(left) Haga trailed Fogarty for a time in the second race but faded.lo fourth by race's end.
(Above) Chili celebrates his race-one victory with new championship leader and secondplace finisher Troy Corser (left) and Spanish sensation Gregorio lavllla.
Superpole practice session. Unfortunate-
ly, we didn't get a chance to test it in the
wet first race, so it was all a bit of a gamb'le getting into the second one. But
everything went all right, and I'm glad
to. come away leading the championship."
Haga was fourth, the wonder child of
the World Superbike series showing the
maturity to take the points he needs
rather than risking a crash in going for
the win.
~ "I got bumped by Hodgson at the
start, so I did not make it to the first cor-·
ner in front, but I did not lose the race
over this," he said. "I could not do anything today about the win, I tried my
hardest again and got some points. I
wanted it to be sunny and it was, but
today it still did not work for me."
Briefl
Suzuki's Goddard finished eighth
after .having been joined by Russell in
the closing stages of the race. He finally
passed him to secure eighth place on the
final lap.
"My rear tire was no good from
about the fourth lap and it was hard
work from then on," Goddard said.
"Russell tried to pass me back on the
run in to the flag but 1 held him off."
Russell had been struggling with
some problems of his own.
"My steering damper didn't work,"
he remarked, bItterly disappointed. "It
felt like the front tire was flat. I couldn't
go into the comers and steer the bike. I
had to do what the steering damper was
supposed to do as well as control the
bike. It was near as damn impossible. I
was sure I could have been there this
•••
wiiil the political and economic' ~ituatio" ';f Indonesia.very unsta·
ble right now, Paolo Flamrnini announced .that the Indoneslen
,round of. the World ·Superbike· championship - to be I1,ln September 27. 1998 - will only take place "ff. we have 100:percent guar!antees as to the safety. The race·will be canceled or· Substituted
by another race 00 t~e'same date." SBK Intern'ational's vice president also' said, that a decision. concerning the 'race would be taken
within month. Another aspect of the:lndonesian' chaos is the
inyolVement in SBK'lntemational of.Tom('1i Suhart.o. 'who i's the
.son of the Indonesian presideQt an? who has 'a share in ·the pro'moting .company. "The economic destiny of SBK International will
not be much affected by the. situation _in Indoriesia." said Pablo
Flammini. "I believe that Tommi Suharto has his economic bases
covered, and moreover he has only a minority share in our campa ..
ny. Having said that. we hope that we can oontinue our partnership with him.-
a
In the meantime. SBK Internationel ·end Octagon are continuing the development of the marketing side of the World Superbike champiorYship. "This new partnership is important in two
respects'- said Paolo·Flammini. "Octagon's experience will help
us to demonstrate clearly what the impact is of World Superbike
Racing. and on the other hand. we will profit from the many contacts Octagon has with multinational companies. We will use
these contacts also to' look for sponsors for the championship, as
well as for individ~al teams. This mar1 (Yam); 11.
James Whitham (StU); 12. Piergiorgio Bontempi (Kaw);
13. Akira Yanagawa (Kaw); 14. Peter Goddard (Suz); 15.
Erkka Korpiaho (Kaw); 16. Jean-Marc Deletang (Yam);
17. Jin Mrkyvka (Hon); 18. Andrew Stroud (Kaw); 19.
Frederic Protat (Duc); 20. V. Karban (Suz).
Time: 34 min., 32.554 sec.
Distance:: 20 laps, 43.9 miJes.
A verage speed: 76.225 mph.
Margin of vidoQ': 1.3]6 sec.
Fastest lap: Pier·Francesco Chili, 1:41.284/77.989 mph.
RACE TWO: 1. Carl Fogarty (Duc); 2. Aaron Slight
(Han); 3. Troy Corser.(Oue); 4. Noriyuki Haga (Yam); 5.
