Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127936
-, ----.... Ducati has always been assured of the services of some of the world's best superbike riders, but this year, Bologna has busted out the big guns. Witi, Carl Fogarty and Troy Corser, they have two former World Champions, and in Pier-Francesco Chili, a wealth of experience - not to mention speed. The spotlight in the World Superbike Championship may very well end up focused back on Italy. Carl Fogarty is - jlfst as is every year he's ridden in before - one of the biggest favorites. The Briton complained about a l,!ck of motivation at the beginning of last year and that he had started thinking about his life after racing.llut that all changed when he got archrival John Kocinski in his visor. Fogarty stood a chance of taking his third title right up to the end of last season, but things just didn't work out as well as in the past. Plagued by midcorner grip problems that the team could never resolve, Foggy found himself struggling in the second half of the season as the heat was turned up in the championship. Crashes - not at all typical for Fogarty - ensued, and he ended the season second. He may still have his work cut out for him this year. During the winter tests, the Ducati stili looked to have a mind of its own in some corners - even though the engine has been brought forward in the frame a bit in an attempt to put some more .weight on the front of the bike. And the engine is now said to have 7 bhp more than last year's (a total of some 172 bhp now). The extra power comes mainly from a reworked electronic engine-management system. Finally, don't forget the British lion's off-season - one he surely won't forget anytime soon. Originally he was to be integrated into the second factory Ducati team run by Francis Batta, but at the last moment Batta broke off negotiations with Ducati and jomed Suzuki. Fogarty stuck with Ducati, but the factory didn't have another team available, as Corser and Chili were already with the ADVF-team of Virgini:o Ferra,i. For some time, ti,e Gattalone Racing team, Chili's outfit in 1997, looked to be an alternative, but finally a'new team, called Ducati Performance, was founded under the direction of former Promotor managel' Davide Tal'dozzi. ' While Fogarty may be the perennial favorite, it surely won't take long for Corser to get back up to speed after half a year of not racing, and thus far Chili has consistenly lajd down some of the best times during winter tests - will the Italian be the surprise of 1998? Carl Fogarty will once again lead the Ducati charge for championship glory, The Brit struggled with his 996 last year, and crashes - rare for Foggy took him out of contenlion lor the championship. Sharing Rookie of the Year honors with Kawasaki's Akira Yanagawa certainly has to be Yamaha's Noriyuki Haga, who took'over for the injured Colin Edwards U in the last couple of races of the season, and took the aging Yamaha YZF - at Sugo, Japan - to its first World Superbike victory ever. Former World Champion Scott Russell was already freewheeling at that point in the season, having understood a few races into the season that it would be very hard for him to keep his Yamaha regularly among the front-runners. In the end, Russell took sixth place in the championship and signed another contract with the, team, despite the fact that the YZF is urgently due for ,eplacement. At the end of this year, the bike's successor is supposed to be introduced. But maybe the in-team fight posed by upstart Raga will . give Russell tbe motivation to fly. Adding even mme interest to the Yamaha squad is that each rider is using different tire makes: Russell switched to Michelin, whereas Haga stuck with Dunlop. The latter is expected to alternate impressive results with some visits to the gravel pit; Russell on the other hand has already shown that he can keep cool unde, any condi~ tions. It is, however, doubtful if this will suffice for him to have a real go at the 'title. Georgian SCott RusseU (44) is in his second year with Yamaha on the World Superbllce tran. This year he is joined by fast upstart Noriyuki Haga (41 )" the man who brOught Yamaha Its first World Superblke vic1ory. I By far one of the biggest surprises of 1997 was Kawasaki's Akira Yanagawa. The ever-smiling Japanese finished his maiden season in fourth - not bad at all, eSpecially as most of the members of his team were also new. That was true especially for team manager Harald Eckl, who had accepted the invitation from Kawasaki to take over the official Green team from Rob Muzzy at the end of 1996 after spending most of his career associated with Grand Prix racing. Things didn't look good at the first winter tests after Eckl took over, but new equipment from Kawasaki suddenly put the "green meanie" right at the front, and after a season of development, one can only expect even more from the team. , Yanagawa fell off his bike a couple of times at the beginning of last season, but in Zeltweg he took his and the team's first victory, then did it again for his home crowd in Sugo. Simon Crafar - off to GPs this year - has been replaced by Neil Hodgson, who d.idn't exactly burn up the championship on the factory Ducati in '96 and '97. Well see if the Englishman fares better aboard the Japanese four-cylinder. The revelation of 1997 was Kawasaki's Akira Yanagawa. The Japanese rider was always in the hunt for pole position, and managed to stand atop the' podium on race day ·aswell. One gets the feeling that Suzuki's got about as much chance of winn.ing the championship as Yamaha. The only difference is that Suzuki - on paper at least - has the bike to do it with. Texan Mike Hale has been replaced by Peter Goddard, but hopes are not high that the blue-and-white bikes will regularly be raced to the rostrum this year. Jamie Whitham made it twice in 1997, but the second half of the season didn't show the expected progress. A fuel-injected version of the GSXR750 was presented at the end of last year, but it looks as if the factory team will continue to concentrate au the carbureted incarnation it knows so well for at least the firs.t half of the season. For James Whitham, 1998 will probably be a remake of the 1997 season. And Peter Goddard likely imagined a different debut as a full-time World Superbike factory rider. The Australian, who has proved his worth as a rider and tuner in his own country and iu the World Endurance series, has been waiting to get a full World Superbike program with Suzuki for years, but envisioned it with his own team. , We'll see if the British-run team under the ~anagement of Lester Harris will follow its new rider - a man who brought Suzuki's only real superbike-level success, in his native Australia - in all of his technical options. James Whitham (left) returns to Suzuki for another year, with new teammate Peter Goddard. Though Whitham made the podium last year, Suzuki moStly struggled for results througholit the season. Goddard's experience may help the team move forward for 1998.