Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.~ REVIEW·World Championship SuperbikeRoad Race Series eF By Gary Pinchin P ho tos by Johan Vandekerchove Our rounds into the 1992 Diesel J ean s Worl d Superb ike Ch am~ pio nship and the series is wide open. World Cha mpion Dou g Polen ~ may have edged 10 poi nts clear but the dom inant force of 1991 has been under ~ pressure this tim e around - although _ it mu st be said th at the cham p from V Texas is looking more threatening in C the past two ro unds than he did in the first couple. Already, we've had five different race ~ winn ers in eigh t races - and three differ ent po le winners. What's more, four manufacturers - Ducati, Kawasaki , Yamaha and Suzuki - now have o ::s . 20 enti ced Italian sung lasses manufacturer Pol ice into backin g the facto ry Ducat is wit h Polen and Giancarlo Falap pa form ing a formidable team . The bikes which fronted at Albace te were updated 1991 s with new suspensio n , different brake pads, cha ins and clu tches. Otherwi se they were pretty mu ch 1991 machines. Perha ps Ducati felt that with their hu gely successfu l 199 1 season, and their cont inuing 55 pound weight advantage and larger displacement, they didn't need to look for massive gains. Polen started the yea r with th e modified bik e but clearly th e combination wasn't working in Sp ain and Don in gto n, At Laguna Seca in the AMA Superbike race , he reverted to a leg began mos t impressive in the wa y he cu t loose fro m the pack almost from th e off. But at Spa he sho wed his tru e Worl d Ch ampion class. Practice was a di saster with him break in g down o ut on the track in two of the sessions. He only go t 18 laps of practice (mos t riders com pleted arou nd 30) o n a track he had never even seen before. Yet in the race Polen was a contender in both legs. He finished fifth in the first leg after being sen t up the slip road in the fin al chicane by Falappa, of all people. But h e loo ked sup reme in the second, content to run with the pack 'all race until two lap s from the end . Then he'made his move , jumping from th ird to first in one lap and waving year, overheati ng from the sta rt in Germ an y, a bro ken steeri ng damper in the warm-u p lap at Spa - but hi s real worry until Spa was lack of budget. When he decided to go it alo ne , there was talk of a Roche 'eq uipe' with two other Fren ch rid ers (o ne of th em was to hav e been Christian Lavi elle) but Roche on ly attracted the usual product support - and limited cash from the publishers of French motorcycle comic strip, J oe Bar. At Hockenheim he was even talking of q uitting the series, but at Spa revealed that he had spoken to the Castiglionis and said they had agreed to finance his effo rts. The o ther fu ll-o n factory bike is ridden by Davide Tardozzi 4n Team Grottini colors, but the European The men and their flying machines ma chinery capable of running u p fro nt , a lthough Du cat i is leadin g Kawasaki in terms of race wins , 6-2. Yamaha ha s co me rea l close, Suzuki is getting there. And in the Dun lop vs. Michelin tir e war it' s all even , four wins api ece. . Compared to last year's Polen/Fast By Ferracci /Ducati/Dun lop steamroller, th is year has produced a feast of close raci ng th at o ther road racing cham p io nsh ips can o n ly dr eam of. The second leg a t the latest round at Spa produced a breath tak in g nin e-bike ba ttle for the lead - but hey, we've come to expect that of th is year's series. If we don 't have at least five riders go ing for it up front, there's somethi ng seriously wro ng! And the fa ns have show n th eir apprecia tio n of thi s whee l to wheel racing, by tu rn ing ou t in in creasin g numbers. T he Flammini p eopl e reported b igger a llen dan ces th an previou s years at both Don in gton and Ho ckenh eim . Superbikes had never previou sly been to Spa yet drew an impressive 31,000. Flammini Racing claims television coverage this year has improved with virtuall y every race guaranteed live coverage in the host cou ntry. And press coverage has increased also with the series nudging the Gr ands Prix for space in many of the speci alist journals ' around the world. Superbike ha s o ther things going for it. The compe titio n o n the track is as serio us as you will find an ywhere, yet somehow the overa ll atmos p here in the pa ddock is much mor e relaxed than you mi ght expect. The rid ers and team s - to a man - are very approach able, which is not o n ly good for the press . It mea ns the fan s can readi ly identi fy with their heroes, Ducati still has an advantage in Superbi ke raci ng . The V-twins are permi tted to run a 308 pound minim um wei gh t lim it a nd a 