but he’d be extremely unlucky to suffer the same fate twice. One might be tempted to say that the Formula 1 title is Jenson Button’s to lose. If Brawn GP can keep up the pace, then that’s probably true, but can the team hold off Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel? I think that remains a very big question, and one which will only be answered over the remainder of the season. Before the last three rounds, no-one would have bet against Sebastien Loeb taking yet another World Rally Championship title. But an extraordinary run of bad luck for Loeb – which is to say any bad luck at all for Loeb – has handed Mikko Hirvonen a one point lead. Loeb remains the man to beat, but – against all odds – it’s actually still quite interesting. Noriyuki Haga was looking like a virtual certainty for the Superbike World Championship earlier in the year, but after five wins from the last six races for Ben Spies, it’s close at the top now. And with Haga injured after his crash at Donington Park, the title could be edging towards Spies. MotoGP isn’t quite as close as it was at one point this year – when Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner were all tied on points at the top – but it’s still anybody’s championship. Rossi is the one who seems to have the momentum at this point, though after an impressive victory at Laguna Seca, even Dani Pedrosa could yet have something to say about it. Given that the ballast regulations and so forth are engineered to ensure a close championship, there are some fairly healthy – though by no means safe – leads in the tin tops. The World Touring Car Championship is led by reigning champion Yvan Muller, with SEAT team-mate Gabriele Tarquini 14 points behind. Augusto Farfus is a further point back, but could be one to watch, as BMW seem to be putting all their eggs in his basket now – not exactly to the delight of the other BMW drivers. Colin Turkington has a nice 25 point cushion over Matt Neal in the British Touring Car Championship. It’s not as straight-forward as that though. Neal has been consistent, but James Thompson – who started the season late with Team Dynamics – has the second most race wins behind Turkington, despite standing only 6th overall. Jason Plato, 4th overall, has been consistently getting good results recently, so he could be a factor. And you can never count out Fabrizio Giovanardi, currently 3rd. Enough waffle, I should name names. I’ll pick:
Not very imaginative, granted, but we’ll see how much that changes by the end of the year. There is 1 comment
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