Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

But it remains to be seen if the Hondas will be able to keep up with the Du catis. Will Carl regre t his d ecision to lea ve Ducati and to join th e Honda team ? Onl y tim e will tell. This year should also see the Mu zzy Kawasaki team return to the forefront of World Superbike racing . After Scott Russell' s desertion aft er three races in 1995, the once-leading tea m seemed to fall apart. The astonishing performances by youngster Anthony Gobert - with two race wins in the second half of the season - still resulted in onl y a top-four (Right) Australian Kirk McCarthy willjoin Reynolds on the factory Suzuki team. (Below) Veteran PierFrancesco Chili will again ride a Ducall backed by the Gallolone team. Those who have left us ust like every ot he r year, several youngs ters (Hale, McCarthy, Hodgson ...) and some less young (Kocinski) have secured a place amo ng the official and semiofficial teams in World Superbike racing. By their p rom otion, they have also pushed so me vete ra ns an d other established riders from the ir pos itions. These are some of the riders who will probably not show up in World Superbike racing in 1996. Fabrizio Pirovano (35) is the mos t notable. His departure mar ks the end of the first era of World Superbike racing. The "pocket rocket" from Milan has been at the forefront of fourstroke racing ever since the series started in 1988. The former motocrosser won his firs t World Superbike race in a rain-drenched Le Mans round later that year on a Yamaha with the typ ical wide handlebars. Piro took places in the top-four of the final World Championship standings of practically every year . In 1996, he will ride a Ducati 748 in the Euro pean Supersport Champio nship for the Allsta re Racing Team which took Michael Paquay to his second European title in 1995. Pirovano will wage battle there wit h riders such as Mauro Lucchiari (28). Once considered to be the successor to the legendary Giancarlo Falap pa, Lucch iari just never man aged to deliver the goods outside the Italian bo rder. The quiet Duca ti rid er did a lot of testing work for Duca ti over the few years he was with them, and might continue to d o so in the near fu ture, With the advent of Kocins ki and I lod gson on the Ferrari tea m, Lucchiari will have to be happy wit h his parti cipation in the European Supersport Cha m pionship. Brit Terry Rym er (28) was also one of the top runners in th e ea rly days of the World Supe rbike series. Ofte n runni ng on the wr on g bike for the wrong team at the w rong tim e, the tall Londoner w ill concentra te this yea r on the British Championsh ip riding a Mota Cine lli Ducati, a nd the World Enduran ce races, where he wiII have a factory Suzuki at his disp osal. Former World Endurance champion Adrien Mori llas (33) is the on ly former Superbike rid er after Belgian Stephane Mertens and Dutchman Jeffry De Vries to make the switch to the rival Thunderbike Trophy series. The Frenchman nearly saw his racing car eer come to a premature stop when IRTA originally d iscarded his application beca use of his "high" age in a series that was set up to encourage youngsters to take on the Grand Prix guys. Ano ther ve teran who just wo n't give up (yet) is Doug Polen (36). Former do uble Worl d Superb ike Cham p ion Polen en tered some World Superbike races in 1995 after having been fired quite u nexpectedl y just before the season. Back with his old brand Suzuki, the Texan has foun de d his own team and will try to win as man y F-USA races as possible in 1996, while considering a comeback into the World Superbike are na in 1997. Wait and see... J finish a t the end of the year. The new Kawa saki ZX-7R sh ou ld th eo re tically offer Gobert and new teammate Simon Crafar extra help in their efforts to beat the Ducati s. The only qu estion rem aining is how soo n the inevitable teething problems will be solved. A new engine (with a sho rte r stro ke, m ak ing hi gh er revs p o ssib le ), a new chassis (w hich sho uld make the bike m ore stable), different suspension an d a different we ight d istr ib u tion are some of th e fac to rs which will ha ve to be sorted ou t befo re Rob Mu zzy's team will be able to offer a potential race winner to their two riders. The riders also did m ore preseason testing than in the past - and that