Pier-Francesco ChHi (Duc); 6. Piergiorgio Bontempi
(Kaw); 7. Akira Yanagawa (Kaw); 8. Peter Goddard
(5uz); 9. Scott Russell (Yam); 10. James Whitham (Suz);
11. Jean·Marc Deletang (Yam); 12. tgor Jerman (Knw);
13. Frederic Protat (Due); 14. Neil Hodgson (Kaw); 15.
Jiri Mrkyvka (Hon); 16. Andrew Stroud (Kaw).
Time: 31 min., 9535 sec.
Distance: 20 laps, 43.9 miles.
Average speed: 84.503 mph.
Margin of victory: 6.032 sec.
Fastest lap: Aaron Slight, 1:32.845/85.078 mph.
WORLD SUPERBlKE CHAMPIONSHIP POINT
STANDINGS (After 4 of 13 rounds): 1. Troy Corser
(135); 2. Carl Fogarty (128/2 wins); 3. Noriyuki Ha~
(123/3); 4. Aaron Slight (106); 5. Pier-Francesco Chili
(103/1); 6_ Colin Edwards 1I (98/2); 7. Akir. Yanag<>wa
(SS); 8. Peter Goddard (53); 9. James Whitham (SO); 10.
Neil Hodg;son (45); 11. Scott Russell (39); 12. Gregorio
Lavilla (32); 13. Piergiorgio Bontempi (28); 14. Mark
Willis (17); 15. Alessandro Gr.migni (16).
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 5 - Nurburgring, Germany, June 7
Round 6 - Misano, Italy, June 21
system inspiredby the Formula One regulations_ The new 'sYstem offers pasically a lot more. ~etup 'poss'ibilities than the '9.7 ppck.would be introduced at the German round. In dry condiiions, the
Dayid" Tardo;zzi said. "But there is still some· way to go; the bike
- old - system would still be maintained. The compromise was
is still running wide in ·the comerS. The engin", is working' better
reluctantly accepted during a riders' meeting in Albac.ete on Friday
also. with more torque a'vallable. But Honda still have tbe best
bikes. One of 'the main problems Ducati are confronted with now
eyening. after riders had failed to come to an agreement between
tilem about not running Superpole 'at· all in wet c:onditions. Some
is that they have to produc~'thr.~e pJeces of new development
top' riders - among t~em. Troy <:;orser - wanted' to do aWi3Y wi.th the · parts ,for -every factory rid!"r. After two years of development work.
whoJe Su,perpole thing altogether. "Moreover; the 'alternative is
aimed at a better reliability, we now need to get more power.
mainly thro"gh .work on the' electr9nic-management system and
unfair toward the rid.ers who do not maka it tp· the·. Superpol",. and
mis,S out on t~e extra 50 minutes practlce if! wet,conditionS. ~ ~?id · tha injection. Especially.the.third injectpr still does not deliver the
goods on the track as well, as it does Ory the .dyno, The. electronic
the Australian'..
·evolution. also has ,its effects on' the mechanical. side. of course; .
.
Just .before they left for Spain. the Alstare team received the'
with the engines maklng higher revs, we have to find a. means to.·
Suzuki Tl \OOOR thay will de\lelop. this 'year in Europe before
make 'tile roc'ker-arms stronger. And that is only one aspect the
p-erhaps taking· it to the World Superbike scene in 1999. "'On<;>
engineers are concentrating on.' Reliability is not a problem at this'
bike' arrived from Japan. with literally.a truckload of parts which '. moment;. we have. not .broken any engina until now thi's year.
should take the team to tlie end of the season." said Bert Poens-' Another thing Ducati are working
is building up a separate test
. gen. the.marketing manager of Suzuki.Germany, who-coo'rdinates
team (like Aprilia in Grand Prix racing). Until now, Ducati just
the program. "This is six weeks' later than' expected, -but we
called up Superspo~rider'Tenneggi or any other Italian ridar to
noticed that some 'Parts had been d<;>veloped already based-on the . run the bike around for a couple of days on a track. Next year. we
l'lxperience done by the Yoshimura team in the States'_ We' hope
should have a fixed ·test rider and a fixed test team that works
to get the bike race-ready for the first German national race' in . separately from the racing teams and provides us with the necesOschersJeben by the middle of June. The bike should be entered
sary feedback."