1000cc displace ment compa red to th e 363 po und lim it of the 750cc in-line fours. T hat mean s th e Du catis can break deepe r becau se th ere is less weigh t. T hey are less p un is hi n g o n ti res becau se there is less weigh t. They are easier to change di rection becau se th ere is less weight. And the big V-twins also have mor e torq ue than th e revy fours whi ch means they can accelerate off the turns quicker. Aga in, less punishment of the tires. And thi s year, Ducati ha s streng th in numbers! Ducati set th e ball rolling by lining up a veritable arsena l of blood red Vtwins for th is year's war. Former 500cc World Champi on Franco Un cini Defending World Champion Dou g Polen of T exas (above) holds a lO-point lead, 121-1l l , over Ro b Phill is of Australia (below ) in th e 1992 title chase. 1991 setup (apart fro m sticking wit h the modified suspension ) and immediately was on the pa ce aga in. Do n 't get the idea he was way off in the first place. Polen was secon d in the first Albacete race but could o n ly finis h sixth in th e second wh en the wet tr a ck dried o u t a nd fav ored th e Mi ch elin tires more than Po len 's Dun lops. Pol en went 6-4 a t Donington, the new cl u tch cha tter ing off th e li ne wh ich dropped h im downfiel d. And he had to come fro m the back again in race two after a mor e gen tle take-off - just in case the clutch p layed up ! But with his 1991 setu p at Hockenheim he looked back to h is best form, taki ng a superb double victory - the second goodbye to h is pursuers. That's Polen's strength . H e can cut fast, cons istent ti mes lap after lap and when it 's tim e to go - and when everyo ne else's tires are getting ragged, Polen jus t wicks it up. Frenc h ace Raymond Roche is a pr ivateer this year, but sti ll wi th full works Du catis, preferring to stick with Michelins ra ther tha n jo in Polen on the Du n lop shod Poli ce bikes - at least, th at's the way Raymond tell s it. Roch e has wo n races at Alba cete an d Don ington but made a glaring error at Spa, crashing ou t o n the first lap of the openi ng race - a m istak e whi ch lost hi m the points lead. Theformer champ has been plagued with lo ts of niggling problems this cham pion has been raci ng with an arm injury sustained in a pres eason testing accident. H e missed Albacete and failed to q ual ify at Doning ton but raced in Germany and Belgium even though he is way below fu ll fitness, In order for him to ride , Tardozzi ha s an electronic device fitted to his gear shift, Wh en he appli es foot pressure to cha nge gea r, th e electrics cut the sparks to the motor .momentarilv and he ca n enga ge th e gear without using the cl u tch. H e uses the clutch on ly at th e sta rt but th e system can be over-ridden sim p ly by using the clutch as normal durin g th e race. T ardozzi.says the system is that good, he will never race without it , even wh en he is full y fit ! Belgian Step ha n Mert en s als o has work s bik es, tho ug h maybe th e bikes are not qu ite wha t you 'd ca ll ' Polen spec.' He also opted to run Dunlops but seems to have tak en tim e ada p ting to them. The Belgian 's best result thi s year has been second in the first leg or home soil at Spa. In th e ' other rounds, Mertens has frankl y been str uggling. At Hockenhei m in parti cular he battled all weekend wi th a high speed stab ility problem (which he had at Spa and swi tched to his 'T' bik e for the races) but would have fared better than his .· 13th p lace in race two had the motor not bogged in th e fin al sta d i u m corners. That a p pe a rs to be a co m mo n problem with Ducatis, Both Virginio Ferrari (Tardozzi' s teamma te but not on a factory bike) and Carl Fogarty have com plai ned abo u t fuel p ick-up problems in th e lat e stage s of a race. Outs ide th e works bike cl iq ue, Sp ainaird Dan iele Am atriain with Marlbo ro backing and Carl Fogarty running hi s ow n effort with help from his dad George, have both sho wn you don 't need factory bikes to ru n up front. Both rid ers have over-the-co unter Corsas, the sa me as riders like Virginio Ferr ari, Fabrizio Furlan , Edwin WeIbel etc. Amatr iain was impressive at Albacete, as one migh t expect, bu t ha sn 't don e mu ch since. To be fair he di sl ocated h is al read y wea k lef t shoulder (fro m past inj ur ies) in the post-race celebration in Spain and rep eated the inj ury when he was taken ou t in a ch icane at Hocken hei m. Fogarty likewise had a grea t home meeting, dom ina tin g the Donington action. He sho u ld have won both races but threw a three-second lead down the road in the first leg. Ducati recognized that the three-

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