was one of the reasons why it took six races before Gobert got his Kawasaki on the rostrum last year. It is certain that th e "Go-Show" won ' t be so patient this year. Crafar was also impressive on most testing occasions, putting in some excel le nt lap times during testing at Shah Alam, a session Gobert missed because of health problems. NEWCOMERS It migh t co rne as a surprise to find the Yamaha squad in this category, bu t w ith the ir fir st season in the Wor ld Superbike Ch amp ion ship s tr icke n by disaster (the Dunlop tire p rob lem s, the fatal crash of Yasutomo Nagai resu lting in the premature sto ppage of their racing season), everybody has the impression that Colin Edwards II and his team never had the chance to sho w what they were really capable of. Just when things started to fall into place (Brands Hatch), fate took over. After pri vat e testi ng and a reason abl y su ccessfu l practice session at Daytona, Edwards carn e good with th ird p lace on the Daytona bankings. It is still uncertain if the Yamaha will be able to d o a s w e ll in th e World Sup erb ike ro u nds, es pecia lly as th e competition will be even stiffer than in Florida. For 1996, Edwards h as Wataru Yoshikawa at his side. The Japanese rider m ade a good impression in Sha h Ala m and might be a worthy successor to Nagai. Most development work during winter has been aimed at - and logicall y so - the Dunlop tires and the rear suspension linkage of the bike. Suzuki really is the newcomer. After Kawasaki, Hond a and Yamaha, this is the fourth and las t Japanese manufacturer to take on the superbike challenge. The tea m - which will be based a t th e Harris premises in Engl and - started talking to severa l top riders from th e summer of 1995 onw ard, but apparently waited too long to get one of the top brass to sig n hi s name to a contract. With John Re ynolds and Kirk McCarthy, they finall y got a hold of two you ngsters who have already shown a lot of promise during off-season testing. The diffe rence betw een them and Scott ' Russell (on a nea rly identical bike) during qu alify in g for the Day tona 200 mi ght have su rprised some, bu t th e two ri d e rs never got the ch ance to prove w ha t they a re worth as thev were forced to 'lea ve Flo rida after th e first race postpone ment. Suzuki wan ts to win the title in 1997, and ha s a big budget in order to accomplish that goal. Note the lack of sponso rsh ip stickers on the two bik es. C~ The uscalsesoects These are the main participan ts in 'the 1996 World Superbike Championship. With ' more than fact ory bik es ("), thi ngs lookquite hai ry for half of the riders schedu led to ent er all the races . the pri vat eers. But miraclesmay happen. After all; this is World Superbike racing. isn 't it? on Carl Fogarty Aaron Slight 'Troy Corse r Mike Hale John KOcinski Neil Hod gson . Anthon y Gobert Simo n Crafar Colin Edw ards II Wataru .Yosh ikawa John Reyn old s ' Kirk McCarth y Pier giorgi o Bontempi Eustaquio Gavira Ida lio Gavira [ochen Schmid -. Steve Hislop . .Matt Llewellyn' Bruno Cirafici Andreas Meklau . .Pier-Francesco Chili Manu el Luque '. Micha el Paquay Stephane Chambon Ferdinando Di Maso Antonio Gian giacom o Honda RC45 (.) GB Cas trol Honda . NZ · Honda RC45 (. ) Castrol Honda Ducati 916 (~,. AUS ·Promoto r/ Power Horse Ducati 916 (. ) Promo tor I Pow er Horse .' USA '. USA Duca ti 916 {' ) Ducati Corse Virginia Ferrar i GB Duea ti 916 ('r · Ducati Corse Virgini a Ferrari Kaw asaki ZX-7RR (~) Muz zy.Kawasak i AUS NZ . Muzzy Kawasaki Kawasak i ZX-7RR (. ) Yam ah a YZF 750 (. ) . Yamaha WSB Team · USA Yam aha WSBTeam Yama ha YZF 750 n J GB . Suzuki WSB Team Suzuki GSX-R 750 n · AUS. Suzuki WSB Team . · Suzuki GSX-R 750 (0) I . Kaw asaki ZX-7RR 'n . Bertocch i I Kawasaki italia Ru;"i Honda Honda RC45 (kit) E Honda RC45 (kit ) Rumi Hond a E 'D Kawas akiZX-7RR (kit) Kawasaki Deutschland Kawa saki ZX-7RR (kit) · N~mesis Kawa saki Racing GB Nemesis Kawa saki Racing . . : Kawa saki ZX-7RR (kit) GB · Suzuki Italia / Sacch i Corse · Suzuk i G5X-R 750 (kit) J Ducati si 6 ' . . · Promotor I Pow er HorSe A . 'Ducati Gattolone : Ducati 916 I. Ducati 916 E Dueali Gattolon e · Ducati 916 B bucati Allstar~ . · Ducati Sima F Ducati 916 I' Ducati 916 lnterspeed Racing Team .' · Celani Team I Ducati 916 .

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