in several German. and 'maybe some British races with Stephane
Mertens aboard. but only if the results are very well: we might
The Japanese factories are already preParing for the Suzuka 8'
consider participation in one or some WSC-races at the end of. Hours. traditionnally their most important event of the year.
Honda will enter four full-factory bikes. to be run by Aaron Slight.
the season - but this is not really planned at this moment. - The
Colin Edwards II. John Kocinski and others yet 10 be named.
engine is thought to deliver some 155 bhp. which is a good startTadayuki Okada was named as the teammate for Aaron Slight.
ing point. But. as with every new racer. the toughest part will be
but due to his broken wrist it is uncertain whelher he will take
getting the final 5 percent. In the meantime, Suzuki' Germany is
also running a fuel-injected GSXR750R and a TL1000R in the' part. As usual. Honda will also provide as many as- five factory
German championship - the four-cylinder of which is .using softbikes from laSt year to other teams. Kawasaki will enter three
bikes for Terry Rymer. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Akira Yanagawa.
ware developed in:h"use. The Germans are now also dexeloping
software for "their Tl1 OOOR. Finally, the Alstare team has also
Neil Hodgson. Shinya·Takeishi.and Tamaki Serizawa. Yamaha will
star:ted talks with 'some top riders about ne.xt year's campaign on · field two or three bikes (an official· release was expected on
Wednesday following the Albacete race) for the Haga brothers.
the Tll OOOR - and at the same time with Suzuki about the continuation of their joint racing World Superbike and World Series · Scott Russell. luca Cadalora and probably anotber duo. Suzuki: s
Supersport prog'ram_ "Apart from scoring some gdod results this
plans are nbt known yet. but. expact them also to' enter two or
year. it is very important for.us to be able to secure the services · three bikes. For fhe first trme. -Open-class motorcycles will be
of a top rider to Suzuki for 1999,· sald team manager Francis. allowed to start in the Japanese classic. Some YZF-R 1sand ZJ(. . .
Batta. "'Before tha end of August, we would like to have a fical · 9Rs are expacted to show up_ .
answer from Suzuki. in order to start lociking for sponsors for that
Fabrizio Pirovano and Suzuki '-continued where. they had left off in .
campaigo. If. on the other hand. we cannot come to an agreement
Monza, two weeks before.' winning the World Series Super-'
with SUZUKi and if the yvo'rld Series Supersport does not receive
an official world,championship statlJS from 1999 onward. we might. ·sport. race 'in gre·at. stYle. The. diminutive Italian had not· started
well. but he then ~.tormed fhrough the fiell'!. taking' fpu'r seconds
. consider dray;flig back. our sponsprs. Foxhound. and Corona' Extra
per lap on his fastes! rivals in the seco~d half of the race! His.
from the series-sponsorship package. and d(aw our team back_
'Re~e·ntly. we have received an offer to go Grand P~x 250cc r'Pcleammate Stephane Chambon had a simila~ race, and finlshed
i~.'·
.
'second - 'almost half a second back. Pere Riba Cabana. who had
been leading for most of the first.half of the race. had t6 setfle for
third. with Yamaha' riders Massimo Meregalli ..Wilco Zeelenberg.
At Albpcete,' the factory Ducatis were running fhe '98.susp'''n·
Vittoriano Guareschi and Bimota-rider Giusseppi Fiorillo battlin~ it
sion for the second time (the first was at Monza !wo weeks earlier).' "We are now starting to understand the suspension. which · qut all the way for fourth. Paolo Casoli finishec;l eighth.
em
19
