Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·RACER TEST Final P elgarda SDA Yamaha YZF750 Superbike art:B amah a' s attitude toward th e World Superbik e Championship ha s been a mystery since Day On e of th e ser ies b ack in 1988. Here is a category based on th e b ikes the y sell for the highway, for wh ich they m ake a rguab ly th e fi nest a ll-arou n d s tree t o p tio n o f a ny o f th e Japanese manufacturers - the YZF750. They race ex tremely su ccess fully in national-level S u p e r bi ke ch a m pio ns h ips (mos t notably, the AMA series and the Jap anese Superbike Championship - which they won in its inaugural sea son) , they won the Bol d 'Or 24 Hours, and they pl a cin gs un d erlined ju st how m uc h pot ential Yam ah a's mach ines have for World Superbike success . But fa ced with the factory's lack of dir ect in volvement, Pirovano defected this season to a full works rid e with Ducati , swa pp ing pl aces with th e Ital ian fa ct ory ' s test rider, Mauro Lucchiari. The Italian lasted jus t a couple of races before realizin g he'd mad e a mi stake and beggin g the d esm o deity's for giveness, lea ving Belgarda high and dry with nobody to rid e th eir SDA Express Co urier-sponso red YZF750. What happened next was pure inspirati on o n so me body' s pa rt : in a move wh ich caused ripples of interest in the GP world, former Gileral Ap rilia 250 w ork s rid er Pa olo Ca sol i, a t th e time unemployed, was gi ven a test on the bike at Monza . Within 20 laps he 'd come spent a lot of time and mon ey tryi ng to w in the Daytona 200 w ith Eddie Law son on a trick ed -out factory special. But in 1994, for the first time since the World Su perbike Champion ship began , Yamah a went a whole se ason without winnin g a single round, in a series in which they' ve been content to let their Italian d istributor Belgarda (wh ich the par ent fac to ry n ow owns 100%) run a sin gle top rider with factory assistance, ra ther tha n a full-on factory effort. That sing leton rider was for six years Fabrizio Pirovan o, an d his string of race victories an d top- five cham pionshi p wi thin a second of the Wor ld Superbike lap reco rd for the track, persuadi ng Belgar da to hi re him for the rest of the season. His first race was the fina l round of the Italian Superb ike series, at Mugello: Casoli qu alified on pole, cras hed in the first race and wo n the second - agai nst the likes of Pirovano, Piergiorgio Bontemp i and so o n . In h is first Wor ld Su perbike outing at Albacete, he p ut the Yamaha on the front row before crashing rig ht at the end of quali fying. an d injurin g his sho u lder too badl y to race . Th e ne xt ro und in Au stria is bes t By Alan Cathcart Photos by Kel Edge and Tony Watts 18 glossed over (he cras hed thr ee times on the wee ken d, rou ghing up the bikes too badl y for me to rid e them the next d ay as plan ned) - bu t then it all see me d to click and since then Caso li's been a top contende r for rostrum fini she s: second an d fou rth at Assen on a rg u ab ly th e mos t demanding track in the calenda r, se venth an d a DN F a t Mu gello, then a brilliant thi rd and fou rth in the torrenti al down pou r a t Do ning to n Park, showing that he could kee p the rubber s id e dow n w h en it ma t te re d. T hat seemed to d o th e trick - soon a fter, it was announced officially th at Yama ha wo u ld fina lly bring a full factory team to the World Superbike se ries in 1995, with Nagai join ing Colin Edwards II on a pair of full works racers to be run out of the Belgarda race sh op, with Casoli making up th e three-man team on a suppo rt bike similar to the one he rode th is yea r . H ey, Yam ah a, it' s g re a t to ha ve yo u aboard at last but wh at took you so lon g? I've been testing the Belgard a Yam ahas for each of the past four years, but th is ti me th e cha nce to rid e the bike ca me th e d ay afte r th e fi n a l Wo r ld Supe rbike round at Phillip Island and it

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